Network of Vietnamese Bloggers
- On Saturday 1, March 2014 at 9:00 in the morning, as planned, several
members of the MLBVN opened the Human Rights Café discussion focussing
on “The Rights to Freedom of Movement”.
Around 30 bloggers were present, amongst them were human rights
activists like Nguyen Ho Nhat Thanh (blogger Paulo Thanh Nguyen), Luu
Trong Kiet, Huynh Cong Thuan, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (Me Nam), Nguyen
Hoang Vi (An Do Nguyen), Nguyen Thao Chi, Nguyen Thi Yen Trang (Mi
Ruoi), Hoang Van Dung (Hoang Dung CĐVN), Bui Tuan Lam (Peter Lam Bui),
and Huynh Ngoc Chenh. Visitors from abroad in attendance were Aija
Salovara (Finland) and Lina Johansson (Sweden).
Notably, a dozen security officers sat at nearby tables, watching and walking around, taking pictures of and filming the group.
However, the two chairs reserved for PA 67 (Ho Chi Minh City Security
Agency) and PA 72 (Immigration Department Head Office) were unoccupied.
Authorities from these government departments did not appear to join the
discussion. They were the officials directly responsible for
arbitrarily prohibiting citizens from exiting the country and
confiscating their passports.
Prior to the human rights café, the bloggers that were banned from
departing the country (Paulo Thanh Nguyen, Me Nam Gau, Hoang Dung CĐVN)
had sent invitation letters to PA 67 and PA 72 requesting authorities to
attend the meeting. The authorities gave the group no reply; instead,
many plainclothes police officers came out on that day to “monitor” the
situation. Blogger An Do Nguyen recollected, as one of the foreign
journalists suggested taking photos of everybody, a plainclothes police
officer quickly made a call, then taking pictures of the bloggers. When
the journalist took her turn to take his picture, the man hurriedly
covered his face behind his hands.
Photo: Facebook user Nguyen Hoang Vi
Pham Chi Dung is a Doctor in Economics and also a journalist. He was not
allowed to exit the country for Geneva last February, where the
Universal Periodic Reviews conference for Vietnam took place. He was
also present for the discussion.
Photo: Dr Pham Chi Dung shares his story to foreign journalists and bloggers
Opening the discussion, Paulo Thanh Nguyen, Me Nam, Peter Lam Bui, Huynh
Cong Thuan, Nguyen Hoang Vi, Huynh Ngoc Chenh, and Hoang Dung shared
their experiences regarding the overruling decisions by the government,
prohibiting them to exit Vietnam without any prior notice.
The other young members in the group spoke of their concerns regarding
the many negative effects on their time, budgets, and jobs, if no notice
or explanation would be given to them informing them of the reasoning
behind the orders and those responsible for it.
The only notification given to all these citizens, forbidding their
right to depart the country, decreed the same reason: “For national
security and public order and safety”. The notifications did not clearly
dictate any definite period of time, and no individual assumed
responsibility for this decision to ban the right to exit the country of
these citizens.
Next, as the group discussed this issue, Huynh Ngoc Chenh and Paulo
Thanh Nguyen suggested the police authorities actually enforce the law
by giving citizens clear and practical information, with specific
instructions. Precise decisions would be valued over vague and general
statements, offering to citizens no clear directions.
Dr Pham Chi Dung suggested that they all should think about suing the
officials who wrongly performed their job, especially as there is enough
evidence. He also suggested everybody should bring the case to the
international tribunal.
The discussion ended with an agreement to produce a shared statement
from those that were denied the right to exit the country. The Network
of Vietnamese Bloggers will continue to organize future meetings and
will conduct suitable activities to further promote human rights.
The security officers did not want to sit at the same table as the
bloggers, but they attentively followed their every word, gesture, and
movement. They were quite well-mannered. Yet they intensely followed the
two foreign journalists, pointed cameras straight to their faces in an
aggressive manner. The journalists only shrugged their shoulders and
commented the situation as “So weird, so weird!''.
The height of their rude attitude was seen as they asked the Starbucks
café staff to demand the bloggers not to take any photos or film, and to
ignore any questions from the foreigners. Evidently however, these
plainclothes police could do as they liked.
Below is the video from the human rights café, by blogger Huynh Cong Thuan.
Some photos taken by the MLBVN's members:
Nguyen Hoan Vi, Mi Ruoi, Me Na (program MC)
Two plainclothes police monitoring the group
Two empty seats reserved for representatives from PA67 (Security department
for national political protection) and PA72 (Security department for travelling abroad)
Translated by Jasmine Tran (Danlambao)
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