A Vietnamese court on Thursday reduced the jail sentences of four activists convicted on charges of plotting to overthrow the government but upheld those of four others, a lawyer said, while a banned opposition group they were said to have links with called for their immediate release.

The People’s Court of Vinh city in Nghe An province heard the appeals of eight defendants from a group of 13 Catholics, bloggers, and students who had been jailed following a trial on Jan. 8-9, as supporters were blocked from viewing the proceedings and, according to some reports, detained.

Three of the appellants—including Ho Van Oanh, Nguyen Van Duyet, and Nguyen Xuan Anh —had their jail terms reduced by between six months and two-and-a-half years, while prominent Catholic blogger Paulus Le Van Son had his 13-year sentence cut to four years, according to lawyer Ha Huy Son.

“Four people's sentences were upheld while those of four others were adjusted,” lawyer Son told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“The four adjusted sentences include Le Van Son to four years in prison and four years of probation, Nguyen Van Duyet to three-and-a-half years in prison and four years' probation, Nguyen Xuan Anh to two years in prison with no probation, and Ho Van Oanh to two-and-a-half years in prison with no probation.”

Duyet had originally been sentenced to four years, while Anh and Oanh had both received three years in prison.

“The four others—Ho Duc Hoa, Nguyen Dinh Cuong, Tran Minh Nhat, and Thai Van Dung—had their sentences upheld, though Nhat no longer faces probation after his jail time is completed,” Son said.

The lawyer said that the court had disregarded nearly all of the recommendations by the defendants’ legal team during the appeal hearing, though he granted that “some progress had been made” compared to the previous trial.

“They did adjust sentences. They also listened to the lawyer's opinions—they did not limit arguments at this trial,” he said.

“However we were unsatisfied with some opinions raised at the trial. For example, [the court] maintained that any request for pluralism or a multiparty system is a violation of the law and that nonviolent protest is a crime.”

The group of eight defendants were initially convicted—along with five others who did not appeal Thursday—under Article 79 of the Penal Code for their involvement with Viet Tan, an opposition group considered a terrorist organization in one-party Vietnam.

Supporters blocked

Family members and supporters of the eight on trial Thursday said security personnel had blocked them from entering the court and arrested an unknown number of people.

A relative of one of the defendants, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, said he had been barred from the hearing and that loudspeakers broadcasting the trial outside the courtroom had the sound intentionally lowered to prevent the crowd from hearing what was taking place.

“Even if they had let me in, there might have been nothing to see. They usually just let defendants say some last words and then deliver the verdicts,” he said.

“The loudspeakers were not loud enough to hear. When the prosecutor talked, they made them loud, but when the defendants or [defense] lawyers said something, they made them low.”

Another witness outside the court said that ahead of the trial plainclothes policemen had arrived outside the court and taken posters expressing support from the family members of the defendants.

“When the trial started, they sent a lot of police there to chase people away and blocked all access to the court. They wouldn’t let people stand nearby, except for scores of policemen,” the witness told RFA.

“The trial ended around 5:00 p.m. The family members were all very sad. Now people are gathering to ask the police to release [supporters] they arrested, including Minh Hang, Dan, and Thuy Nga. They are going to Nghe An provincial police office to do that.”

The witness provided no further details about detentions outside the court.

Sentences condemned

Viet Tan was quick to dismiss the reduction in sentences as an attempt by the Vietnamese government to deflect international and grassroots pressure over the continued jailing of the eight dissidents, calling for them to be “immediately released.”

“These eight human rights defenders continue to face harsh prison terms for their peaceful political advocacy,” the opposition party said in a statement Thursday.

Last month, Viet Tan said the eight had faced various deprivations and abuses in jail, including assault and having their medicine withheld.

“Since detaining these human rights defenders in 2011, the Hanoi regime has yet to show how these activists actually harmed the country’s interests or engaged in any activity that could be considered illegal under international standards,” the group said in Thursday’s statement.

Viet Tan said the leaders of Vietnam “should be embarrassed” for silencing citizen bloggers who take part in nonviolent civic action.

“That’s why the authorities conducted today’s trial behind closed doors, prevented international observers from attending the proceedings, and even roughed up family members of the defendants outside the court.”

In a statement ahead of Thursday’s appeal, Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, said the latest trial showed how the Vietnamese government refuses its people the right to freedom of expression.

“The People’s Supreme Court should try something new and different by breaking with the orders it receives from its political overseers and vacating the judgment against these eight activists,” he said.

“The hubris and hypocrisy of Vietnam’s leaders is really on display as the government imprisons people for exercising their rights, yet also somehow inexplicably believes it deserves serious consideration for a seat at the U.N. Human Rights Council for the 2014-2017 term.”

Vietnamese authorities have come under fire from human rights groups and some Western governments for jailing and harassing dozens of activists, bloggers, and citizen journalists since stepping up a crackdown on protests and freedom of expression online in recent years.

This year alone, at least 38 activists have been convicted of anti-state activity—many under Article 88, which rights groups and press freedom watchdogs say is a vaguely worded provision used by Hanoi to silence dissent.

Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

A prominent blogger and her two colleagues were briefly detained this week by authorities in southern Vietnam’s Khanh Hoa province after distributing leaflets and balloons promoting international human rights standards.

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh—who blogs as Me Nam, meaning “Mother Mushroom”—said in an interview after her release that she and her friends Pham Thanh Hai and Nguyen Tien Nam, also known as Binh Nhi, were handing out copies of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Tuesday in Nha Trang city when they were detained.

“I went to April 2 Avenue to distribute the declaration of human rights while some friends gave kids balloons that said our human rights should be respected,” Quynh told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“Police came and told me to go to the Loc Tho commune police station” along with Pham Thanh Hai and Nguyen Tien Nam at around 5:00 p.m., she said.

Quynh was released late on Tuesday night, while Hai and Nam were held for 24 hours.

Their detention followed a move earlier this month by authorities to shut down “human rights picnics” in Nha Trang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City, where bloggers and activists gathered in public parks to discuss the declaration and other rights issues but ended up beaten, interrogated, or arrested.

Quynh said that she had distributed copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—which Vietnam has ratified—to inform the Vietnamese people of what Vietnam agreed to when it became a member of the United Nations in 1977.

“When I was arguing with the police … many people crowded around and demanded that I be allowed to show them the declaration. They wanted to read it to understand for themselves that it wasn’t a ‘horrible’ document.”

After she was taken to the local police station, authorities told her that she did not have permission to distribute the rights declaration.

“They confiscated all the leaflets and wrote a report, all while filming me as if I were a criminal,” she said.

“After that they took me to the provincial police office for additional interrogation until midnight.”

Under questioning

Quynh said that her interrogators were “very intimidating and tense,” but said that she remained calm, asking them to explain to her exactly why she had been detained.

“They only said that what I did wasn’t wrong, but that it was ‘not right’ either,” she said, adding that they were unable to give her a clear answer of how she had violated the law.

“It was strange that many policemen refused to touch the declaration. They looked at it like it was some kind of poisonous document.”

When Quynh was given permission to leave the police station, she told her interrogators that she wanted to wait until Hai and Nam were also released, but authorities made her return home.

“They said that my daughter needed my help to prepare for a school exam and reminded me that my young son was sick, so I should go home and they would let my friends out later…. I decided to go home and return the next morning,” she said.

She returned to the Khanh Hoa provincial police station Wednesday and waited there until her friends were released.

Bloggers targeted

Quynh has been held by authorities several times in the past for “abuse of democratic freedoms and infringing on the national benefit” after writing damning blog posts concerning China's intervention in Vietnam.

Her writings have largely focused on Beijing's financing of a controversial bauxite mine in the Central Highlands and its claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Police surveillance and harassment is a common experience for dissident bloggers in Vietnam, which is listed by press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders as an “Enemy of the Internet.”

Vietnamese authorities have jailed and harassed dozens of bloggers, citizen journalists, and activists over their online writings since stepping up a crackdown on freedom of expression in recent years.

Many have been jailed under Article 88 of the Vietnamese Criminal Code for “conducting propaganda against the state,” and international rights groups and press freedom watchdogs have accused Hanoi of using the vaguely worded provision to silence dissent.

Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Religious freedom continued to decline in China this year, while Vietnam showed slight signs of improvement despite ongoing abuses, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report to American lawmakers.

Meanwhile, in Myanmar, also known as Burma, violations of religious freedoms continued unchanged in spite of progress made in political reforms, the report said.

In China, the State Department’s 2012 Religious Freedom Report said, “the government’s respect for religious freedom declined during the year, particularly in Tibetan areas and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Republic.”

In general, China’s government emphasized state control over religion, the report said, adding that the religious activities of religious adherents were restricted “when these were perceived, even potentially, to threaten state or Chinese Communist Party interests, including the Party’s concept of social stability.”

Protestants and Catholics practicing outside of state-controlled churches came in for particular scrutiny, said the report, as did members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement and smaller groups called “evil cults” by China’s government.

“Government repression, including crackdowns at monasteries and nunneries, resulted in the loss of life, arbitrary detentions, and torture,” said the report.

The U.S. Secretary of State has designated China as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) since 1999, with the designation most recently renewed in August 2011.

Countries of Particular Concern

Countries of Particular Concern are countries “that are considered to commit ‘particularly severe violations of religious freedom,’ and whose records call for the U.S. government to take certain actions under the terms of the [International Religious Freedom] Act,” said the report.

Burma, or Myanmar, also designated a CPC since 1999 with that status renewed in 2011, saw “considerable” movement in political reform during 2012, “but the trend in the government’s respect for religious freedom did not change significantly during the year,” the State Department report said.

The report noted especially that local officials in the country’s Rakhine state took part in ethnic violence targeting Rakhine’s Muslim community last year.

Overall, Myanmar authorities “subjected religious activities and organizations to restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly,” the report said, adding that the government  promoted Theravada Buddhism over other religions, “particularly among certain ethnic minority populations.”

In Vietnam, though abuses of religious freedom—involving arrests, detentions, and convictions—were  reported during the year, “the government also showed signs of progress,” said the report.

“It registered new congregations, permitted the expansion of charitable activities, and allowed large-scale worship services with more than 100,000 participants.”

Problems remain

“Other problems remained, [though], especially at the provincial and village levels, including slow or denied approval of registration for some groups. Some Christian groups also reported harassment or administrative obstacles when they tried to hold Christmas services,” the report said.

The State Department included Vietnam on its list of Countries of Particular Concern in 2004 but removed it from the blacklist two years later and has since ignored repeated calls by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms (USCIRF) to reinstate the country’s designation.

“The Vietnamese government is still using vague national security laws to suppress independent Buddhists, Protestants, Hoa Hao, and Cao Dai activities,” USCIRF chair Katrina Lantos Swett told RFA in April.

“And they are definitely working to stop the growth of ethnic minority Protestantism and Catholicism through discrimination, instances of violence, and repeated episodes of forced renunciations of faith.”

“It’s still a very concerning situation, and one that we believe does merit CPC designation,” Swett said.

Lax enforcement

In Laos, “the trend in the government’s respect for religious freedom did not change significantly during the year,” the State Department’s report said.

“Officials respected the constitutional rights of members of most religious groups to worship, albeit within constraints imposed by the government.”

But local officials were sometimes lax in their enforcement of laws protecting religious freedom, said the report.

“District and local authorities in some of the country’s 17 provinces continued to be suspicious of non-Buddhist religious groups and occasionally displayed intolerance for minority religious groups.”

This was especially true in the case of Protestant congregations, “whether or not officially recognized,” the report said.

Contrasting cases

Meanwhile, in Cambodia, “there were few reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice,” though Buddhism is the country’s state religion, said the report.

“[Cambodia’s] constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally respected religious freedom.”

By contrast, the government of North Korea “severely restricted religious activity, except for some officially recognized groups it tightly supervised,” according to the State Department report.

“Reports by refugees, defectors, missionaries, and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) indicated that the authorities arrested and subjected to harsh penalties persons engaged in religious proselytizing and those in unauthorized contact with foreigners or missionaries.”

Reports of arrests and punishments  during 2012 were difficult to verify, though, “[D]ue to the country’s inaccessibility and the inability of foreigners to gain timely information,” the report said.

Two ethnic Khmer monks have escaped into hiding after an attempt by Vietnamese government and religious authorities to strip them of their religious status following accusations of anti-state activity, sources said on Friday.

Thach Thuol and Lieu Ny—both of the Ta Set pagoda in the Vinh Chau district of Soc Trang province—evaded arrest on Thursday when hundreds of local Buddhists blocked police efforts to detain them, the two men told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“On May 16, at about 4:45 p.m., about 100 plainclothes police officers entered the pagoda to arrest me and monk Lieu Ny,” Thach Thuol said. “We both escaped arrest, but they came again at 11:00 p.m.”

Hundreds of local followers prevented police from entering the pagoda, and police broke locks and glass windows while trying to gain access, Thuol said.

The state-controlled Patriotic United Buddhist Association of Soc Trang province had announced two days before that they would force the monks to defrock, declaring in a statement by Buddhist leader Duong Nhon that the two men had used phones and the Internet to give interviews and transmit “fabricated information” about state policy toward Vietnam’s ethnic Khmer Krom minority.

“That decision [to defrock us] was not correct,” monk Lieu Ny said, speaking to RFA.

“Monks can be defrocked only when they have violated [one or more] of the Buddhist vows not to kill, steal, rape, or lie in order to harm others,” Ny said.

“Because we are citizens we have to respect the law. But this decision by Venerable Duong Nhon did not specifically state what rule we had broken.”

“I think this was a decision taken by the government of Vietnam,” Ny said, adding, “They did everything. They only put Duong Nhon’s name under it and forced him to sign.”

Third monk

Meanwhile, a third Khmer monk, Ly Chanh Da of Vinh Chau’s Prey Chop temple, was defrocked by local police on May 16 and thrown unconscious into the street, the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation said in a statement Friday.

“He is staying at [a] villager’s house now,” the Federation said. “He is in a very bad health condition. Sometimes he cannot even remember his own name.”

“The Patriotic United Buddhist Association had ordered Ly Chanh Da to defrock, but Ly Chanh Da did not listen,” Hua Si Hung, acting vice chair of the Vinh Chau People’s Committee, told RFA.

“The Association then asked relevant authorities from the village to force Ly Chanh Da to defrock,” he said.

Reached for comment, Duong Sa Kha, head of the Ethnic People’s Office of Soc Trang province, described the case as “an internal affair of the Patriotic United Buddhist Association.”

“If you want to know more, you can come here to talk … The Association did not ask the police to do anything,” he said.

A U.S. bipartisan commission recommended in April that Vietnam be returned to a State Department list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.

Vietnam, under one-party communist rule, “continues to expand control over all religious activities [and] severely restricts independent religious practice, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms (USCIRF) said in an annual report.

Though religious activity has grown in Vietnam in recent years, the government continues to “repress individuals and religious groups it views as challenging its authority,” USCIRF said.

Reported by Quoc Viet for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

A court in southern Vietnam on Thursday sentenced two young activists to several years in prison for distributing “anti-government” leaflets, in a trial relatives and rights groups condemned as unfair and aimed at silencing dissent in the one-party state.

University student Nguyen Phuong Uyen, 21, was sentenced to six years in prison, while computer repairman Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, was given eight years in prison that will be added to a previous two-year sentence from a separate case.

The Long An provincial court found them guilty of spreading “propaganda against the state” over leaflets they had handed out in Ho Chi Minh City last year while protesting against China’s claims to islands in the South China Sea.

They were convicted under Article 88 of the penal code, a provision rights groups say the government has used to muzzle dissent, and both will serve three years of house arrest following their prison terms.

'Not a crime'

The defendants’ family members and lawyers said Uyen and Kha had not acted against the state and that the punishments against them were too harsh.

“My son did not do anything against the communist party, only against corruption,” Kha’s mother Nguyen Thi Kim Lien told RFA’s Vietnamese Service after the trial.

“I don’t see how he was opposed to the government, or the people. I see no article in our constitution or our laws saying that he committed a crime.”

Kha, who was sentenced by a Tan An city court in September to two years in prison for “intention to cause injury,” has also been investigated by police in connection with “terrorist” activities.

Uyen’s father, whose first name is Linh, said her punishment was a violation of human rights.

“She exercised her right to free expression, but was charged with propaganda against the state,” said Linh, who was barred from attending the trial.

Patriotic Youth League

According to their indictment, Uyen and Kha distributed leaflets signed by overseas opposition group the Patriotic Youth League which accused the communist party of allowing China to take over the country by occupying its islands and exploiting its natural resources.

The Patriotic Youth League—a group of students, artists, and young professionals who promote social justice and human rights in Vietnam and which is banned in the country—had in the leaflets urged people “to take to the streets” against the communists.

Plagued by errors

Uyen’s lawyer Ha Huy Son said that proceedings in the case had been plagued by “a lot of errors,” including the court’s omission of evidence and that its verdict failed to take into account the defense lawyers’ arguments.

“All three of us lawyers said our clients did not commit crimes according to Article 88 of the penal code, but [the court] did not listen,” he told RFA.

The case has drawn online support from Vietnamese activists, with university students writing petitions for Uyen’s release since her official arrest in October after she had been missing for two weeks.

Barred from attending

Supporters gathered outside the court on Thursday were barred from attending the trial, as were some of the defendants’ relatives.

“According to law, people are allowed to attend the trial and everybody has that freedom,” Uyen’s father said.

“But in this trial, even the defendants’ closest family members were not allowed to attend the trial, let alone Uyen’s supporters.”

The Rev. Dinh Huu Thoai, who had gathered with other activists outside the court, said supporters had been met by a large number of security personnel.

“They said this is a public trial, but the security forces and police intimidated people who tried to attend,” he said.

'Ridiculous' trial

Ahead of the trial, New York-based Human Rights Watch had appealed for the immediate release of the two defendants, saying Vietnam should stop using “politically controlled” courts to convict government critics.

“Putting people on trial for distributing leaflets critical of the government is ridiculous and shows the insecurity of the Vietnamese government,” the group’s Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch also noted that it was unclear why Kha, given his previous conviction in late September, would have been free —according to the indictment—to distribute leaflets in October.

Reported by An Nhien and An Nguyen for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

A lawyer representing two Vietnamese activists set to face trial for crimes against the state urged authorities Wednesday to re-examine the charges against them, as a human rights group called for their release and an investigation into reports they had been abused in prison.

Nguyen Phuong Uyen, 21, and Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, were arrested in October last year for handing out anti-government leaflets during a protest against China’s claims to islands in the South China Sea and are scheduled to be tried in the People’s Court of Long An province on Thursday.

Both Uyen and Kha have been charged with “conducting propaganda against the state” under Article 88 of the penal code, while Kha faces an additional charge of “terrorism” under Article 84 in a separate case.

On Wednesday, lawyer Nguyen Thanh Luong, who represents Uyen, sent a petition to the Long An provincial prosecutor’s office and people’s court requesting that the authorities reconsider the indictment against the defendants.

“According to Article 4 of the constitution, the Vietnamese Communist Party is the ruling party, but the party itself is not the state… Article 88 of the penal code has nothing to do with the communist party,” Luong told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“The party is only a political party and each member is a citizen of the socialist republic of Vietnam. Therefore, blaspheming the party does not mean blaspheming the state.”

He said that using Article 88 to charge those for speaking out against the communist party was not only unfair to the defendants, but also “sends the wrong message to the public.”

The lawyer also asked the authorities to consider that Uyen had taken part in a protest against China as a means to “express her love for her country.”

“The relevant offices of justice should consider this instead of prosecuting her on criminal charges.”

According to state media, Uyen and Kha distributed leaflets signed by overseas opposition group the Patriotic Youth League which accused Vietnam’s communist party of allowing China to take over the country by occupying its islands and exploiting its natural resources.

The Patriotic Youth League—a group of students, artists, and young professionals who promote social justice and human rights in Vietnam and which is banned in the country—had in the leaflets urged people “to take to the streets” against the communist party, which it said was controlled by the Chinese.

Authorities have accused Uyen and Kha of contacting Nguyen Thien Thanh—a Patriotic Youth League member based in Thailand—via Facebook in April or May last year.

They say Thanh convinced the two to join the “anti-state reactionary group” and sent files containing the wording used in the leaflets, instructing them to paste the leaflets in public areas.

Two defendants

Uyen, a student at the Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry from Ham Thuan Bac district in Binh Thuan province, was taken into custody by authorities on Oct. 14, 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City, and held at a local police station after distributing the leaflets.

Uyen’s relatives were notified of her arrest eight days later—after police had already transferred her to authorities in Long An.

On Oct. 23, Long An police acknowledged that Uyen had been charged with “conducting propaganda against the state.” They said she had been officially arrested on Oct. 19, leaving five days unaccounted for.

Uyen’s mother Nguyen Thi Nhung told RFA’s Vietnamese Service last month that during a 20-minute prison visit on April 26 she learned that her daughter had suffered a seizure and other health problems, and had also been subjected to a brutal beating by a fellow inmate.

“I could see many bruises on my daughter’s body—on her neck, chest, and arms,” Nhung said at the time.

“She said she was beaten, attacked, and kicked until she fainted,” adding that an older female inmate with a criminal record who Uyen did not know had assaulted her and that authorities had only intervened and taken her to the emergency room after she passed out from the beating.

Dinh Nguyen Kha, a student at the Long An University of Economics and Industry from Tan An city, was accused by police of dropping 2,000 anti-government leaflets at the An Suong overpass in Ho Chi Minh City on Oct. 10, 2012 with the help of Uyen.

Police told state media that he had also previously conducted experiments with making explosives, without providing further details.

Kha was arrested on Oct. 11 but, according to a copy of his indictment, he had already been convicted and sentenced on Sept. 29 by the People’s Court of Tan An city to two years in prison for “intentionally causing injuries [to others].”

Kha’s mother, Nguyen Thi Kim Lien, in April called on authorities to re-examine her son’s case, saying that an initial indictment sent from the prosecutor’s office to the court had said there was not enough evidence to charge him with terrorism.

Kha’s brother, Dinh Nhat Uy, said that when police had come to the family home to search for evidence, they couldn’t find anything, so they took his computer, camera, and printer instead.

Uy said he was subjected to 10 days in a row of interrogation before police decided not to charge him, but said he is still harassed on a weekly basis.

Call for release

The case of Uyen and Kha drew international condemnation ahead of Thursday’s trial, with New York-based Human Rights Watch calling on Vietnamese authorities to drop charges against the two for their nonviolent protest.

“Putting people on trial for distributing leaflets critical of the government is ridiculous and shows the insecurity of the Vietnamese government,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“Writing things that do not please the government is only a crime in a dictatorship.”

Human Rights Watch also noted that given Kha’s conviction in late September, it was unclear why he would have still been free to drop leaflets on Oct. 10.

The group said it had no information about the explosives or terrorism charges against Kha, but said it opposes criminal charges for dropping leaflets, which it termed “an act of peaceful expression.”

Adams called on Vietnamese authorities to allow lawyers and doctors “unrestricted and confidential access” to Uyen and Kha to discuss charges against them and to investigate claims of mistreatment.

He also condemned Vietnam for “using politically controlled courts to convict critics of the government.”

Reported by An Nguyen for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Backed by powerful banks, Vietnamese rubber companies are rapidly expanding their operations in Cambodia and Laos by grabbing land from villagers and disregarding the environment, according to an extensive probe report.

The UK-based development watchdog Global Witness said in the report that Cambodian and Lao officials often look the other way as companies in Vietnam’s rubber industry seize land from local communities without adequate compensation and carry out illegal logging operations both inside and beyond their concession boundaries.

Vietnam’s two largest companies—privately-owned Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and state-owned Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG)—have leased huge tracts of land for plantations in the two countries “with disastrous consequences for local communities and the environment,” the report said.

“The huge pressure for land to plant rubber is driven by high prices and soaring international demand, especially from China,” it said.

The Vietnamese companies are backed by top German lender Deutsche Bank and World Bank subsidiary the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Global Witness called on them to divest their stakes in the companies if they do not adhere to the banks’ legal, environmental, and social requirements.

“As the third-largest producer of rubber globally, Vietnam is a key global player … [but] with limits on the land available at home, both companies have turned to neighboring Cambodia and Laos [for production],” it said.

Megan MacInnes, head of the Land Team at Global Witness and the report’s author, told RFA’s Lao Service that the impact of large-scale rubber plantations has been “devastating” to local communities and to the environment in Cambodia and southern Laos.

“There are major problems in terms of deforestation and illegal logging and forest clearance and destruction of forest resources,” she said.

“But the local communities we spoke to also told us about the fact that these plantations are destroying their access to local water sources—to streams and to rivers—and they also talked about pollution from the chemicals that the companies are using on the plantations.”

The Cambodian authorities criticized the Global Witness report, saying the group has a “political” agenda” against the government. Lao officials did not immediately react to the report.

MacInnes said the villagers her team interviewed for the report are in a “desperate situation” and that many have lost access to their farmlands—leaving them unable to grow rice and vegetables—as well as to forest resources such as medicines and fruits that are important to their household incomes.

“Almost all of the people that we spoke to told us that the impact on their livelihoods by these rubber plantations had been negative—had really impacted their livelihoods very badly,” she said.

By the end of 2012, the report said, 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) of land in Cambodia had been leased, with 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) allocated for rubber plantations, while in Laos, at least 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) of land had been leased to concessionaires.

It termed the granting of concessions to HAGL and VRG in both countries “a process marked by lack of consultation and forced evictions.”

“Often, the first people know about either company being given their land is when the bulldozers arrive,” the report said.

“When they resist, communities face violence, arrest and detention.”

Flouting local laws

Global Witness said that rubber plantations, particularly in Cambodia, had been supported by corrupt political and business leaders, while dealings in both countries were “cloaked in secrecy.”

“Both HAGL and VRG have very close connections with high-level government and business elites in Cambodia, so they are clearly very well-connected to the government,” MacInnes said.

Global Witness said that government officials in both Cambodia and Laos have licensed concessions “in contravention of their own laws” and have failed to take action when HAGL and VRG ignored those laws.

MacInnes told RFA that her team often found that rubber companies had offered little or no compensation to families affected by concessions, which is required under both Cambodian and Lao laws.

“In some villages there had been compensation offered, but often it was very low—much, much lower than the market value or much lower than the households thought the land or the forest areas were worth,” she said.

“In other places, villagers told us that the companies promised compensation, but nothing was ever paid.”

The report said that the companies were responsible for the illegal clearance of intact forest—including protected species—both within and beyond their concession boundaries.

MacInnes said that the companies denied being involved in illegal activities when contacted by Global Witness, claiming their operations were sanctioned by the government through the granting of concessions.

“We think it’s very, very important that these companies bring their operations in line with the law, and we think that it’s incredibly important also that the Lao and Cambodian governments investigate and prosecute these companies for illegal actions and illegal operations around their concessions,” she said.

Global Witness called on the governments of Cambodia and Laos to suspend all HAGL- and VRG-related operations, fully investigate them, and initiate prosecution where illegal activities are found. It also recommended that a number of concessions made to other rubber companies should be canceled.

Report reaction

“This report doesn't aim to help Cambodia,” said Cambodian cabinet Spokesman Phay Siphan. “This is not a partner who is helping to prevent forest crimes.”

“The report has a political agenda in attacking the government,” he said, adding that the Cambodian authorities provided concessions not only to Vietnamese companies but also to local small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Phay Siphan called on Global Witness to “file a lawsuit if they have evidence” to support their claims.

He said the government’s policy of granting land concessions aimed to encourage practitioners of traditional agriculture to form small- and medium-sized enterprises to improve their yield and profits.

“This is part of an effort to modernize our agriculture sector,” he said.

“We are not only giving concessions to Vietnamese companies. We are giving concessions to any companies that can demonstrate financial and technical expertise.”

But Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the opposition National Rescue Party (NRP), accused the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of “serving the interests of foreign countries,” saying that the granting of excessive land concessions to Vietnamese companies was causing the country to lose money.

“We would benefit more from preserving the forest and allowing our farmers to cultivate their land,” he said.

“Under the current model we enjoy a small amount of benefits at the cost of massive forest destruction.”

Reported by Tep Soravy for RFA’s Khmer Service and RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Burma expects to nearly double its rice exports to 3 million tons by early next year, selling to new markets as it moves toward taking back its former spot as the world’s top exporter of the grain, an industry spokesperson said.

Myanmar Rice Industry Association central executive member Soe Tun told RFA’s Burmese Service that Burma plans to export to several new markets beyond Africa by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2014.

Burma’s rice market was mostly confined to Africa during decades of international sanctions against the Southeast Asian nation’s notorious military regime, which yielded to a reformist government in 2011.

According to Commerce Minister Win Myint, “Burma expects its rice exports to reach 3 million tons in the next fiscal year,” said Soe Tun, who is also a spokesman for the Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation.

“We are now exporting to European countries, including Russia, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium. We have exported about 5,000 tons to these countries.”

Burma signed an agreement in March that led to a shipment of 5,000 tons of rice to Japanese trading house Mitsui earlier this month—its first export of rice to Japan in 45 years. The deal will also see Japan invest in Burmese processing plants that will have an annual intake of 400,000 tons of rice.

Last month, during Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s visit to Burma, a memorandum of understanding was clinched for Burma to export up to 500,000 tons of rice per fiscal year to Indonesia depending on the supply and demand factors in the two countries.

Record exports

Soe Tun said Burma had recently set new records in rice exports, referring to a state media report which said the country had exceeded its target of 1.5 million tons in the last fiscal year by about 600,000 tons, marking “the highest amount of rice exported from Burma in the last 46 years.”

“Burma is now fifth in terms of rice exports around the world,” he said, and is poised to grow.

The Southeast Asian nation was the world’s biggest rice exporter for much of the first half of the 20th century until it was overtaken by Thailand after an army coup in 1962 set up nearly five decades of junta rule.

Since taking power in 2011, Thein Sein’s reformist government has quickly revamped Burma’s rice production and reputation as an exporter.

Regional competition

Soe Tun acknowledged that Burma faces steep competition from its neighbors.

“Our competitors are India and Vietnam,” he said. “Their rice prices for export market are not very different from us.”

But experts suggest that Burma holds an advantage over other major rice producers in the region like Thailand and Vietnam because of an abundance of internal rivers and idle land which could be used to grow the crop.

Burma’s overall production stood at 13 to 14 million tons of milled rice in the last fiscal year, according to the Irrawaddy online journal.

Vietnam’s total rice output last year reached 44 million tons, while Thailand’s stood at 37 million tons.

Potential setbacks

Despite improvements in recent years, productivity in Burma’s agriculture sector, which accounts for more than a third of the economy, has been hampered by factors such as antiquated practices and poor seed quality.

In order to continue to improve yields, Burma will need to work to educate farmers and use better equipment, officials have said.

Soe Tun said that Burma must grow a significantly larger rice crop to feed its own people if the country is to reach expectations for exports.

“If we export 3 million tons next year, we’ll need to grow more rice in the country,” he said.

“We have kept about 10,000 tons of rice for domestic use this year.”

Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFA’s Burmese Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

A group of mostly former jailed dissidents in Vietnam have set up a new online group to coordinate efforts to bring democracy to the country, now under one party communist rule.

The movement, known as the "Brotherhood for Democracy," was established about 10 days ago and the membership has grown to 70 so far.

The group wants to move away from what it calls individual- and petition-based approaches that have been taken so far to highlight the need to bring freedom to the country, organizers said.

"It is time for domestic democracy activists to gather to discuss and find the shortest path for democracy in Vietnam," lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, a former dissident prisoner and co-founder of the group, told RFA's Vietnamese Service.

"Before this, [pro-democracy] movements in Vietnam were just individual-based," he said. "There was no coordination. That was why they were weak."

"Now with the Brotherhood for Democracy, we can maximize the strong points of each individual, creating collective strength to fight more vigorously and, at the same time, help one another to overcome weak points. This helps to create a solidarity between us."

Bloc 8406

The biggest online Vietnamese group pushing for democratic reforms is Bloc 8406. It was organized across the country in 2006, but many of its leaders, including co-founder Roman Catholic priest and dissident Nguyen Van Ly are languishing in prison.

Ly was involved in various pro-democracy movements, for which he was imprisoned for a total of almost 15 years. His support for Bloc 8406 led to his latest sentence on March 30, 2007, for an additional eight years in prison, where he was released and then jailed again in 2011.

Unlike the Bloc 8406, the Brotherhood for Democracy is largely based in northern Vietnam, observers say.

"The democracy movement in Vietnam has reached a very high level [of momentum]," said Pham Van Troi who was among the first to sign up for membership in the new group after emerging from prison recently following a four-year sentence in October 2009 for pro-democracy activism.

"Many people want to join the brotherhood or want to establish their own groups. They are activists who fight for human rights in Vietnam everyday … We only care for our universal goal and work together toward that goal," he told RFA.

Internet-based

Both Dai and Troi said there was no need to seek permission from the Vietnamese authorities to register the group and hoped the government will not harass the members over the move.

"We set up this association on the Internet," Troi said. "We use information technology to seek democracy for the Vietnamese. Vietnam law does not have any regulations related to this kind of online activity."

"And because we don’t have to ask permission from the government, we hope not to face any interrogations by the government."

Dai said Vietnamese law, under Article 69, allowed for freedom to form an association of expression.

Online interaction

He said Brotherhood for Democracy would evolve based on online interaction through social utility groups like Facebook.

"We created a connection between us without being controlled by the law of Vietnam and we don' t need to ask for permission. We only have to adhere to the rules set by Facebook, service providers, U.S. law and international law," he said.

"Our law does not prohibit that activity. Everybody can meet on the Internet and when we see one another in real life, we also do not need to have any permission."

Dai also made clear that the Brotherhood for Democracy was not intended to stifle the growth of pro-democracy groups.

"If there are only a few associations or political groups, there is no way to force a big change in Vietnam. At the moment, we need many associations and groups to develop in different areas, including people from all walks of life, so in the future they can be big and strong enough to create a coalition, a bigger organization," he explained.

"By that time we can pressure the government to make changes to the pave the way for democracy, bringing benefits to all Vietnamese people in Vietnam."

Reported by An Nguyen for RFA's Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai and Joshua Lipes.

Security forces in southern Vietnam surrounded the pagoda of a banned Buddhist group over the weekend and barred monks from leaving the monastery, in the latest crackdown on the group in the one-party communist state.

The blockade of the Giac Hoa Pagoda belonging to the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) in Ho Chi Minh City came as activists gathered in parks in cities across the country to stage “picnic” demonstrations calling for protection of human rights.

Some 50 security personnel including police and plainclothes agents surrounded the pagoda on Sunday, the Paris-based UBCV-affiliated International Buddhist Information Bureau rights group said in a statement Tuesday.

That morning, the head of the pagoda Thich Vien Hy and UBCV deputy leader Thich Vien Dinh were pushed back inside by a “gang” of plainclothes agents who surrounded their car when they tried to leave the monastery, IBIB said.

The two were going to another monastery to visit UBCV patriarch Thich Quang Do, who has called on followers to support public protests in Vietnam’s cities in recent years.

Security agents refused to provide a police warrant or explanation for why the monks were not allowed to leave, except to say they had “orders from above.”

Other monks were also barred from leaving the monastery to conduct prayers or funeral services for local Buddhists.  

The IBIB did not say whether the siege of the pagoda has ended.

According to the IBIB, police have regularly “systematically blockaded” various UBCV pagodas around on weekends since July last year, when Thich Quang Do called on followers to support a series of weekend anti-China rallies led by activists across the country.

Public protests are rarely allowed in Vietnam, and the recurring rallies calling for Hanoi to take a stronger stance against Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea were at first allowed to go ahead but eventually faced stricter controls.

Unsanctioned religious groups face strict controls in Vietnam, religious activity is monitored and groups must be supervised by government-controlled management boards.

‘Picnic for human rights’

This past weekend, in an ingenious move, activists organized protest “picnics” in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Nha Trang in the hope that the gatherings will not be shut down like the anti-China rallies.

But police dispersed the gatherings.

In Ho Chi Minh City, three activists were briefly arrested after they handed out copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  

Blogger Nguyen Hoang Vi, who had helped organize the Ho Chi Minh City gathering in the April 30th park, said she was held until late Monday and suffered beatings by police.

“When I went to the picnic spot, police arrested me and sent me to Phu Thanh police station,” she told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

When she went back to the police station with her mother after her release to get her belongings, police beat her and puller her mother’s hair violently, she said.

“When my mom told them off, they started to beat me. They grabbed my mom’s head and dragged her out,” she said.

Fellow blogger Vu Quoc Anh was beaten after he confronted people in the park who were using hoses to douse picnickers with water to disperse the gathering and was taken to the police station until Sunday night.

“When I did not cooperate with them, they slapped me, on my head and neck,” he told RFA.

Activist Hanh Nhan was also briefly detained.

An announcement about the May 5 picnic protests circulated online on April 30, the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, calling for people to gather in the parks to discuss human rights with the aim of “contributing to a beautiful society.”

“What needs to be done to improve the human rights situation in Vietnam so that Vietnam will become a strong country with a prosperous people and a just, democratic, and civilized society?” it said.

Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.