Remarks by Lawyer Chris MacLeod, Honorary Member of Viet Tan, and jury member of the 2024 Le Dinh Luong Human Rights Prize. The ceremony took place in Toronto, Canada on December 14, 2024.
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Thank you to the leadership of the Viet Tan, my fellow Judges on the Panel and particularly to all those who have stood up in Vietnam and outside of Vietnam at great risk to themselves and they have done so all for the cause of confronting injustice.
First, I would like to say a few words about Mr. Y Krec Bya. He has stood up and spoken out in Vietnam simply for his right to worship and practice his faith.
This award today and its presentation to Mr. Y Krec Bya is particularly poignant for me as Y Krec and I share the same faith.
We are both Christians. I went to church and prayed for the people of Vietnam last night and for those who have been imprisoned for their faith.
Y Krec has exhibited personal bravery in the face of horrific persecution. Not just against himself but against his community. He has been jailed multiple times simply for practicing his faith outside of government control. A faith, the christian faith, that the majority of those of us in North America practice freely without government influence on a daily basis.
As an ethnic minority he has faced increased and greater scrutiny and persecution.
I can only describe this heavy handed and draconian persecution of the Christian community and ethnic minorities in Vietnam as Orwellian and violating all that the community of nations worked so hard against in the 20th century.
Crimes of the Vietnamese government include but are not limited to:
Bloggers convicted of “propaganda against the socialist state”
Human rights and democracy activists are charged with “attempting to overthrow the socialist state”
Activists who are ethnic minorities are accused of “undermining national unity” –almost by dint of being a minority and speaking out.
In Canada and other parts of the democratic world, I and others will go to mass in the morning, pray for our family and for those who faced oppression in Vietnam, and loudly criticize our own government at home here in Canada.
For those who stand up for human rights in Vietnam, know this, we stand with you and you do not stand alone.
To the totalitarian Government of Vietnam, know this. We are watching and we will call out and come to the aid of every single person whose liberty is taken in the struggle for democracy and human rights.
We will not forget the lives that have been taken at the hands of this regime.
We will be vigilant and we will stand with the People of Vietnam on this journey to a democratic state.
