CORRESPONDENCE - 85A COMBINED REPORTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM 2012

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VIETNAM 26 strategic storage;" and "works of extreme importance for political, economic, cultural, and social purposes." Local police require citizens to register when staying overnight in any location outside of their own homes; the government appeared to enforce these requirements more strictly in some Central and Northern Highlands districts. Foreign passport holders must also register to stay in private homes, although there were no known cases of local authorities refusing to allow foreign visitors to stay with friends and family. The law on residence was not broadly implemented, and migration from rural areas to cities continued unabated. However, moving without permission hampered persons seeking legal residence permits, public education, and health -care benefits. Foreign Travel: Officials occasionally delayed citizens' access to passports in order to extort bribes, and prospective emigrants occasionally encountered difficulties obtaining a passport. For example, in July authorities stopped Father Dinh Huu Thoai, chief of office of the Redemptorist Church of Vietnam, at the Moc Bai border gate (Tay Ninh Province) and prevented him from leaving the country. In September security forces prevented human rights lawyer Huynh Van Dong from leaving the country. Although their probation ended years earlier, the government continued to prohibit dissidents Nguyen Khac Toan, Pham Hong Son, Le Thi Kim Thu, and others from receiving a passport and traveling overseas during the year. Authorities continued to allow attorney Le Quoc Quan, attorney Le Tran Luat, and journalist Nguyen Vu Binh to travel within the country but prohibited them from traveling overseas. Emigration and Repatriation: The government generally permitted citizens who had emigrated to return to visit, although it refused to allow certain activists or other individuals living abroad to return. Known Vietnamese political activists overseas were denied entry visas or were detained and deported after entering the country. For example, on August 1, authorities denied Radio Free Asia reporter Tuong Anh entry after he arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport, Ho Chi Minh City, from abroad. The government continued to honor a tripartite memorandum of understanding signed with Cambodia and the UNHCR to facilitate the return from Cambodia of all ethnic Vietnamese who did not qualify for third - country resettlement.