| Press Release |
| Congressional Ceremony to Commemorate Vietnam Human Rights Day
May 10, 2012 WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, May 10, 2012, a ceremony on Capitol Hill will call attention to deteriorating human rights conditions in Vietnam. This event, held in the Hart Senate Building (Room H216) from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will commemorate the anniversary of the U.S. HouseSenate Joint Resolution SJ 168 designating May 11th as the Vietnam Human Rights Day. The event is especially timely given the first steps of democratic changes in Burma in contrast to worsening of human rights violations across Asia. Despite escalating state repression, the people of Asia are encouraged by the movements in the Middle East and North Africa, and are organizing for change. The Capitol Hill ceremony will be attended by delegations from China, Tibet, Laos, and Burma. This year, the event is hosted by Senator John Cornyn from the State of Texas, who has introduced the Vietnam Human Rights Sanction Act in the Senate and co-sponsored by Senator Richard Durbin and Representatives: Frank Wolf, Chris Smith, Gerry Connolly, Ed Royce, Dana Rohrabacher, James Moran, Zoe Lofgren, Loretta Sanchez. Speakers include Senators and Representatives from both parties. The agenda also features Mr. Daniel Baer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Department of State; Ms. Libby Liu, President, Radio Free Asia; Mr. Charles Goolsby, Director of Policy, Board of Governors of Broadcasting; Professor Sen Nieh, President of the Epoch Times – Washington DC; Louisa Coan Greve, Vice-President, National Endowment for Democracy; Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International London; Maran Turner, Executive Director of Freedom Now; John Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch; Scott Flipse, International Committee for Religious Freedom; Albert Santoli, President of Asia America Initiative; Prime Minister Sein Winn, Burmese Government in Exile; Jun Wang, President of the China Democracy Party, China Democracy Journal and China Democracy Forum; and Dr. Richard Saisomorn, President of the Laotian New Generation Democracy Movement. |
