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2005 Honorees

Ms. Khuc Minh Tho Humanitarian Award

Mr. Shep Lowman Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang Community Service Award

Mr. Lionel Rosenblatt Lifetime Achievement Award

Click on each Honoree picture to read their bio.

Ms. Khuc Minh Tho

Ms. Khuc Minh Tho was born in Sadec , South Vietnam and educated in Saigon . The Vietnam war took the lives of her parents and husband, leaving her a widow with three young children. From 1961 to 1972, she worked for the Vietnamese Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1972, she was appointed Administrative Officer to the Vietnamese Embassy in Manila , Philippines . After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, she remained in the Philippines until her resettlement in the U.S. in 1977. Soon after her arrival, Ms. Khuc and her friends established the Families of Vietnamese Political Prisoners Association (FVPPA). The FVPPA has three primary goals: (1) to obtain the release of all Vietnamese Political Prisoners of war in the reeducation centers, (2) to publicize the inhumane conditions of those imprisoned, and (3) to help families prepare for the resettlement of the prisoners after their release. In establishing FVPPA, she worked very closely with the Congress and Department of State, Mr. Robert L. Funseth, and his staff, who were instrumental in helping the FVPPA accomplish many of its goals.

One of the biggest successes of FVPPA was the historic signing on July 30, 1989 of the American-Vietnamese agreement that provided for the resettlement of the former Vietnamese political prisoners and their family members in the United States , of whom almost 300,000 have come here since 1990.

Another big accomplishment of FVPPA was the release of the 100 longest held political prisoners in Vietnam . Also, through FVPPA efforts, the McCain amendment took place which allowed children of former political prisoners who are over the age of 21 to be eligible to come to the U.S. with the rest of their family. FVPPA was also able to intervene and terminate the U.S. government's decision to send former Vietnamese political prisoners and their families to the Philippines to learn English and a trade for 6 months before allowing them to enter the U.S.

Ms. Khuc Minh Tho is currently retired and resides in Virginia with her family. She now devotes all of her time to continue supporting and helping her Vietnamese communities in Vietnam as well as in the United States .

NAVASA is proud to honor Ms. Khuc Minh Tho with the Humanitarian Award.

Mr. Shep Lowman

Mr. Shep Lowman graduated from Harvard Law School and later attended Graduate School of Public Administration focusing on Economic Studies. In 1974 he was a Political Officer at the United States Embassy in Saigon , Vietnam . After the fall of Saigon, Mr. Shep Lowman assisted with the evacuation of Vietnamese in Saigon and was later given the "Superior Honor Award" for his tireless efforts. After 1975, he dedicated his time to Asian communities, working as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asian Refugees under the Bureau of Refugee Programs in Washington , D.C. During his 6-year term Mr. Lowman developed and managed programs that assisted in the resettlement of 168,000 refugees per year in the U.S. Once again, he was awarded the "Superior Honor Award" for his creative management response to crisis.

As Director for International Refugee Affairs from 1991 to 1998, Mr. Lowman led an advocacy initiative which played a major role in the adoption of the Resettlement Opportunities for Vietnamese Returnees (ROVR) program. This program resulted in the admission of an additional 18,000 Vietnamese refugees into the United States .

In 1989 Mr. Lowman founded the Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers (LAVAS) which provided legal assistance to Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong and the Philippines . In 1991 he also founded the Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH) which helped guide a mostly Vietnamese American NGO in the establishment of a very successful prosthetics and disabilities program in Vietnam .

Mr. Shep Lowman is currently a board member of Refugees International Emeritus and works as an independent consultant. Mr. Shep Lowman currently resides with his family in the state of Virginia .

NAVASA is proud to present Mr. Shep Lowman with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang is the Executive Director of Boat People SOS (BPSOS). Arriving in the U.S. as a boat person in 1979, he completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering and worked for 16 years at a research lab, holding many patents for his inventions. He has been active in the community for the past 25 years. In 1989 he joined Boat People SOS and launched many initiatives, including Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers (LAVAS). Under his leadership, BPSOS successfully advocated for the resettlement of almost 20,000 boat people after their repatriation to Vietnam . In 2001 he contributed to the rescue over 200 Vietnamese and Chinese victims of human trafficking in American Samoa . Since 1998 he has built BPSOS from a small organization with one half-time staff into a national organization with 14 branch offices and an annual budget of $4 million.

NAVASA is proud to honor Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang with the Community Service Award.

Mr. Lionel Rosenblatt

Mr. Lionel Rosenblatt, President Emeritus since 2001, served as President of Refugees International for 10 years, expanding the organization's early warning/early action advocacy on humanitarian emergencies. As President Emeritus, Mr. Rosenblatt now focuses on Southeast Asia and strategic advocacy issues such as peacekeeping. Before working for RI, he was a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State for more than twenty years. Much of his State Department experience centered on refugee and humanitarian emergencies, including the exodus of Indochinese refugees and the humanitarian emergency in Cambodia.

In 1975, he served as a senior member of the Interagency Task Force, which resettled the 130,000 Vietnamese refugees rescued at the Fall of Saigon. His final act for the Task Force was a tour of Southeast Asia, which revealed many worthy refugees still needful of American assistance. His trip report laid the foundation for an ongoing Indochinese refugee program. During subsequent years, Mr. Rosenblatt served simultaneously as the Refugee Coordinator at the key post of Bangkok and as the program's senior liaison on Capitol Hill. His work on these two fronts was vital to the program's success in dealing with the years of the Vietnamese boat refugee crisis.

A cum laude graduate of Harvard College , Mr. Rosenblatt has received a number of honors, including the Rivkin Award and the first Fred Cuny Humanitarian Award. He also holds a royal decoration from the Government of Thailand.

NAVASA is proud to present Mr. Lionel Rosenblatt with the Lifetime Achievement Award.