Xayaburi dam proposal was ‘poorly researched’ – Impacts on Mekong River unclear, says report

View Original Source:  http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/231358/xayaburi-dam-proposal-was-poorly-researched

• Published: 11/04/2011 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Impacts of the Xayaburi hydropower dam planned for northern Laos are unclear as the proposal is poorly researched, says a technical report to the Mekong River Commission.

The four Mekong countries _ Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam _ comprising the commission meet to make a final decision on the project next week.

The Xayaburi dam project is designed to churn out 1,285 megawatts. Thailand is expected to buy up to 90% of the output.

Thai environmentalists have vowed to stop Laos from going ahead with the dam. They say more information is needed to assess its impacts.

However, Vientiane in February told the Mekong countries that it would go ahead despite opposition.

It claimed the project would not have an impact on the environment and that it had full authority to approve the construction because the dam would be located in its territory.

A team of experts has now written a technical review to the commission which says design and operation models for the dam fail to meet best international practices.

The report refers to the project’s environmental impact assessments and feasibility studies, and its potential impacts on river flows and eco-systems.

Laos’ studies of the project, the experts’ report said, are incomplete, with crucial gaps in knowledge needed to understand its potential impact. Without that information, an accurate assessment of the implications could not be reached.

The four countries agreed to set up the MRC in 1995 to jointly manage their shared water resources and develop the economic potential of the Mekong River. The Xayaburi hydro power dam is planned for the lower Mekong River, which means it has to be reviewed by the commission for its possible environment impact and economic potential. In response, the Laos government said some of the report’s recommendations may be based on incorrect assumptions, especially concerning the likely impact on fisheries.

”Some substantial requirements mentioned in the MRC review are probably based on the wrong assumptions,” Laos said, citing an assertion that the water level in the river would not fluctuate after the dam is built.

Such an assertion made some of the report’s recommendations, such as the inclusion of ”nature-like fish passes” to allow fish to travel through during spawning seasons, more than questionable, it said.

The recommendations have ”an experimental character” and would be difficult to implement without studies.

Laos recommended more studies be carried out on fish biology, peak biomass, and fish swimming performance to help refine the design of the fish facilities.

It also questioned the role of the MRC in reviewing the proposal.

Hydropower was a form of green energy which should be promoted as an answer to power supply shortages.

Pianporn Deetes, a campaigner for International Rivers, said gaps in knowledge were a common problem in understanding the potential impacts of dam projects on the Mekong, including Xayaburi.

She said the Lao government should pay heed to the findings.

”The technical review has confirmed a crucial point that we need more knowledge to understand the Mekong River, on which millions of lives depend.

”What would be lost cannot be compensated by the benefits from the dam,” said Mrs Pianporn.

About the author

Writer: Piyaporn Wongruang

Position: Reporter

Vietnam opposes US statement on Cu Huy Ha Vu’s conviction

View Original Source:  http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/20110409144608.aspx

Last updated: 4/8/2011 8:20

Cu Huy Ha Vu is escorted by policemen after his trial at a court in Hanoi on Monday (April 4). Vu was sentenced on that day to seven years in prison for spreading propaganda against the State.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Tuesday rejected a call by the US for the release of Cu Huy Ha Vu as “an intervention in Vietnam’s internal affairs.”

The statement by the US Department of State says Vu’s conviction violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and raises serious questions about Vietnam’s commitment to rule of law and reform.

It says no individual should be imprisoned for exercising the right to free speech and urges the Vietnamese government to release Vu and all other prisoners of conscience immediately.

Answering reporters’ question on Vietnam’s response to the statement, MOFA spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said Vietnam handles violations of the law in accordance with Vietnamese and international laws, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In Vietnam, citizens’ rights to freedom and democracy, including freedom of speech, are regulated clearly in the Constitution and other legal documents, Nga said, adding they are respected and enforced in reality.

She also denied that there were any ‘prisoners of conscience’ in Vietnam.

The Hanoi People’s Court on Monday (April 4) sentenced Cu Huy Ha Vu, 54, to seven years of imprisonment for “distributing propaganda against the State.”

In 2009, Vu had filed a petition with the Hanoi People’s Court against Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for approving a plan to build bauxite mines in the Central Highlands. The suit was dismissed four days after being filed.

Vu was charged under Article 88 of the Criminal Code which carried a jail term of three to 20 years. Vu will be under house arrest for three years after serving the seven-year sentence, the judges ruled after the daylong trial.

According to the indictment, Vu posted articles and interviews with foreign media criticizing the state between 2009 and 2010.

The articles and interviews allegedly maligned Party and

State guidelines and policies, defamed the administration and State institutions, and blackened the legacy of Vietnam’s resistance wars.

The judges said Vu’s acts “put the society in danger and violate the interests of the State and the people.”

At the beginning of the trial, the defendant and his four lawyers proposed the trial be postponed and investigations against Vu suspended but their requests were turned down by presiding judge Nguyen Huu Chinh.

“We will not accept the requests by the defendant and the lawyers. If the defendant does not agree, he can appeal. The judge panel will be responsible for its decisions,” he said.

One of the lawyers, Tran Vu Hai, was asked to leave the courtroom because of his reactions. The other lawyers walked out soon after.

Vu denied all accusations against him.

Last November, Ho Chi Minh City police had arrested Vu at a hotel in District 6. The Ministry of Public Security’s police later searched his house and seized his documents.

Vu’s trial had been scheduled for March 24. However, it was delayed until April 4.

Vu is the son of Cu Huy Can, who was a member of revered founding president Ho Chi Minh’s provisional cabinet from 1945 and a celebrated poet, and a nephew of Xuan Dieu, also one of the country’s famed poets.

Vu obtained a doctorate in law in France and ran a law firm with his wife in Hanoi before being detained. Vu is not a practicing lawyer.
Reported by Thanh Nien staff

Vietnam: Conviction of Activist Cu Huy Ha Vu

View Original Source:  http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/04/159771.htm

Press Statement

Mark C. Toner
Acting Deputy SpokesmanOffice of the Spokesman

Washington, DC

April 4, 2011

---

The United States is deeply concerned by the April 4 conviction and sentencing to seven years imprisonment of activist Cu Huy Ha Vu on charges of “propagandizing against the government.” We are also troubled by the apparent lack of due process in the conduct of the trial, and the continued detention of several individuals who were peacefully seeking to observe the proceedings.

Vu’s conviction runs counter to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and raises serious questions about Vietnam’s commitment to rule of law and reform. No individual should be imprisoned for exercising the right to free speech.

We urge the Government of Vietnam to immediately release Cu Huy Ha Vu and all other prisoners of conscience.

PRN: 2011/524

Prominent Vietnamese activist jailed over democracy calls

View Original Source:  http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/25297/

6 April 2011, 11:37AM

Viet Nam must release a high-profile activist sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for calling for an end to one-party rule, Amnesty International said.

Human rights defender and environmental activist Cu Huy Ha Vu was convicted of “conducting propaganda against the state” by a court in Ha Noi on 4 April after calling for a multiparty system in online articles and for giving interviews to foreign media.

Vu was also sentenced to three years of house arrest upon the completion of his seven year prison term.

“This was a sham trial, with the presumption of innocence and right to a defence completely ignored,” said Donna Guest, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy Director. “Cu Huy Va Vu is a prisoner of conscience and should be immediately and unconditionally released.”

The son of a famous revolutionary colleague of the late President Ho Chi Minh, Vu had previously twice sued the Prime Minister of the country, once in an attempt to stop a controversial bauxite mining project from harming the environment, and the other challenging the legality of a decree banning class-action petitions.

His was the second major trial of a dissident this year, following the January conviction of Vi Duc Hoi, a pro-democracy activist and former Communist Party official prosecuted for posting articles online calling for democracy.

Two former prisoners of conscience who tried to observe his trial, Pham Hong Son and Le Quoc Quan, were reportedly arrested outside the court. Amnesty International is also calling for their immediate release.

“The Vietnamese authorities have outlawed any peaceful dissent through their misuse of the judicial system. The government needs to heed the calls of the international community to stop persecuting and imprisoning non-violent activists,” said Donna Guest.

Dozens of peaceful political critics and activists have been sentenced to long prison terms since Viet Nam began a concerted crackdown on freedom of expression in October 2009.

Amnesty International is calling on the Vietnamese government to allow judicial independence, and to repeal or reform vaguely worded security legislation used to prosecute peaceful critics.

Call on Laotians people to save our Land: Laos is a place of remarkable beauty, world-renowned biodiversity and abundant natural resources

The Hinboun river, Laos (Vinya Sysamouth)

Cached:  http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/1515

Laos is a place of remarkable beauty, world-renowned biodiversity and abundant natural resources. The country is traversed by a thousand rivers that teem with life: people fishing, gardening and washing clothes; children swimming, laughing and playing; and water buffalo wading in the mud. This vast Lao river network also plays an essential role in the Mekong Basin, contributing 35 percent of the Mekong River’s flow.

But these rivers that are the lifeline of rural communities and local economies may soon be blocked, diverted and decimated by dams, according to a new report from International Rivers. The Lao government hopes to transform the country into “the battery of Southeast Asia” by exporting the power generated by numerous hydroelectric projects. The companies and investors driving the current Lao hydro-boom hail from Thailand, China, Vietnam and Malaysia, though the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and companies from Japan, France, Norway and Belgium remain on the scene. The Lao power development plan contains 55 new large dams, 7 of which are under construction and nearly 15 more at advanced planning stages (see map and table).

Lao rivers and lands are also threatened by mining, rampant logging and large plantations. These destructive developments are often linked: forests are cleared for plantations, mines and hydro reservoirs; and hydropower is generated to fuel mining operations. Most of Lao hydropower, gold, copper, timber and rubber is shipped to Thailand, Vietnam and China.

In 2005, Laos adopted a National Policy on the Environmental and Social Sustainability of the Hydropower Sector, but the policy has yet to be implemented. In a country with no free press, no independent civil society organizations, and ranked as one of the world’s ten most corrupt by Transparency International, dams have left a legacy of broken promises and uncompensated losses. As a result, tens of thousands of Laotians lack sufficient food to eat, clean water to drink and income to meet basic needs.

International Rivers works to stop destructive hydropower projects in Laos and advocates for the rights of communities affected by dams, such as Nam Theun 2, Theun-Hinboun, Nam Leuk and Nam Song.

More information:

• Read International Rivers’ report  Power Surge: The Impacts of Rapid Dam Development in Laos.
• See the Lao Hydro Database which lists all ongoing and planned hydropower projects in Laos.

LATEST ADDITIONS:

Laos hydropower project deprives villagers of water, food, income

Doubts Hound World Bank-backed Dam as Its Turbines Start Up

Existing and Planned Lao Hydropower Projects

Response to THPC response to our report, “Expanding Failure”

Letter to WB and ADB on Nam Theun 2 Commercial Operation

CONTACT US:

Ikuko Matsumoto
ikuko@internationalrivers.org
+1 510-848-1155

Aviva Imhof
aviva@internationalrivers.org
+1 510 848 1155

Khone Phapheng, The world’s widest waterfall in Laos

• Laos dams: Powering The Future