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http://hrw.org/ english/docs/ 2008/05/08/ vietna18774.
htm
Human Rights Watch
Vietnam: Religious Freedom Denied
Buddhists Remain Behind Bars While Vietnam Hosts UN Buddhist Celebration
(New York, May 8, 2008) - As Vietnam prepares to host the United Nations
Day of Visak next week, one of the most sacred days for Buddhists, the
government should cease the persecution, harassment and imprisonment of
Buddhists and other independent religious groups, Human Rights Watch
said today. More than 400 people remain behind bars in Vietnam for their
peaceful religious or political activities.
As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and other human rights covenants, Vietnam must respect freedom of
religious belief and worship.
"It is a travesty that Vietnam has been allowed to host a major
international Buddhist celebration while its state policy is political
control of every religious organization -Vietnam continues to
systematically imprison and persecute independent Buddhists as well as
followers of other religions," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director
at Human Rights Watch. "All members of the United Nations must respect
freedom of religious belief and worship. Vietnam, now a member of the
Security Council, should be exemplary - not among the worst - in this
regard."
Human Rights Watch also urged the United States to reinstate Vietnam on
its global blacklist of countries that violate the right to religious
freedom.
Repression of Buddhists Visak, celebrated by millions of Buddhists each
year, commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha.
This year's Visak celebration, which has been recognized as an
international holiday by the UN since 1999, is expected to draw 3,500
delegates from 80 countries to Vietnam for a series of events conducted
throughout the country from
May 13-17.
The theme of this year's UN Visak Day is "Buddhist Contribution to
Building a Just, Democratic and Civil Society." Yet Vietnam regularly
imprisons religious activists who advocate for the government to uphold
civil rights and religious freedom and implement democratic reforms.
The Visak celebrations fall one year after Vietnam courts sentenced nine
Buddhists to prison terms of two to six years in May 2007 for "causing
public disorder" under article 245 of Vietnam's penal code. Four of the
nine were convicted after protesting the imprisonment of Hoa Hao
Buddhists in 2006 in Dong Thap province. While Hoa Hao Buddhism is an
officially recognized religion in Vietnam, many members strongly resist
official pressure to affiliate with the government-appointe d committee
that oversees Hoa Hao affairs. Two Hoa Hao Buddhists self-immolated in
2005 to protest religious repression and detention of their leaders.
The remaining five sentenced in May 2007 are Theravada Buddhist monks
who are members of an ethnic minority group known as Khmer Krom in Soc
Trang province. The five were convicted for their participation in a
half-day peaceful protest earlier in the year when more than 200 Khmer
Krom monks demonstrated for greater religious freedom.
Leaders of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) have
been imprisoned or detained under pagoda arrest for many years for
appealing for the government to respect human rights and cease its
interference in religious affairs. Once the largest organization of
Buddhists in southern and central Vietnam, the UBCV has faced increased
harassment and repression in the weeks leading up to the UN's Day of
Visak, with government officials reportedly trying to evict UBCV monk
Thich Tri Khai from his pagoda in Lam Dong province in late April in
order to control it during the Visak celebrations.
Repression of other religious groups Authorities harshly suppress most
mass public protests, with the most recent crackdown taking place in
April 2008 in the Central Highlands against a wave of demonstrations by
Montagnard Christians in Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces. The Montagnards
- many of whom belong to independent house churches - were calling for
release of Montagnard prisoners, land rights, and religious freedom.
Police and soldiers forcefully dispersed the protesters and sealed off
many villages, particularly in Ayun Pah, Ia Grai and Cu Se districts of
Gia Lai, to prevent the demonstrations from spreading further. Dozens of
protesters were arrested.
Even members of churches officially recognized by the government are
starting to publicly air their grievances. In March 2008, the
government-authoriz ed Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam released a
rare public appeal calling on the government to cease its discrimination
against Christians, stop interfering in the church's internal affairs,
and return confiscated church properties. Earlier this year, hundreds of
Roman Catholics - one of the larger officially recognized religions in
Vietnam - conducted unprecedented prayer vigils in Hanoi to demand the
return of church property confiscated by the government.
US urged to reinstate Vietnam on religious freedom blacklist Human
Rights Watch joins the US Commission on International Religious Freedom
(USCIRF), a governmental body created by Congress, in urging the United
States to reinstate Vietnam's designation as a "Country of Particular
Concern" (CPC) for religious freedom violations. The United States,
which designated Vietnam as a CPC in 2004, lifted the designation from
Vietnam just days before President George W. Bush's visit to Hanoi in
November 2006.
In a letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on May 1, the
USCIRF maintained that the State Department's decision to remove Vietnam
from the CPC list in 2004 was premature:
"A commission delegation traveled to Vietnam in October 2007 and found
that progress in improving conditions for religious freedom has been
very uneven: improvements for some religious communities do not extend
to others; progress in one province is not similarly realized in
another; national laws are not fully implemented at the local and
provincial levels; and there continue to be far too many abuses and
restrictions of religious freedom, including the imprisonment of
individuals for reasons related to their religious activity or religious
freedom advocacy."
Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese government to release people
imprisoned for peaceful religious or political activities and end
restrictions on independent religious organizations who choose not to
affiliate with the officially authorized religious organizations under
the control of the government.
"Independent religious groups should be allowed to freely organize and
manage themselves, conduct religious activities, and even engage in
peaceful public protests," said Pearson. "Vietnam's respect for human
rights and religious freedom has sharply deteriorated since the US
removed it from its blacklist of religious freedom violators and
Vietnam's subsequent acceptance into the World Trade Organization. "
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