In preparation for the Martin Ennals Award (MEA) ceremony, a Vietnamese delegation arrived in Geneva, Switzerland to begin a two-week advocacy trip for the improvement of human rights in Vietnam and the release of Pham Doan Trang - one of the three laureates of the 2022 MEA.
The delegation includes:
- Mrs. Bui Thi Thien Can, mother of journalist Pham Doan Trang;
- Mr. Will Nguyen, a former political prisoner, and pro-democracy advocate; and
- Ms. Tran Quynh-Vi, Co-director of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam (LIV, the managerial body of The Vietnamese Magazine and Luat Khoa Magazine).
The Martin Ennals Award ceremony will take place on June 2 and Mrs. Bui Thi Thien Can will receive this award on behalf of her daughter.
Pham Doan Trang was arrested on October 7, 2020, and sentenced to nine years in prison on December 14, 2021, for “distributing anti-state propaganda.” She is one of the co-founders of The Vietnamese Magazine, Luat Khoa Magazine, and LIV.
The award is known as the “Nobel Prize of human rights” and is named after Martin Ennals, a British human rights activist who served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International from 1968 to 1980. The award ceremony is held annually to recognize the efforts of human rights defenders worldwide and advocate for their protection.
The judging panel is an independent committee composed of representatives from ten prestigious international human rights organizations. The Geneva Municipal Government co-hosts the award ceremony and the Martin Ennals Foundation.
Source: The Vietnamese
