Global Day of Action Against Caste Discrimination – opposite Downing Street, Westminster, London, Saturday 21st June 2014
Protest in London
We wanted to say a big thank you to all supporters, organisations, and campaigners for supporting the demonstration opposite Downing Street last Saturday. We know legal protection for victims and future victims of Caste-based discrimination is very important for you, and we know that many of you took time out and spent your own money, to get to London to stand in unity. We are also grateful to the Sabha’s in Bedford and Southall that provided the coaches free of charge to get demonstrators to London. We thank you.
Our London protest was one of many protests and marches around the world on 21 June in a Global Day of Action against Caste Discrimination. We are confident that these protests will grow from strength to strength in the years to come – until we rid society of Caste Discrimination. For those who were unable to attend, you will want to know that there was an excellent turnout by organisations (photos attached). Additionally, a delegation of Dalit leaders submitted by hand a powerful letter to the Prime Minister (see attached) to No10, Downing Street. The letter called on Mr. David Cameron, UK Prime Minister:
· Demanded that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, stops delaying the implementation of the law agreed by Parliament to outlaw Caste-based discrimination in the UK. We asked the PM to personally intervene in this matter
· Requested that the PM to add not just his voice but his clout to our Stop Caste Rape campaign and the Battle Plan to stop rape as a weapon of war announced by Foreign Secretary, Mr. Hague and Special Envoy of UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie on 10, June, is expanded to include Caste-based rape. Asked that the PM support our call for an end to Caste-based Discrimination and that the Foreign Office, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, DCMS and the Department for International Development set out in one document what actions and initiatives they are taking to end Caste-based discrimination, here and abroad.
· Requested the PM supports our request that Government’s policy makers adopt and integrate the draft UN Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of Discrimination based on Work and Descent Promote the draft UN Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of Discrimination based on Work and Descent established by the UN Human Rights Council (A/HRC/11/CRP.3); into their anti discrimination, human rights and employment policy development frameworks.
Following the demonstration and the letter to the Mr. David Cameron, long-time supporter Lord Avebury tabled the following Written Parliamentary Question on 23 June: " to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their plans to stop the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war announced in June 2014 will cover caste-based sexual violence, rape and so-called punishment rape. “ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldcumlst.htm
With thanks to your support, we believe the Prime Minister and his team in London got a measure of strength of feeling about the delay to enactment of caste discrimination legislation, the ongoing gang-rapes of women and girls in India, and about the Human Rights of Dalit’s. We will to continue chase progress on the actions requested in the letter to Mr. Cameron. Please do circulate this email to friends and colleagues who may have an interest in this issue.
In Unity and Solidarity The Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance Team
------------------------
EU-Vietnam FTA: GUE, Greens, and civil society obtain partial but important victory for human rights
The European Parliament
BRUSSELS/PARIS, 23 April 2014 (FIDH & VIETNAM COMMITTEE) - The resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 17 April 2014 on the state of play of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is an important step towards strengthening human rights protection, FIDH and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) said today. Despite the opposition of the PPE, but mainly due to the effort made by Greens and GUE the resolution recommended the European Commission address key human rights concerns during FTA negotiations with Vietnam. “The European Parliament’s Resolution is a clear warning to Vietnam. For Europeans, human rights are essential in all areas, business included,” said VCHR President Vo Van Ai. ”The European Parliament calls for the conditioning of the Free Trade Agreement on concrete human rights progress, and for suspending it in case of grave violations. For without the safeguards of freedom of expression and the press, the right to form independent trade unions and civil society organizations, free trade between the EU and Vietnam’s one-party state will only harm the Vietnamese people and prejudice sustainable development.”
Without the inclusion of human rights safeguards, any future an FTA risks exacerbating an already serious human rights situation. Vietnam currently holds over 200 political prisoners - the highest number in Southeast Asia. Many of them have been arrested and imprisoned for promoting land and environmental rights and opposing so-called 'development' projects that have a negative impact on local communities. The resolution urged the European Commission to conduct a human rights impact assessment in line with the guiding principles of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. By doing so, it also reminded the Commission that the human rights impact assessment must be conducted by an independent body before the conclusion of the FTA and must be conducted in order to avoid and mitigate the potentially adverse impact of its trade and investment policies on human rights It also underscored the European Commission’s protracted failure to comply with its obligations despite the repeated calls made by FIDH and VCHR.
The resolution also called on the Commission to “apply an approach based on conditionality, so as to offer signing of the FTA in exchange for concrete progress on human rights” with particular reference to freedom of speech of individual citizens, freedom of the media and freedom of religion. Finally, an additional improvement from the European Union practice regarding FTAs is the request made by the European Parliament to ensure that human rights are subject of regular scrutiny, including by civil society, with a specific request made to mention them in a sustainability development chapter of the future agreement. Despite these positive recommendations, FIDH and VCHR regret that because of the lack of support from other political parties, several important measures proposed by the Greens and the GUE were not adopted. Among the proposed measures was the prohibition on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms and the failure to introduce a clause that guarantees that protection of investments does not take precedence over the state’s human rights obligations.
This is highly problematic. The protection granted to investors and the ISDS mechanisms have allowed the private sector to challenge legislation adopted by a state to regulate in the public interest (i.e. health, environment, human rights). Experience has shown that states have been sued for millions for having adopted legislation safeguarding standards in those fields. Finally, while FTAs grant protection to investors, they fail to effectively protect individuals and communities affected by trade and investments. The right to challenge legislation is given to the private sector without clear requirements made to arbitrators to take other interests than investment and trade law into account, without clear procedure for affected parties to submit their arguments and by bypassing internal judicial system. “A lot remains to be done to ensure an adequate protection of human rights in trade and investment policies of the EU. This is a crucial issue for human rights in countries that engage in FTA negotiations with the EU. It is also a crucial issue for all the European countries in which austerity policies have already had an adverse impact on human rights,” said FIDH President Karim Lahidji. Indeed, On 16 April the European Parliament confirmed that in case of trade and investment disputes, either the EU budget or the EU member states’ budgets will inevitably be graved by important costs because of the ISDS that may be concluded.
Background: See our previous letters, press releases and other documents: Open Letter: Vietnam and Free trade Agreement negotiations: NGOs urge the EU to carry out a human rights impact assessment, 30 April 2013; The EU’s Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy – one year after its adoption, 24 June 2013; Trade relations: Reluctant to assess human rights in Vietnam, the EU fails to respect its commitments, 3 July 2013; Joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review tabled by FIDH and its member organisation the Vietnam Committee on Human rights, 17 June 2013.
------------------------
Urgent Public Communique and Update from The International Common Law Court of Justice, ITCCS
Mar 29, 2014
Irene Favel
Enclosed: 1. The Trial of Pope Francis, the Jesuits and the Anglicans to commence April 7 with Opening Presentation by the Prosecutor's Office - The Court establishes tighter security after a Vatican-sponsored “black ops” disruption team is dispatched to Brussels. 2. A Public Information Agency is established to publicly disclose the Prosecutor's evidence during the trial – The first report of the Agency follows. 3. Children's remains and records ordered destroyed by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, acting for Queen Elizabeth - Mass graves of trafficked children are identified in Canada, Holland and the United States, and are linked to the Ninth Circle sacrificial cult.
The Secretariat of the Court has today released the following public statement: Jorge Bergoglio (aka “Pope Francis”), Adolfo Pachon (Jesuit Superior General) and Justin Welby (Archbishop of Canterbury) will stand trial in absentia on Monday, April 7 after refusing to challenge or deny the criminal charges made against them in the Trial Division of the Common Law Court of Justice in Brussels. The Prosecutor's Office will commence its case against these three chief defendants on that day and will present evidence linking them to the trafficking, torture and death of children, and to the concealment of these crimes.
The Court has delayed the opening of the trial by one week, from its original commencement on March 31, after it received confirmation that a covert operations team has been dispatched by the Vatican to disrupt and destroy the work of the Court. The team consists of paid agents of the so-called “Holy Alliance”, the Jesuit-run spying and assassination agency responsible for the silencing and murder of papal opponents. The Court has accordingly established new security arrangements for its members and especially its key public spokesman, Reverend Kevin Annett, ITCCS Field Secretary. The Court's initial sessions will be closed, and conducted at an undisclosed location. However, the Prosecution's evidence presented to the Court will be made public during the trial through a newly-established Public Information Agency attached to the Chief Prosecutor's Office.
The first announcement from this Agency follows. See www.itccs.org and www.iclcj.com for further updates. ICLCJ Communique 29 March, 2014 Brussels
Public Information Agency of the Office of the Chief Prosecutor, International Common Law Court of Justice Bulletin No. 1: Saturday, 29 March, 2014 The Office of the Chief Prosecutor (OCP) has compiled its evidence against the primary defendants BERGOGLIO, PACHON and WELBY, and filed its primary documentation with the Court. Our arguments to the Court will commence Monday, 7 April at 10 am.
The OCP has found considerable evidence linking the defendants with the operation and protection of a global child trafficking network involving the routine and systematic kidnapping, rape, torture and sacrificial murder of newborn infants and children up to age fourteen. The documented ring known as the NINTH CIRCLE involving the defendants and former Popes JOHN PAUL II and BENEDICT is one manifestation of this network. The CIRCLE operates according to a canon law statute designated as THE MAGISTERIAL PRIVILEGE, which is filed within the sealed archives of the Vatican library. An obtained copy of this statute is entered as evidence by the OCP. The NINTH CIRCLE is globally based and centuries old, operating at Roman Catholic cathedrals in Montreal, New York, Rome, London and dozens of other locations, including at protected forest groves in America, Canada, France and Holland. It routinely utilizes children taken from Catholic orphanages, adoption agencies, hospitals and schools.
The OCP has documented one such operation at the former Church of England / Jesuit run MOHAWK INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. The routine rape, torture and sacrificial killing of aboriginal children associated with the Mohawk Confederacy began with the opening of this facility in 1832 and continues to the present day in sub-basement vaults. This fact has been established from forensic remains from a mass grave near to the school, eyewitness testimonies, para-psychological evidence and documentation from secret archives of the Church of England in London, Ontario (the so-called closed “G 12” collection of the Anglican Huron Diocese under Bishop Bob Bennett). Former Anglican church researcher LEONA MOSES has also confirmed these facts personally to Kevin Annett and Mohawk elder Cheryl Squire at a private interview in October 2011. (see the evidence from ICLCJ case 0022513-001, Genocide in Canada, at www.itccs.org, and attached youtube links)
Primary defendant WELBY, acting as Archbishop of Canterbury and under the direction of convicted felon ELIZABETH WINDSOR (aka “Queen of England”), ordered the destruction of these archives and any forensic remains of the murdered children in January of 2012, in a private communique to Anglican Primate Fred Hiltz in Toronto. WELBY's order was prompted in part by ELIZABETH WINDSOR'S direct involvement in the kidnapping and death of aboriginal children in Canada and the regular participation of Royal Family members in NINTH CIRCLE rituals at the Mohawk school in Brantford. These rituals are attested by eyewitness accounts of a former Mohawk school inmate and a police-accredited para-psychological investigator whose affidavits are in the OCP's docket material.
Both of these sources agree on seeing nine figures in red robes gathered about an altar in a sub-basement catacomb under the west wing of the Mohawk Indian school. A young Mohawk girl aged five or six was bound and gagged on the altar, repeatedly raped by all participants, and then killed and disemboweled and dismembered with a ceremonial knife, and her blood was consumed by the nine. The remains of the corpse were then burned and buried in secret in the woods immediately west of the school building. In October, 2011, excavations commenced by Mohawk elders on the grounds of the same site adjacent to the school revealed numerous buttons from the uniform of female students at the school, burnt pieces of clothing, and bones that had been cut up in sections. Subsequently, two of these bone fragments were positively identified as being those of a small child by Ontario forensic examiner Greg Olson and archaeologist Kris Nahrgang, as well as by senior forensic pathologist Dr. Donald Ortner of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. (Ortner died of undisclosed causes shortly afterwards).
Primary defendants WELBY, BERGOGLIO and PACHON all conspired to set into motion a campaign to conceal or destroy this evidence, obstruct justice, and publicly discredit the ITCCS and Kevin Annett after this evidence was made public in October, 2011. This misinformation campaign continues primarily by means of government-controlled media in Canada, including the misnamed "Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network" (APTN), and by directly silencing Mohawk elders and eyewitnesses in Brantford. Jesuit involvement in the NINTH CIRCLE rituals at the Mohawk school is confirmed in correspondence from school Principals as far back as 1922. Similar Jesuit sacrificial rituals involving small children and newborns at Catholic Indian schools in South Dakota and Omak, Washington are attested by eyewitness Clarita Vargas in an affidavit entered into our docket material.
Further evidence in this case will be disclosed in upcoming Agency Bulletins. Issued by the Public Information Agency of the Office of the Chief Prosecutor 29 March, 2014 Brussels, Belgium
------------------------
Pope, Jesuits and Anglicans refuse to deny criminal charges made against them
The Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Francis
– Trial to proceed as shocking new evidence suggests Joseph Ratzinger still wields power at the Vatican – Ratzinger and others are named as members of a child abuse cult...
Brussels and Rome: After being publicly charged with child trafficking and criminal conspiracy on March 4 and served a Public Summons, the head officers of the Vatican, the Jesuits, and the Church of England have refused to deny or contest the charges and will therefore face criminal prosecution commencing March 31. The announcement came today as the deadline to respond to a Common Law Court Summons lapsed on Tuesday without any communication from the primary defendants: Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, Jesuit Superior General Adolfo Pachon, and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
“Their silence is very telling and extremely important legally” said Court Secretary George Dufort from Brussels. “Our Prosecutor's Office has the power now to proceed with its case and waive the normal examination procedure, since the defendants are not disputing the charges and are thereby tacitly admitting their guilt. The Court Magistrates will enter a plea of nolo contendere by the defendants into the court record and have every right to rule against them in their absence.” This startling development occurred as even more shocking news surfaced today in Rome that the allegedly former Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, actually retains power at the Vatican, and that since at least 1962 has been a member of a child abuse cult known as the Corona Novem, or The Ninth Circle (or Crown).
Francesco Zanardi of the ITCCS affiliate Rete L'Abuso in Savona, Italy said in an interview last week, “We know from several Cardinals that Pope Francis is a caretaker figurehead who is not actually the Pope. It's all been a huge deception. Francis doesn't wear the papal ring and lives in a convent in Rome, not in the Vatican. He is given no official security and wanders about like a private individual. And he makes policy statements which the Curia of Cardinals then disavow, saying Francis doesn't reflect church doctrine. And all the top appointments have been Germans or those connected to Ratzinger, who continues to speak to reporters like he's still the Pope.”
Meanwhile, a former member of a child abuse cult known as The Ninth Circle has stated in a deposition that Joseph Ratzinger has been a member of the Circle since at least 1962, and as such has routinely participated in the ritual rape, torture and killing of children. “The witness claim to have seen both former Pope John Paul the Second, Karol Wotyja, and Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, participate at Ninth Circle rituals held at Catholic cathedrals and a forest grove in France” said George Dufort of the Common Law court. This recent statement confirms the account of such a ritual involving Ratzinger made by Dutch eyewitness Toss Niejenhuis last year (see www.itccs.org, May 8).
The Court has also received evidence that the Ninth Circle cult is referred to in Vatican documents which describe how the participation of every new Pope in the Ninth Circle cult is mandatory for their assumption of office. The alleged documents refer to the cultic rituals as “The Magisterial Privilege” that involves the ceremonial killing of newborn children and the consumption of their blood at Circle rituals. The alleged document is translated from Latin and is dated December 25, 1967. This new evidence has been entered into the case records of the Citizen Prosecutors Office of the Court.
Stay tuned for more updates at www.itccs.org and www.iclcj.com. Issued 22 March, 2014 ITCCS Central, Brussels, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CH50V3uBp0&feature=youtu.be
------------------------
The Needs of Justice and Rule of Laws around the Globe
By Jonathan KristiansandStaff Writer
Feb 22, 2014
Committee members of Grunnlovsjubileet I Vest-Agder 2014
On February 20, 2014 representatives from different immigrant organizations attended a meeting called ”Mini-seminar on Grunnlovsjubileet” at “Hotel Norge”, organized by FN-Sambandet (UN), Centre for Equality, IMDI (Ministry of Integration) and Vest-Agder County Cultural Department.
The main topic of the meeting was “how to celebrate the fulfillment of Miracle 200 years old Norway’s Constitution by including immigrants’ opinion. Norway’s first constitution was adopted by the National Assembly at Edisvoll on May 16th 1814 and signed on 17 May 1814. It was modern and forward thinking for its time, with inspiration from among the country’s declaration of independence in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789.
Many Norwegians that time believed that all human beings are born free and equal, and that human’s integrity is inviolable. The leaders always claim that, we must stand up and defend the same values today as it was. Again and again we must convince ourselves and others that they are indisputable and applies to all people regardless of faith, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity.
The Main Principles of the Constitution includes such as: (A) People Sovereignty :people’s right to rule through elected representatives (B) Separation of powers : power balance between the legislative, judicial and executive power (C) Human rights : rule of law, voice and speech. The constitution is the highest law in Norway, if other legislation is in conflict with it, that legislation must give way to constitution.
Discussing with participants
Norway is being known for its rule of laws and protection of human rights which spread around the world unlike most of countries, which still practice semi-democracy system or indirect authoritarian administration system. Once, mankind is mature enough to see around the world and understand the value of all living things, definitely they will follow the path of how to respect others by practicing ways full democratic system, human rights and social welfare system. Norway has second oldest existing constitution in the world, after the United States.
During the meeting, Kristian Rossaak (UN/FN Sambandet) has lead one particular topic related to setting the most important Rights what immigrants and local Norwegian are values today by practical experiment. At the last level, there were total of four groups to reflect their own opinions, one-fourth group which had pure Norwegian descendants and the rest three groups were belong to immigrants which had to come up with their own final opinion result. Amazingly, ethnic pure Norwegian group demands more freedom of individual rights while immigrants’ majority groups were demanding more equality. Somehow, the result may simply point out the reality of how the society is being feels in Norway. The leaders agreed how things are being done in Norway by different politicians’ base on various sector of societies. Which we all must stand together and fight for justice.
Every country from around the world should give priority to learn and apply the following good principles of democracy system from Norway. Participation in democracy is essential that they be kept alive of further development. Basic principles of democracy are such as:- (a) Every person has equal voice and a single vote (b) Free and secrete vote (c) Competition between multi parties system (d) To have Elected Legislative Assembly (e) Majority decision in election bodies
Miracles 200 years in Norway story will be celebrated in Vest Agder country. The motto of the anniversary is “Yes We Love” – Constitution Bicentennial in 2014. Constitution 200 anniversary will learn about the Constitution and the importance of the Norwegian democracy. The anniversary will contribute to participation and engagement in democracy and facilitate public festival in the country.
------------------------
“Toothless” United Nations' statement on catholic child rape condemned by ITCCS at New York rally
Feb 7, 2014
United Nations
Pope Francis, the Jesuits and others to face prosecution by international court comm...encing March 31 – “Holyrood Agreement” between Queen Elizabeth and former Pope Benedict cited as proof of criminal conspiracy -Possible arrest order issued against Kevin Annett by the British Crown New York City: Outside the Canadian consulate in midtown Manhattan today, ITCCS Field Secretary Rev. Kevin Annett rebuked the United Nations for its “toothless” statement on Vatican crimes against children, and announced the launch of a new international court case against institutionalized child trafficking.
Annett said, “If the United Nations had have been serious about combatting the organized rape and trafficking of children that is allowed and encouraged by catholic canon law, it would have treated the Vatican as the criminal organization that it is, by revoking the diplomatic status of the Vatican at the United Nations and barring its representation on U.N. Committees. “It would have encouraged all nations to nullify their tax exemptions to the catholic church and revoked the financial concordats that unlawfully funnel billions of dollars of tax payers' money to the Vatican Bank. And it would have declared the Vatican incorporated to be a transnational criminal organization under the U.N. Convention by that name, and brought civil court action against all known child raping priests, and the high church officials who protect them.
“But the United Nations did none of that, and it has thereby enabled the church to continue its reign of terror against not tens of thousands of children, as the UN statement claims, but against millions of innocent little victims, and millions of victims to be ... And so it is now up to the people of the world through their lawful common law courts and enforcement, to directly stop the crimes of the Vatican.”
Annett announced that the same Common Law Court of Justice that successfully prosecuted former Pope Benedict and compelled his resignation will now try Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, for crimes against humanity. Bergoglio will be named as the chief defendant in the case that will be initiated in the International Common Law Court of Justice (ICLCJ) in Brussels by March 31, 2014. Top officials of the Jesuit Order and the Crown of England are also named in the court action. In a startling news announcement last Monday, Jorge Bergoglio has been named by a former member of the Argentine military junta of organizing the trafficking of kidnapped children of political prisoners during that country's Dirty War of the 1970's, in which over 30,000 people died. (ITCCS posting, 3 February, 2014 at www.itccs.org)
The Crown of England is also named in the new ICLCJ lawsuit. “Every Anglican clergy, like every catholic priest, must now cover up the raping of children in their church if they want to keep their job – thanks to the Queen of England” said Kevin Annett to a crowd of reporters and onlookers at the media event. “By her September, 2010 agreement with former Pope Benedict to abide by the catholic 'protect the rapist' policy known as Crimen Sollicitationas, Elizabeth Windsor has formed a criminal conspiracy and committed treason against the laws of England and of Nations. That monster of a child-killing church and state must be slain, with or without the help of the United Nations.” Kevin also announced that an arrest warrant may be issued against him soon by the Crown of England's Privy Council office and the government of Canada. He announced that in such an event, he may be compelled to seek political asylum in the United States in order to continue the prosecution of the Vatican and Crown of England for crimes against children.
The complete transcript of Kevin's press statement can be found at www.itccs.org. Rev. Annett can be reached at hiddenfromhistory1@gmail.comand 386-323-5774 (USA, messages).
------------------------
Vo Van Ai sends Open Letter to the Vietnamese Government’s Delegation to the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of Vietnam
Deputy Minister Ha Kim Ngoc
PARIS, 3 February 2014 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) – In the run-up to the second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Vietnam at the United Nation’s Human Rights Council on Wednesday 5 February, Open letters from very different personalities have called on the Vietnamese delegation to the UPR to candidly admit its widespread violations of human rights, take heed of recommendations made by civil society and call on the UN Human Rights Council to help work out a plan of concrete measures to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Vietnam.
Mr. Dang Xuong Hung, a former high official in Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry and Vietnamese Consul General in Geneva from 2008 until 2012, when he formally withdrew from Vietnamese Communist Party, sent an Open Letter to the Vietnamese delegation on 25 January 2014. He expressed empathy with Vietnamese diplomats who “care about Vietnam, but are shackled by invisible bonds” because they are allowed only to “think and act according to the dictates of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)”. However, he said, they shoud be aware that the CPV is seeking only to cling on to power, whilst ignoring the people’s demands for democracy and human rights. “If you really love your country” he wrote “you should show it through your attitude and action at the upcoming UPR session”. He urged the delegation to heed the criticisms and recommendations made by UN member states and civil society, and recognize Vietnam’s abysmal human rights record. At the previous UPR in 2009, he said,Vietnam systematically rejected all criticism, confining itself to “petty acts” such as “queuing up early to sign on for countries who would make speeches praising Vietnam, such as Laos or Cuba”, or “removing copies of speeches by NGO delegations, such as that of Vo Van Ai, and throwing them into the trash-can at the Embassy” to hide the facts from UN member states. “Once we dare speak the truth [and admit these violations], we won’t have to waste time dishonestly concealing the facts”. “This is especially important now that Vietnam is a member of the UN Human Rights Council”, he wrote.
Mr. Vo Van Ai, President of the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR), in an Open Letter today, called on the Vietnamese delegation, lead by Deputy Minister Ha Kim Ngoc, to make an unprecedented gesture at the upcoming UPR session on Wednesday. Instead of reading out a lengthy report claiming Vietnam’s respect for human rights, the delegation should “publicly tear up the government’s report and ask the Human Rights Council to devote the full session to identifying persistent human rights abuses in Vietnam and making concrete recommendations to help Vietnam improve its human rights situation and respect the international human rights treaties to which it is a state party.
Mr. Ai warned that Vietnam’s poor human rights performance had led to growing popular discontent, citing three salient phenomena in 2013-2014; (a) the withdrawal from the Communist Party of many prominent members, including former officials and veterans with over 40 and 50 years of service; (b) the massive public demand for abolition of Article 4 of the Constitution (on the CPV’s political monopoly) during the government’s opinion poll on Constitutional reform in 2013, and the strong disappointment that followed the adoption of the Constitution with no change in Article 4; (c) the continuing demonstrations by young activists in Saigon, Hanoi and all over Vietnam to denounce border disputes or celebrate International Human Rights Day, in spite of brutal repression by Police. These examples were “three warning bells that should awaken the government and Party to the growing dissatisfaction of the Vietnamese people”, wrote Vo Van Ai. Since Mr. Ai began raising human rights abuses in Vietnam at the United Nations each year since 1986, Vietnam’s sole response had been to out-rightly reject all allegations (e.g. “there are no political prisoners in Vietnam, only people who violate the law: there is no repression of religious movements, only those who are political” etc.), or by trying to “shoot the messenger” by making person attacks on himself and his delegation.
The UPR provided a “golden opportunity” for the Vietnamese delegation to “leave your mark on history, and send a strong message to the government and the Party that this is how to win the people’s hearts, by standing beside them in their aspirations for democratic freedoms and human rights”, he said. Mr. Ai admitted that he was asking the impossible of the Vietnamese delegation, but concluded: “Throughout our history, the Vietnamese people have achieved the impossible again and again. Human beings have an infinite capacity for transforming suffering into happiness, slavery into freedom. Where there is a will there is a way!”
On Tuesday 4 February, one day before Vietnam’s URP, Mr. Vo Van Ai will speak at an Information meeting organized by the FIDH (International Federation on Human Rights) and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, and co-sponsored by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch entitled “Banned Civil Society Voices”, with exclusive audio testimonies from Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam Patriarch Thich Quang Do and Buddhist Youth leader Le Cong Cau, both of whom are currently under house arrest. The meeting is in Room XXIV, Palais des Nations from 1.00pm until 2.30pm.
------------------------
Police harass and intercept UBCV monks and lay-followers to prevent celebrations of Buddhism’s Memorial Day in Hue
Security agent assaults Thich Thanh Quang and Lê Công Câu at the Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang. Photo IBIB 17.8.2012.
PARIS, 8 January 2014 (IBIB) – Buddhists in the central city of Hue inform the International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) that Police and security forces are intercepting, harassing and intimidating monks, nuns and lay-followers of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) to prevent them from organizing a Memorial Day commemoration at the Long Quang Pagoda in Hue on 10 January 2014. Since this morning (Vietnam time), over 100 Security Police have surrounded Long Quang Pagoda, intercepting all those who attempt to enter or leave. Since 6 pm (Vietnam Time), the internet at Long Quang Pagoda has been cut.
Memorial Day is one of the most important events in the Buddhist calendar in Vietnam. It is held to honour and commemorate the founding masters of Vietnamese Buddhism and all those who have contributed to its development over the past 2,000 years. It was to be held at Long Quang Pagoda because this is the new Secretariat of the UBCV’s Executive Institute Viện Hóa Đạo, and Venerable Thich Nhu Dat, the Pagoda’s Superior monk, is Viện Hóa Đạo’s new head. He replaces Thich Vien Dinh of Giac Hoa Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City who was dismissed from his post in December 2013.
On Tuesday (7 January), Venerable Thich Thanh Quang, Deputy Head of Viện Hóa Đạo was summoned for interrogations by Security Police in Danang and forbidden to attend the commemorations in Hue. When he protested, they stepped up Police surveillance around his Pagoda (the Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang, also the head office of the Buddhist Youth Movement, has been under tight Police surveillance for the past three years). Venerable Thich Chon Tam, Secretary General of the UBCV Institute of the Sangha, travelled from the southern province of An Giang to assist with Memorial Day preparations. Since yesterday morning, local Security Police have subjected him to “working sessions” (interrogations) and threaten to send him back to An Giang. Venerable Thich Nguyen Ly, UBCV Treasurer and Charity Commissioner was intercepted by Police as he set off from Ho Chi Minh City with a delegation of UBCV monks and followers from the Tu Hieu Meditation Centre yesterday. They were forced to turn back, and the centre is now surrounded by Security forces. Monks and nuns from 18 UBCV Provincial Committees all over southern and central Vietnam have been similarly intercepted and placed under surveillance in their pagodas.
Members of the Buddhist Youth Movement (BYM) are also the target of severe Police harassments. Nguyen Tat Truc, BYM Deputy leader and head of the BYM section in Hue was arrested and detained for questioning on 6 and 7 January. Police accused him of participating in an “illegal organization” (the UBCV) and of “violating the law” by signing letters on behalf of the BYM. Security Police ordered him to resign from the UBCV’s Executive Institute and prohibited him from going outside Thuy Phuong district. He is explicitly forbidden to attend Memorial Day at Long Quang Pagoda, and has been placed under close Police surveillance. Nguyen Tat Truc’s house arrest has seriously impacted his family’s economic situation, since he is no longer able to take his wife to work in Hue, where they rely on her earnings in the period before Tet (Lunar New year) to ensure their income. Hoang Nhu Dao, Deputy head of the BYM in Hue was interrogated by Police at his home on Tuesday morning and questioned again at the Police station in the afternoon. He has also been accused of “illegal activities” and Police are now posted outside his home, frightening his young children.
Many members of the Buddhist Youth Movement were also intercepted and prevented from attending the traditional Memorial ceremony for founders of the BYM in Vietnam on 7 January at the Phuoc Thanh Pagoda in Hue. Whereas this annual event usually draws hundreds of participants, only 70 BYM leaders managed to circumvent Police controls. Key members of the BYM currently subjected to harassments, surveillance and Police “working sessions” include: Hoang Nhu Dao (in Phuong Dien district); Ms. Hoang Thi Hong Phuong, Van Dinh Tat and Nguyen Sac (in Quang Dien district); Ngo Duc Tien and Van Tien Nhi (in Phu vang District); Truong Dien Hieu (Huong Tra district); Nguyen Tat Truc and Nguyen Dinh Mong (Huong Thuy district). The BYM reports that it has been unable to contact many other members, and fears for their security. Lê Công Câu, national BYM leader and Secretary General of the UBCV’s Executive Institute Viện Hóa Đạo, who was arrested on 1 January2014 remains under house arrest without charge at his home in Hue without any formal justification or charge, and is obliged to attend frequent Police interrogations.
The International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) strongly condemns this new crack-down on the UBCV and its educational youth movement, the BYM. Although Police claim it is an “illegal organization”, the UBCV has never been formally banned by the communist authorities. Its members are therefore legitimately entitled to pursue peaceful religious activities as guaranteed by the Vietnamese Constitution. IBIB calls on the international community to press Vietnam to uphold its binding obligations as a state party to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in particular, to raise these cases with Vietnam during its upcoming Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council on 5 February 2014. ---
------------------------
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay at the Meeting on caste
Ms Navi Pillay
Dear Friends
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Navi Pillay attended a meeting about caste-based discrimination on 6 November in the House of Lords at the invitation of the ACDA. The meeting to which organisations and Parliamentarians who have lobbied for a law to outlaw caste-based discrimination in the UK were invited was hosted by Lord Eric Avebury.
In a powerful speech (available on the United Nations Human Rights website http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13973&LangID=E) the High Commissioner stressed the need to act on the “insidious stain” of caste discrimination and urged the UK not to tarnish their excellent record on human rights, by delaying implementation of UK anti-caste discrimination legislation. Ms Pillay further added that there was a need for "strong, swift implementation" of the amended Equality Act 2010 to protect the tens of thousands of people in the UK from low caste backgrounds.
The High Commissioner spoke about the importance of the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Treaty Body known as ‘CERD’ that tends to the International Convention of the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. She referred to CERD’s 79th formal session in Geneva in September to which the ACDA took a delegation and made a successful call on CERD to make a recommendation to the UK Government to invoke Section 9 (5)(a) of the 2010 Equality Act.
There was a full discussion by participations (that included representatives from Castewatch UK, Dalit Solidarity Network UK, Guru Ravidass Sabha UK, Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK, and Voice of Dalit UK ), after the High Commissioner’s speech. During this discussion, the High Commissioner remarked that "If the UK hesitates in defining [caste] or in moving with this law, it's going to send signals to countries who are only now grappling with the issue that it is a matter too complex to legislate on," and that delays in bringing the new law into effect would "certainly not be helpful" to the UK's application to become a member of the UN Human Rights Council in 2014.
The High Commissioner’s visit to the UK and her powerful speech that was reported in the Guardian ( http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/nov/06/un-envoy-navi-pillay-caste-discrimination-law) has reinvigorated the campaign for the swift implementation of the law on caste discrimination in the UK. It has also given us an ally at the UN. In Unity ACDA Team
------------------------
New Evidence of Vatican's guilt prompts Italian politicians to confront Pope Francis as next Common Law court case is announced - The Papacy retaliates with global "black ops" attacks against ITCCS
Oct 28, 2013
Toos Nijenhuis(R)
A Breaking News Summary and Update from ITCCS Central, Brussels.. "I saw Joseph Ratzinger murder a little girl": Eyewitness to a 1987 ritual sacrifice confirms account of Toos Nijenhuis of Holland
The criminal prosecution of yet another Pope came closer to reality this month as Italian politicians agreed to work with the ITCCS in a common law court action against the papacy for its haboring of a wanted fugitive from justice: deposed Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger. The agreement came after a new eyewitness confirmed the involvement of Ratzinger in a ritual child sacrifice in Holland in August of 1987. "I saw Joseph Ratzinger murder a little girl at a French chateau in the fall of 1987" stated the witness, who was a regular participant in the cult ritual torture and killing of children. "It was ugly and horrible, and it didn't happen just once. Ratzinger often took part. He and (Dutch Catholic Cardinal) Alfrink and (Bilderberger founder) Prince Bernhard were some of the more prominent men who took part." This new witness confirms the account of Toos Nijenhuis, a Dutch woman who went public on May 8 with her eyewitness account of similar crimes involving Ratzinger, Alfrink and Bernhard. ( see: http://youtu.be/-A1o1Egi20c )
Soon after his historic resignation from office last February 11, Joseph Ratzinger was convicted of Crimes against Humanity on February 25, 2013 by the Brussels-based International Common Law Court of Justice, and a global citizens arrest warrant was issued against him. Since then, he has evaded arrest within Vatican City under a decree of the present Pope Francis. The surfacing of this new evidence of Vatican complicity in child murder has prompted a group of Italian politicians to agree to work with the ITCCS in confronting the papacy with a common law court case against the present Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, for his sheltering of Ratzinger and his own complicity in war crimes. The politicians had been in closed negotiations with ITCCS representatives since September 22. "We are looking at revising if not abolishing our country's Lateran Treaty with the Vatican, whose actions in harboring child rapists certainly meet the definition of a Transnational Criminal Organization under international law" stated a spokesman for one of the politicians. In response, during the same week of October 7 when these new allegations surfaced, the Vatican commenced a series of attacks against ITCCS groups in Europe involved in documenting the church's involvement in cult ritual murder.
Paid operatives sabotaged ITCCS work in Holland and Ireland during that week, and on October 14, the main ITCCS website was destroyed by the same saboteurs. Political sources in Rome have revealed that these attacks were paid for and coordinated through the Office of the Vatican espionage agency known as the "Holy Alliance" or The Entity, and its affiliated "dirty ops" bureau, the Sodalitium Pianum, established in Rome in 1913. They also involved the agents of the Papal Nuncio to Holland, Archbishop Andre Dupuy, who made direct contact with two of the saboteurs, "Mel and Richard Ve", and with the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, who likewise paid bribes to disrupt ITCCS work in Ireland. "Obviously the Vatican is panicking. This is a good sign" commented ITCCS Field Secretary Kevin Annett today from New York City. "The political tide has shifted against the church, and it's no longer possible for child killers in robes to hide behind the Lateran Treaty. And in its death throes, the church hierarchy is using its usual methods of lies and misinformation to shift the focus off its own criminal guilt."
In response to this breakthrough and to the renewed attacks on its work, the ITCCS Central Directorate in Brussels has today made the following announcement to the world media and to its affiliates in twenty six countries: 1. During November, our network will convene a global press conference in Rome with Italian politicians to announce a new phase of our campaign to disestablish the secular power of the Vatican. This campaign will include the launching of a new common law court action against the present Pope Francis and his agents for complicity in Crimes against Humanity and cult ritual murder. 2. To safeguard these efforts, our main website at www.itccs.org has been restored and protected with new security features. In addition, henceforth, all ITCCS sections will operate under an official Charter which all members must sign and swear to. A copy of this Charter will be posted at itccs.org and circulated to all our sections. 3. For information purposes, our former television site at www.itccs.tv has been compromised and seized by the paid operatives known by the aliases "Mel and Richard Ve", who are acting in deliberate opposition to the ITCCS to blacken our work and the good name of Kevin Annett, our Field Secretary. Neither "Mel and Richard Ve" nor the itccs.tv site are affiliated with nor in any way represent the ITCCS. 4. Jorge Bergoglio (alias Pope Francis) and other officials of the Vatican are now under criminal investigation for heinous offences involving the trafficking, torture and killing of children. We advise all persons to refrain from assisting Bergoglio and his agents under pain of summary conviction for participating in a proven criminal conspiracy emanating from the Curia and the Office of the Roman Pontiff.
Please stay alert for further announcements and actions. This Statement has been issued on October 28, 2013 by the Central Directorate of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State in Brussels, Belgium. Contact: itccscentral@gmail.com, www.itccs.org
------------------------
Breaking Update from Ireland: Dissolving Ties with Rome, Revealing Children’s Graves, an Archbishop’s Dirty Ops Schemes, and Forcing Irish Clergy to Choose their Allegiance
Oct 10, 2013,
Cardinal Sean Brady
Dublin: Four years ago, this city on the Liffey River hosted the formation of the ITCCS: a grassroots movement that has successfully prosecuted and deposed one pope and rallied survivors of church crimes in twenty one countries. Today, Dublin is once again witnessing the birth of an historic movement, an offshoot of the ITCCS: a network of Roman Catholic priests who are aiming to break away from Rome, and establish an independent Irish Church that is free of any complicity with the crimes of the Vatican.
The new group is called Not in Our Name (NON), and it formed at a closed meeting in Dublin soon after Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, resigned last February, following his public indictment for Crimes against Humanity by the ITCCS affiliated Common Law Court of Justice in Brussels. Ciaran Ui Niall is the pseudonym of a serving Catholic priest who lives near Wexford, Ireland. NON was his brainchild, along with a group of other clergy who, to quote Ciaran, “can’t stand the stench of Rome anymore”.
Ciaran spoke to ITCCS Central today from his home. “Our own Cardinal Sean Brady actually told us last year that we’d face purgatory and suspension if we ever named the name of any child abuser in our ranks. For him to even say such a thing is a crime, as I understand the law. And I’m talking God’s law, not just man’s. Once Pope Benedict stepped down, forced down really, that was a sign for me. I knew someone had to start saying no, church law be damned”. Since March, Ciaran has united more than twenty fellow priests across Ireland behind his group, and soon they’ll be going public with a demand that the government cancel the tax exemptions and privileges of the Roman Catholic church as long as it’s tied to a “proven transnational criminal body like the Vatican”. And already, Ciaran and his group have support from outside the church.
Mary Hennessey lives in Connemara, and is a single mother and an organizer for the ITCCS in Ireland. “A group of other moms got together with me and we linked up with the ITCCS when we heard about them taking out Ratzinger” she said today. “We’re just sick and tired of these bastard priests and Bishops getting away with harming our kids and the law looking the other way. Soon enough we heard from Ciaran and we got together. But we’re fighting on a broader front than Not in Our Name. For one thing, we’re pressing for the defrocking of every priest who harms a kid. And we want the kind of mass graves inquiry the ITCCS has pressed for in Canada, to find the kids who died in Catholic schools and sweatshops, like the Magdalene Laundries. But just like in Canada, the fuckers are covering up their filth over here too.”
Not in Our Name and ITCCS Ireland will announce a joint campaign early in the new year, at a Dublin press conference. Among their plans are to push for a national “Disaffiliate from Rome” referendum, public rallies at known mass grave sites of children who died in catholic facilities, and the public naming and citizens’ arrest of known child raping priests anywhere in Ireland. “We’ll be pressing for every priest to take a public oath to unconditionally defend children by naming and exposing child rapists in the church, even if that means defying the present church policy of ‘don’t tell’ “ said Ciaran.
------------------------
A petition to the UK PM regarding caste-discrimination in the UK
Sep 24, 2013
Dalits in UK
To, Mr David Cameron, Prime Minister, United Kingdom, 10 Downing Street, London
Dear Sir,
Caste based discrimination, harassment and humiliation in employment, education and healthcare has been confirmed in surveys commissioned by the UK Government and conducted by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) as well as many British NGOs. According to study by Anti-Caste Discrimination Alliance: “Hidden Apartheid – Voice of the Community: Caste and Caste Discrimination in the UK;” A Scoping Study by Dr Roger Green, Director, Centre for Community Research University of Hertfordshire and Professor Stephen Whittle OBE, Professor of Equalities Law University of Manchester, and advice from Annapurna Waughray, Senior Lecturer in Law, Manchester Metropolitan University, November 2009, states that over 80% of Dalits interviewed by them confirmed that they had faced discrimination “because of their Caste” – Dalits constitute about 450,000 out of around 816,000 Hindus in census 2011. As such, the House of Lords overwhelmingly voted for to suitably amend Equality Act 2010, which proscribes all kinds of discriminations (based on characteristics such as age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, etc) – extending the scope of the amended Act to ban caste discrimination.
The dominant caste Hindus, their organizations like the Alliance of Hindu Organizations (AHO), the Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB), the Hindu Council UK (HCU) and their rich lobbyists, etc., who are financially much more powerful and influential than the Dalits; they have been campaigning and pressurizing the British Government to rescind the amendment aimed at recognizing and curbing caste discrimination. These organizations claim that caste-based discrimination is dying out and hence there is no need for the said legislation to ban it. This kind of lobbying on the part of the British Hindus from dominant castes clearly shows that they are not ashamed of the widespread discrimination practiced by them, because otherwise they would have been asking for even harsher punishment for discrimination based on caste than those based on race, religion, gender, etc. Instead they want to decriminalise caste based discrimination after a few years through “sunset” provision so that they can continue with their discriminatory practice in unhindered fashion. Sir, deep down in their heart and mind the dominant Hindus fail to see anything wrong in the age-old superiority complex and discriminatory attitudes ingrained in them from the time of their birth. Purely with their money-power they have caused the UK Government to vacillate, and it seems the Government is ready to delay the implementation of the amended law as well as to include a sunset provision that would cause the law to be dropped out of the statute book at the end of a certain period; if that happens, it will be a matter of colossal shame!
Just because a certain crime rate may be on the decline decriminalising the same does not make any sense. If there is not much wife-beating or any beating taking place, should beating be decriminalised? As such, we fail to understand why should implementation of the law against caste-based discrimination be delayed or diluted or dropped out of the statute book after certain time, just because such a crime is on decline. If an individual discriminates against another on any basis, shouldn’t such an offender be prosecuted and brought to justice even as the incidence of such a crime may be on decline? Sir, it seems obvious that there is no need to delay or make changes prior to promulgation of the said Equality Act which has already received assent of the Queen Elizabeth. We, the undersigned, urge you to remain fully committed to your Government's earlier decision to curb caste discrimination against Dalits by means of legislation in the UK. We hope your Government will not succumb to maleficent pressure exerted by the dominant caste Hindus in the UK and keep the law undiluted and unchanged. The undiluted law may put a measure of shame among the relatively more sensitive dominant caste British Hindus and usher a faster demise of caste based discrimination in the UK. This will be hailed as an important victory for human rights by Dalits and their sympathizers in Great Britain as well as those around the world. We, therefore, solicit your immediate intervention against any move to scrap, dilute or delay the law against caste discrimination.
Yours sincerely, Dr. A. K. Biswas, Retired IAS and former Home Secretary, Government of Bihar & former Vice-Chancellor, B. R. Ambedkar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar. 137 V. I. P. Road, Calcutta, West Bengal, India (biswasatulk@gmail.com) Dr. Satinath Choudhary, a social and political activist in Delhi and New York. 3. Dr. Shiva Shankar, Professor of Mathematics, Chennai Mathematical Institute. 4. Sukla Sen, Human Rights Activist. 5. Edwin, Writer
------------------------
VIETNAM - Violations of Internet Freedom in Vietnam denounced on the margins of the United Nations Human Rights Council
From left to right: Ramana Sorn (Cambodia), Sukanya Prueksakasemsuk (Thailand), Nicolas Agostini (FIDH), Vo Van Ai (Vietnam)
GENEVA, 13 September 2013 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) – Violations of Internet freedom and harassments against bloggers and netizens were denounced at a Conference on the margins of the 24th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on 11 September 2013. The event was organised by the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR), and co-sponsored by IFEX, Article 19, PEN International and Human Rights Watch.
Speaking on the theme of “Criminalisation of legitimate expression on the Internet: Testimonies from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia” were Mrs Sukanya “Joop” Prueksakasemsuk, wife of detained Thai journalist Somyot Prueksakasemsuk who is serving 11 years in prison for “lèse-majesté”, Ms Ramana Sorn from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, Mr. Vo Van Ai, President of the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, and Nguyen Bac Truyen, a Vietnamese blogger and former political prisoner who sent a audio message from Vietnam.
Mr. Vo Van Ai described Vietnam as “one of the most connected nations in Southeast Asia, but also one of the worst violators of freedom of expression.” He cited Vietnam’s recent adoption of Decree 72 on Internet Management, which came into force on 1st September. The Decree is “Vietnam’s most recent blow against freedom of expression”, he said, noting that it criminalised a whole range of vaguely-defined “prohibited acts”, imposed restrictions on the contents of personal blogs and social media, and obliged foreign companies to provide information on its users to the authorities. He said that Internet penetration was spectacular in Vietnam, with over 31 million regular users (over one third of the population). “The Internet has triggered off a real thirst for information, debate, and exchange, as well as a derise to participate in the country’s affairs. Blogs and microblogs have blossomed in millions. They are bypassing the censorship of the mainstream, official press. An embrionic free press is being born with these blogs”, said Mr. Ai. But he warned that Hanoi was bent on stifling this upsurge of alternative expression.
"Today, Vietnam is pursuing one of the worst crack-downs on bloggers and pro-democracy activists in recent years At least 49 persons have been convicted in 2013 alone. The government is masking this repression behind a veneer of legality and an arsenal of spurious laws. Decree 72 is just one example” he said. (See full text of speech in French on website). Blogger Nguyen Bac Truyen, who sent testimony by audio from Vietnam, described his first-hand experience of harassments and beatings by secret police and hired thugs, and how he narrowly escaped arrest on 10 August, after he met a delegation from the US Congress Foreign Affairs Committee who were visiting Vietnam.
“Since Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang came back from a visit to President Obama in the United States at the end of July, government repression has entered a new, more violent phase. Bloggers and activists are directly targeted. Secret police openly brutalize and intimidate us. They stop at nothing in order to terrorize and repress Vietnamese human rights defenders, bloggers and dissidents”. He called on the international community to “take heed of the plight of bloggers and pro-democracy activists in Vietnam. I urge you to press Vietnam’s Communist authorities to cease human rights abuses and respect their international obligations to uphold freedom and human rights”.
----------------------------------
Jan - Aug 2013
----------------------------------
May - Dec 2012
----------------------------------
Jan 2011-Apr 2012
----------------------------------