Thai government shuts down HRW talk on Vietnam ethnic minority
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Bangkok (dpa) - Thailand's military government shut down a rights group's panel discussion on the situation of a Vietnamese ethnic minority on Friday.
The junta asked the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand to cancel an event hosted by Human Rights Watch alleging Vietnamese persecution of its Montagnard minority.
The event could "damage relations" between the two countries and undermine "national security," it said.
The event was to publicize a Human Rights Watch report which outlines Vietnam's communist government's attempts to intimidate the Christian minority.
"By stepping in to defend a neighbouring state's human rights violations ... Thailand's military junta is violating freedom of assembly and demonstrating its contempt for freedom of the press," Human Rights Watch said in an emailed statement.
