Nguyen Van Trang’s speech at the 17th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on February 18, 2025
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Hello everyone,
Hello to all who fight for freedom and human rights!
My name is Nguyễn Văn Tráng, a human rights defenderwanted by the Vietnamese government. As a democracy activist in Vietnam, I spent five years living in constant fear of being hunted down. I thought that fear would subside once I fled the country. I believed I would be safe—or at least safer. But I was wrong.
Under its authoritarian regime, the Vietnam state not only tightly controls society and suppresses freedoms within the country, but also extends its reach abroad to hunt down and terrorize dissidents who have fled. Transnational repression includes abduction, direct attacks, online harassment, and threats against family members. I am just one of the many victims of this brutal oppression. The lives of Vietnamese refugees like me are filled with fear and lack security.
I began advocating for social justice issues when I was a university student, driven by the oppression I witnessed daily in Vietnam. Corruption was everywhere: people had to bribe doctors to receive medical treatment, police officers beat people to death in detention centers, and the government seized land indiscriminately to build tourist resorts. These injustices piled up, and I realized I needed to have the courage to resist. My like-minded friends and I founded the Brotherhood for Democracy in 2013. We shared knowledge about human rights, participated in peaceful protests, and provided legal counseling to citizens who had been wrongfully treated by local officials.
Because of this, I was closely monitored by the Vietnamese police, and they frequently attempted to abduct, assault, or place me under house arrest. My university expelled me just months before I was set to graduate as a civil engineer. Additionally, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security issued a travel ban against me and confiscated my passport under the pretext of “national security.” The government’s repression instilled fear in all my friends and family. I, too, was deeply anxious and exhausted, yet this only reinforced my belief that my activism was justified and necessary for creating a more just society.
On July 31, 2017, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security launched a crackdown to dismantle the Brotherhood for Democracy and arrested dozens of its members. I fled to Cambodia through a small border crossing commonly used by human traffickers.
However, even after escaping the country, the Vietnamese authorities did not relent. On the night of September 2, 2017, while I was walking with three colleagues on Chợ Cũ Street in Phnom Penh, four large men emerged from the darkness. I did not realize they were undercover Vietnamese police until it was too late. Each of them carried a cup of acid and threw it directly at us. Acid splashed onto my shoulder and arm, causing excruciating pain. The burning was unbearable—I could feel my flesh dissolving. Instinctively, I ran to a flower shop at the street corner and plunged into a water basin to ease the agony. One of my colleagues, Nguyễn Ngọc Đức, a French citizen, suffered the worst injuries—acid was thrown directly into his face, leaving him blind in one eye, deaf in one ear, and permanently disfigured. We screamed for help, and local residents rushed to bring water to assist us. Although they tried to help, our injuries were severe, and they called a tuk-tuk to take us to the hospital. After traveling about a kilometer, I noticed a car and two motorcycles with four men following us through multiple turns. Under the streetlights, I saw the reflection of a sword in their hands. It became clear that the Vietnamese police intended to kill us that night. We had to run into a restaurant to report to the Cambodian police and seek help from others to reach the hospital.
Acid burns require long-term treatment, but I had to keep moving, relocating to different places across Cambodia to avoid further attacks. In 2018, when my health had improved, I crossed into Thailand and applied for political asylum at the UNHCR office. Although UNHCR granted me refugee status, the Thai government has never officially recognized refugees. As a result, all refugees like me are considered illegal immigrants. Thailand—the country where I had hoped to find safety—turned out to be unsafe. I did not know at the time that many democracy activists from neighboring countries who sought refuge in Thailand had been abducted, deported, or even shot on the streets of Bangkok.
Just months after I arrived in Thailand, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security issued an official arrest warrant for me, accusing me of “activities aimed at overthrowing the government”—the most serious charge against a dissident. If arrested and prosecuted under this law, I could face a life sentence or even the death penalty.
In 2019, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security secretly changed my charge from a political offense to a criminal one, falsely accusing me of “procuring prostitution.” This absurd charge made it harder for me to evade capture. With a criminal accusation, the Vietnamese government could request neighboring countries to arrest and extradite me while avoiding international condemnation for human rights violations. After pressure from the media and the international community, the Vietnamese authorities reinstated the original political charge, but they also intensified efforts to capture me.
At the same time, I learned that the authorities were pressuring my family in Vietnam. Police frequently visited my parents’ home, delivering letters demanding that I surrender. They repeatedly threatened my mother with severe punishments for me, even telling her she would “never see my body again.” Can you imagine the pain of a mother being told by the government that they will kill her son? The authorities also pressured me by punishing my relatives, isolating them from the local community, and cutting off pre-approved credit loans that my family relied on for economic development. They warned that if I continued to evade capture, they would not leave my family in peace. Additionally, the police publicly announced on media platforms a call for information about my whereabouts.
Life in hiding in Thailand was filled with fear for my family. On one hand, we feared being arrested by Thai police for living illegally; on the other hand, we had to avoid retaliation from the Vietnamese state. I have two young daughters, aged five and six. Every time I left home, I looked at them for a long time because I was never sure if I would return that day. I could be arrested by Thai police, targeted by Vietnamese agents, or both governments could cooperate to capture me. The fact that I am here with you today is nothing short of a miracle.
This kind of luck did not come to two other Vietnamese democracy activists: journalists Trương Duy Nhất and Thái Văn Đường. Nhất was kidnapped by Vietnamese secret police in Bangkok in 2019 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison. Đường was also abducted in Bangkok in 2024 and sentenced to 12 years. Both were charged with “propaganda against the Vietnamese state”—a vague accusation often used against critics of the government on social media. Additionally, religious activist Y Quynh Bdap was arrested by Thai police in 2024 at the request of Vietnamese authorities. The Thai government is now processing his deportation back to Vietnam, where he faces a 10-year prison sentence in retaliation.
I need you all to understand: the Vietnamese government is doing everything it can to silence activists for freedom, seeking revenge and persecuting them even beyond its borders. Combating transnational repression by authoritarian states must be a top priority if we want to advance democracy and human rights worldwide. I call on international organizations and democratic nations to establish stronger protections for victims and impose severe penalties on individuals involved in transnational repression.
Thank you for listening!
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Van TrangNguyen is a Vietnamese democracy activist and victim of transnational repression.
As a prominent member of the Brotherhood for Democracy to promote human rights and democracy in Vietnam, Nguyen has faced relentless repression from Vietnamese authorities, including having his passport confiscated and being expelled from university.
In 2017, Nguyen suffered injuries after he was targeted in an acid attack by Vietnamese security agents. The next year, Nguyen fled Vietnam for Thailand where he was granted refugee status. In December 2018, Vietnamese police issued an arrest warrant for Nguyen on trumped-up charges of “activities aimed at overthrowing the government.”
While in Thailand, Vietnamese authorities repeatedly pressured his family members to reveal Nguyen’s exact location in hopes of forcibly repatriating him to Vietnam.
In 2024, Nguyen and his family were granted political asylum in Switzerland where he continues to fight for human rights in Vietnam.
