By Vu Quoc Ngu | Apr 10, 2015
Vietnamese blogger Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh under pseudonym Me Nam (Mother Mushroom) has been honored with the Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award 2015 from the Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders.
Like Ales Bialiatski, the winner of the prestigious award last year, Ms. Quynh was not allowed by the local authority to attend the ceremony held in the Swedish capital city on April 10 during which attracted the participation of UN Special Rapporter on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Michel Forst and UN Special Rapporter on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association and nearly 200 civil rights defenders worldwide.
Ms. Quynh, who is coordinator of the Vietnamese Bloggers Network, is well known for her use of social media to speak out against injustices and human rights abuses in Vietnam since 2006.
Because of her activism for free expression and other universal human rights, she has been arrested, detained, interrogated, harassed and beaten up by security forces on several occasions. She was charged under Article 258 of Vietnam’s Penal Code for “abusing democratic freedoms. She lost her job due to police’ intervention and her passport was confiscated. In spite of these continuing hardships, as a co-founders of the Vietnamese Bloggers Network, she continies to organize “human rights coffee sessions,” social meetings with like-minded bloggers and activists to discuss relevant UN human rights conventions, and to meet with diplomats to raise concerns about fellow bloggers in distress and to advocate for the release of prisoners of conscience.
Despite great personal risk, she is always devoted to speaj up for those who cant. She continues to be an activist that the Vietnamese authorities target and remain a force to be reckoned with.
At great personal risk, Me Nam has been right at the forefront of human rights activism in Vietnam, the Civil Rights Defenders said about the third recipient of its prize, adding with creativity and openess, she is a source of inspiration as she breaks new ground for freedom of expression and speaks out for those who can’t.
Via skype video, Ms. Quynh said the prize will encourage her and other Vietnamese human rights activists to further devote to fight for basic human rights and democracy for Vietnam, because “I do not want my children to struggle and do what I’m doing now,” she said.
Civil Rights Defenders, previously known as the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, is an independent expert organization founded in Stockholm in 1982 with the aim of defending human rights, in particular people’s civil and political rights, while also supporting and empowering human rights defenders at risk.
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April 11, 2015
Vietnamese Blogger Awarded with 2015 Civil Rights Defender of the Year
by Nhan Quyen • Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (Me Nam)
By Vu Quoc Ngu | Apr 10, 2015
Vietnamese blogger Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh under pseudonym Me Nam (Mother Mushroom) has been honored with the Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award 2015 from the Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders.
Like Ales Bialiatski, the winner of the prestigious award last year, Ms. Quynh was not allowed by the local authority to attend the ceremony held in the Swedish capital city on April 10 during which attracted the participation of UN Special Rapporter on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Michel Forst and UN Special Rapporter on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association and nearly 200 civil rights defenders worldwide.
Ms. Quynh, who is coordinator of the Vietnamese Bloggers Network, is well known for her use of social media to speak out against injustices and human rights abuses in Vietnam since 2006.
Because of her activism for free expression and other universal human rights, she has been arrested, detained, interrogated, harassed and beaten up by security forces on several occasions. She was charged under Article 258 of Vietnam’s Penal Code for “abusing democratic freedoms. She lost her job due to police’ intervention and her passport was confiscated. In spite of these continuing hardships, as a co-founders of the Vietnamese Bloggers Network, she continies to organize “human rights coffee sessions,” social meetings with like-minded bloggers and activists to discuss relevant UN human rights conventions, and to meet with diplomats to raise concerns about fellow bloggers in distress and to advocate for the release of prisoners of conscience.
Despite great personal risk, she is always devoted to speaj up for those who cant. She continues to be an activist that the Vietnamese authorities target and remain a force to be reckoned with.
At great personal risk, Me Nam has been right at the forefront of human rights activism in Vietnam, the Civil Rights Defenders said about the third recipient of its prize, adding with creativity and openess, she is a source of inspiration as she breaks new ground for freedom of expression and speaks out for those who can’t.
Via skype video, Ms. Quynh said the prize will encourage her and other Vietnamese human rights activists to further devote to fight for basic human rights and democracy for Vietnam, because “I do not want my children to struggle and do what I’m doing now,” she said.
Civil Rights Defenders, previously known as the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, is an independent expert organization founded in Stockholm in 1982 with the aim of defending human rights, in particular people’s civil and political rights, while also supporting and empowering human rights defenders at risk.