US Government
Should Re-Designate Vietnam Among Worst Religious Freedom Violators
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 24, 2008
Contact: Judith Ingram, Communications Director,
communications@uscirf.gov
Vietnam: U.S. Government Should Re-Designate Vietnam Among Worst Violators of
Religious Freedom, Press for Unconditional Release of Prisoners
WASHINGTON-Vietnam continues to demonstrate a disturbing disregard for
fundamental human rights, with police violence against protesters at peaceful
vigils at properties formerly owned by the Catholic Church of Vietnam, the
drawn-out imprisonment and house arrest of numerous religious freedom advocates,
and the detentions earlier this month of pro-democracy activists. Rather than
releasing imprisoned human rights lawyer and religious freedom advocate Li Thi
Cong Nhan, the Vietnamese government has offered her exile abroad, which she
refused. The U.S. Commission calls on the State Department to re-designate
Vietnam among the worst violators of religious freedom and demand the
unconditional release of all prisoners of concern.
"Too often in Vietnam, individuals who peacefully organize and express views
about religious freedom and human rights-and the freedoms required to protect
them-are detained, arrested, or intimidated," said Commission Chair Felice D.
Gaer. "As a member of the U.N. Security Council, Vietnam should be upholding
human rights fully and should not view peaceful actions to advance religious
freedom as a security threat."
Catholics in Hanoi have been holding prayer vigils at Catholic Church properties
continuously since December to urge their return to the Church. The Church
properties were seized by the Communist government in the mid-1950s. Though
brief clashes with police have interrupted other peaceful vigils at former
Catholic properties, over the past three weeks reports indicate that police have
detained as many as eight protesters at the grounds of a former monastery of the
Redemptorist order. In addition to the arrests, security personnel used batons
to disperse a silent vigil seeking the release of those arrested. Eyewitness
reports indicate that at least 12 other individuals were briefly detained
following the vigil at the police station and one priest sustained serious
injuries. The Commission has received further disturbing reports that the
Vietnamese government has accused Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet of inciting
the protests and threatened "extreme actions" to end the peaceful vigils. Large
crowds are gathering at the sight despite warnings.
Li Thi Cong Nhan is among the prisoners of concern that the Commission on
International Religious Freedom met during its visit to Vietnam late last year.
Scores of such prisoners have been put behind bars in Vietnam for reasons
related to their exercise or advocacy of freedom of religion or belief,
including, for example, calling for legal reforms to advance religious freedom
or organizing protests against religious freedom restrictions. Li Thi Cong Nhan
was arrested along with Fr. Nguyen Van Ly and Nguyen Van Dai in March 2007 as
part of the larger crackdown on democracy, labor, free speech, religious
freedom, and human rights advocates by the Vietnamese government.
"It is outrageous that Li Thi Cong Nhan was ever arrested in the first place,
and that she hasn't been released," Gaer said. "She and all prisoners of concern
in Vietnam should be released immediately, without conditions, and without the
frequent follow-on sentence of house arrest that Vietnamese authorities use to
restrict the freedom of rights advocates."
The Commission recently issued its Policy Focus Vietnam, assessing religious
freedom conditions in Vietnam. After traveling to Vietnam, the Commission
concluded that while progress has been made in some areas, improvements did not
extend to all religious communities, provinces, or ethnic minorities. In
addition, laws issued at the national level were not fully implemented or were
ignored at the local level and there continue to be too many abuses of and
restrictions on religious freedom experienced by diverse religious communities,
including against those who peacefully advocate religious freedom.
Such serious violations demonstrate that the government of Vietnam is failing
the test of compliance with its religious freedom obligations under
international instruments. As a result, the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom respectfully differs with the U.S. State Department's decision
to remove Vietnam from its list of "Countries of Particular Concern," in 2006,
and its continued assessment that Vietnam falls "below the threshold" of being
added to this list of the world's worst violators of religious freedom.
Nonetheless, the Commission commends the State Department's Office of
International Religious Freedom for its sustained efforts to end violations of
religious freedom in Vietnam. It further urges the U.S. Government to demand
that the Vietnamese government:
* immediately and unconditionally release Li Thi Cong Nhan and other rights
advocates from prison and house arrest;
* allow the Catholic Church and other religious organizations to function
freely; and
* permit the freedom of expression including the right to peaceful protest.
The Commission calls for Vietnam to be re-designated as one of the world's worst
violators of religious freedom for its continuing systematic and egregious
violations of religious freedom and other human rights.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of
thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give
independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and
Congress. Visit our Web site at www.uscirf.gov