He called on the European Parliament to delay ratification until Vietnam improved its human rights and press freedom standards, noting imprisonment of 18 political dissidents in the year 2019. As founding chairman of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN), Dung has led a group of 70 local journalists advocating for press rights. While governments harass, detain and silence journalists such as Dung, the One Free Press Coalition acts as a voice for all journalists under attack for pursuing the truth. Today, the Coalition publishes this monthly list of the world’s “10 Most Urgent” press freedom abuses, including Dung’s case and the cases of fellow journalists who cover human rights topics. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) determined that 55% of journalists imprisoned in 2020 write about human rights, and 306 journalists reporting on human rights have been killed since 1992.

Source: Forbes May 03, 2021 14:48 UTC