Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng
Born (1972-10-05) 5 October 1972
Hanoi, Vietnam[1]
EducationVNU University of Languages and International Studies
OccupationEnvironmental defender
Criminal chargesTax evasion
Criminal penalty3 years imprisonment
Criminal statusIncarcerated
Websitevn.linkedin.com/in/hong-hoang-7b44bb3

Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng (born 5 October 1972)[2] is a Vietnamese environmental human rights defender who founded and directed an environmental rights organization.[3] In 2023, she was imprisoned for tax evasion,[4][5] after a trial which has been criticized by the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and countries such as the United States[6][7] as being politically motivated.

Activities

Hồng worked for the World Wildlife Fund from 2002 to 2009. Later she founded "Change" (styled CHANGE VN and an acronym for Centre of Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment)[8] which worked on environmental issues in Vietnam from 2013 to 2022. It was a national non-profit organization with the mission of raising awareness and inspiring the community to protect nature, the environment, and wildlife; combat climate change; and promote sustainable development. Hồng's decision in 2022 to close down the organization was partly because several environmental activists were arrested that year and in 2021. In 2023, she started an environmental consultancy called CHOICE.[6]

In 1997, she was the first Vietnamese person to set foot on Antarctica[9][10] and became a UNESCO Young Envoy. In 2015, Climate Heroes listed her as an environmental hero.[8][4] In 2018, former U.S. President Barack Obama wrote that Hồng was one of the young people who inspired him during the year;[11] she was the first Vietnamese person to win an Obama Foundation scholarship at Columbia University.[12] In 2019, she was one of five recipients of the Inspirational Ambassador award at the 2019 WeChoice Awards[13] and won the title Green Warrior of the Year at the Elle Style Awards.[14] Also in 2019, Forbes magazine voted Hồng as one of the 50 most influential women in Vietnam.[15]

Conviction for tax evasion

In June 2023, Hồng was detained on charges of tax evasion. Hồng was the fifth environmental activist arrested on this charge, after Mai Phan Lợi, Đặng Đình Bách, Ngụy Thị Khanh, and Bạch Hùng Dương.[16] Previously, when four other environmental activists were arrested in October 2022, Hồng announced the dissolution of the Change organization after ten years of operation.[17]

Ben Swanton, co-director of Project 88 working for human rights in Vietnam, said that immediately after the four environmental activists were arrested for tax evasion in 2021–2022, Hồng asked for an official ruling from the City Tax Department on the tax status of the Change organization. The tax department's response, according to Swanton, "is evidence of Change's tax-exempt status. Therefore, it is completely illegal for the police to now charge Hồng with tax evasion."[18]

On 28 September 2023, Hồng was tried at Hồ Chí Minh City's People's Court, found guilty of evading about US$280,000 of tax,[19] fined 100 million đồng (just over US$4,000), and sentenced to three years in prison.[6]

Reactions

United Nations and foreign countries

The United Nations human rights agency noted that Hồng was the fifth environmental activist arrested for tax evasion in Vietnam in two years. The United Nations believes that the arrests are part of a broader trend of the Vietnamese government suppressing freedom of expression.[20][17] In July 2023, the United Nations special rapporteur on Human Rights and UN experts wrote to the government — however, after 60 days the government had not replied and the rapporteur published the letter.[6]

Multiple foreign governments said that the Just Energy Transition Partnership (international funding for phasing out coal power in Vietnam) needed the participation of civil society activists.[21][3] The United States took the view that the arrests were part of a broader trend of the Vietnamese government suppressing freedom of expression,[20] with U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stating in June 2023 that it was "concerned about the detention of leadership and staff of the CHANGE organization, including the ongoing detention of its founder Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng";[22] the same month, the British Foreign Ministry called for "the Vietnamese government to respect all human rights, including freedom of expression and association".[23]

Human rights organizations

Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), accused the Vietnamese authorities of "using the vaguely worded tax code as a weapon to punish environmental leaders whom the ruling Communist Party deems a threat to their power",[24] while Ben Swanton, co-director of Project 88 working for Vietnamese human rights, said the trial was "a total sham" and that the law was "being weaponized for the purpose of political persecution".[19]

In June 2023, sixty-five human rights and environmental organizations published an open letter to former U.S. President Barack Obama, asking him to publicly call on the Vietnamese government to release Hồng unconditionally. They said that her arrest was one in a series of politically motivated prosecutions that used false accusations of tax evasion to criminalize climate protection activities.[25]

References

  1. ↑ "'Cô Hồng ở Việt Nam' của cựu Tổng thống Obama". Thanh Niên (in Vietnamese). 13 January 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Profile: Hoang Thi Minh Hong". The 88 Project. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  3. 1 2 "On the Conviction and Sentencing of Vietnamese NGO Leader Hoang Thi Minh Hong". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Vietnam jails leading climate activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong for tax evasion". The Guardian. 28 September 2023. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  5. ↑ "Vietnam jails fifth climate activist on tax charges". BBC News. 28 September 2023. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Dussart, Jade (4 October 2023). "Viet Nam: detention and criminal charge against environmental WHRD Hoang Thi Minh Hong for alleged tax evasion". UN SR Human Rights Defenders. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  7. ↑ Philipson, Alice (25 October 2023). "Vietnam's detentions of climate activists slow clean energy shift". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  8. 1 2 "Hong Hoang: Environmental activism, influence and CHANGE in Vietnam". Climate Heroes. Archived from the original on 13 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  9. ↑ "Người phụ nữ Việt Nam thám hiểm Nam Cực". VnExpress (in Vietnamese). 17 September 2009. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019.
  10. ↑ "'They challenged the Communist monopoly': Vietnam regime turns on its climate champions". The Guardian. 17 October 2023. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  11. ↑ "Vietnam sentences climate activist to 3 years in prison for tax evasion". AP News. 28 September 2023. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  12. ↑ "'Anh hùng khí hậu' Việt Nam nhận học bổng của Quỹ Obama". Tuổi Trẻ ONLINE (in Vietnamese). 14 September 2018. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  13. ↑ "Công bố 5 Đại sứ truyền cảm hứng WeChoice Awards 2019 do Hội đồng thẩm định bình chọn, họ là ai? - WeChoice Awards 2019". wechoice.vn (in Vietnamese). 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  14. ↑ "Chiến Binh Xanh của ELLE Style Awards 2019 vinh danh Selena Le, Tom Trandt và Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng". Elle (Vietnam) (in Vietnamese). 22 August 2019. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  15. ↑ "Forbes Việt Nam công bố danh sách 50 phụ nữ ảnh hưởng nhất Việt Nam". Báo Điện tử Chính phủ (in Vietnamese). 5 March 2019. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  16. ↑ "Việt Nam lên tiếng về vụ bắt nhà hoạt động môi trường Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng". VOA (in Vietnamese). 1 June 2023. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023.
  17. 1 2 "HRW nói vụ bắt Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng 'có động cơ chính trị'". Nguoi Viet Daily News (in Vietnamese). 2 June 2023. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023.
  18. ↑ "Mỹ, LHQ quan ngại việc bắt giam nhà hoạt động môi trường Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng". BBC (in Vietnamese). 2 June 2023. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023.
  19. 1 2 Heather, Chen; Sharma, Akanksha (29 September 2023). "US condemns Vietnam's jailing of prominent climate activist on tax charges". CNN. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  20. 1 2 "Mỹ và Liên Hiệp Quốc chỉ trích Việt Nam bắt giữ nhà hoạt động môi trường Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng". RFI (in Vietnamese). 3 June 2023. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023.
  21. ↑ "Đức quan ngại về vụ bắt giữ nhà hoạt động Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng". VOA (in Vietnamese). 8 June 2023. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023.
  22. ↑ "Công văn Cục thuế TPHCM hé lộ điều gì quanh chuyện thuế của bà Minh Hồng?". BBC (in Vietnamese). 2 June 2023. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023.
  23. ↑ "Anh bày tỏ quan ngại về vụ bắt giữ nhà hoạt động môi trường Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng". VOA (in Vietnamese). 15 June 2023. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023.
  24. ↑ "Vietnam: Drop Charges Against Climate Activist". Human Rights Watch. 27 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  25. ↑ "Hơn 60 tổ chức nhân quyền kêu gọi Obama thúc giục VN trả tự do cho bà Minh Hồng". BBC (in Vietnamese). 21 June 2023. Archived from the original on 17 September 2023.
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