Global Courant
HANOI – The U.N. human rights office has expressed concern over the arrest of a Vietnamese green energy expert who had been working with U.N. and U.S. agencies just days after President Joe Biden signed business and human rights deals with Hanoi during a visit.
Hanoi police on September 15 arrested Ngo Thi To Nhien, executive director of the Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition (VIET), an independent think tank focused on green energy policies, Reuters reported last week, citing a charity and a source.
“We are aware of the arrest and are following developments with concern,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) told Reuters in a statement.
According to her profile on LinkedIn, Nhien had worked for the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program and the American Aid Agency (USAID).
She “has participated in international and national events, including consultations organized by UNDP on the topic of energy transition,” the UNDP in Vietnam confirmed in an email message to Reuters.
The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Over the past two years, Vietnam has arrested five environmental human rights defenders, accusing them of tax evasion, an OHCHR spokesperson said in June. user.
Nhien kept a very low public profile and was considered an expert, not an activist.
The Vietnamese government has made no public statement on Nhien’s arrest and has not responded to requests for comment.
On Friday, Vietnam also executed a man, Le Van Manh, who was sentenced to death in July 2005 after being found guilty of murder, child rape and robbery.
The European Union had called for a halt to the execution.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said Manh had a strong alibi that was ignored. REUTERS
