Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 15 slammed the U.S. State Department’s annual religious freedom report as not objective and containing errors and insisted that Vietnamese people’s religious rights were ensured.
The U.S. report, issued on Wednesday, said government authorities, particularly at the local level, continued to limit the activities of unregistered religious groups. It said members of these and other groups reported convictions, assaults, excessive use of force, detentions, monitoring, hindering of movement, denials of registrations and other permissions, and other harassment.
The independent Luong Tam (Conscience) TV on October 15 resumed operation, broadcasting its 4th edition on human rights issues in the communist nation despite ongoing harassment against its staff.
Vietnam’s security forces have intensified its crackdown against local political dissidents and human rights activists. On Thursday security agents and thugs in the central province of Nghe An brutally attacked former political prisoner Tran Van Thach. The next day, police and thugs in Hanoi assaulted a number of human rights activists during their visit to the family of Do Dang Du, the boy who died on October 10 due to severe injuries he suffered during detention in Hanoi police’s Detention Facility No. 3.
And other important news.
————– Oct 12———–
Vietnamese Authorities Harass Independent Buddhist Church
Vietnamese authorities in the southern coastal province of Ba Ria Vung Tao have begun a campaign of harassment against a small, independent Buddhist church operating outside of government control, sending mobs to harass community members and block access to their building, sources say.
The crackdown against the Dat Quang pagoda, a temple of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam located in Bau Lam village in the province’s Xuyen Moc district, was launched at about noon on October 6, a senior pagoda monk told RFA’s Vietnamese Service this week.
“Provincial authorities sent a large group of people to our place to harass our members, and we had only one way to counter their attack, which was to sit in protest and pray,” the monk, Thich Vinh Phuoc, said.
“They blocked all access to our temple and stopped anybody who wanted to come in,” Phuoc said, adding, “They even sprayed some kind of gas from the temple roof onto people who were sitting inside.”
When one community member, Nguyen Thanh Cong, learned what was happening, he rushed to the scene to defend the temple and his friends, Phuoc said.
“He was detained by police and taken to the Bau Lam Village People’s Office, where a policeman struck him on the head, knocking him unconscious.”
Family members were at first prevented by police from taking Cong to a hospital for treatment, but were eventually allowed to proceed, Phuoc said.
“We do not belong to the government-controlled church,” Phuoc said, explaining the reasons for the attack.
“They always oppress the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam,” he added.
“We are under the leadership of Venerable Thich Thanh Tinh, who was jailed by the communist government for many years,” Phuoc said.
“He was arrested in 1992 and 1993 and was released in 2000. He came to live with us in 2001.”
Repairs blocked
Established in a modest village house in 1975, the Dat Quang Pagoda has become dilapidated, but structural repairs have been blocked by local authorities, Phuoc said.
“Right from the beginning, they would not recognize us. They would not even let us register our residents, so why would they allow us to undertake repairs?” he asked.
Called by a reporter on Monday, provincial religious affairs Nguyen Van Ron declined comment and referred the caller to district-level authorities, who also refused to speak.
“I’m not authorized to talk about this, so please direct your questions somewhere else,” Lam Quang Dung, director of the Xuyen Moc district People’s Office, said.
“According to the rules, I’m not allowed to answer your questions.”
Vietnam, under one-party communist rule, continues to “severely restrict independent religious practice, and repress individuals and religious groups it views as challenging its authority,” the congressionally mandated U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms (USCIRF) said in an annual report released in April.
The State Department included Vietnam on its list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) in 2004 but removed it from the blacklist two years later amid improving diplomatic relations, and has since ignored repeated calls from the Commission to reinstate the country’s designation.
Vietnamese Resident Accuses Police of Torture, Coercion Before Committing Suicide
A resident in Vietnam’s Central Highlands city of Buon Ma Thuot has written a letter accusing the local police of conducting torture and coercion before he decided to commit suicide, the Phu Nu newspaper reported Wednesday.
After returning from a working meeting with the Buon Ma Thuot city police, Mr. Huynh Ngoc Loi, 31, from Hoa Khanh commune took a toxic pesticide to end his life, the newspaper said. He was brought to a local hospital for emergency treatment, but the medical staff could not save his life.
In his final letter, Loi said police officer Nguyen Viet Anh beat him at his head and threatened to confiscate his motorbike and arrest his wife.
Loi also asked for forgiveness for beating the two people , and begged for mercy from the authorities not to arrest his wife.
His family said that he was summoned by the local police for interrogation for the incident on May 17, in which Loi reportedly broke a nose of a local resident’s nose and injured an another guy with a knife. However, the two families settled the disputes and Loi already paid a compensation to the victim.
Loi has a four-year-old boy who is suffering from heart disease.
Police torture and coerced confession are reported to occur in many localities in the communist nation where the police forces are considered essential to maintaining the one-party regime, according to international human rights bodies.
As many as 226 Vietnamese suspected of committing crimes were found dead during detention in police stations between October 1, 2011 and September 30, 2014. Torture is the main reason for most of these deaths although Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security said suicides and diseases are the main causes.
During the period, people in 46 of these cases accused police investigators of conducting tortures but police admitted that only three complaints were found to be substantiated.
Last week, a court in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang sentenced two local police investigators Nguyen Hoang Quan and Trieu Tuan Hung to 18 months and 24 months in prison respectively for torturing seven suspects in a local murder.
2014 Report on International Religious Freedom – Vietnam
U.S. Department of State
Executive Summary
The country’s constitution states that all people have the right to freedom of belief and religion but government authorities continued to limit the activities of unregistered religious groups, particularly those the government believed to be engaged in political activity. Although registered religious groups were normally allowed to practice their faith, the government continued to restrict their activities in education and health and required authorization for many other activities. Some members of unregistered groups in particular reported various forms of governmental harassment, including but not limited to assault, short term detentions, prosecutions, monitoring, restrictions on travel, and denials of registration and/or other permissions. Religious followers report a higher number of harassment incidents by local rather than central authorities. Some local authorities systematically and openly used the local and national regulatory systems to slow, delegitimize, and suppress religious activities of groups that resisted close management of their leadership structures, training programs, assemblies, and other activities. Numerous reports of violations of religious freedom occurred in rural provinces in the Central and Northwest Highlands.
There are 38 officially recognized religious organizations and there were no reports of significant societal actions affecting religious freedom.
The U.S. Secretary of State, in meetings with senior government officials, called for continued improvements in religious freedom. The U.S. embassy and consulate general urged authorities to allow all religious groups to operate, including the United Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Protestant house churches, and independent Hoa Hao and Cao Dai groups; sought greater freedom for recognized religious groups; and urged an end to restrictions on and harassment of unregistered groups. U.S. officials maintained regular contact with religious leaders across the country. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor discussed concerns about religious freedom with government officials in the annual U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue, and traveled to Vietnam in October, where he advocated for improvements to freedom of religion in law and practice.
Section I. Religious Demography
The U.S. government estimates the total population at 93.4 million (July 2014 estimate). According to the government’s Committee of Religious Affairs (CRA), approximately 90 percent of the population professes religious beliefs. More than half of the population identifies with Buddhism. Within that community, Mahayana Buddhism is the dominant affiliation by ethnic majority Kinh (Viet), while about 1.2 percent of the population, almost all from the ethnic minority Khmer group, identify with Theravada Buddhism. Roman Catholics constitute 7 percent of the population; Cao Dai, 2.5 to 4 percent; Hoa Hao, 1.5 to 3 percent; and Protestants, 1 to 2 percent.
Smaller religious groups that together comprise less than 0.1 percent of the population include 50,000 ethnic Cham, who mostly practice a devotional form of Hinduism in the south-central coastal area; 70,000 to 80,000 Muslims scattered throughout the country (approximately 40 percent are Sunnis; the remaining 60 percent practice Bani Islam); an estimated 8,000 members of the Bahai Faith; and approximately 1,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Religious groups originating in country (Buu Son Ky Huong, Tu An Hieu Nghia, To Tien Chinh Giao) and religious groups relatively new to the country (Brahmanism, Bahai) comprise a total of 1.3 million adherents. There are also two Jewish registered groups to serve the small, mostly-foreign Jewish population – one in Hanoi, founded during the year, and one in Ho Chi Minh City.
Other citizens consider themselves nonreligious, or practice animism or the veneration of ancestors, tutelary and protective saints, national heroes, or local, respected persons. Followers of these traditional forms of worship may or may not term themselves religious.
Ethnic minorities constitute approximately 14 percent of the population. Based on adherents’ estimates, two-thirds of Protestants are members of ethnic minorities, including groups in the Northwest Highlands (H’mong, Dzao, Thai, and others) and in the Central Highlands (Ede, Jarai, Sedang, and M’nong, among others). The Khmer Krom ethnic group overwhelmingly practices Theravada Buddhism.
Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom
Legal Framework
The 2013 constitution states that all people have the right to freedom of belief and religion, a change from the previous constitution that granted such rights only to citizens. The constitution acknowledges the right to freedom of religion or belief of those whose rights are limited, including inmates or any foreigners and stateless persons. The constitution states all religions are equal before the law and the state must respect and protect freedom of belief and religion.
The constitution has language that prohibits citizens from “taking advantage of a belief or religion in order to violate the law.” In addition, the penal code establishes penalties for practices that undermine the state’s national unity policy.
The 2004 Ordinance on Religion and Belief and the revised Implementation Decree (Decree 92), which came into effect in January 2013, serve as the primary documents governing religious practice. Both the ordinance and decree reiterate citizens’ rights to freedom of belief and religion while also stipulating that individuals may not use the right of belief and religious freedom to undermine peace, national independence, and unification; incite violence or propagate wars; conduct propagation in contravention of the state’s laws and policies; divide people, nationalities, or religions; cause public disorder, infringe upon the life, health, dignity, honor and/or property of others, or impede the exercise of civic rights and performance of civic obligations; or conduct superstitious activities or otherwise violate the law.
The CRA is responsible for implementing the 2004 ordinance and administrative modifications outlined in Decree 92. The decree reduces, in some cases by half, the stipulated government response time to local and national applications for administrative processes, and streamlines laws and regulations. Under the decree, all religious groups must submit proposed religious activities for government pre-approval.
Under the ordinance the government has regulatory oversight of religious groups, which must be officially registered or recognized as formal religious organizations. The ordinance stipulates that local government authorities must approve leadership, activities, and the establishment of seminaries or religious classes. Decree 92 requires religious organizations to register their religious leaders and officials with CRA at the central or provincial level. For a leader who is not a citizen, religious groups must obtain approval from the CRA at the national level. Decree 92 includes requirements for noncitizens specializing in religious activities in Vietnam, including those involved in religious training, ordination, and leadership. The decree specifies curriculum guidelines for religious training institutions, and extends the time an organization must be registered before it may qualify for national recognition from 20 to 23 years.
The ordinance explicitly bans forced renunciations of faith. Religious organizations must inform appropriate provincial- and central-level authorities of their major celebrations, such as Christmas services, as well as the investiture and transfer of clerics. This is an informational requirement only; the law does not require pre-approval of those services and clerical appointments. Local governments have the authority to require additional forms of permission. While the ordinance encourages religious groups to conduct charitable activities in healthcare and education, the law prohibits religious groups from operating health or educational institutions, although kindergarten and preschool are allowed.
The government does not permit religious or atheistic instruction in public schools.
Decree 92 prescribes a multi-stage process in order to receive national recognition. To operate openly, an unrecognized religious organization must first register its places of worship, its clerics, and its activities in each local administrative area in which it operates by filing information about its structure, leadership, and activities. Local registration confers the ability to operate in that administrative locality. The next step is national registration, which requires the group to document 20 years of stable religious operation in the country and is granted by the national government through the CRA. National registration requires a license from the CRA. After maintaining national registration for three years, a religious group becomes eligible to apply for legal recognition after electing its leaders through a national convention. The CRA must approve the proposed leadership, structure, and activities. Benefits of recognition include permission to open, operate, and refurbish places of worship; permission to train religious leaders; and permission to publish materials. Nevertheless, each particular activity is subject to local and national approvals.
At every stage of the registration and recognition application process, the law specifies time limits for an official response, which can be up to 45 days, depending on the scope of the request. Although the law requires government authorities to explain formally any denial in writing, the denial may be for any reason, given the significant discretion the law gives to those authorities. There is no mechanism for appeal.
Decree 92 and the Law on Land stipulate that recognized religious organizations are permitted to acquire a land-use certificate as legal entities, but they must receive a grant of the land by the respective provincial people’s committee, which also has the authority to approve or disapprove the construction of new religious facilities. If a religious organization has not yet obtained full legal status, members of the congregation may acquire a land use title individually, but not as a recognized religious establishment. The renovation or upgrade of religious facilities also requires notification to authorities, although it does not necessarily require a permit, depending on the extent of the renovation. The decree stipulates authorities must respond to a construction permit application within 20 days, although the law does not provide for accountability of authorities if they do not comply with the deadline.
The national-level CRA is charged with disseminating information to authorities and assuring uniform compliance with the legal framework on religion at the provincial, district, commune, and village levels. The CRA reported progress towards its goal of registering over 200 congregations in 2014.
In total the government has granted recognition to 38 religious organizations, 36 of which hold full recognition. These 38 religious organizations were affiliated with 12 distinct religious traditions. The 12 religious traditions are: Buddhism, Islam, the Bahai Faith, Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, HoaHao, Cao Dai, the Pure Land Buddhist Home Practice, the Four Debts of Gratitude, the Threefold Enlightened Truth Path, and the Threefold Southern Tradition. Distinct denominations within these religious traditions must seek their own registration and/or recognition.
The law requires prior approval by government authorities of the publication of all religious texts. The law states only the Religious Publishing House, or another government approved publishing house, may publish religious books. It permits the Bible to be printed in Vietnamese and a number of other languages, including Chinese, Ede, Jarai, Banar, M’nong, H’mong, C’ho, and English. Other published texts include, but are not limited to, works pertaining to ancestry worship, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam (including the Quran), and Cao Dai. Any bookstore may legally sell religious materials.
Religious affiliation is indicated on citizens’ national identification cards and household registration documents. An individual or household may decline to state affiliation. In practice, many persons who consider themselves religious choose not to indicate a religious affiliation on their identification cards, and government statistics include them as nonreligious. The law allows an individual to change his or her religious affiliation on national identification cards through a set of cumbersome procedures.
Government Practices
The constitutional right to religious belief and practice continued to be subject to uneven interpretation and protection, especially involving ethnic minorities in some provinces of the Central and Northwest Highlands. Government authorities, particularly at the local level, continued to limit the activities of unregistered religious groups, and members of these and other groups reported convictions, assaults, excessive use of force, detentions, monitoring, hindering of movement, denials of registrations and other permissions, and other harassment. Nevertheless, in some areas, local authorities tacitly approved activities of unregistered groups.
The government stated it continued to monitor the activities of certain religious groups because of their political activism and invoked national security and solidarity provisions in the constitution to override laws and regulations providing for religious freedom. This included impeding some religious gatherings and blocking attempts by religious groups to proselytize to certain ethnic groups in border regions deemed to be sensitive, as well as in the Central Highlands.
In February a group of Hoa Hao Buddhists from an unregistered congregation reported an assault by police as they attempted to visit then-detained human rights activist Nguyen Bac Truyen in Dong Thap province. In August a court in Dong Thap Province sentenced unregistered Hoa Hao follower Nguyen Van Minh to two and a half years imprisonment for “disturbing public order” for his involvement in the incident, although several witnesses denied he assaulted a police officer.
Members of the same group reported that authorities in Lam Dong Province detained and harassed them when they attempted to visit human rights activist Do Thi Minh Hanh soon after her early release from prison in July.
Family members of Hoa Hao adherent Mai Thi Dung reported that her health continued to deteriorate in Thanh Xuan prison. Dung continued to serve an 11-year prison sentence for protesting restrictions on Hoa Hao Buddhist gatherings.
Falun Gong followers reported in May that local authorities in Xuan Thanh village, Dong Nai Province detained and assaulted Falun Gong adherent Pham Thi Ngoc Chau. According to the report, police took Chau to the police station after authorities observed her providing Falun Gong materials to residents of the village. Police released her the next day but reportedly confiscated her identity papers and some personal property.
Mennonite pastors in Binh Duong Province reported police, local authorities, and hired men began a campaign of harassment in June, which was ongoing at year’s end. Pastors reported government forces raided a Bible class in June and subsequently detained 29 pastors and 47 students, who were beaten before authorities released them the following day. In October pastors said local police harassed congregation members on their way to church and, in a separate incident, came to a follower’s workplace, escorted him to the police station, and beat him. In November independent media sources reported that hired men vandalized a Mennonite church, barred followers from leaving their house, and brought several Mennonites into the police station for questioning. While no large disruptions to holiday services occurred, Mennonite communities in both Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City reported continued harassment in December. In Ho Chi Minh City, Mennonites were able to hold Christmas services but a pastor said authorities subsequently cut the power to his church in order to prevent a service planned for December 31. In Binh Duong, a pastor reported that unknown individuals vandalized the kitchen of the Mennonite church in My Phuoc and impeded followers from entering a Christmas service.
Independent Cao Dai congregants in Vinh Long Province continued to report official obstruction of their religious practices, including harassment and monitoring by local authorities during a traditional memorial for a deceased Cao Dai worshiper in January. Followers of an unregistered Cao Dai group reported local authorities and hired men assaulted them when they were attending a ritual at a temple in Tay Ninh province in August. The followers said authorities threw shrimp paste and waste at them and deflated their motorbike tires.
In September the Gia Lai provincial court sentenced two members of the Christian Ha Mon religious group to seven and one half to eight and one half years in prison for “sabotaging the policy on solidarity” after a prayer gathering at a holy site interfered with construction of a hydroelectric plant. Local authorities accused the group of attempting to establish a separatist state for ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands. This followed the May 2013 sentencing of eight other Ha Mon members on the same charge. Followers had also clashed with local authorities in 2005 and 2006 when plans to construct a hydropower plant included razing Ha Mon village, the holy site of the group.
Local and central authorities continued to call on the H’mong people in the Northwest Highlands, including Tuyen Quang, Cao Bang, Bac Can, and Thai Nguyen Provinces, to disavow the Duong Van Minh religious group and dismantle all nha don, public buildings used for funeral rites. Local authorities established steering committees to implement national directives to suppress the growth of the Duong Van Minh religious group. Since October 2013, authorities have convicted eight members of the unregistered Duong Van Minh group for “abusing democratic freedoms.”
In February members of Protestant churches reported that local authorities in Dien Bien Dong District in Dien Bien Province forced Protestants to renounce their faith. According to the reports of the incident, some local authorities shredded Bibles, seized and destroyed followers’ property, and physically assaulted followers. By year’s end, there had been no official investigation of the local authorities’ actions.
A Buddhist nun in Bac Giang province reported that authorities harassed members of her pagoda, belonging to the recognized Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, over a period of several years. She said the harassment included intimidation of monks and nuns, breaking into the pagoda, destruction of pagoda property, and theft of cash donations.
Family members of imprisoned Lutheran pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh said police continued to harass them, including by displacing them from their homes, placing them under heavy surveillance, and confiscating and destroying their personal belongings. Due to the harassment, the education of Pastor Chinh’s four children was severely disrupted.
The government continued to say some Montagnards, an ethnic minority in the Central Highlands, were operating Protestant organizations that advocated separatism for ethnic minorities. The Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) and house churches in the provinces of DakLak, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Binh Phuoc, Phu Yen, and DakNong continued to report government scrutiny because of perceived association with separatist groups overseas. Followers of the unsanctioned Church of Christ reported local authorities in the Central Highlands provinces harassed them. Followers said police pressured them to abandon the church and accused the church of links to an ethnic minority separatist organization.
Several hundred Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN) congregations continued to await action on their applications to register local meeting places, in contravention of time periods outlined by Decree 92. Government officials reportedly rarely adhered to the stipulated response times and often did not include specific reasons for refusals. Authorities attributed the delays and denials to the failure of applicants to complete forms correctly or to provide complete information. Local authorities also cited vague security concerns, such as political destabilization or potential conflict between followers of long established ethnic traditional religious beliefs and newly introduced Christian beliefs. Some Protestant house churches reported local authorities used registration requirements to harass followers and exert pressure on the religious groups to cease religious activities.
According to some Catholic bishops, parishes in remote areas with majority ethnic minority populations faced difficulty registering, uneven and inconsistent enforcement of national laws, and a lack of accountability on the part of provincial authorities.
SECV leaders reported that local authorities in the Central Highlands provinces required small congregations, some with as many as 100 followers, to combine together into larger groups of up to 1,500 individuals in order to gain official recognition. The church leaders called such requests unreasonable, saying many of the congregations were composed of a variety of ethnic minority groups with different languages and incongruent worship practices. Mountainous terrain and lack of infrastructure in the rural highlands prevented churches from sustaining a required minimum number of followers necessary to qualify for local registration.
Some Buddhist, Protestant, Cao Dai, and HoaHao groups did not affiliate with any government-recognized or government-registered religious organizations, nor did they seek their own registration or recognition.
Unregistered Buddhist, Cao Dai, HaoHoa, and Christian religious groups regularly reported some provincial authorities used local registration laws to pressure, intimidate, threaten, extort, harass, and assault their members.
During the year, the CRA granted recognition to the Interim Management Board of Hanoi Al-Noor Masjid and Interim Representative Board of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) of Vietnam.
Authorities continued to deny prisoners and detainees the right to worship, although the constitution guarantees in principle the right of prisoners to practice their beliefs. Family members reported prison guards prevented Lutheran pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh from praying. Some prisoners, however, were allowed to read the Bible and practice their beliefs while incarcerated.
A significant number of religious groups reported their ability to meet openly for worship had improved. The government, however, continued to require religious groups to register their activities in advance and used this requirement to restrict and discourage participation in certain unregistered religious groups, including the United Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam (UBCV) and some Protestant and Hoa Hao groups.
According to some religious leaders, some local officials continued to assert publicly that national laws did not apply to their jurisdictions. Both registered and unregistered Protestant groups reported they successfully appealed some local decisions to higher level authorities.
Religious believers, particularly members of organizations that had not applied for or been granted legal registration, continued to report intimidation by local security officials about attending religious services. In a number of instances, local officials forced church gatherings to disperse, advised or required groups to limit important celebrations in scope or content, closed unregistered house churches, or pressured individuals to renounce their religious beliefs and cease religious activities.
In March followers of the unregistered Pure Hoa Hao Buddhist Church and Traditional Hoa Hao Buddhist Church in several southern provinces reported police and local authorities prevented a gathering to celebrate a major Hoa Hao religious holiday. The followers reported an assault by police and the cordoning off of their homes. Police reportedly put the followers and their family members under strict surveillance beginning several days prior to the holiday.
Falun Gong adherents said plainclothes police frequently interrupted Falun Gong religious activity in Ho Chi Minh City parks.
Leaders of the SECV said the CRA bureaucratically impeded a planned first joint assembly meeting with its northern counterpart, the ECVN. SECV leaders said the meeting would have been an important step toward reunifying the two churches, which were divided along with the country in 1954. Although the CRA agreed in principle to the unification of the SECV and the ECVN in January 2013, SECV leadership said the CRA laid out an onerous process designed to impede reunification. The request for unification was first made in late 2010. In October 2013, the ECVN reached an agreement among its internal leadership to move forward on the unification process; a similar agreement was reached by the SECV internal leadership in November 2013.
Although the law prohibits nongovernment publishing of religious materials, in practice some private, unlicensed publishing houses unofficially printed and distributed religious texts without active government interference.
The government continued to restrict the number of students that could enroll in Catholic and Protestant seminaries to numbers the churches’ leadership said were inadequate to meet demand.
The government permitted clergy to teach at universities in subjects in which they were qualified. Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Bahai, and Buddhist groups were allowed to provide religious education to adherents in their own facilities. Students continued to participate in training sessions on fundamental Buddhist philosophy organized at pagodas nationwide during summer holidays. Some religious leaders said some provincial authorities used Decree 92 to suppress religious expression because the decree requires religious leaders to request permission to preach outside of their religious establishment.
There were reports that local authorities subjected two Khmer Krom monks to harassment and interrogation as a result of their meeting with the UN special rapporteur for religious freedom in July. The special rapporteur also reported that his attempts to visit religious leaders and other adherents in An Giang, Gia Lai, and Kon Tum Provinces were interrupted when authorities placed several of these individuals under heavy surveillance and prevented them from leaving their homes.
In August Ho Chi Minh City authorities informed Lien Tri Pagoda’s Abbot Thich Khong Tanh that the city planned to raze the pagoda as part of an urban development project, although at year’s end no action had been taken. The pagoda is affiliated with the unregistered UBCV and reported significant levels of harassment and surveillance by Ho Chi Minh City authorities in the past. Abbot Thich Khong Tanh also has been a prominent human rights and religious freedom activist who released public statements critical of the government restrictions on religious organizations in the past.
Adherence to a religious group generally did not seriously disadvantage individuals in nongovernmental civil, economic, and secular life, although some religious leaders said unofficial policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the government hampered advancement of religious adherents within those organizations. Practitioners of various religions served in local and provincial government positions and were represented in the National Assembly. Some religious organizations, such as the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, as well as other clergy and religious followers, were members of the Vietnam Fatherland Front. High-ranking government officials sent greetings and visited churches during Christmas and Easter and attended Vesak activities.
Leaders of unregistered Protestant denominations continued to report that local authorities in the Central Highlands discriminated against their followers. The Protestant leadership stated local authorities threatened to exclude their followers from state run social welfare programs if they did not denounce their faith. They further reported that students who were openly Protestant often suffered discrimination. SECV pastors reported some of their student followers received low marks in the category of “moral integrity” after publicly announcing their faith.
Father Phan Van Loi and Cao Dai Sub-dignitary Nguyen Bach Phung reported authorities blocked their exit from Vietnam as they attempted to travel to the United States to testify before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in March. Nguyen Bach Phung reported police surrounded her house and cut internet service and power throughout the hearing.
Although his passport was revoked in 2013, authorities permitted Pastor Pham Dinh Nhan, head of the unregistered United Gospel Outreach Church, to travel abroad. He reported, however, that police took his passport after he returned.
UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Quang Do stated authorities prevented followers from visiting him or regularly questioned them after any such visit, although he could meet diplomats within his pagoda. UBCV leaders said the government continued to restrict their movement, although they reported less harassment than in previous years and were able to meet with some foreign diplomats, visit other UBCV members, and maintain contact with associates overseas. Authorities closely monitored these activities, the leaders said. Provincial UBCV leaders throughout the southern region reported routine surveillance by local authorities. UBCV followers reported that, on August 9 and 10, local authorities in Da Nang City prevented them from traveling to the UBCV An Cu pagoda to observe the Vu Lan holiday. They also stated authorities had earlier presented a video to local citizens claiming the UBCV was a “reactionary” organization.
Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom
Authorities cited some tensions between new and established religious groups, for example, between Protestant groups from the south who moved north to areas with established Protestants groups.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City regularly raised concerns about religious freedom with a wide range of government officials and CPV leaders, including the president, prime minister, and senior officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the CRA, the Ministry of Public Security, and other offices in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the provinces.
The U.S. Secretary of State, in meetings with senior government officials, called for continued improvements in religious freedom. Other visiting senior Department of State officials raised religious freedom concerns during their meetings with government officials and civil society representatives. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor headed the bilateral Human Rights Dialogue with government officials and traveled to Vietnam, where he engaged government officials on religious freedom issues and met with civil society representatives to discuss the state of religious freedom.
The Ambassador and embassy officials urged authorities to allow all religious groups to operate, including the UBCV, Protestant house churches, and dissenting Hoa Hao groups; sought greater freedom for recognized religious groups; and urged an end to restrictions on unregistered groups. The Ambassador and embassy officials raised specific cases of government harassment against Catholics, the UBCV, unrecognized Hoa Hao groups, and Protestant churches with the CRA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Public Security. The Ambassador also requested the government investigate reported abuses of religious believers and punish any officials found to be responsible. Embassy officials called for the registration of church congregations around the country and for improvement in registration policies to make them more uniform and transparent. U.S. government officials also repeatedly urged the government to peacefully resolve outstanding land rights disputes with religious organizations.
Embassy and consulate general officials traveled throughout the country to monitor religious freedom, meet with religious leaders, and stress to government officials that progress on religious freedom and human rights was critical to an improved bilateral relationship. Representatives of the embassy and the consulate general had frequent contact with leaders of all major religious communities.
Minister of Public Security Demands Investigation into Death of Detained Boy in Hanoi
Vietnamese Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang has requested the police in Hanoi to investigate deeply to determine the real causes of the recent death of a 17-year-old detained boy.
The move was taken responding in response to strong protest by the family of victim Do Dang Du as well as public concerns about his case.
Du, the boy from Dong Cuu village, Dong Phuong Yen commune, Chuong My district, was caught on August 5 in the act of stealing VND1.5 million ($67) from his neighbor. Although he returned the money to the owner, he was arrested by the Chuong My district police on the same day.
Later, Du was transferred to the Hanoi detention facility No. 3 based in Xa La, Ha Dong district.
On October 4, Du was transferred to the Ha Dong Central Hospital and later to the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital, with a numerous injuries on his body and head. He died on October 10.
During his treatment in the hospital, the police in Hanoi blockaded his room, not allowing his relatives and friends to visit him.
After he died, the Police Department in Hanoi said Du’s injuries were caused by Vu Van Binh, another detainee held in the same cell as the victim. The city’s police prosecuted 17-year-old Binh for “intentionally injuring” another person and pledged to investigate responsibilities of police officers of the detention facility for allowing the beating to take place.
The city’s police invited army medical staff to conduct an autopsy, however, a number of facts were not included in the report, said lawyer Tran Thu Nam who was hired by the victim’s family to attend the autopsy.
The police convinced the family to take his body for immediate burial on the same day.
Du’s relatives and his friends said it is hard to know the real reasons behind his death due to the lack of independent investigation. His family believed he was tortured by police in detention.
The family said it had not received any documents confirming Du’s detention since he was detained on August 5.
Meanwhile, police torture is a systemic problem across Vietnam, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The Ministry of Public Security reported 226 deaths of detainees and prisoners in police detention facilities in the past four years.
The ministry said most of the deaths were caused by suicides and severe diseases, however, families of the victims believe the real cause is police torture.
Vietnam ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Treatments in 2014, however, the police torture continues to occur. Since the beginning of 2015, nearly ten individuals died or suffered from severe injuries due to police torture, according to state media.
Vietnam Slams US’s Religious Freedom Report as Not Objective
Vietnam slammed the U.S. State Department’s annual religious freedom report as not objective and containing errors and insisted Thursday that Vietnamese people’s religious rights were ensured.
The U.S. report, issued on Wednesday, said government authorities, particularly at the local level, continued to limit the activities of unregistered religious groups. It said members of these and other groups reported convictions, assaults, excessive use of force, detentions, monitoring, hindering of movement, denials of registrations and other permissions, and other harassment.
The report cited about two dozen specific cases in which it said unregistered religious groups were maltreated by the government.
It said Mennonite pastors in southern Binh Duong Province reported that government forces raided a Bible class in June and subsequently detained 29 pastors and 47 students, who were beaten before authorities released them the following day.
In another case it said followers of an unregistered Cao Dai group reported that local authorities and hired men assaulted them when they were attending a ritual at a temple in southern Tay Ninh province in August. The followers said authorities threw shrimp paste and waste at them and deflated their motorbike tires.
At a briefing for reporters, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh criticized the State Department’s annual report.
“Regrettably, the U.S State Department’s 2014 international religious freedom report, which acknowledged Vietnam’s achievements in this area though, continued to make unobjective assessments and cited erroneous information on Vietnam,” he said.
Binh said Vietnamese citizens’ rights to freedom of religions and belief and their rights not to have religions and belief were enshrined in the Constitution and ensured in practice.
In defending its human rights record in the past, Vietnam has said that individual rights must be put in the context of the wider community and that only people who break the law have faced detention.
Vietnam Independent Luong Tam TV Channel Releases 4th Edition despite Intensified
Vietnam’s independent Luong Tam (Conscience) TV channel has broadcast its 4th edition on human rights violations in the country despite the ongoing intensified crackdown by the government against its staff.
The 7-minute program was released on October 15, three weeks after the police in Hanoi detained the five-member staff of Luong Tam TV.
Due to the continuous harassment by the Hanoi police against reporter and anchor Le Yen, Anna Huyen Trang, a reporter of Tin mung cho Nguoi ngheo (Good News for The Poor program), replaced her in the program.
In the 4th edition, the staff of Luong Tam TV staff condemned the ongoing crackdown by the Hanoi city’s authorities against its staff, saying their detentions were illegal since the production and broadcast of Luong Tam TV are legal activities according to the country’s law.
The staff of the independent TV program have vowed to continue their activities to practice exercise the right of freedom of expression which is enshrined in the country’s Constitution 2013.
On September 23, Hanoi police detained five Luong Tam TV staff: journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, anchor Le Yen, cameraman Pham Dac Dat, video technician Nguyen Manh Cuong, and translator Le Thu Ha. Police also confiscated all their personal belongings and Luong Tam TV’s equipments, including a camcorder, a Sony Anpha 58 camera, a lighting kit for studio with four tripods and four lights, three laptops, a tablet, four phones, three USB drives, $100 of cash, furniture and other devices for the studio.
After questioning the five activists for a whole day, the police released them late at night. When dozens of other activists gathered at the police headquarters in Hai Ba Trung district to demand for their unconditional release, the local authorities sent dozens of police officers, militia and thugs to suppress them, beating some activists.
On the next day, Hanoi police summoned Miss Yen to a police station for interrogation and on October 7-8, they continued to request her to meet with investigation officers to work on the issue. Yen was forced to go to the police station on October 9 where she was threatened and demanded not to continue working for Luong Tam TV.
The crackdown started after Luong Tam TV produced three video clips about human rights violations in Vietnam and broadcast them on the Internet, the first of which was released on August 19. Every program lasted about eight minutes.
Representatives of a number of foreign embassies in Hanoi, including the U.S. have expressed concerns about the case, pledging to pay special attention to the government’s harassment against the Luong Tam TV’s staff.
On October 1, 18 unsanctioned civil society organizations and four individuals in Vietnam voiced their support for the joint statement of the Former Vietnamese Prisoners of Conscience and the Brothers for Democracy Association condemning the suppression by the Hanoi police against Luong Tam (Conscience) TV.
The Hanoi police’s harassment of the staff of Luong Tam TV is part of the ongoing political crackdown the communist government has intensified recently to silence local dissent ahead of the 12th National Congress of the ruling communist party slated for early 2016.
The communist government in Hanoi has strived not to allow establishment of private newspapers and other broadcast means as well as the setting up of opposition parties. All printed newspapers, online websites, television channels and radio broadcasts are under the tied monitoring of the communist party’s Commission for Propaganda and Education and the Ministry of Information and Communication.
You can watch the four editions of Luong Tam TV by following the links:
Vietnamese Security Agents Suspected of Assaulting Nghe An-based Political Dissident
Nghe An province-based political dissident Tran Duc Thach, 63-year old writer and poet, on October 15 was brutally beaten and robbed by a group of thugs who are suspected to be security agents.
At mid day on Thursday, when he was riding his motorbike on the way to his home in Dien Tan commune, Dien Chau district, he was stopped by three thugs who then attacked him later and broke his motorbike. Finally, they took his bag with two smart phones inside and ran away.
During the attacked, Mr. Thach,63-year old writer and poet, shouted “Robbery, robbery”, but a boy nearby said “They are police officers, not robbers” and the attackers also beat the boy, Thach he told his friends.
Due to the assault, the pro-democracy activist suffered a number of injuries on his face and arms. He had to go to hospital for treatment.
Mr. Thach is a former soldier of the Vietnam People’s Army, participating in a number of brutal battles against the army of the Vietnam Republic supported by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. He early realized the brutality of the war between the two Vietnamese sides, and the suffering of civilians in the southern region due to attacks of the Viet Cong, another name of the communist army.
Due to his writings describing attacks of the Viet Cong against civilians during the Vietnam War, he was expelled from the army. In 2008, he was arrested for his articles for promoting multi-party democracy and demanding for freedom of expression, together with other activists Nguyen XuanNghia, Nguyen Kim Nhan, Nguyen AnhTuc, Nguyen Manh Son and Ngo Quynh.
The communist government tried him secretly in the same year, found him guilty of carrying out anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code and sentenced him to three years in jail and additional three years under house arrest.
After his release in late August 2011, he has been continuing to fight for human rights, democracy, and independency of writers, writing articles to criticize the Vietnamese communist government’s poor management in socio-economic development and violations of human rights as well as weak response to China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea.
His health has worsened due to the inhumane treatment in prisons. Last year, he was under long-term treatment in the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital for lung diseases partly caused by severe living conditions during imprisonment.
He has been constantly harassed by authorities in Nghe An province, and particularly Dien Chau district who have strived not to allow him to work to earn for living and take care for his two small children.
Vietnam has been ruled by communists for decades who have vowed to maintain the country under a one-party regime. The communist government has intensified its crackdown against local dissidents and human rights activists several months ahead of the party’s National Congress slated in the first quarter of 2016.
Along with arresting a number of political dissidents and charging them with anti-state allegations under controversial articles of the country’s Penal Code, Vietnam has deployed a new tactics: using plainclothes agents or hire criminals to brutally attack local activists.
A number of activists, including Nguyen Chi Tuyen, Doan Trang and Truong Minh Tam in Hanoi, Tran Thi Nga and Truong Minh Huong in Ha Nam province, Pham Minh Hoang in Ho Chi Minh City and Chu Manh Son in Nghe An, have been attacked by plainclothes agents and thugs during the past few months.
In early October, the police in Thai Binh arrested Tran Anh Kim, former political prisoner who completed his six and half years’ imprisonment in January, and accused him of conducting anti-state activities under Article 79 of the Penal Code.
Meanwhile, authorities in Hanoi plan to try Nguyen Viet Dung, the founder and leader of the unsanctioned Republican Party of Vietnam in December. On April 12, Dung was arrested and accused of conducting public disorders after he attended a peaceful protest in the city’s center to condemn the local government’s plan which aimed to chop down 6,700 valuable aged trees in the city’s main streets. His arrest was taken several days after he declared the establishment of the party which fights for multi-party and human rights enhancement in the Southeast Asian nation.
Vietnam Parliament’s Standing Committee Works on Draft Law on Associations
The Standing Committee of Vietnam’s legislative body National Assembly (NA) continued its 42nd session in Hanoi on October 15, focusing on discussions on the draft Law on Associations.
A number of legislators called for the bill to reflect the ruling communist party’s stance on the position and role of mass organizations, create favorable conditions for citizens to practice their rights to establish associations and bring associations’ voluntariness, self-management and sense of responsibility into play.
In its report, the government proposed exempting associations without legal entities.
The NA Law Committee suggested making a clear distinction between the right to gather and the right to establish associations as stipulated in the Constitution’s Clause 25.
It called for appropriate adjustments to regulations on managing associations without legal entities.
Chairwoman of the NA Committee for Social Affairs Truong Thi Mai said the government report should specify how associations without legal entities are subject to particular laws and state management.
Regarding policies towards associations, NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said those established at the request of the ruling communist party and the state will be subsidized while others will receive funding for performing particular state missions.
On the same day, the committee also debated the draft Law on supervising the National Assembly and People’s Councils and the draft Civil Code and the Law on Referendum.
Hanoi Activists Beaten by Police, Thugs during Visit to Family of Boy Who Died in Detention
Police and thugs in Hanoi on October 16 brutally attacked a group of local activists during their visit to the family of Do Dang Du, who recently died from severe injuries during police detention.
In the morning of Friday, a group of Hanoi-based human rights activists including Nguyen Tuong Thuy, Mai Xuan Dung, Truong Van Dung, Trinh Ba Phuong, Can Thi Theu, Truong Thi Quy and Phan Cam Huong, went to Dong Cuu village, Dong Phuong Yen commune, Chuong My district to visit the family of the 17-year-old boy who died on October 10 while under special treatment for the injuries he suffered during the detentions in the Hanoi police’s Detention Facility No. 3.
After expressing sympathy with the family, the activists left to go back to their homes. However, a group of policemen and thugs blocked their way not far away from the victim’s house. Thugs attacked the activists while policemen in uniform watched and took no actions.
Mr. Truong Van Dung and Ms. Quy were the most affected from the attack, with numerous injuries on their bodies, said Mr. Phuong, who was also brutally beaten by police in Nghe An two months ago.
Local residents said many thugs are plainclothes policemen.
The attack occurred few days after Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang ordered authorities in Hanoi to investigate deeply to determine the real causes of the death of the boy who was illegally detained by the Hanoi police two months ago.
After Du died, the Police Department in Hanoi said Du’s injuries were caused by Vu Van Binh, another detainee held in the same cell as the victim. The city’s police prosecuted 17-year-old Binh for “intentionally injuring” and pledged to investigate responsibilities of police officers of the detention facility for allowing the beating to take place.
Du’s relatives and his friends said it is hard to know the real reasons for his death due to the lack of independent investigation. His family believed he was tortured by police in detention.
Vietnam has been ruled by communists for decades who have vowed to maintain the country under a one-party regime. The communist government has intensified its crackdown against local dissidents and human rights activists several months ahead of the party’s National Congress slated in the first quarter of 2016.
Along with arresting a number of political dissidents and charging them with anti-state allegations under controversial articles of the country’s Penal Code, Vietnam has deployed a new tactics to use plainclothes agents or hire underground criminals to brutally attack local activists.
A number of activists, including Nguyen Chi Tuyen, Doan Trang and Truong Minh Tam in Hanoi, Tran Thi Nga and Truong Minh Huong in Ha Nam province, Pham Minh Hoang in Ho Chi Minh City and Chu Manh Son in Nghe An, have been attacked by plainclothes agents and thugs during past few months.
Mr. Dung, Mr. Thuy and Mr. Phuong were also beaten by policemen in Nghe An in July when they went to a local prison to pick up Mr. Trinh Ba Khiem, a land petitioner wrongly imprisoned on fabricated charges of conducting public disorders.
On October 15, three plainclothes policemen in Nghe An province’s Dien Chau district attacked local pro-democracy advocate Tran Duc Thach, breaking his motorbike and robbing his bag with two cell phones inside.
Religious Freedom Denied: Bishop of Kon Tum Slams Church Demolition
In an open letter to the local authorities, the bishop of Kon Tum has defended the campaign of local Catholics against ongoing attacks on religious freedom in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
The most recent episode was the decision by the provincial administration to demolish a house church in a small village located in a remote area of the diocese. In the letter, Msgr. Michael Hoang Duc Oanh appealed to the government – local and national – to protect the right to worship for the Christian community.
The diocese of Kon Tum in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, was erected in 1884 and now has about 250 thousand faithful out of a total of 1.2 million inhabitants, half of whom belong to ethnic minorities. Recently, a district of the diocese was targeted by the local Communist authorities, who have threatened to demolish 22 chapels used for functions and prayers.
According to reports by Viet Catholic News, in the letter, the prelate recalled in chronological order the attacks by the communist authorities against the local Catholic Daknu community. Voicing the resentment of thousands of faithful, Msgr. Michael remembers how the government has long ignored the request to build a new church, to meet the demands of a growing population membership.
In contrast, the local government has already cleared the way for the demolitions of all the houses of prayer made built by believers, without distinction of materials used or their size.
One of these episodes dates back to June 28, when parishioners tried to expand their old place of worship, increasing the size with a new roof and the number of columns.
In response, the government issued a demolition order and tried to bribe the local people with alcohol and other means . The communist authorities summoned the pastor, threatening him and demanding he pressure the community. However, the faithful ignored the warnings and organized themselves into shifts to keep watch over the building and, to prevent the demolition. In the letter, the bishop of Kon Tum asked that religious freedom be respected in practice as guaranteed by the Constitution of Vietnam. He has also expressed willingness to pay a penalty, in order to preserve the church used by the faithful of Daknu, or to submit the matter to a court of justice. “I urge the authorities – said the prelate – to calm down and take a look around the area, to see who are the ones who really are undermining people’s trust in the government”.
Among Vietnam’s 87 million people include , 48 per cent are Buddhists, more than 7 per cent are Catholics, 5.6 per cent are syncretistic and 20 per cent are atheist.
As a small, albeit significant minority, the Christian community is particularly active in education, health and social affairs.
Recently, the Vietnamese bishops – among them the Bishop of Kon Tum and the Bishop of Vinh – have strongly criticized Hanoi’s bill on “Faith and religion” which violates the freedom of religion and limits worship. The prelates have stressed that the proposed norm contravenes with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which, in principle, protects worship.
U.S. Ambassador Meets with Well-known Political Dissident in Saigon
U.S. Ambassador in Vietnam Ted Osius on October 16 met with Saigon-based political dissident Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, co-president of the Former Vietnam Prisoners of Conscience during the former’s working trip in the southern region.
During the meeting, the two sides agreed that the Vietnam-U.S. relations have been improved in many fields, including politics, defense and economics.
However, Dr. Que expressed his disappointment that these improvements of the bilateral relations are not accompanied by enhancement in human rights situation in the communist nation as the communist government has continued to intensify its crackdown against local dissidents and human rights activists.
Dr. Que urged the U.S. to pressure on Vietnam, demanding the communist government to implement its international commitments and respect human rights enshrined in the country’s Constitution.
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October 19, 2015
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders’ Weekly October 12-18: Vietnam Says U.S.’s Religious Freedom Report not Objective
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights], DEFENDER’S WEEKLY
Defenders’ Weekly | Oct 18, 2015
Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 15 slammed the U.S. State Department’s annual religious freedom report as not objective and containing errors and insisted that Vietnamese people’s religious rights were ensured.
The U.S. report, issued on Wednesday, said government authorities, particularly at the local level, continued to limit the activities of unregistered religious groups. It said members of these and other groups reported convictions, assaults, excessive use of force, detentions, monitoring, hindering of movement, denials of registrations and other permissions, and other harassment.
The independent Luong Tam (Conscience) TV on October 15 resumed operation, broadcasting its 4th edition on human rights issues in the communist nation despite ongoing harassment against its staff.
Vietnam’s security forces have intensified its crackdown against local political dissidents and human rights activists. On Thursday security agents and thugs in the central province of Nghe An brutally attacked former political prisoner Tran Van Thach. The next day, police and thugs in Hanoi assaulted a number of human rights activists during their visit to the family of Do Dang Du, the boy who died on October 10 due to severe injuries he suffered during detention in Hanoi police’s Detention Facility No. 3.
And other important news.
————– Oct 12———–
Vietnamese Authorities Harass Independent Buddhist Church
Vietnamese authorities in the southern coastal province of Ba Ria Vung Tao have begun a campaign of harassment against a small, independent Buddhist church operating outside of government control, sending mobs to harass community members and block access to their building, sources say.
The crackdown against the Dat Quang pagoda, a temple of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam located in Bau Lam village in the province’s Xuyen Moc district, was launched at about noon on October 6, a senior pagoda monk told RFA’s Vietnamese Service this week.
“Provincial authorities sent a large group of people to our place to harass our members, and we had only one way to counter their attack, which was to sit in protest and pray,” the monk, Thich Vinh Phuoc, said.
“They blocked all access to our temple and stopped anybody who wanted to come in,” Phuoc said, adding, “They even sprayed some kind of gas from the temple roof onto people who were sitting inside.”
When one community member, Nguyen Thanh Cong, learned what was happening, he rushed to the scene to defend the temple and his friends, Phuoc said.
“He was detained by police and taken to the Bau Lam Village People’s Office, where a policeman struck him on the head, knocking him unconscious.”
Family members were at first prevented by police from taking Cong to a hospital for treatment, but were eventually allowed to proceed, Phuoc said.
“We do not belong to the government-controlled church,” Phuoc said, explaining the reasons for the attack.
“They always oppress the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam,” he added.
“We are under the leadership of Venerable Thich Thanh Tinh, who was jailed by the communist government for many years,” Phuoc said.
“He was arrested in 1992 and 1993 and was released in 2000. He came to live with us in 2001.”
Repairs blocked
Established in a modest village house in 1975, the Dat Quang Pagoda has become dilapidated, but structural repairs have been blocked by local authorities, Phuoc said.
“Right from the beginning, they would not recognize us. They would not even let us register our residents, so why would they allow us to undertake repairs?” he asked.
Called by a reporter on Monday, provincial religious affairs Nguyen Van Ron declined comment and referred the caller to district-level authorities, who also refused to speak.
“I’m not authorized to talk about this, so please direct your questions somewhere else,” Lam Quang Dung, director of the Xuyen Moc district People’s Office, said.
“According to the rules, I’m not allowed to answer your questions.”
Vietnam, under one-party communist rule, continues to “severely restrict independent religious practice, and repress individuals and religious groups it views as challenging its authority,” the congressionally mandated U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms (USCIRF) said in an annual report released in April.
The State Department included Vietnam on its list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) in 2004 but removed it from the blacklist two years later amid improving diplomatic relations, and has since ignored repeated calls from the Commission to reinstate the country’s designation.
RFA: Vietnamese Authorities Harass Independent Buddhist Church
SBTN: Công an Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu đàn áp tăng ni phá dỡ Tịnh Thất Đạt Quang
————- Oct 13—————–
Vietnamese Resident Accuses Police of Torture, Coercion Before Committing Suicide
A resident in Vietnam’s Central Highlands city of Buon Ma Thuot has written a letter accusing the local police of conducting torture and coercion before he decided to commit suicide, the Phu Nu newspaper reported Wednesday.
After returning from a working meeting with the Buon Ma Thuot city police, Mr. Huynh Ngoc Loi, 31, from Hoa Khanh commune took a toxic pesticide to end his life, the newspaper said. He was brought to a local hospital for emergency treatment, but the medical staff could not save his life.
In his final letter, Loi said police officer Nguyen Viet Anh beat him at his head and threatened to confiscate his motorbike and arrest his wife.
Loi also asked for forgiveness for beating the two people , and begged for mercy from the authorities not to arrest his wife.
His family said that he was summoned by the local police for interrogation for the incident on May 17, in which Loi reportedly broke a nose of a local resident’s nose and injured an another guy with a knife. However, the two families settled the disputes and Loi already paid a compensation to the victim.
Loi has a four-year-old boy who is suffering from heart disease.
Police torture and coerced confession are reported to occur in many localities in the communist nation where the police forces are considered essential to maintaining the one-party regime, according to international human rights bodies.
As many as 226 Vietnamese suspected of committing crimes were found dead during detention in police stations between October 1, 2011 and September 30, 2014. Torture is the main reason for most of these deaths although Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security said suicides and diseases are the main causes.
During the period, people in 46 of these cases accused police investigators of conducting tortures but police admitted that only three complaints were found to be substantiated.
Last week, a court in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang sentenced two local police investigators Nguyen Hoang Quan and Trieu Tuan Hung to 18 months and 24 months in prison respectively for torturing seven suspects in a local murder.
Vu Quoc Ngu: Vietnamese Resident Accuses Police of Torture, Coercion Before Committing Suicide
Phụ nữ online: Tự tử để lại thư tố cáo công an ép cung, cầu xin đừng bắt vợ
————— Oct 14——————-
2014 Report on International Religious Freedom – Vietnam
U.S. Department of State
Executive Summary
The country’s constitution states that all people have the right to freedom of belief and religion but government authorities continued to limit the activities of unregistered religious groups, particularly those the government believed to be engaged in political activity. Although registered religious groups were normally allowed to practice their faith, the government continued to restrict their activities in education and health and required authorization for many other activities. Some members of unregistered groups in particular reported various forms of governmental harassment, including but not limited to assault, short term detentions, prosecutions, monitoring, restrictions on travel, and denials of registration and/or other permissions. Religious followers report a higher number of harassment incidents by local rather than central authorities. Some local authorities systematically and openly used the local and national regulatory systems to slow, delegitimize, and suppress religious activities of groups that resisted close management of their leadership structures, training programs, assemblies, and other activities. Numerous reports of violations of religious freedom occurred in rural provinces in the Central and Northwest Highlands.
There are 38 officially recognized religious organizations and there were no reports of significant societal actions affecting religious freedom.
The U.S. Secretary of State, in meetings with senior government officials, called for continued improvements in religious freedom. The U.S. embassy and consulate general urged authorities to allow all religious groups to operate, including the United Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Protestant house churches, and independent Hoa Hao and Cao Dai groups; sought greater freedom for recognized religious groups; and urged an end to restrictions on and harassment of unregistered groups. U.S. officials maintained regular contact with religious leaders across the country. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor discussed concerns about religious freedom with government officials in the annual U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue, and traveled to Vietnam in October, where he advocated for improvements to freedom of religion in law and practice.
Section I. Religious Demography
The U.S. government estimates the total population at 93.4 million (July 2014 estimate). According to the government’s Committee of Religious Affairs (CRA), approximately 90 percent of the population professes religious beliefs. More than half of the population identifies with Buddhism. Within that community, Mahayana Buddhism is the dominant affiliation by ethnic majority Kinh (Viet), while about 1.2 percent of the population, almost all from the ethnic minority Khmer group, identify with Theravada Buddhism. Roman Catholics constitute 7 percent of the population; Cao Dai, 2.5 to 4 percent; Hoa Hao, 1.5 to 3 percent; and Protestants, 1 to 2 percent.
Smaller religious groups that together comprise less than 0.1 percent of the population include 50,000 ethnic Cham, who mostly practice a devotional form of Hinduism in the south-central coastal area; 70,000 to 80,000 Muslims scattered throughout the country (approximately 40 percent are Sunnis; the remaining 60 percent practice Bani Islam); an estimated 8,000 members of the Bahai Faith; and approximately 1,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Religious groups originating in country (Buu Son Ky Huong, Tu An Hieu Nghia, To Tien Chinh Giao) and religious groups relatively new to the country (Brahmanism, Bahai) comprise a total of 1.3 million adherents. There are also two Jewish registered groups to serve the small, mostly-foreign Jewish population – one in Hanoi, founded during the year, and one in Ho Chi Minh City.
Other citizens consider themselves nonreligious, or practice animism or the veneration of ancestors, tutelary and protective saints, national heroes, or local, respected persons. Followers of these traditional forms of worship may or may not term themselves religious.
Ethnic minorities constitute approximately 14 percent of the population. Based on adherents’ estimates, two-thirds of Protestants are members of ethnic minorities, including groups in the Northwest Highlands (H’mong, Dzao, Thai, and others) and in the Central Highlands (Ede, Jarai, Sedang, and M’nong, among others). The Khmer Krom ethnic group overwhelmingly practices Theravada Buddhism.
Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom
Legal Framework
The 2013 constitution states that all people have the right to freedom of belief and religion, a change from the previous constitution that granted such rights only to citizens. The constitution acknowledges the right to freedom of religion or belief of those whose rights are limited, including inmates or any foreigners and stateless persons. The constitution states all religions are equal before the law and the state must respect and protect freedom of belief and religion.
The constitution has language that prohibits citizens from “taking advantage of a belief or religion in order to violate the law.” In addition, the penal code establishes penalties for practices that undermine the state’s national unity policy.
The 2004 Ordinance on Religion and Belief and the revised Implementation Decree (Decree 92), which came into effect in January 2013, serve as the primary documents governing religious practice. Both the ordinance and decree reiterate citizens’ rights to freedom of belief and religion while also stipulating that individuals may not use the right of belief and religious freedom to undermine peace, national independence, and unification; incite violence or propagate wars; conduct propagation in contravention of the state’s laws and policies; divide people, nationalities, or religions; cause public disorder, infringe upon the life, health, dignity, honor and/or property of others, or impede the exercise of civic rights and performance of civic obligations; or conduct superstitious activities or otherwise violate the law.
The CRA is responsible for implementing the 2004 ordinance and administrative modifications outlined in Decree 92. The decree reduces, in some cases by half, the stipulated government response time to local and national applications for administrative processes, and streamlines laws and regulations. Under the decree, all religious groups must submit proposed religious activities for government pre-approval.
Under the ordinance the government has regulatory oversight of religious groups, which must be officially registered or recognized as formal religious organizations. The ordinance stipulates that local government authorities must approve leadership, activities, and the establishment of seminaries or religious classes. Decree 92 requires religious organizations to register their religious leaders and officials with CRA at the central or provincial level. For a leader who is not a citizen, religious groups must obtain approval from the CRA at the national level. Decree 92 includes requirements for noncitizens specializing in religious activities in Vietnam, including those involved in religious training, ordination, and leadership. The decree specifies curriculum guidelines for religious training institutions, and extends the time an organization must be registered before it may qualify for national recognition from 20 to 23 years.
The ordinance explicitly bans forced renunciations of faith. Religious organizations must inform appropriate provincial- and central-level authorities of their major celebrations, such as Christmas services, as well as the investiture and transfer of clerics. This is an informational requirement only; the law does not require pre-approval of those services and clerical appointments. Local governments have the authority to require additional forms of permission. While the ordinance encourages religious groups to conduct charitable activities in healthcare and education, the law prohibits religious groups from operating health or educational institutions, although kindergarten and preschool are allowed.
The government does not permit religious or atheistic instruction in public schools.
Decree 92 prescribes a multi-stage process in order to receive national recognition. To operate openly, an unrecognized religious organization must first register its places of worship, its clerics, and its activities in each local administrative area in which it operates by filing information about its structure, leadership, and activities. Local registration confers the ability to operate in that administrative locality. The next step is national registration, which requires the group to document 20 years of stable religious operation in the country and is granted by the national government through the CRA. National registration requires a license from the CRA. After maintaining national registration for three years, a religious group becomes eligible to apply for legal recognition after electing its leaders through a national convention. The CRA must approve the proposed leadership, structure, and activities. Benefits of recognition include permission to open, operate, and refurbish places of worship; permission to train religious leaders; and permission to publish materials. Nevertheless, each particular activity is subject to local and national approvals.
At every stage of the registration and recognition application process, the law specifies time limits for an official response, which can be up to 45 days, depending on the scope of the request. Although the law requires government authorities to explain formally any denial in writing, the denial may be for any reason, given the significant discretion the law gives to those authorities. There is no mechanism for appeal.
Decree 92 and the Law on Land stipulate that recognized religious organizations are permitted to acquire a land-use certificate as legal entities, but they must receive a grant of the land by the respective provincial people’s committee, which also has the authority to approve or disapprove the construction of new religious facilities. If a religious organization has not yet obtained full legal status, members of the congregation may acquire a land use title individually, but not as a recognized religious establishment. The renovation or upgrade of religious facilities also requires notification to authorities, although it does not necessarily require a permit, depending on the extent of the renovation. The decree stipulates authorities must respond to a construction permit application within 20 days, although the law does not provide for accountability of authorities if they do not comply with the deadline.
The national-level CRA is charged with disseminating information to authorities and assuring uniform compliance with the legal framework on religion at the provincial, district, commune, and village levels. The CRA reported progress towards its goal of registering over 200 congregations in 2014.
In total the government has granted recognition to 38 religious organizations, 36 of which hold full recognition. These 38 religious organizations were affiliated with 12 distinct religious traditions. The 12 religious traditions are: Buddhism, Islam, the Bahai Faith, Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, HoaHao, Cao Dai, the Pure Land Buddhist Home Practice, the Four Debts of Gratitude, the Threefold Enlightened Truth Path, and the Threefold Southern Tradition. Distinct denominations within these religious traditions must seek their own registration and/or recognition.
The law requires prior approval by government authorities of the publication of all religious texts. The law states only the Religious Publishing House, or another government approved publishing house, may publish religious books. It permits the Bible to be printed in Vietnamese and a number of other languages, including Chinese, Ede, Jarai, Banar, M’nong, H’mong, C’ho, and English. Other published texts include, but are not limited to, works pertaining to ancestry worship, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam (including the Quran), and Cao Dai. Any bookstore may legally sell religious materials.
Religious affiliation is indicated on citizens’ national identification cards and household registration documents. An individual or household may decline to state affiliation. In practice, many persons who consider themselves religious choose not to indicate a religious affiliation on their identification cards, and government statistics include them as nonreligious. The law allows an individual to change his or her religious affiliation on national identification cards through a set of cumbersome procedures.
Government Practices
The constitutional right to religious belief and practice continued to be subject to uneven interpretation and protection, especially involving ethnic minorities in some provinces of the Central and Northwest Highlands. Government authorities, particularly at the local level, continued to limit the activities of unregistered religious groups, and members of these and other groups reported convictions, assaults, excessive use of force, detentions, monitoring, hindering of movement, denials of registrations and other permissions, and other harassment. Nevertheless, in some areas, local authorities tacitly approved activities of unregistered groups.
The government stated it continued to monitor the activities of certain religious groups because of their political activism and invoked national security and solidarity provisions in the constitution to override laws and regulations providing for religious freedom. This included impeding some religious gatherings and blocking attempts by religious groups to proselytize to certain ethnic groups in border regions deemed to be sensitive, as well as in the Central Highlands.
In February a group of Hoa Hao Buddhists from an unregistered congregation reported an assault by police as they attempted to visit then-detained human rights activist Nguyen Bac Truyen in Dong Thap province. In August a court in Dong Thap Province sentenced unregistered Hoa Hao follower Nguyen Van Minh to two and a half years imprisonment for “disturbing public order” for his involvement in the incident, although several witnesses denied he assaulted a police officer.
Members of the same group reported that authorities in Lam Dong Province detained and harassed them when they attempted to visit human rights activist Do Thi Minh Hanh soon after her early release from prison in July.
Family members of Hoa Hao adherent Mai Thi Dung reported that her health continued to deteriorate in Thanh Xuan prison. Dung continued to serve an 11-year prison sentence for protesting restrictions on Hoa Hao Buddhist gatherings.
Falun Gong followers reported in May that local authorities in Xuan Thanh village, Dong Nai Province detained and assaulted Falun Gong adherent Pham Thi Ngoc Chau. According to the report, police took Chau to the police station after authorities observed her providing Falun Gong materials to residents of the village. Police released her the next day but reportedly confiscated her identity papers and some personal property.
Mennonite pastors in Binh Duong Province reported police, local authorities, and hired men began a campaign of harassment in June, which was ongoing at year’s end. Pastors reported government forces raided a Bible class in June and subsequently detained 29 pastors and 47 students, who were beaten before authorities released them the following day. In October pastors said local police harassed congregation members on their way to church and, in a separate incident, came to a follower’s workplace, escorted him to the police station, and beat him. In November independent media sources reported that hired men vandalized a Mennonite church, barred followers from leaving their house, and brought several Mennonites into the police station for questioning. While no large disruptions to holiday services occurred, Mennonite communities in both Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City reported continued harassment in December. In Ho Chi Minh City, Mennonites were able to hold Christmas services but a pastor said authorities subsequently cut the power to his church in order to prevent a service planned for December 31. In Binh Duong, a pastor reported that unknown individuals vandalized the kitchen of the Mennonite church in My Phuoc and impeded followers from entering a Christmas service.
Independent Cao Dai congregants in Vinh Long Province continued to report official obstruction of their religious practices, including harassment and monitoring by local authorities during a traditional memorial for a deceased Cao Dai worshiper in January. Followers of an unregistered Cao Dai group reported local authorities and hired men assaulted them when they were attending a ritual at a temple in Tay Ninh province in August. The followers said authorities threw shrimp paste and waste at them and deflated their motorbike tires.
In September the Gia Lai provincial court sentenced two members of the Christian Ha Mon religious group to seven and one half to eight and one half years in prison for “sabotaging the policy on solidarity” after a prayer gathering at a holy site interfered with construction of a hydroelectric plant. Local authorities accused the group of attempting to establish a separatist state for ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands. This followed the May 2013 sentencing of eight other Ha Mon members on the same charge. Followers had also clashed with local authorities in 2005 and 2006 when plans to construct a hydropower plant included razing Ha Mon village, the holy site of the group.
Local and central authorities continued to call on the H’mong people in the Northwest Highlands, including Tuyen Quang, Cao Bang, Bac Can, and Thai Nguyen Provinces, to disavow the Duong Van Minh religious group and dismantle all nha don, public buildings used for funeral rites. Local authorities established steering committees to implement national directives to suppress the growth of the Duong Van Minh religious group. Since October 2013, authorities have convicted eight members of the unregistered Duong Van Minh group for “abusing democratic freedoms.”
In February members of Protestant churches reported that local authorities in Dien Bien Dong District in Dien Bien Province forced Protestants to renounce their faith. According to the reports of the incident, some local authorities shredded Bibles, seized and destroyed followers’ property, and physically assaulted followers. By year’s end, there had been no official investigation of the local authorities’ actions.
A Buddhist nun in Bac Giang province reported that authorities harassed members of her pagoda, belonging to the recognized Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, over a period of several years. She said the harassment included intimidation of monks and nuns, breaking into the pagoda, destruction of pagoda property, and theft of cash donations.
Family members of imprisoned Lutheran pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh said police continued to harass them, including by displacing them from their homes, placing them under heavy surveillance, and confiscating and destroying their personal belongings. Due to the harassment, the education of Pastor Chinh’s four children was severely disrupted.
The government continued to say some Montagnards, an ethnic minority in the Central Highlands, were operating Protestant organizations that advocated separatism for ethnic minorities. The Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) and house churches in the provinces of DakLak, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Binh Phuoc, Phu Yen, and DakNong continued to report government scrutiny because of perceived association with separatist groups overseas. Followers of the unsanctioned Church of Christ reported local authorities in the Central Highlands provinces harassed them. Followers said police pressured them to abandon the church and accused the church of links to an ethnic minority separatist organization.
Several hundred Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN) congregations continued to await action on their applications to register local meeting places, in contravention of time periods outlined by Decree 92. Government officials reportedly rarely adhered to the stipulated response times and often did not include specific reasons for refusals. Authorities attributed the delays and denials to the failure of applicants to complete forms correctly or to provide complete information. Local authorities also cited vague security concerns, such as political destabilization or potential conflict between followers of long established ethnic traditional religious beliefs and newly introduced Christian beliefs. Some Protestant house churches reported local authorities used registration requirements to harass followers and exert pressure on the religious groups to cease religious activities.
According to some Catholic bishops, parishes in remote areas with majority ethnic minority populations faced difficulty registering, uneven and inconsistent enforcement of national laws, and a lack of accountability on the part of provincial authorities.
SECV leaders reported that local authorities in the Central Highlands provinces required small congregations, some with as many as 100 followers, to combine together into larger groups of up to 1,500 individuals in order to gain official recognition. The church leaders called such requests unreasonable, saying many of the congregations were composed of a variety of ethnic minority groups with different languages and incongruent worship practices. Mountainous terrain and lack of infrastructure in the rural highlands prevented churches from sustaining a required minimum number of followers necessary to qualify for local registration.
Some Buddhist, Protestant, Cao Dai, and HoaHao groups did not affiliate with any government-recognized or government-registered religious organizations, nor did they seek their own registration or recognition.
Unregistered Buddhist, Cao Dai, HaoHoa, and Christian religious groups regularly reported some provincial authorities used local registration laws to pressure, intimidate, threaten, extort, harass, and assault their members.
During the year, the CRA granted recognition to the Interim Management Board of Hanoi Al-Noor Masjid and Interim Representative Board of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) of Vietnam.
Authorities continued to deny prisoners and detainees the right to worship, although the constitution guarantees in principle the right of prisoners to practice their beliefs. Family members reported prison guards prevented Lutheran pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh from praying. Some prisoners, however, were allowed to read the Bible and practice their beliefs while incarcerated.
A significant number of religious groups reported their ability to meet openly for worship had improved. The government, however, continued to require religious groups to register their activities in advance and used this requirement to restrict and discourage participation in certain unregistered religious groups, including the United Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam (UBCV) and some Protestant and Hoa Hao groups.
According to some religious leaders, some local officials continued to assert publicly that national laws did not apply to their jurisdictions. Both registered and unregistered Protestant groups reported they successfully appealed some local decisions to higher level authorities.
Religious believers, particularly members of organizations that had not applied for or been granted legal registration, continued to report intimidation by local security officials about attending religious services. In a number of instances, local officials forced church gatherings to disperse, advised or required groups to limit important celebrations in scope or content, closed unregistered house churches, or pressured individuals to renounce their religious beliefs and cease religious activities.
In March followers of the unregistered Pure Hoa Hao Buddhist Church and Traditional Hoa Hao Buddhist Church in several southern provinces reported police and local authorities prevented a gathering to celebrate a major Hoa Hao religious holiday. The followers reported an assault by police and the cordoning off of their homes. Police reportedly put the followers and their family members under strict surveillance beginning several days prior to the holiday.
Falun Gong adherents said plainclothes police frequently interrupted Falun Gong religious activity in Ho Chi Minh City parks.
Leaders of the SECV said the CRA bureaucratically impeded a planned first joint assembly meeting with its northern counterpart, the ECVN. SECV leaders said the meeting would have been an important step toward reunifying the two churches, which were divided along with the country in 1954. Although the CRA agreed in principle to the unification of the SECV and the ECVN in January 2013, SECV leadership said the CRA laid out an onerous process designed to impede reunification. The request for unification was first made in late 2010. In October 2013, the ECVN reached an agreement among its internal leadership to move forward on the unification process; a similar agreement was reached by the SECV internal leadership in November 2013.
Although the law prohibits nongovernment publishing of religious materials, in practice some private, unlicensed publishing houses unofficially printed and distributed religious texts without active government interference.
The government continued to restrict the number of students that could enroll in Catholic and Protestant seminaries to numbers the churches’ leadership said were inadequate to meet demand.
The government permitted clergy to teach at universities in subjects in which they were qualified. Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Bahai, and Buddhist groups were allowed to provide religious education to adherents in their own facilities. Students continued to participate in training sessions on fundamental Buddhist philosophy organized at pagodas nationwide during summer holidays. Some religious leaders said some provincial authorities used Decree 92 to suppress religious expression because the decree requires religious leaders to request permission to preach outside of their religious establishment.
There were reports that local authorities subjected two Khmer Krom monks to harassment and interrogation as a result of their meeting with the UN special rapporteur for religious freedom in July. The special rapporteur also reported that his attempts to visit religious leaders and other adherents in An Giang, Gia Lai, and Kon Tum Provinces were interrupted when authorities placed several of these individuals under heavy surveillance and prevented them from leaving their homes.
In August Ho Chi Minh City authorities informed Lien Tri Pagoda’s Abbot Thich Khong Tanh that the city planned to raze the pagoda as part of an urban development project, although at year’s end no action had been taken. The pagoda is affiliated with the unregistered UBCV and reported significant levels of harassment and surveillance by Ho Chi Minh City authorities in the past. Abbot Thich Khong Tanh also has been a prominent human rights and religious freedom activist who released public statements critical of the government restrictions on religious organizations in the past.
Adherence to a religious group generally did not seriously disadvantage individuals in nongovernmental civil, economic, and secular life, although some religious leaders said unofficial policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the government hampered advancement of religious adherents within those organizations. Practitioners of various religions served in local and provincial government positions and were represented in the National Assembly. Some religious organizations, such as the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, as well as other clergy and religious followers, were members of the Vietnam Fatherland Front. High-ranking government officials sent greetings and visited churches during Christmas and Easter and attended Vesak activities.
Leaders of unregistered Protestant denominations continued to report that local authorities in the Central Highlands discriminated against their followers. The Protestant leadership stated local authorities threatened to exclude their followers from state run social welfare programs if they did not denounce their faith. They further reported that students who were openly Protestant often suffered discrimination. SECV pastors reported some of their student followers received low marks in the category of “moral integrity” after publicly announcing their faith.
Father Phan Van Loi and Cao Dai Sub-dignitary Nguyen Bach Phung reported authorities blocked their exit from Vietnam as they attempted to travel to the United States to testify before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in March. Nguyen Bach Phung reported police surrounded her house and cut internet service and power throughout the hearing.
Although his passport was revoked in 2013, authorities permitted Pastor Pham Dinh Nhan, head of the unregistered United Gospel Outreach Church, to travel abroad. He reported, however, that police took his passport after he returned.
UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Quang Do stated authorities prevented followers from visiting him or regularly questioned them after any such visit, although he could meet diplomats within his pagoda. UBCV leaders said the government continued to restrict their movement, although they reported less harassment than in previous years and were able to meet with some foreign diplomats, visit other UBCV members, and maintain contact with associates overseas. Authorities closely monitored these activities, the leaders said. Provincial UBCV leaders throughout the southern region reported routine surveillance by local authorities. UBCV followers reported that, on August 9 and 10, local authorities in Da Nang City prevented them from traveling to the UBCV An Cu pagoda to observe the Vu Lan holiday. They also stated authorities had earlier presented a video to local citizens claiming the UBCV was a “reactionary” organization.
Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom
Authorities cited some tensions between new and established religious groups, for example, between Protestant groups from the south who moved north to areas with established Protestants groups.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City regularly raised concerns about religious freedom with a wide range of government officials and CPV leaders, including the president, prime minister, and senior officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the CRA, the Ministry of Public Security, and other offices in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the provinces.
The U.S. Secretary of State, in meetings with senior government officials, called for continued improvements in religious freedom. Other visiting senior Department of State officials raised religious freedom concerns during their meetings with government officials and civil society representatives. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor headed the bilateral Human Rights Dialogue with government officials and traveled to Vietnam, where he engaged government officials on religious freedom issues and met with civil society representatives to discuss the state of religious freedom.
The Ambassador and embassy officials urged authorities to allow all religious groups to operate, including the UBCV, Protestant house churches, and dissenting Hoa Hao groups; sought greater freedom for recognized religious groups; and urged an end to restrictions on unregistered groups. The Ambassador and embassy officials raised specific cases of government harassment against Catholics, the UBCV, unrecognized Hoa Hao groups, and Protestant churches with the CRA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Public Security. The Ambassador also requested the government investigate reported abuses of religious believers and punish any officials found to be responsible. Embassy officials called for the registration of church congregations around the country and for improvement in registration policies to make them more uniform and transparent. U.S. government officials also repeatedly urged the government to peacefully resolve outstanding land rights disputes with religious organizations.
Embassy and consulate general officials traveled throughout the country to monitor religious freedom, meet with religious leaders, and stress to government officials that progress on religious freedom and human rights was critical to an improved bilateral relationship. Representatives of the embassy and the consulate general had frequent contact with leaders of all major religious communities.
Refwolrd: 2014 Report on International Religious Freedom – Vietnam
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Minister of Public Security Demands Investigation into Death of Detained Boy in Hanoi
Vietnamese Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang has requested the police in Hanoi to investigate deeply to determine the real causes of the recent death of a 17-year-old detained boy.
The move was taken responding in response to strong protest by the family of victim Do Dang Du as well as public concerns about his case.
Du, the boy from Dong Cuu village, Dong Phuong Yen commune, Chuong My district, was caught on August 5 in the act of stealing VND1.5 million ($67) from his neighbor. Although he returned the money to the owner, he was arrested by the Chuong My district police on the same day.
Later, Du was transferred to the Hanoi detention facility No. 3 based in Xa La, Ha Dong district.
On October 4, Du was transferred to the Ha Dong Central Hospital and later to the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital, with a numerous injuries on his body and head. He died on October 10.
During his treatment in the hospital, the police in Hanoi blockaded his room, not allowing his relatives and friends to visit him.
After he died, the Police Department in Hanoi said Du’s injuries were caused by Vu Van Binh, another detainee held in the same cell as the victim. The city’s police prosecuted 17-year-old Binh for “intentionally injuring” another person and pledged to investigate responsibilities of police officers of the detention facility for allowing the beating to take place.
The city’s police invited army medical staff to conduct an autopsy, however, a number of facts were not included in the report, said lawyer Tran Thu Nam who was hired by the victim’s family to attend the autopsy.
The police convinced the family to take his body for immediate burial on the same day.
Du’s relatives and his friends said it is hard to know the real reasons behind his death due to the lack of independent investigation. His family believed he was tortured by police in detention.
The family said it had not received any documents confirming Du’s detention since he was detained on August 5.
Meanwhile, police torture is a systemic problem across Vietnam, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The Ministry of Public Security reported 226 deaths of detainees and prisoners in police detention facilities in the past four years.
The ministry said most of the deaths were caused by suicides and severe diseases, however, families of the victims believe the real cause is police torture.
Vietnam ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Treatments in 2014, however, the police torture continues to occur. Since the beginning of 2015, nearly ten individuals died or suffered from severe injuries due to police torture, according to state media.
Vu Quoc Ngu: Minister of Public Security Demands Investigation into Death of Detained Boy in Hanoi
CAND: Bộ trưởng Trần Đại Quang chỉ đạo điều tra, làm rõ vụ án cố ý gây thương tích xảy ra tại Trại tạm giam số 3
—————- Oct 15———-
Vietnam Slams US’s Religious Freedom Report as Not Objective
Vietnam slammed the U.S. State Department’s annual religious freedom report as not objective and containing errors and insisted Thursday that Vietnamese people’s religious rights were ensured.
The U.S. report, issued on Wednesday, said government authorities, particularly at the local level, continued to limit the activities of unregistered religious groups. It said members of these and other groups reported convictions, assaults, excessive use of force, detentions, monitoring, hindering of movement, denials of registrations and other permissions, and other harassment.
The report cited about two dozen specific cases in which it said unregistered religious groups were maltreated by the government.
It said Mennonite pastors in southern Binh Duong Province reported that government forces raided a Bible class in June and subsequently detained 29 pastors and 47 students, who were beaten before authorities released them the following day.
In another case it said followers of an unregistered Cao Dai group reported that local authorities and hired men assaulted them when they were attending a ritual at a temple in southern Tay Ninh province in August. The followers said authorities threw shrimp paste and waste at them and deflated their motorbike tires.
At a briefing for reporters, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh criticized the State Department’s annual report.
“Regrettably, the U.S State Department’s 2014 international religious freedom report, which acknowledged Vietnam’s achievements in this area though, continued to make unobjective assessments and cited erroneous information on Vietnam,” he said.
Binh said Vietnamese citizens’ rights to freedom of religions and belief and their rights not to have religions and belief were enshrined in the Constitution and ensured in practice.
In defending its human rights record in the past, Vietnam has said that individual rights must be put in the context of the wider community and that only people who break the law have faced detention.
Washingtonpost: Vietnam slams US’s religious freedom report as not objective
MOFA: Phát biểu của Người Phát ngôn Bộ Ngoại giao Lê Hải Bình về phản ứng của Việt Nam trước việc Bộ Ngoại giao Hoa Kỳ công bố Báo cáo tự do tôn giáo quốc tế 2014
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Vietnam Independent Luong Tam TV Channel Releases 4th Edition despite Intensified
Vietnam’s independent Luong Tam (Conscience) TV channel has broadcast its 4th edition on human rights violations in the country despite the ongoing intensified crackdown by the government against its staff.
The 7-minute program was released on October 15, three weeks after the police in Hanoi detained the five-member staff of Luong Tam TV.
Due to the continuous harassment by the Hanoi police against reporter and anchor Le Yen, Anna Huyen Trang, a reporter of Tin mung cho Nguoi ngheo (Good News for The Poor program), replaced her in the program.
In the 4th edition, the staff of Luong Tam TV staff condemned the ongoing crackdown by the Hanoi city’s authorities against its staff, saying their detentions were illegal since the production and broadcast of Luong Tam TV are legal activities according to the country’s law.
The staff of the independent TV program have vowed to continue their activities to practice exercise the right of freedom of expression which is enshrined in the country’s Constitution 2013.
On September 23, Hanoi police detained five Luong Tam TV staff: journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, anchor Le Yen, cameraman Pham Dac Dat, video technician Nguyen Manh Cuong, and translator Le Thu Ha. Police also confiscated all their personal belongings and Luong Tam TV’s equipments, including a camcorder, a Sony Anpha 58 camera, a lighting kit for studio with four tripods and four lights, three laptops, a tablet, four phones, three USB drives, $100 of cash, furniture and other devices for the studio.
After questioning the five activists for a whole day, the police released them late at night. When dozens of other activists gathered at the police headquarters in Hai Ba Trung district to demand for their unconditional release, the local authorities sent dozens of police officers, militia and thugs to suppress them, beating some activists.
On the next day, Hanoi police summoned Miss Yen to a police station for interrogation and on October 7-8, they continued to request her to meet with investigation officers to work on the issue. Yen was forced to go to the police station on October 9 where she was threatened and demanded not to continue working for Luong Tam TV.
The crackdown started after Luong Tam TV produced three video clips about human rights violations in Vietnam and broadcast them on the Internet, the first of which was released on August 19. Every program lasted about eight minutes.
Representatives of a number of foreign embassies in Hanoi, including the U.S. have expressed concerns about the case, pledging to pay special attention to the government’s harassment against the Luong Tam TV’s staff.
On October 1, 18 unsanctioned civil society organizations and four individuals in Vietnam voiced their support for the joint statement of the Former Vietnamese Prisoners of Conscience and the Brothers for Democracy Association condemning the suppression by the Hanoi police against Luong Tam (Conscience) TV.
The Hanoi police’s harassment of the staff of Luong Tam TV is part of the ongoing political crackdown the communist government has intensified recently to silence local dissent ahead of the 12th National Congress of the ruling communist party slated for early 2016.
The communist government in Hanoi has strived not to allow establishment of private newspapers and other broadcast means as well as the setting up of opposition parties. All printed newspapers, online websites, television channels and radio broadcasts are under the tied monitoring of the communist party’s Commission for Propaganda and Education and the Ministry of Information and Communication.
You can watch the four editions of Luong Tam TV by following the links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95af489-fCc
Vu Quoc Ngu: Vietnam Independent Luong Tam TV Channel Releases 4th Edition despite Intensified Crackdown
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Vietnamese Security Agents Suspected of Assaulting Nghe An-based Political Dissident
Nghe An province-based political dissident Tran Duc Thach, 63-year old writer and poet, on October 15 was brutally beaten and robbed by a group of thugs who are suspected to be security agents.
At mid day on Thursday, when he was riding his motorbike on the way to his home in Dien Tan commune, Dien Chau district, he was stopped by three thugs who then attacked him later and broke his motorbike. Finally, they took his bag with two smart phones inside and ran away.
During the attacked, Mr. Thach,63-year old writer and poet, shouted “Robbery, robbery”, but a boy nearby said “They are police officers, not robbers” and the attackers also beat the boy, Thach he told his friends.
Due to the assault, the pro-democracy activist suffered a number of injuries on his face and arms. He had to go to hospital for treatment.
Mr. Thach is a former soldier of the Vietnam People’s Army, participating in a number of brutal battles against the army of the Vietnam Republic supported by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. He early realized the brutality of the war between the two Vietnamese sides, and the suffering of civilians in the southern region due to attacks of the Viet Cong, another name of the communist army.
Due to his writings describing attacks of the Viet Cong against civilians during the Vietnam War, he was expelled from the army. In 2008, he was arrested for his articles for promoting multi-party democracy and demanding for freedom of expression, together with other activists Nguyen XuanNghia, Nguyen Kim Nhan, Nguyen AnhTuc, Nguyen Manh Son and Ngo Quynh.
The communist government tried him secretly in the same year, found him guilty of carrying out anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the country’s Penal Code and sentenced him to three years in jail and additional three years under house arrest.
After his release in late August 2011, he has been continuing to fight for human rights, democracy, and independency of writers, writing articles to criticize the Vietnamese communist government’s poor management in socio-economic development and violations of human rights as well as weak response to China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea.
His health has worsened due to the inhumane treatment in prisons. Last year, he was under long-term treatment in the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital for lung diseases partly caused by severe living conditions during imprisonment.
He has been constantly harassed by authorities in Nghe An province, and particularly Dien Chau district who have strived not to allow him to work to earn for living and take care for his two small children.
Vietnam has been ruled by communists for decades who have vowed to maintain the country under a one-party regime. The communist government has intensified its crackdown against local dissidents and human rights activists several months ahead of the party’s National Congress slated in the first quarter of 2016.
Along with arresting a number of political dissidents and charging them with anti-state allegations under controversial articles of the country’s Penal Code, Vietnam has deployed a new tactics: using plainclothes agents or hire criminals to brutally attack local activists.
A number of activists, including Nguyen Chi Tuyen, Doan Trang and Truong Minh Tam in Hanoi, Tran Thi Nga and Truong Minh Huong in Ha Nam province, Pham Minh Hoang in Ho Chi Minh City and Chu Manh Son in Nghe An, have been attacked by plainclothes agents and thugs during the past few months.
In early October, the police in Thai Binh arrested Tran Anh Kim, former political prisoner who completed his six and half years’ imprisonment in January, and accused him of conducting anti-state activities under Article 79 of the Penal Code.
Meanwhile, authorities in Hanoi plan to try Nguyen Viet Dung, the founder and leader of the unsanctioned Republican Party of Vietnam in December. On April 12, Dung was arrested and accused of conducting public disorders after he attended a peaceful protest in the city’s center to condemn the local government’s plan which aimed to chop down 6,700 valuable aged trees in the city’s main streets. His arrest was taken several days after he declared the establishment of the party which fights for multi-party and human rights enhancement in the Southeast Asian nation.
Vu Quoc Ngu: Vietnamese Security Agents Suspected of Assaulting Nghe An-based Political Dissident
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Vietnam Parliament’s Standing Committee Works on Draft Law on Associations
The Standing Committee of Vietnam’s legislative body National Assembly (NA) continued its 42nd session in Hanoi on October 15, focusing on discussions on the draft Law on Associations.
A number of legislators called for the bill to reflect the ruling communist party’s stance on the position and role of mass organizations, create favorable conditions for citizens to practice their rights to establish associations and bring associations’ voluntariness, self-management and sense of responsibility into play.
In its report, the government proposed exempting associations without legal entities.
The NA Law Committee suggested making a clear distinction between the right to gather and the right to establish associations as stipulated in the Constitution’s Clause 25.
It called for appropriate adjustments to regulations on managing associations without legal entities.
Chairwoman of the NA Committee for Social Affairs Truong Thi Mai said the government report should specify how associations without legal entities are subject to particular laws and state management.
Regarding policies towards associations, NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said those established at the request of the ruling communist party and the state will be subsidized while others will receive funding for performing particular state missions.
On the same day, the committee also debated the draft Law on supervising the National Assembly and People’s Councils and the draft Civil Code and the Law on Referendum.
Báo công thương: Thường vụ Quốc hội cho ý kiến về Dự thảo Luật về hội
—————Oct 16————–
Hanoi Activists Beaten by Police, Thugs during Visit to Family of Boy Who Died in Detention
Police and thugs in Hanoi on October 16 brutally attacked a group of local activists during their visit to the family of Do Dang Du, who recently died from severe injuries during police detention.
In the morning of Friday, a group of Hanoi-based human rights activists including Nguyen Tuong Thuy, Mai Xuan Dung, Truong Van Dung, Trinh Ba Phuong, Can Thi Theu, Truong Thi Quy and Phan Cam Huong, went to Dong Cuu village, Dong Phuong Yen commune, Chuong My district to visit the family of the 17-year-old boy who died on October 10 while under special treatment for the injuries he suffered during the detentions in the Hanoi police’s Detention Facility No. 3.
After expressing sympathy with the family, the activists left to go back to their homes. However, a group of policemen and thugs blocked their way not far away from the victim’s house. Thugs attacked the activists while policemen in uniform watched and took no actions.
Mr. Truong Van Dung and Ms. Quy were the most affected from the attack, with numerous injuries on their bodies, said Mr. Phuong, who was also brutally beaten by police in Nghe An two months ago.
Local residents said many thugs are plainclothes policemen.
The attack occurred few days after Minister of Public Security General Tran Dai Quang ordered authorities in Hanoi to investigate deeply to determine the real causes of the death of the boy who was illegally detained by the Hanoi police two months ago.
After Du died, the Police Department in Hanoi said Du’s injuries were caused by Vu Van Binh, another detainee held in the same cell as the victim. The city’s police prosecuted 17-year-old Binh for “intentionally injuring” and pledged to investigate responsibilities of police officers of the detention facility for allowing the beating to take place.
Du’s relatives and his friends said it is hard to know the real reasons for his death due to the lack of independent investigation. His family believed he was tortured by police in detention.
Vietnam has been ruled by communists for decades who have vowed to maintain the country under a one-party regime. The communist government has intensified its crackdown against local dissidents and human rights activists several months ahead of the party’s National Congress slated in the first quarter of 2016.
Along with arresting a number of political dissidents and charging them with anti-state allegations under controversial articles of the country’s Penal Code, Vietnam has deployed a new tactics to use plainclothes agents or hire underground criminals to brutally attack local activists.
A number of activists, including Nguyen Chi Tuyen, Doan Trang and Truong Minh Tam in Hanoi, Tran Thi Nga and Truong Minh Huong in Ha Nam province, Pham Minh Hoang in Ho Chi Minh City and Chu Manh Son in Nghe An, have been attacked by plainclothes agents and thugs during past few months.
Mr. Dung, Mr. Thuy and Mr. Phuong were also beaten by policemen in Nghe An in July when they went to a local prison to pick up Mr. Trinh Ba Khiem, a land petitioner wrongly imprisoned on fabricated charges of conducting public disorders.
On October 15, three plainclothes policemen in Nghe An province’s Dien Chau district attacked local pro-democracy advocate Tran Duc Thach, breaking his motorbike and robbing his bag with two cell phones inside.
FB Thuy Nga: Lực lượng công an đánh đập những nhà hoạt động tới thắp hương em Đỗ Đăng Dư
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Religious Freedom Denied: Bishop of Kon Tum Slams Church Demolition
In an open letter to the local authorities, the bishop of Kon Tum has defended the campaign of local Catholics against ongoing attacks on religious freedom in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
The most recent episode was the decision by the provincial administration to demolish a house church in a small village located in a remote area of the diocese. In the letter, Msgr. Michael Hoang Duc Oanh appealed to the government – local and national – to protect the right to worship for the Christian community.
The diocese of Kon Tum in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, was erected in 1884 and now has about 250 thousand faithful out of a total of 1.2 million inhabitants, half of whom belong to ethnic minorities. Recently, a district of the diocese was targeted by the local Communist authorities, who have threatened to demolish 22 chapels used for functions and prayers.
According to reports by Viet Catholic News, in the letter, the prelate recalled in chronological order the attacks by the communist authorities against the local Catholic Daknu community. Voicing the resentment of thousands of faithful, Msgr. Michael remembers how the government has long ignored the request to build a new church, to meet the demands of a growing population membership.
In contrast, the local government has already cleared the way for the demolitions of all the houses of prayer made built by believers, without distinction of materials used or their size.
One of these episodes dates back to June 28, when parishioners tried to expand their old place of worship, increasing the size with a new roof and the number of columns.
In response, the government issued a demolition order and tried to bribe the local people with alcohol and other means . The communist authorities summoned the pastor, threatening him and demanding he pressure the community. However, the faithful ignored the warnings and organized themselves into shifts to keep watch over the building and, to prevent the demolition. In the letter, the bishop of Kon Tum asked that religious freedom be respected in practice as guaranteed by the Constitution of Vietnam. He has also expressed willingness to pay a penalty, in order to preserve the church used by the faithful of Daknu, or to submit the matter to a court of justice. “I urge the authorities – said the prelate – to calm down and take a look around the area, to see who are the ones who really are undermining people’s trust in the government”.
Among Vietnam’s 87 million people include , 48 per cent are Buddhists, more than 7 per cent are Catholics, 5.6 per cent are syncretistic and 20 per cent are atheist.
As a small, albeit significant minority, the Christian community is particularly active in education, health and social affairs.
Recently, the Vietnamese bishops – among them the Bishop of Kon Tum and the Bishop of Vinh – have strongly criticized Hanoi’s bill on “Faith and religion” which violates the freedom of religion and limits worship. The prelates have stressed that the proposed norm contravenes with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which, in principle, protects worship.
Asia News: Religious freedom denied: Bishop of Kontum slams church demolition
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U.S. Ambassador Meets with Well-known Political Dissident in Saigon
U.S. Ambassador in Vietnam Ted Osius on October 16 met with Saigon-based political dissident Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, co-president of the Former Vietnam Prisoners of Conscience during the former’s working trip in the southern region.
During the meeting, the two sides agreed that the Vietnam-U.S. relations have been improved in many fields, including politics, defense and economics.
However, Dr. Que expressed his disappointment that these improvements of the bilateral relations are not accompanied by enhancement in human rights situation in the communist nation as the communist government has continued to intensify its crackdown against local dissidents and human rights activists.
Dr. Que urged the U.S. to pressure on Vietnam, demanding the communist government to implement its international commitments and respect human rights enshrined in the country’s Constitution.
BS Nguyễn Đan Quế: Đại sứ Mỹ Ted Osius gặp Bs Nguyễn Đan Quế, tháng 10/2015
RFA: Cuộc gặp gỡ giữa Đại sứ Hoa Kỳ tại VN và bác sĩ Nguyễn Đan Quế