nuclear-news

Vietnam int’l nuclear expo 2012 -Activists detained-Human Rights Watch

“In 2012, the Da Lat University offers the scholarship of one million dong a month and seats at dorms when enrolling students for the nuclear power major. However, the school could enroll 17 students only, while it planned to enroll 50.”

 

“As you receive this letter, seventeen Vietnamese social activists, including bloggers and citizen journalists have been in jail for up to a year. Most have not even been brought to trial. These seventeen individuals have been arbitrarily detained because of their work as citizen journalists, environmental advocates, anti-corruption crusaders and human rights defenders.”

 

Saturday, 27 October 2012

Mr Vuong Huu Tan, Head of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety VARANS

The press briefing held on October 24 in Vietnam was introduced as the meeting to introduce the 2012 nuclear power exhibition to be inaugurated the next day.

However, the questions raised by the reporters at the press briefing did not relate to the exhibition. The biggest matter of interest of the participants was the safety of the nuke power plants to be built in Vietnam.

After the Fukushima accident in March 2011, some big countries in the world, including Germany and Switzerland, are considering shut a part or the whole nuclear power plans. This has once again, triggered the big worries about the safety of the nuke plants in Vietnam.

However, Vuong Huu Tan, Head of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety VARANS, has affirmed that the nuclear power plants still have been on the development over the last 18 months, after the Fukushima catastrophe, simply because no alternative energy source has been found.

Tan said that after the Fukushima catastrophe, IAEA has launched an action program to improve the safety of nuclear power plants. Tan has affirmed that when building up the legal framework for nuclear energy in Vietnam, competent agencies would set up new standards and requirements to ensure the safety of nuke plants.

Tran Tri Thanh, Head of the Vietnam Atomic Institute VINATOM, said that the most important thing for Vietnam to do is to choose technologies for the plants.

“We will choose the most advanced technologies for Vietnam’s nuclear power plants,” Thanh said.

Also according to Thanh, the technology and design of the next-generation nuclear reactors are very safe, and that in case of risk, the radiation will not leak into the environment.

However, Thanh’s affirmation has not eased the public concern, because the safety of the plants would still depend on the labor force.

The experts have also admitted that preparing the labor force for nuke power plants is the biggest challenge for Vietnam.

According to Tan, Vietnam has been intensively implementing the plan on developing the labor force in the atomic energy which was approved by the government in August 2010.

Under the plan, by 2020, when Vietnam begins operating the first nuke plant, there would be 2200 engineers in the field. These include 200 engineers fishing foreign schools, 350 masters and doctors. Especially, 150 of them will be trained in the countries with developed nuke power industry.

Universities have been gearing up in preparing the infrastructure system that serves thetraining. The agencies belonging to the Ministry of Science and Technology is also drawing up the training plan. In 2012, Vietnam plans to send engineers abroad for training.

Phan Minh Tuan, Deputy Head of the Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant project’s board of management, while stressing that the qualified workforce would decide the success of the power plant projects, has called on relevant ministries to soon make public the preferences to be offered to the personnel in the industry. He said the personnel need to see the bright job prospects so that they devote themselves to the nuclear power industry.

In 2012, the Da Lat University offers the scholarship of one million dong a month and seats at dorms when enrolling students for the nuclear power major. However, the school could enroll 17 students only, while it planned to enroll 50.

http://en.www.info.vn/science-and-education/more-science/80862-vietnam-to-set-up-new-safety-requirements-in-post-fukushima-period.html

 

Joint Letter Requesting the Immediate Release of 17 Vietnamese Social Activists and Bloggers

AUGUST 27, 2012

Human Rights Watch

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Office of the State
1 Bach Thao
Hanoi, Vietnam

Re: Request for the immediate release of 17 Vietnamese social activists and bloggers and the withdrawal of all charges

Dear Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung,

As you receive this letter, seventeen Vietnamese social activists, including bloggers and citizen journalists have been in jail for up to a year. Most have not even been brought to trial. These seventeen individuals have been arbitrarily detained because of their work as citizen journalists, environmental advocates, anti-corruption crusaders and human rights defenders.

Over the last year, the international human rights community has gotten to know their names: Dang Xuan Dieu, Ho Duc Hoa, Paulus Le Van Son, Nguyen Van Duyet, Nong Hung Anh, Nguyen Van Oai, Chu Manh Son, Dau Van Duong, Tran Huu Duc, Nguyen Xuan Anh, Ho Van Oanh, Thai Van Dung, Tran Minh Nhat, Ta Phong Tan, Tran Vu Anh Binh, Nguyen Dinh Cuong, and Hoang Phong.

These individuals have simply sought to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association guaranteed under international law. What they have in common is a passion for social justice, religious freedom, and involvement in the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Unfortunately, they have been detained pursuant to vague, ill-defined statutes under the Vietnamese penal code: Article 79, which effectively restricts freedom of association and Article 88, which essentially limits freedom of speech. The recent petition filed by Stanford Law School’s Allen Weiner to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention argued very well that their continued detention violates international law.

On March 12, 2012 nine international NGOs (ACAT France, Access, ARTICLE 19, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Front Line Defenders, Index On Censorship, Media Defence South East Asia, Media Legal Defence Initiative, Southeast Asian Press Alliance) sent you a letter which called for their immediate release and access to legal counsel. Since then, their situation has not improved but rather worsened: Four of these activists have been unjustly sentenced to prison terms and the remainder are being held without access to a lawyer. Blogger Paulus Le Son was transferred to Hoa Lo jail in Hanoi which is known for its harsh prison conditions. Another citizen journalist, Dang Xuan Dieu, has not been allowed a single family visitation over the last year.

We respectfully remind you of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s obligations under international law to protect the rights of its citizens when it ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

These rights are also protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which is a matter customary international law. Therefore, freedom of association, freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial are basic rights which should be protected under Vietnam’s legal system and not unjustifiably curtailed.

We believe Vietnam as a country would benefit from greater respect for the civil liberties of its citizens and Vietnamese society would be richer with the contributions of all its citizens. We urgently call on your government to withdraw all the charges against those who are held pending trial and for those who have been sentenced to be unconditionally exonerated.

Sincerely,

 

Christine Laroque, Asia Programs Manager, ACAT France

Brett Solomon, Executive Director, Access Now

Nguyen Ngoc, Associated Vietnamese Writers in Exile Centre

Jillian York, Director for International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Kamila Shamsie, Writers at Risk Committee Co-Chair, English PEN

Mary Lawlor, Director, Front Line Defenders

Phil Robertson, Deputy Director, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch

Rohan Jayasekera, Deputy CEO, Index on Censorship

H.R. Dipendra, Executive Director, Media Defence – Southeast Asia

Peter Noorlander, Executive Director, Media Legal Defence Initiative

Gayathry Venkiteswaran, Executive Director, Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

Nguyen Le Nhan Quyen, Vietnamese League for Human Rights

 

CC:

ASEAN Chair, the Kingdom of Cambodia

Attn.: H.E. Samdech Hun Sen

Australian Embassy, Hanoi

Attn.: HE Mr. Hugh Borrowman

British Embassy, Hanoi

Attn.: Dr Antony Stokes

Embassy of Canada, Hanoi

Attn.: Her Excellency Deborah Chatsis

Embassy of France, Hanoi

Attn.: H.E Jean-François Girault

Royal Norwegian Embassy, Hanoi

Attn.: H.E. Ståle Torstein Risa

Embassy of Switzerland, Hanoi

Attn.: H.E Andrej Motyl

Embassy of the United States, Hanoi

Attn.: Ambassador David Shear

General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union

Attn.: High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton

United States Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor

          Attn.: Assistant Secretary Michael Posner 

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/08/27/joint-letter-requesting-immediate-release-17-vietnamese-social-activists-and-blogger

October 28, 2012 - Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized