International NGOs call for the release of Vietnamese environmentalist
A year after Dang Dinh Bach was convicted for "tax evasion", environmental groups want G7 countries, with which Vietnam signed a decarbonisation agreement, to press for the activist’s release. In 2022, Nguy Thi Khanh, who had worked with local authorities to promote the ecological transition, was also arrested.
Hanoi (AsiaNews) – A group of international NGOs is urging G7 countries to pressure the Vietnamese government to release a local environmentalist sentenced to five years in prison on charges of "tax evasion".
To this end, they issued a joint statement on the first anniversary of Dang Dinh Bach’s sentence; the latter had criticised the decarbonisation plans proposed by the authorities.
The signatories argue that industrialised nations cannot finance the development of clean energy in Vietnam by turning a blind eye to the treatment of environmentalists.
In 2021, almost half of the energy produced in Vietnam came from coal-fired power plants; and according to analysts, as the economy grows, energy needs will increase accordingly.
In 2000, the country produced just 0.65 metric tonnes of CO2 per capita; in 2019 that rose to 3.51.
Late last year, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan, and other countries signed an agreement to help the Communist-ruled Southeast Asian nation to reach its goal of "zero emissions" by 2050.
Called the Just Energy Transition Partnership, the agreement provides funding of up to US$ 15.5 billion over the next three to five years for the green transition.
According to the monitoring group 88 Project, at least 208 activists were in prison last year.
International observers note that Vietnam's government is not so much opposed to environmentalism – given recent investments in solar power generation – as to excessive criticism from civil society groups, which the Communist Party fears could damage economic development plans and lead to greater political participation from below.
A lawyer by training, Bach heads the Centre for Legal Studies and Policy for Sustainable Development.
In addition to a five-year prison sentence, he was fined nearly 1.4 billion dong (US$ 60,000) for receiving funding from abroad, even though NGOs in Vietnam are exempt from paying corporate taxes.
Last year, another activist, Nguy Thi Khanh, was also arrested. She was given a two-year prison sentence for failing to pay taxes after receiving the US$ 200,000 Goldman Prize, an award given annually to six environmental activists around the world.
Khanh, who grew up in a village in northern Vietnamese near a coal-fired power plant, founded a network of environmental NGOs and worked with local authorities to reduce the country's dependence on coal.
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