Thuan Duc Nguyen

Nguyen Duc Thuan has dedicated decades to supporting civil society, documenting the experiences of human rights defenders, and raising international awareness of the situation in Vietnam.

Thuan is a pharmacist who began his community involvement in the 1990s, serving as President of the University of Oslo Student Association. Since then, he has remained committed to strengthening ties within the Vietnamese diaspora and supporting efforts toward a freer, more democratic Vietnam.

Thuan serves on the board of the Vietnamese Culture and History Association (Vietnamesisk Kultur og Historieforening), which promotes Vietnamese history and culture, fosters a positive sense of identity among young Norwegian-Vietnamese, and encourages civic participation within the Vietnamese-Norwegian community.

He is also Secretary General of the Norway Chapter of the Vietnamese Professionals Society (VPS), a global nonprofit network bringing together Vietnamese professionals from fields including technology, economics, medicine, and law. Through its work, VPS seeks to deepen understanding of Vietnam’s social and economic development and contribute to the well-being of the Vietnamese people.

For ten years, Thuan contributed to My Country’s Voice, a Vietnamese-language radio program serving Vietnamese communities around the world. He joined Viet Tan in the 1990s and has since worked to advance democracy and fundamental freedoms in Vietnam.

Over the years, Thuan has engaged with Norwegian elected representatives, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and human rights organizations, including the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, to draw attention to human rights violations in Vietnam. For more than two decades, he has traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, meeting human rights defenders and their families, documenting their experiences, and providing training in leadership and digital security to strengthen civil society initiatives.

A practicing Catholic, he has also spoken out about restrictions on religious freedom in the country, using his social media platforms to raise awareness of violations affecting religious communities.

His decades of peaceful advocacy reflect a sustained commitment to the dignity, freedom, and democratic aspirations of the Vietnamese people.

Nguyen Duc Thuan, a Viet Tan member, flew to Phnom Penh on September 15 with fellow member Tran Hiep to meet Vietnamese human rights activists. Their families were in regular contact with them until the morning of September 18, after which neither could be reached.

On September 28, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security announced that the two men and a third man, Thai Cong Truong Son, had been arrested on September 18 while “trying to cross illegally from Cambodia into Vietnam”. The ministry accused them of terrorism and of forging seals and documents. Viet Tan says the two never intended to enter Vietnam and were abducted in Cambodia and forcibly taken across the border.

Hiep has since told Australian consular officials that he was kidnapped in Cambodia.]

On October 16, officials from the Norwegian Consulate-General visited Thuan in detention. He told them he is receiving only tablets for his diabetes, not the injections his condition requires.

Human rights groups have condemned the abduction of the three men by Vietnamese authorities and are calling for their immediate release.