The Vietnamese Canadian Federation is pleased to learn from Mr. Hung Nguyen, representative of the Vietnamese community of Whitehorse, that Ms. Deb Jutra, President of the Whitehorse Heritage Festival Society has informed him: there will be no communist flag in the Grand March. The Federation hopes that the decision of the Whitehorse Heritage Festival Society on this flag of the Communist regime in Vietnam (a gold star on a red background) will be extended to include all forms of political propaganda of this regime at the festival. Most members of the overseas Vietnamese community, including Vietnamese Canadians, are former political refugees who fled the Communist regime in Vietnam after South Vietnam was taken over by Communist troops from North Vietnam in 1975. Therefore, allowing the Vietnamese Communist regime to spread its propaganda at the festival would be an utmost affront to them and would bring back the painful memories of their sufferings under the Vietnamese Communist regime. The Vietnamese Canadian Federation calls upon the organizers of the Whitehorse Heritage Festival to show understanding of the feelings of the Vietnamese community in Canada on this issue and to act accordingly. The Federation is the non-profit umbrella organization of the Vietnamese community in Canada. Established in 1980, it currently has 10 chapters in all major cities from coast to coast, with a national office in Ottawa. ********************************************************************************** Liên Hội Người Việt Canada mới được ông Nguyễn Gia Hưng, đại diện cộng đồng người Việt tại Whitehorse, cho biết bà Deb Jutra, Chủ Tịch Hội Chợ Di Sản Whitehorse thông báo: sẽ không có lá cờ của Cộng Sản Việt Nam trong cuộc diễn hành của Hội Chợ Di Sản. Liên Hội Người Việt Canada mong mỏi quyết định của Ban Tổ Chức Hội Chợ Di Sản Whitehorse về lá cờ của chính quyền Cộng Sản Việt Nam (ngôi sao vàng trên nền đỏ) sẽ được áp dụng cả với các hình thức tuyên truyền khác của chính quyền này. Phần lớn người Việt tại hải ngoại, kể cả người Canada gốc Việt, đều là những người tị nạn chính trị chạy trốn chính quyền Cộng Sản tại Việt Nam sau khi quân đội Cộng Sản Bắc Việt xâm chiếm miền Nam Việt Nam vào năm 1975. Do đó, cho phép chính quyền Cộng Sản Việt Nam tuyên truyền trong cuộc hội chợ này sẽ làm tổn thương về phương diện tinh thần cho họ và gợi lại những kỷ niệm đau thương của họ dưới chế độ Cộng Sản. Liên Hội Người Việt Canada kêu gọi Ban Tổ Chức Hội Chợ Di Sản Whitehorse hãy thông cảm lập trường của cộng đồng người Việt tại Canada và hành xử một cách tương xứng. Liên Hội Người Việt Canada là một tổ chức bất vụ lợi bao gồm các tổ chức cộng đồng người Việt tại Canada. Liên Hội được thành lập vào năm 1980, hiện có 10 hội thành viên từ đông sang tây, với trụ sở chính đặt tại Ottawa.   more »

INVITATION Seminar on Human & Labor Trafficking by CAMSA Coalition to Abolish Modern-Day Slavery in Asia Hosted by Boat People SOS (BPSOS) In partnership with: Vietnamese Canadian Federation (VCF), International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), U.S. Committee to Protect Vietnamese Workers (CPVW-USA). In support of the fight against human & labor rights abuses, On behalf of the Coalition to Abolish Modern-Day Slavery in Asia (CAMSA) We invite you to a Seminar on Human & Labor Trafficking At the Falls Church Community Center 223 Little Falls Street Falls Church, VA 22046 (right behind Falls Church City Hall, off Route 7) On Saturday, August 16, 2008, 2PM – 5PM Featuring (1) Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, Executive Director, Boat People SOS (BPSOS) Topic: Overview of trafficking and how to combat this growing problem. (2) Vu Quoc Dung, Secretary General, International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) Topic: Role of NGOs in the fight against trafficking. (3) Nguyen Quoc Khai, Chairman, U.S. Committee to Protect Vietnamese Workers (CPVW-USA) Topic: Slide show on Human and labor trafficking. (4) James (Hoang) Nguyen, UCLA, BPSOS intern Topic: Penang office’s efforts to combat trafficking and rescue victims. Because seating is limited, we request that you RSVP to James Nguyen at 703- 647-6484 or James.Nguyen@bpsos.org no later than August 12, 2008 in order to be included in this seminar. BPSOS / CAMSA 6066 Leesburg Pike, Suite 100 Falls Church, VA 22041   more »

DCVOnline − Tin ngắn MONTREAL (Quebec, Canada) − 23/07/2008, theo tin từ văn phòng của Hội Quốc tế Y sĩ Việt Nam Tự do (QTYSVNTD), kết quả Giải Văn Học kỳ III năm 2008 đã được công bố. Từ tháng 4, 2007 đến tháng 4, 2008 ban tổ chức đã nhận được 115 tác phẩm cho cả hai bộ môn biên khảo và sáng tác. Hội đồng bình điểm tuyển lựa gồn các ông Doãn Quốc Sỹ, Bùi Xuân Quang, Nguyễn Mạnh Tiến và bà Trương Anh Thuỵ. Kết quả về biên khảo, ba tác phẩm đồng hạng là Từ điển nhân danh, địa danh & tác phẩm văn học nghệ thuật Trung quốc, tác giả Hoàng Xuân Chỉnh (USA). Việt Nam: môi trường và con người, tác giả Thái Công Tụng (Canada). Những biến cố mất lãnh thổ, lãnh hải Việt Nam từ năm 939 đến 2002, tác giả Trịnh Quốc Thiên (USA). Về sáng tác có hai tác phẩm đồng hạng: Nhất Linh cha tôi, tác giả Nguyễn Tường Thiết (USA) và Hương chanh, tác giả Võ Thị Điềm Đạm (Norway). Giải thưởng sẽ được trao vào dịp Đại Hội Y Nha Dược Sĩ Việt Nam Tự Do kỳ thứ VI này 9 tháng 8, 2008 tại San Jose, California (USA). http://www.dcvonline.net/php/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5287 The prestigious literary awards will take place on August 9, on the opening day of the 6th International Conference of the Association of Vietnamese Physicians of the Free World, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California.   more »

Writers Banned, Censored, Harassed, and Jailed (New York, July 22, 2008) – Eight Vietnamese writers are among a diverse group of 34 writers from 19 countries to receive Hellman/Hammett awards this year in recognition of the courage they showed when facing political persecution, Human Rights Watch said today. The Hellman/Hammett awards, administered by Human Rights Watch, are given annually to writers around the world who have been targets of political persecution or human rights abuses. UPDATE: Announcement is included in Vietnamese language courtesy Human Rights Watch.    more »

Welcome home, Dr. Ngai Nguyen of San Jose On July 05-2008, when the airplane which had Dr. Ngai in the flight arrived at Thailand's airport, the Thai Police arrested Dr. Ngai, put him in jail and interviewed Dr. Ngai for hours because the Vietnamese communist government put his name on the Interpol terrorist list. After that, they released him but just let Dr. Ngai stay in Thailand for 3 days only. Now, he is already back to USA Thái: Bắt BS Nguyễn X. Ngãi, Nghi Khủng Bố, Tra Vấn, Thả Việt Báo Thứ Ba, 7/15/2008, 12:02:00 AM Bác sĩ Nguyễn Xuân Ngãi tại Thái Lan. Bangkok (Tổng hợp)- Bác sĩ Nguyễn Xuân Ngãi, một người họat cộng đồng nổi tiếng của thành phố San Jose, cũng là Phó Tổng thư ký của Đảng Dân Chủ Việt Nam đặc trách ngọai vận đã bị cảnh sát Thái Lan giữ lại tại phi trường Suvarnabhumi Internaitional mấy giờ đồng hồ để thẩm vấn vì ông có tên trong danh sách khủng bố của cơ quan cảnh sát quốc tế Interpol. Sự việc xảy ra vào khuya thứ bảy 5-7-08, khi vừa đặt chân đến phi trường của thủ đô Bangkok sau chuyến bay dài mười mấy giờ đồng hồ từ San Francisco. Năm viên cảnh sát Thái Lan liên tục điều tra lý lịch, thẩm vấn và bắt ông khai báo nhiều thứ. Sau đó họ điện thọai về Hoa Kỳ và phía nhà nước Việt Nam để xác nhận tình trạng của bác sĩ Nguyễn Xuân Ngãi , và cuối cùng cảnh sát Thái Lan cho phép ông được cư trú trên đất Thái Lan trong 3 ngày và phải báo cáo sự đi lại cho họ biết. Khi bác sĩ họ Nguyễn hỏi lý do tại sao thì cảnh sát Thái Lan cho biết là nhà cầm quyền Hà Nội đã đưa tên Nguyễn Xuân Ngãi vào danh sách những người khủng bố gây nguy hiểm cho Việt Nam của cơ quan hình cảnh quốc tế Interpol cho Thái Lan và các nước lân bang. Lúc rời khỏi Thái Lan để trở về Mỹ thì tại phi trường, tên của ông vẫn còn trong danh sách khủng bố nhưng cảnh sát vẫn để cho bác sĩ Ngãi đi. Chuyện bác sĩ Nguyễn Xuân Ngãi có tên trong danh sách khủng bố quốc tế bị cảnh sát Thái Lan thẩm vấn đã làm nhiều người ngạc nhiên. Là một công dân Mỹ, bác sĩ bệnh tim, người đã được tổng thống Bush đề cử vào Ban cố vấn của Bộ Y Tế Hoa Kỳ, có nhiều sự liên lạc với Bộ Ngọai Giao và Tòa Bạch Oc trong sinh họat đấu tranh dân quyền cho Việt Nam. Bác sĩ Ngãi đã viết thư gởi cho đại sứ Thái Lan tại Hoa Thịnh Đốn để phản đối sự việc và yêu cầu nước này rút tên ông ra khỏi danh sách khủng bố quốc tế do Hà Nội cung cấp. Trên trang báo điện tử An Ninh Thế Giới của Công an, ngày 2-7-08 , đã có bài viết chửi bới nặng nề Lý Tống và Nguyễn Xuân Ngãi và đưa hai người này vào danh sách Interpol. Trong chuyến đi Thái Lan này, bác sĩ Nguyễn Xuân Ngãi đã gặp một số nhà đấu tranh dân chủ trong nước, là thành viên của Đảng Dân Dr. Nguyễn Xuân Ngãi is a world-renowned physician and surgeon. Countless lives have been saved in Vietnam following his training of medical specialists to perform the stent procedure to keep arteries clear. This was not available in Vietnam before 1998, when he made the medical mission. At that time, following his laudatory appearance on the Hanoi Television Program, he was arrested at his hotel for stating that “change is needed” in Vietnam. He and others support reform of the 1992 Constitution and free elections in present-day Vietnam. That is the basis of the VN government labeling him a terrorist. This outrageous act toward an American citizen of such constant public service should be protested from the highest offices in the United States. How about it, Vice President Dick Cheney – who actually sought medical advice about his heart when Dr. Ngai was meeting with him concerning issues of human rights in Vietnam last year? How about it, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who entered Dr. Ngai’s list of prisoners in Vietnam (prepared by a brave UBCV monk) into the Congressional Record? How about it, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who furnished Dr. Ngai with a personal letter to guarantee his safe passage ? The Communist government of Vietnam will continue to laugh at Americans unless these officials protest to Interpol and the government of Thailand.   more »

OPINION The Life and Times of Thich Huyen Quang By VO VAN AI FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA July 14, 2008 Thich Huyen Quang, 87, patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, died in Vietnam on July 5 at the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh. One of Vietnam's most beloved and esteemed spiritual leaders, Quang was also a proponent of religious freedom and human rights in a country where both are in short supply. His life and death illustrate the moral bankruptcy of Vietnam's Communist regime. Quang spent more than half his life in prison, internal exile or under house arrest under a succession of political regimes for preaching opposition to tyranny in all its forms. Along with the UBCV deputy leader Thich Quang Do, he was sent into internal exile in 1982 and detained in remote provinces for the past 26 years for refusing to submit Vietnamese Buddhism to Communist Party control. After subjecting Quang to detention and isolation throughout his life, Hanoi's rulers sought to draw political capital from his death by insisting that his funeral be organized by the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church. Meanwhile the government-controlled media ran a vitriolic campaign to discredit Quang's natural successor, Mr. Do. They accused him and "other extremist elements disguised as Buddhist monks" of "plotting dark schemes" and "immoral actions" by trying to turn the funeral into an "anti-government rally." Mr. Do firmly denounced all government interference, and ultimately led the funeral on Friday, July 11, under the auspices of the banned UBCV. As a member of the World Trade Organization and this month's rotating president of the United Nations Security Council, Vietnam seeks to play an increasing role on the global stage. The reality of the official media's harsh rhetoric contrasts starkly with the pragmatic pronouncements of Vietnam's leadership, who extol the merits of capitalism and free-market reforms. Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War, there are still no opposition parties, no free press, no free trade unions and no civil society. All independent religions are banned, and advocacy of human rights or democracy remains taboo. In this political vacuum, the religious movements in Vietnam -- especially Buddhism, with its tradition of social activism and adhered to by two-thirds of the Vietnam's 84 million people -- have assumed a key role in voicing the people's grievances and pressing for individual freedoms and rights. They are the true voices of civil society in Vietnam today. Indeed, this is the real crux of the conflict between the government and the UBCV, which it has banned. Quang demanded, and Mr. Do demands, not only religious freedom but the respect of basic human rights and democratic freedoms for all Vietnamese. At least 10,000 UBCV monks, nuns and lay followers braved government intimidation and possible arrest to attend his funeral in Binh Dinh and honor their beloved leader. Paying his last respects before Quang's coffin at the funeral at Nguyen Thieu Monastery Friday, Mr. Do made the following solemn pledge: "You have left us for ever, but the struggle for UBCV legality and human rights goes on. We pledge to continue your peaceful combat, to follow the path you traced. We know that countless obstacles lie ahead, and we are ready to confront them. We will not cease until we have fulfilled your dream to see the UBCV regain its legal status and win back the freedoms stolen from us by the Communist regime in 1975." Mr. Ai is the international spokesman of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam.    more »

INTERNATIONAL BUDDHIST INFORMATION BUREAU (BUREAU INTERNATIONAL D'INFORMATION BOUDDHISTE) Official information service of Vien Hoa Dao, Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam B.P. 63 - 94472 Boissy Saint L�ger cedex (France) - Tel.: Paris (331) 45 98 30 85 Fax : Paris (331) 45 98 32 61 - E-mail : ubcv.ibib@buddhist.com Web : http://www.queme.net For immediate release Paris, 10 July 2008 Hanoi’s interference in UBCV Patriarch’s funeral draws strong protests from the international community PARIS, 10 July 2008 (IBIB) – As members of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam prepare the funeral ceremony for the late Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, to be held at 7.00am on Friday 11th July at the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh, international protests are mounting against the Vietnamese government’s attempt to impose a State-sponsored funeral and discredit UBCV Deputy leader Thich Quang Do by denunciation campaigns in the State-controlled media. Today (10 July) three prominent U.S. Congressmen, Edward Royce, Chris Smith and Frank Wolf wrote jointly to Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet in Hanoi deploring that: “Despite [Thich Huyen Quang’s] respected positions with the UBCV and his decades of dedication and leadership, we are now informed that the Vietnamese government has intervened in the planning of the funeral, announcing that the State-sanctioned Buddhist Church will organize the funeral rather than the UBCV. We strongly disagree with this decision and urge its reversal”. “Furthermore, the denunciations of the Venerable Thich Quang Do and other so-called “extremist elements disguised as Buddhist monks” by the government-controlled media are troubling and frankly untrue. The Venerable Do is not an extremist as he has been characterized, but rather retains his standing within the Buddhist community as a well respected citizen and a strong leader. The Venerable Thich Quang Do and hundreds of members of the Unified Buddhist Church have been mourning the death of their leader in various ceremonies. We strongly urge you to respect their beliefs and allow [them] to organize and attend the Venerable Quang’s funeral without interference”. In a letter faxed to the International Buddhist Information Bureau to the attention of UBCV Deputy leader Thich Quang Do today, Therese Jebsen, Executive Director of the Norwegian Rafto Foundation wrote: “The Rafto Foundation strongly condemns the attempt by the Vietnamese government to wrest control over the funeral ceremony of Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang. We also react with anger and sorrow knowing that the Government-controlled media has run denunciation campaigns against You and your followers. This is an additional sign of the brutal and repressive nature of the illegitimate regime in Hanoi.” Ms Jebsen, whose foundation awarded Thich Quang Do the prestigious Rafto Prize in 2006, was arrested at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon in March 2007 when she went to hand the Rafto Diploma to Thich Quang Do. “The Rafto Foundation realizes that the burden on Your shoulders will become even more heavy in the months and years to come” she wrote to the UBCV Deputy leader. “We will continue to support You and the Vietnamese peoples' struggle for democracy, freedom and human rights”. The death of the UBCV Patriarch was “as a tragic loss for all Vietnamese who are persecuted and subjected to human rights violations. It is also a loss for people around the world who are committed to the struggle for human rights and democracy. Thich Huyen Quang will be remembered as a shining example, representing the noblest values of human beings” she said. From Paris, the President of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) Souhayr Belhassen and Vietnam Committee on Human Rights’ President Vo Van Ai sent a joint letter of protest to Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet : “FIDH and VCHR denounce State interference into the UBCV’s internal affairs as a grave violation of the right to freedom of religion and belief enshrined in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a state party. We express our disappointment as these actions are especially shocking from a country that holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council. FIDH and VCHR call upon Vietnam to immediately withdraw all plans for a State-organised funeral. UBCV Deputy leader Thich Quang Do and UBCV members should be fully entitled to mourn their leader and conduct religious rites without any political interference in respect of international human rights standards on the right to freedom of religion and belief”. The London-based headquarters of Amnesty International also issued a strong statement today ”call[ing] on the Viet Nam authorities to allow his funeral to take place according to the wishes of his followers and church, without hindrance and harassment of UBCV members by agents of the state”. Thich Huyen Quang was adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience since 1990, and AI sections in Belgium, Canada, France, Austria, Netherlands and the USA had sent thousands of letters calling for his release. Ms Kathryn Cameron Porter, President of the Leadership Council for Human Rights in Washington D.C. expressed “solidarity with the UBCV in its peaceful struggle to worship freely”, in a letter addressed to Venerable Thich Quang Do on 9th July. “The Leadership Council joins the international community in calling on the Vietnamese leadership to end its restrictions on religious freedom, including unjust restrictions placed on the UBCV and its leadership. We hope that Ambassador Michalak will personally attend Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang’s funeral, and that the memorial services will be organized according to the Church’s wishes, without government interference. As we mourn the death of this great man, we honour his life and his powerful legacy”. ---   more »

Vietnam: Don’t Interfere in Buddhist Patriarch’s Funeral Government Attempt to Take Over Funeral Risks Confrontation (New York, July 9, 2008) – Members of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) should be allowed to organize and attend funeral services for their patriarch without government interference, Human Rights Watch said today. The Vietnamese government has announced that the state-sanctioned Buddhist church will organize the funeral for the UBCV Supreme Buddhist Patriarch, Thich Huyen Quang. A Buddhist peace activist who opposed French colonial rule and the US war in Vietnam, Thich Huyen Quang was a lifelong champion of human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam. He passed away in a monastery in Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam on July 5, 2008, at the age of 88. As a member of the UBCV since the 1960s, which is banned by the Vietnamese government because of its refusal to join the state-sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Church, Thich Huyen Quang spent much of the last three decades in government-imposed internal exile, house arrest, or prison. “Thich Huyen Quang gave up his liberty for 30 years in a quest for greater human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “His followers should be allowed to pay their last respects without government interference, at a ceremony of their own choosing.”   more »

WASHINGTON—The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom extends its sincere condolences to the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam on the death of the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang. The UBCV’s Supreme Patriarch died Saturday at his Nguyen Thieu monastery in the province of Binh Dinh, where he was being held under administrative detention orders because of his decades-long and peaceful campaign for the freedom of religion and related human rights in Vietnam. “Thich Huyen Quang was a strong voice for religious freedom and human rights in his country. Successive governments in Vietnam tried in vain to silence him, and he suffered greatly for peacefully championing religious freedom,” said Commission Chair Felice D. Gaer. The UBCV, Vietnam’s largest Buddhist organization, was de facto banned in 1981 when the communist government formed the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha and required all Buddhists groups to join it. Since 2003, most of the UBCV’s senior leaders have been held under some sort of “pagoda arrest” and recent efforts to organize provincial committees and charitable and youth organizations have been met with harassment, threats, and some detentions. Vietnamese authorities are warning UBCV presumptive leader Thich Quang Do and other UBCV monks against turning the funeral for Thich Huyen Quang this week into an “anti-government rally” and have continued their campaign to discredit Thich Quang Do. A Commission delegation met with Thich Quang Do and other senior UBCV leaders during its October 2007 visit to Vietnam.   more »

Thành kính phân ưu Kính gửi: Hội Đồng Lưỡng Viện Giáo Hội Phật Giáo Việt Nam Thống Nhất Chúng tôi vừa được nhận được tin buồn: Đại Lão Hòa Thượng Thích Huyền Quang Đệ Tứ Tăng Thống của Giáo Hội Phật Giáo Việt Nam Thống Nhất một vị lãnh đạo tinh thần bất khuất trong ý chí một nhà đấu tranh tôn giáo kiên cường trong gian khổ Vừa viên tịch tại Tu Viện Nguyên Thiều – Bình Định – Việt Nam, vào lúc 13 giờ ngày 5 tháng 7 năm 2008. Khối 8406 xin thành kính phân ưu và xin chia xẻ nỗi mất mát lớn lao này với Hội Đồng Lưỡng Viện, Viện Hóa Đạo, Văn Phòng II Viện Hóa Đạo Hải Ngoại, Tu Viện Nguyên Thiều và tất cả các giới chức thuộc Giáo Hội Phật Giáo Việt Nam Thống Nhất trong và ngoài nước Kính nguyện cho giác linh Đại Lão Hòa Thượng sớm được siêu thoát. Việt Nam, ngày 6 tháng 7 năm 2008. Ban Điều hành lâm thời Khối 8406 1- Kỹ sư Đỗ Nam Hải, Sài Gòn 2- Giáo sư Nguyễn Chính Kết, đang vận động tại hải ngoại 3- Cựu Sĩ quan Trần Anh Kim, Thái Bình 4- Linh mục Phan Văn Lợi, Huế 5- Văn sĩ Nguyễn Xuân Nghĩa, Hải Phòng.   more »

Paris, 5 July 2008 (IBIB) - The 4th Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), who passed away on 5th July at the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh, was one of Vietnam’s most loved and respected spiritual leaders. He was also a determined opponent of tyranny in all its forms. For his uncompromising determination to stand firm, he paid a high price, spending over half his life in prison, internal exile or under house arrest under a succession of political regimes. Together with the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, Thich Huyen Quang waged three decades of peaceful opposition to the Communist regime, becoming a symbol of the non-violent Buddhist movement for religious freedom and human rights. But he was also a great peacemaker and a man of dialogue, seeking every opportunity towards harmony and the healing of divisions in a Vietnam torn by war and conflicting ideologies. In April 2003, he was received in Hanoi by Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai to discuss the situation of Buddhism. This is the first time a political prisoner had ever been received by a top government official in Communist Vietnam. The International Buddhist Information Bureau wishes to make public some salient points of his life and work. More information and translation of his major texts will be posted on the IBIB website. On 20.11.1993, from house arrest, Thich Huyen Quang issued a landmark 12-point “Buddhist Proposal for Democracy and Human Rights”. This was a turning point for the UBCV. Whereas the Buddhists had limited their demands to religious freedom, Thich Huyen Quang called for fundamental political reforms such as free elections, a multi-party system, and the end of the Communist Party’s political monopoly. "The abolition of Article 4 (of the Constitution on the VCP’s political mastery) does not imply the exclusion or the dissolution of the Communist Party... [it will] stimulate the participation of all sectors of the population, regardless of their political affiliations or religious beliefs [and] foster competition as a mutually reinforcing relationship, not as a race to oust one's opponents. After all, whether our compatriots be communists or members of any other political party, they are first and foremost Vietnamese. Our common heritage of 5,000 years' civilisation will form the basis for future dialogue and co-operation, and we will be bound together in one common aim - that of forging a place within the community of nations for a stable, flourishing and prosperous Viet Nam" . Thich Huyen Quang’s Proposal defined the Buddhist vision of a just and open society, and underlined the UBCV's resolve to struggle not only for religious freedom and Church independence, but for the fundamental rights and freedoms of Vietnamese people as a whole. He also stressed the role of Buddhism and religious movements this process: "After 50 years of devastating war waged in the name of conflicting, imported ideologies, religious movements alone possess an unparalleled capacity to temper hatreds, defuse conflict and restore moral values in a society plunged in a spiritual and moral crisis. As such, they have a vital role to play in the reconstruction of our country...".   more »

PARIS, 3 July 2008 (IBIB) - The International Budhist Information Bureau is shocked and outraged by the news report issued by the official Vietnam News Agency and relayed on 3rd July by several State-run newspapers in Vietnam (Thanh Nien, Hanoi Moi etc) concerning the “imminent funeral” of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, 89, who is gravely ill at the Quy Nhon General hospital in Binh Binh. Under the title “Unmasking the dark intentions of Quang Do”, VNA states that Venerable Thich Quang Do and several senior UBCV dignitaries and Buddhist Youth leaders have gathered in Binh Dinh “on the pretext of visiting Thich Huyen Quang”, but are in fact “awaiting his death” and “plotting to make use of his funeral make public the banned UBCV”. The official press agency accuses Thich Quang Do and the UBCV of “usurping the right” (sic) to organise Patriarch’s funeral, and claims that the funeral should be organised by the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Binh Dinh. Whilst denouncing Thich Quang Do’s presence beside the UBCV Patriarch, the news agency’s statement commended members of the Government Religious Board and local religious officials for visiting Thich Huyen Quang in hospital, “even though he is not a member of the [State-sponsored] Vietnam Buddhist Sangha”. Mr. Vo Van Ai, UBCV International spokesman and IBIB Director, expressed his profound indignation at this “cynical and inhumane” statement, which reveals the “heartless political manipulations of the Hanoi regime”. Since Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang was taken into the emergency ward of Quy Nhon hospital on 27th May, many senior UBCV dignitaries travelled to Binh Dinh to visit him. “Thich Quang Do went out there immediately to bring comfort to his leader and lifelong friend, hoping that his prayers, presence and care could help Thich Huyen Quang to recover. Yet whilst Thich Quang Do and the UBCV pray for the Patriarch’s life.   more »