Vietnam Human Rights Day 2013 will be held at Hart Senate Office Building, Room 902, Washington, DC

The live stream will begin at 12:00 p.m. continue through 3:00 p.m. EST at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/amerilao

Join the VNHRD 2013 team! 

Vietnam Human Rights Day (www.vnhrd.org) is looking for dedicated, passionate volunteers to be a part of this momentous occasion. This year, the focuses for young adult volunteers are:

1) increase social media presence and awareness among the younger APIA community

2) learn how to effectively document the day using photography, videography, etc.

3) effectively communicate with the community the importance of the day for our generation.

If you are interested, please fill out the application form by Friday, April 12, 2013 11:59PM -- http://bit.ly/YAOewG.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Jenn Nguyen ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Kayla Tran ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Impact Statement of Vietnam Human Rights Day 2012

May 18, 2012

BACKGROUND

Our group consisted of several previously unacquainted students and young professionals from around the nation who came together for one cause:  to assist with planning and executing the 18th commemoration of Vietnam Human Rights Day.  Working together, we managed to combine our strengths to make this event a success.

WORK

During our time in Washington, DC, we were asked to assist the organizers with a variety of tasks under the guidance of Dave Nguyen.  Volunteers who arrived earlier to Washington, DC worked closely with Dr. Quan Nguyen on confirming speakers for the May 10th event, disseminating information to the press, and collecting pictures from past years to share on a PowerPoint slideshow that played throughout the event.  Other volunteers spent significant time marketing the event on social media, creating a website (www.vnhrd.org), and designing printed material to be handed out at the event.  We were also able to establish a live stream on our website, which allowed the viewing of the event by those who otherwise would not have been able to attend in person.

On the day of the event, we were trusted with ensuring the orderly execution of the event itself. The team was fortunate enough to have the right number and type of people available to balance the tasks that presented themselves simultaneously.  This involved coordinating the check-in process, identifying and introducing the scheduled speakers, accommodating last minute speakers, and managing the overall flow of the program.

IMPACT

Through this experience, we not only had the opportunity to demonstrate our leadership skills, but we were also inspired by the dedicated community members from the surrounding area whose efforts made this event possible.

Working alongside Dr. Quan Nguyen and the community provided us with meaningful insight toward the significance behind the event, how the commemoration started eighteen years ago, and why it continues to mean so much to the community.  The commemoration signifies the strides that have been made in the past eighteen years and also provides the vision and momentum for the progress to be made in the future.

Being able to interact with numerous human rights activists who gathered together for Vietnam Human Rights Day motivated us to continue serving in the Vietnamese community.  Many of us came into this event unaware of the enormous scope of this event, but by the end of the day, we all walked away from the event empowered, inspired, and eager to educate others about the human rights issues currently affecting Vietnam.

FUTURE GOALS

As the younger generation, we hope that we may continue working with the committee members to learn more about their experiences and perspectives concerning human rights in Vietnam.  We are confident as we continue learning of the community’s expectations for Vietnam Human Rights Day, that we will be able to impart the importance of this day to the Vietnamese youth across the nation and inspire new leaders to join us in making the movement for human rights in Vietnam even stronger.

- VNHRD Project Team 2012

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.