Vietnam Publishes Magazine in Ethnic Languages after Criticisms

Vietnam News Agency (VNA), the national news agency, has published a pictorial magazine in multiple languages with an aim to boost “national solidarity.”The publication namely Dan Toc & Mien Nui or Nationalities and Mountainous Areas was published in Vietnamese and five ethnic languages, including Khmer, Cham, Bahnar, Jrai and Ede. With 35,000 publications per installment, the magazine will serve remote areas in 52 out of 63 cities and provinces nationwide, the government said on its website.VNA released the first publication in ethnic languages in 1991.The agency plans to publish magazines in three additional languages namely Mong, K’ho and M’nong in the second quarter of 2013 to serve the target of publishing magazines in all recognized ethnic languages by 2015.The move is part the Vietnamese government effort to ease criticism by rights groups for its unfair policies, which disadvantage minorities and privilege Viet or Kinh people, the group that accounts for 85% of Vietnam’s population. (Chinhphu.vn Jan 22)