Two Foreigners Disappear After Meeting Vietnamese Activists
By Kiripost
Two human rights defenders never boarded their flight out of Phnom Penh after meeting with Vietnamese activists, a Vietnamese human rights organisation said.
Two foreigners with Vietnamese heritage have been reported missing in Phnom Penh for more than one week, with one organisation raising alarm because of their work as human rights defenders.
Nguyen Duc Thuan, 52, of Norway, and Tran Hiep, 51, of Australia, have been missing since September 18 after visiting Cambodia, said Duy Hoang, executive director of Viet Tan, a Vietnamese political rights organisation.
The pair had traveled to Phnom Penh from Bangkok on September 15 and were scheduled to leave Cambodia on September 19, but they never boarded their flights. Duy said their families were last in contact with the pair on September 18, where they had “normal” conversations and thus didn’t suspect any issues.
“\[Hiep’s\] mom emphasised to me he was in a comfortable state of mind to talk about a niece or nephew's upcoming birthday,” Duy told Kiripost.
Duy said the families had been in touch with the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh and the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok, as Cambodia does not have a Norwegian diplomatic office.
“The response \[from embassies\] has been supportive, they're regularly updating the family....\[but\] there's nothing concrete yet, that's why families are concerned because it's been a week and their whereabouts are uncertain.”
Interior Ministry spokesperson Touch Sokhak did not respond to repeated requests for comment from Kiripost.
Mariken Bruusgaard Harbitz, Senior Communications Adviser for Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the ministry was aware that a citizen was missing in Cambodia.
"We are bound by duty of secrecy in such cases and therefore cannot provide details. We can assure that we are following up on the matter within the scope of our mandate to assist Norwegian citizens abroad.
We are in contact with next of kin, and our embassy in Bangkok is working to obtain information about the case," Harbitz wrote in a statement.
According to Viet Tan, Thuan has a history of activism with Vietnamese-Norwegians and lobbying Norwegian parliament and the European Union about human rights and democracy in Vietnam, while Hiep, also known as Ho Pham Hiep Huy, has contributed to anti-human trafficking programmes for Vietnamese nationals and conducted digital security trainings to human rights activists.
Duy told Kiripost that the pair came to Cambodia to meet with Vietnamese human rights defenders who lived in the country. Both men are members of the organisation Viet Tan, which provides support and idea exchange for activists and civil society who “share the vision of a free and democratic Vietnam,” according to its statement on the disappearance.
“They decided to meet in Cambodia because activists from Vietnam are able to travel to Cambodia, that's one of the ways that we work with activists on the ground,” Duy said, adding that he did not have any reason to believe the Vietnam-based activists were facing any issues.
Duy noted that Viet Tan members have been subject to surveillance and harassment in the past for their work. He also noticed the rise of cross-border human rights suppression in the region, and that Thailand for example had recently detained or extradited Vietnamese nationals who said they would face repercussions for whistleblowing or activism.
“We just know the two activists are missing, we don't know how they're missing but at the back of everyone's mind is the issue of transnational repression,” he said.
Duy added that they did not yet have any evidence of foul play but the disappearance was unsettling to family members and Viet Tan, who were aware of the two men’s work.
“I think people are aware that it can be risky to be a human rights activist in Cambodia, so I think that's something that does cross our minds,” Duy said.
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This story has been updated with comments from Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.