http://youtube.com/watch?v=VcYDCGlmTKQ Thousands of Catholic parishioners in Archdiocese of Hanoi, Vietnam have been praying for almost 2 months now to demand the return of the buildings/ land that were used to house the office of Vatican 's Holy Representative in Hanoi, Vietnam for so many years, since the 17th centuries. Many other properties and social services organizations, etc. of Catholic Church of Vietnam also have been armed robbed by Communist authority of Vietnam for decades without mutual agreements, proper compensations, or returns. This specific holy property in Hanoi has been legally owned by Catholic Church of Vietnam with legitimate trust deed. It has been "ARMED ROBBED" by Communist Party of Vietnam since 1940s. Blood of our innocent Catholics will be shed very soon. Please help and pray for our poor Catholics who have been bravely fighting for their human and civil rights including the right of property ownership of their Catholic Church. Thank you. Respectfully, Viet Si Speaker International Movement for Democracy & Human Rights in Vietnam San Jose, California, USA http://www.chuacuuthe.com/   more »

Washington, D.C. - Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) recently authored a letter, cosigned by Representatives Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Al Green (D-TX), Mike Honda (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), strongly questioning the Bush administration’s decision to sign a deportation agreement with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. "We are extremely concerned that thousands of Vietnamese nationals currently living in the United States may be forcibly returned to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , a country with an extensive and continuing record of human rights violations. It is appalling and unbelievable that this Administration would even consider returning those who escaped Communism back to the clutches of the very Communists that they escaped."   more »

California: thousands shows solidarity to Church in Vietnam SAN JOSE - 22 January 2008 Thousands of Catholics in California have been showing their solidarity to the Church in Vietnam over the weekend, while tensions between the Church and government over confiscated Church properties increased. More than two thousands parishioners of St. Maria Goretti in San José, California, attended a Candlelight Vigil on Saturday to pray for the Church in Vietnam. In the Mass concelebrated by five priests, there were special prayers for Hanoi Catholics who have protested for more than a month for the return of properties that belonged to parish churches, seminaries, and the old apostolic delegation illegally seized in the past. A slide show of ongoing peaceful prayer protests of Hanoi Catholics, despite government threats hinting that a crackdown was likely, caught the congregation's emotions. Many wept as they saw images of Hanoi Catholics have been praying earnestly not only for the justice to triumph but also for the conversion of those who have been treating them as second-class citizens or even a national security threat "I feel proud of my brothers and sisters in Hanoi", said a parishioner, "They have become increasingly vocal about past and current religious freedom abuses". "Their fight for justice is peaceful yet determined. They bear a strong public witness of the Gospel's message even when they are forced to stand up and confront with a brutal dictatorship system", said another. Parishioners including a large group of American Catholics signed petitions to President Bush, politicians, and Bishops to urge the government of Vietnam to meet certain benchmarks consistent with international religious freedom standards and find equitable solutions on returning confiscated properties to religious groups. More than two thousand people also attended a candlelight Vigils at St Elizabeth Church, Milpitas, lead by Fr Victor Tran and at the Church of Our Lady of Assumption in Claremont, Los Angeles Source: An Dang © Independent Catholic News 2008 Contact Independent Catholic News tel/fax: +44 (0)20 7267 3616   more »

Re: Vietnam uses political prisoners as forced labor to export cashew nuts and shrimp into the U.S. The United States Congress passed a law to prevent Americans from using forced labor linked products and to stop these products from being imported into the U.S. Unfortunately, some of these products are on sale in various U.S. stores. Currently, The Vietnamese prison system employs prisoner forced labor to generate profits. In 2007, tons of cashew nuts were imported to the U.S , as well as various seafood products, much of which was generated from labor exploitation of political prisoners. The practice of forced labor is not only against the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C 1307), section 307 but also violates the U.S. core of labor standards.(1) The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) states: "All goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in any foreign country by convict labor or forced labor ... shall not be entitled to entry at any of the ports of the U.S., and the importation thereof is prohibited." I am writing this letter to ask that you conduct a thorough investigation on the labor practices the country employs as well as the quality of imported products from Vietnam such as seafood, vegetable products and particularly cashew nuts currently on sale in U.S. I also would like to remind you of the importation of Vietnamese forced labor products into the U.S. is illegal according to section 1307 of the Tariff Act of 1930. I would like to call on the United States and global consumers to pay more attention to products bearing the label "Made in Vietnam" and what this may entail. Our food and belongings may have been produced by the forced labor of detained democratic activists, religious leaders and their followers, political prisoners and other prisoners. Vietnam must stop their ill-practices in prison labor exploitation and comply with international human rights standards in the management of their prison systems. We, as part of the human race must say no to totalitarianism and their crimes and not allow ourselves to participate in the exploitation of others as practiced by such regimes. Regards, Do, Thanh Cong, spokesperson of the People's Democratic Party dangdanchunhandan@yahoo.com   more »

I have just read your press briefing of remarks by Jay Lefkowitz, Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea. I have also read your briefing on talks in China by Deputy Secretary John Negroponte. My question: is there a Special Envoy for Human Rights in Vietnam? Conditions are present to warrant such an envoy: a) the House of Representatives has passed HR 3096, which specifically states that Human Rights are a serious issue in Vietnam, authored by Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey. H.R. 3096 would authorize funding, totaling an estimated $20 million over the 2008-2010 period, to promote freedom, democracy, and human rights in Vietnam. It allocates for implementing the bill $11 million in 2008 and $20 million over the 2008-2012 period. b) It is clearly seen that the Communist government of Vietnam steps up imprisonment of political opposition to the regime, even though it is peaceful. This is especially shown in the case of Le Thi Cong Nhan, a 28-year old attorney who is the spokesperson for the Progression Party, who seek change by referendum. I would appreciate any information of State Dept. assignment to Human Rights in Vietnam. Thank you, Jean Libby, editor VietAm Review   more »

Hoa Thịnh Đốn-VNN) Nhân chuyến đi viếng thăm Việt Nam sắp tới đây của Thứ Trưởng Ngoại Giao Mỹ Negroponte, ông John E. Carey, một ký giả cổ võ cho Tự do ngôn luận thuộc nhóm Hòa Bình & Tự Do, hôm 13-1 đã có một bài viết nói rằng "Thứ Trưởng Ngoại Giao Mỹ Negroponte cần phải áp lực CSVN để trả tự do cho tối thiểu một người tù lương tâm." Đó là nữ Luật sư Lê Thị Công Nhân.   more »

In conclusion I would like to offer the following recommendations: (1) Our State Department should set concrete benchmarks to assess Vietnam’s commitment to religious freedom, such as: a) Recognition of all 671 ECVN congregations in the Northwestern Highlands; b) Timely processing of all applications for recognition or registration according to the Ordinance and Decree; and c) Release of all “individuals of concern” from prison or “temple” arrest. Our State Department should consider placing Vietnam on the CPC list if these benchmarks are not met. (2) Our Embassy in Ha Noi should maintain an up-to-date list of persecuted Khmer Krom Buddhists, Hoa Hoa Buddhists, Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam leaders, Catholic priests, and Protestant house church members; and convene regular meetings with leaders of the persecuted Churches so as to monitor the true conditions of religious freedom. (3) Congress should authorize and appropriate funding to build capacity for independent Churches in Vietnam to defend their rights under the new legal framework. Posted on Tuesday, January 15 @ 13:33:11 EST by ngochuynh   more »

Attention: The Honorable Deputy Secretary John D. Negroponte U. S. State Department This is a plea for inquiry into the conditions of imprisonment of Le Thi Cong Nhan, a 28-year old female attorney in Vietnam. Her political charge is that of using words including “democracy” on Internet communications. She was first placed under house arrest in early November 2006, just before the APEC summit in Hanoi attended by President Bush. She was arrested in March 2007 soon after Vietnam was admitted to the World Trade Organization, tried and found guilty of “spreading propaganda intended to undermine Vietnam’s Communist government.” Her sentence is four years in prison, plus indeterminate future house arrest. Recently Ms. Nhan, who went on a hunger strike in December 27, 2007, was moved on January 3, 2008 from Hanoi to province Thanh-Hoa. On the way to the notorious prison T – 5 that is part of Ho Chi Minh’s “reeducation camp” system begun in 1961, she became unconscious. The Bible which the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) handed her on their visit in the Hanoi prison in October 2007, was confiscated by the prison guard after her arrival. She is in the new prison room in Thanh-Hoa together with about 60 criminal prisoners and sleeps on the hard ground without bed and mattress. I am a retired United States history teacher with a blog about Vietnamese American issues that has been in continuous publication since 2004. The average daily readership is 1200 hits, plus an international email list of 190 journalists, organizations, teachers and students who ask to receive my postings. I am monolingual English-language, and linked by the Asian American Studies curriculum at the University of Maryland. While teaching I met a Vietnamese immigrant student who was imprisoned by the Communists with her mother when she was four years old, in 1988. She remembers the experience because she was shot while attempting to leave Vietnam on a boat. The captain was killed and many passengers injured. Untreated, she still carries the bullet in her leg. Other women friends have told me their experiences being imprisoned for attempting to leave Communist Vietnam. The conditions were particularly negligent in sanitation and gender-specific in brutality. The term of imprisonment for Boat People caught trying to leave was six months without trial. Le Thi Cong Nhan, in fragile health, is being harassed by common-law prisoners with the encouragement of the regime. She is not receiving medical treatment. Clearly she is in an immediate life-threatening situation. My request to you, Secretary Negroponte, is to inquire about her condition in the spirit of improvement of human relations as articulated by the U.S. government during your meetings with government officials in Vietnam this week. Jean Libby Editor, VietAm Review http://vietamreview.blogharbor.com   more »

Recently, to protest against the imprisonment conditions under which she has been held together with some 38 criminal prisoners and was tormented from these prisoners, Lawyer Le has started on December 27, 2007 a hunger strike and thereafter she was moved on January 3, 2008 from Hanoi to province Thanh-Hoa. On the way to the new prison she became unconscious. The Bible, her only consolation source in the prison, which the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) handed her on their visit in the Hanoi prison in October 2007, was confiscated by the prison guard after her arrival in the new prison (Prison Number 5 of the province Thanh-Hoa). She is in the new prison room in Thanh-Hoa together with about 60 criminal prisoners and sleeps on the hard ground without bed and mattress. As the detention of Lawyer Le Thi Cong Nhan is a grave violation of human rights from the Hanoi communist regime and in view of her present fragile health condition, we beg you make a visit to this prisoner of conscience in the prison and demand the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to release her immediately and unconditionally. Yours faithfully, Vietnam Progression Party UPDATE: eloquent letter from John E. Carey, writer based in Washington D.C. Secretary Negroponte: Secure The Release of At Least One Jailed In Vietnam Addresses for Deputy Secretary Negroponte and the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi are included for people to write while he is in China and Vietnam on January 16-20. Further information about Prison Five in the Thanh Hoa Province can be found from a panel at Dartmouth College that included Anh Do, publisher of Nguoi Viet Daily News. http://www.dartcenter.org/dartaward/2002/hm3/10.html    more »

Viet Nam, January 5, 2008 - At the Xuan Loc prison on December 7, 2007, a prisoner of the Hoa Hao Buddhist sect named Phong was punished by solitary confinement. To protest this treatment, political prisoners such as attorneys Tran Quoc Hien and Nguyen Bac Truyen, doctor Le Nguyen Sang and various other prisoners of the Hoa Hao Buddhist sect have gone on hunger strike en masse for two consecutive days on December 9 and 10. In the face of such collective action by the political prisoners, the prison warden had no choice but returning Phong back to his former cell. The People’s Democratic Party urgently condemns the prison system of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, of its deliberate policy of retaliation against the prisoners who are currently being incarcerated. We are making an appeal to the international communities, Amnesty International, and various human rights organizations to ask for their intervention and to raise their voices against the Hanoi authorities and their trampling on human dignity. At the same time, we are imploring public opinion and people worldwide, particularly those international concerns that are doing business with Vietnam in the seafood products and cashew nuts to reconsider their trade in the face of such travesty of human rights. Thanh Cong Do, Spokesperson of the People's Democratic Party   more »

The 5th International Vietnamese Youth Conference January 4-6, 2008 Đại Hội Thanh Niên Sinh Viên Việt Nam Thế Giới Kỳ 5 Ngày 4-6, Tháng Giêng, 2008 In an effort to increase the youth's awareness of a democratic society, where the contributions of each Vietnamese person matter, this year's conference is themed "Building Civil Society for Vietnam-- Grassroots Efforts for Democracy." UPDATE: A report from the conference is attached. (in Vietnamese only) Contact information is included.    more »

Văn phòng TTK/Đảng DCVN trân trọng công bố THÔNG ĐIỆP ĐẦU NĂM CỦA ĐẢNG DÂN CHỦ VIỆT NAM. Thông Điệp đầu năm của Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam được công bố chính thức trên diễn đàn của Đảng DCVN tại Website : www.ddcvn.org và được phát hành từ Email : vpttkddc@gmail.com Văn Phòng TTK Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam Nguyễn Tâm Phụ tá Tổng Thư Ký ( Ấn Ký ) THÔNG ĐIỆP ĐẦU NĂM MỚI 2008 CỦA ĐẢNG DÂN CHỦ VIỆT NAM KÍNH GỬI : - Toàn thể đồng bào, các chính đảng, các tôn giáo, các đoàn thể Việt Nam. - Đảng viên Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam. Nhân dịp đầu năm mới 2008, Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam trân trọng gửi lời Chúc Mừng Năm Mới đến toàn thể đồng bào, các chính đảng, các hội đoàn, qúy giáo hội và các anh chị em đảng viên Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam. Chúc đất nước và dân tộc Việt Nam năm 2008 phát triển mạnh mẽ, tự do, dân chủ tiến nhanh và bền vững trong sự nghiệp độc lập, bảo vệ toàn vẹn lãnh thổ và ấm no hạnh phúc cho toàn dân. Năm 2007 vừa qua đã đánh dấu bước ngoặt mới của đất nước và dân tộc Việt Nam : Vị trí đất nước và dân tộc Việt Nam ngày càng khẳng định trên trường quốc tế. Kinh tế đất nước có bước phát triển nhất định, tuy chưa bền vững và chưa đồng bộ với phát triển dân chủ và nhân quyền. Lạm phát cuối năm tăng cao đột ngột làm cho đời sống của đông đảo nhân dân, nhất là nông dân, công nhân và viên chức bình thường sa sút, làm cho ý nghĩa phát triển kinh tế mất đi giá trị thực tiễn và đời sống của tuyệt đại đa số nhân dân quay lại con đường khó khăn. Những sai lầm và thiếu sót trong quản lý và điều hành đất nước một phần do yếu tố tham nhũng chi phối đã làm cho lực lượng dân oan, những người bị thiệt thòi về quyền lợi kinh tế bởi các chính sách phát triển của nhà nước ngày càng tăng cao và lòng oán thán với chính quyền ngày càng nghiêm trọng. Tuy nhiên, dân trí trong xu thế phát triển và hội nhập quốc tế đang phát triển lớn mạnh. Tư duy và hiểu biết về kinh tế xã hội của nhân dân ngày càng nâng cao, đặc biệt là tư duy về Độc lập, Tự do, Dân chủ và Nhân quyền. Mặc dù bị hạch sách, thậm chí bị đàn áp sai luật pháp nhưng ý chí độc lập, tự do và dân chủ đã bộc phát mạnh mẽ trong nước. Đã có nhiều nhà tranh đấu cho dân chủ công khai ra mặt và lên tiếng trong làn sóng ngầm của phong trào dân chủ hóa đất nước đang trỗi dậy trong toàn dân và rộng khắp mọi miền đất nước, đỉnh cao vào cuối năm với những cuộc biểu tình lên tiếng phản đối mạnh mẽ việc nhà cầm quyền Trung Quốc âm mưu thôn tính quần đảo Hoàng Sa và Trường Sa của đất nước và thái độ nửa vời của nhà cầm quyền Việt Nam. Tuổi trẻ với sự tiếp cận tri thức của thời đại ngày càng chứng tỏ trình độ, hiểu biết, năng lực và bản lĩnh trong học tập, làm việc, nghiên cứu và đặc biệt tiếp thu nhanh các ý nghĩa chính trị xã hội trong phát triển và hội nhập quốc tế. Năm 2007 được đánh dấu là năm Phong trào dân chủ và Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam phát triển vượt bậc. Tư tưởng và hành động dân chủ được nhiều người tìm đến. Năm vừa qua là năm Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam trở lại hoạt động với Cương lĩnh và chương trình hành động chính thức được công bố. Đội ngũ Đảng viên Đảng Dân chủ phát triển nhanh chóng từ Phong trào dân chủ trong nước và nước ngoài. Với chủ trương dân chủ hóa đất nước bằng đường lối hoạt động ôn hòa, theo khuôn khổ luật pháp và thông lệ quốc tế. Năm 2008 hứa hẹn sẽ là năm Phong trào dân chủ và Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam phát triển mạnh mẽ. Đại hội Đảng Dân Chủ đang được chuẩn bị tiến hành tổ chức trong năm nay. Sau cùng, trong năm mới, Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam mong muốn toàn dân cùng các chính đảng, các tôn giáo, các đoàn thể tích cực đoàn kết đẩy mạnh dân chủ và sự phát triển bền vững cho đất nước Việt Nam. Hà Nội, Ngày 31 Tháng 12 Năm 2007 TM. ĐẢNG DÂN CHỦ VIỆT NAM Tổng Thư Ký ( Ấn Ký ) GS. HOÀNG MINH CHÍNH   more »