Environmental Activist Hong-Wei-ti Wins Goldman Prize and Faces Political Persecution in Vietnam

Hong-Wei-ti, a Vietnamese activist, won the prestigious Goldman Prize in 2018 for her work in convincing the government to exclude a massive coal build-out in its energy blueprint for Hanhoye. However, she and four other prominent environmental activists have been arrested and imprisoned for false tax evasion charges since 2021. This crackdown on climate activists reflects a broader trend of criminalization of policy activism and civil society movements under the hardline faction of the Vietnamese Communist Party. Their arrests are seen as a response to the activists' success in advocating for progressive climate policies, challenging the party's monopoly on policy making.