Source: Asiaone News
Wire Service: AFP
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20091119-180876.html
Followers of the Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh are being harassed in his native Vietnam, and they need the United Nations to step in to protect them, a representative said Wednesday.
In a meeting this week with an official of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the representative, Trung Hai, appealed for 'protection' for monks and nuns who are facing 'ever-stronger pressure' from the authorities.
'We are hoping that the high commissioner (Navanethem Pillay) will put pressure on the government to reconsider more closely our situation and to find solutions,' the monk told AFP in Geneva.
The UNHCR official is to take up the issue with Vietnam's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Trung Hai added.