The Policy
The administration claims that believers of all
faiths are free to worship and practice religious services. During a national convention of the Bureau of
Religious Affairs on March 17, 1998, Vice-premier Nguyen Tan Dung defended the
Party and State against the charges of injustice towards followers of all
religious faiths. The vice-minister maintained that those charges were false
allegations. They merely produced unworkable prejudices to the government by
the people of all faiths, intending to sow division among various layers of society.
He further stressed the social role the religion plays in Vietnam. The practice
of religion instruction, for instance, contributes to the elimination of
diverse social illnesses. The Party and State acknowledge the role of the
religion and the preservation and the progress of the moral life of the
citizen. Echoing the vice-premier’s statements, the official Vietnam Press Agency
elaborated that, in the domain of religions, the religious polices of the Sate
are correctly applied, the interests of the followers respected, that the
population follows the directives of the government and works towards reinforcement
for unity and helps “the authorities by denouncing the attempts of the enemies
using religion to divide the people and sabotage the Revolution,”
The
Laws
The 1992
Constitution guarantees the right to religious freedom: “Citizens have freedom
to believe or not to believe in a religious faith. All religions are equal
before law. Worshipping places of all faiths are protected by law. No one can
violate the freedom of faith or exploit it in a way that is at variance with the
law and state policies (Article 70).” The laws lack inherent transparency and
sufficiency. Religion is not defined, and neither is recognized as an
institution As such, it is denied genuine social status and real legal
identity. Article70, in particular, provides the citizen the right to religious
freedom but allows the State executes punishment against anyone that commits
infringement on it. The provision commits itself infringement on the law due to
twist of words and vague prescription. While it gives the citizen the right to
religious freedom, it threatens to punish him for unspecified charge...
Subsequent to the promulgation of the 1992
Constitution, a flurry of assessment of decisions, directives, and new laws came
into being to implement the existing ones, specifically the Decree 31 April 14,
1997/NDCP, the Decree 26 April 24, 1999/NDCP, and the 2004 Legislative Code.
They all provide the same tenets and principle and similar contents but differed
in one character. The decrees are regulatory laws prepared and promulgated by
the government cabinet, and the legislative code is compiled by the National
Assembly and issued by the Bureau of Religious Affairs. More restrictions are
imposed on religion to secure national security. The Decree 31 April 14, 1997/NDCP even
gave local police extra-judicial authority, to arrest and detains anyone
suspected of “threatening national security” under administrative detention
from six months to two years without a Court order.
The Restrictions
The followers are allowed to perform these services
and activities within the worship place in accordance with the rules and
regulations as prescribed by law. Religious freedom is manifested in religious
celebrations, festivals and celebrations at temples pagodas, assemblies and
masses for Easter and Christmas. More worship places are repaired are built,
more seminaries and new religious educational institutions are allowed to
operate. Despite these evident symbolic gestures, persecution against
religions, notably independent Churches and religious organizations operating
outside the orbit of the administration are increasingly acute. Preventive
measures are adopted to flatten out possible unrest and opposition. Plans of
action are devised to carry out to abort political schemes to subdue opponents
to submission. Resistance to religious persecution, therefore, ever rises as
the administration abuse power to subdue all faiths and believers under
partiality and arbitrariness of State laws and religious policies.
In his letter of opinions to the State as regards
the legislative code draft on religions of January 16, 2001, Cardinal Pham Dinh
Tung of Catholic Episcopal Conference specified the fact that the drawbacks of
the proposed piece of law lies in the fact that it fails to conceive religion
as an institution, negating the autonomy characteristic of the Church in the
civil society. The Church has its own status, laws, rules, and regulations for
which the State should show respect. The patriarch of the Vietnam Unified
Buddhist Church Thich Quang Do had remarks on the Ordinance on Beliefs and
Religions by the Permanent Office of the National Assembly of June 18, 2004
saying that the ordinance is a “tighter noose” over beliefs and religions `Everything
must be applied for and permission would be granted. The right to religious
freedom is a privilege. The State reserves the authority to grant favor at
will. One must apply for permission even for an assembly for saying prayers for
peace for one’s family or a recital for “sultra” with a monk at one’s home.
The Measures
The 1985 Criminal Code provides an entire chapter of
vaguely-defined “national security” offenses which severely limit religious
freedom. Article 81of the law even specifies such crimes as “sowing division
among and between religions and believers and non-believers, and “undermining
national solidarity.” Article 30 of this law further allows “quan che”
(administrative detention) that can place persons convicted of “national
security” crimes “under the supervision and reeducation of the local
authorities” for up to 5 years after completion of their prison sentence Such
persons are forbidden to leave their residence, deprived of civil rights and
are under constant police surveillance.
Measures of the real nature and reach of the
persecution are predictable. Hidden methods are incorporated in the laws,
rules, and regulations. Preserving monody of power, the Communist Party of
Vietnam and State disregard the principles of separation of the State and the
Church and neutrality of the State. In his letter of opinions to the State as
regards the legislative ordinance draft on religions of January 16, 2001,
Cardinal Pham Dinh Tung of Catholic Episcopal Conference specified the fact
that the drawbacks of the proposed piece of law lies in the fact that it fails
to conceive religion as an institution, negating the autonomy characteristic of
the Church in the civil society. The Church has its own status, laws, rules,
and regulations for which the State should show respect. The patriarch of the
Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church Thich Quang Do had remarks on the Ordinance on
Beliefs and Religions by the Permanent Office of the National Assembly of June
18, 2004 saying that the ordinance is a “tighter noose” over beliefs and
religions `Everything must be applied for and permission would be granted. The
right to religious freedom is a privilege. The State reserves the authority to
grant favor at will. One must apply for permission even for an assembly for
saying prayers for peace for one’s family or a recital for “sultra” with a monk
at one’s home. The successive new laws—the Decree on Religions of April 6, 1999
by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, the Ordnance on Beliefs and Religions of June
16, 2004 by the Permanent Office of the National Assembly, and the Decree 92 of
November 8, 2012 by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung-- still provide subtle and
sophisticated provisions, subjecting the Churches and faithful to the service
of the State. The said laws, in one way or another, reaffirm the rules and
regulations on religious organizations, performances, and activities already
codified since the 1950’s.They necessarily place all religions to operate
within the orbit of the Fatherland Front, working in line with the Communist
Party’s political principles and guidelines.
Activists, advocates, and followers resist or
protest against abuses of power are frequently charged with crimes prescribed
by vague dispositions by the Penal Code such as opposition to the officials on
duty, violation of public order, and breach of social security. Under this law,
authorities continue to make use of older Authorities executed administrative procedures
to hold prisoners incommunado on charges or unfair trials with decisions made
by the Party, and not the tribunal. The Socialist
Republic of Vietnam declares that there is no political prisoner or prisoner of
conscience in Vietnam. Prisoners are all criminals. There is no exception
whatsoever.
Prison authorities use torture to
extract confessions. Wardens intimidate inmates with beatings, hard labor, poor
medical care, and inadequate food. These victims of religious intolerance
suffer harshest measures, open brutal violence with attacks ad assaults, and
beatings, worship places demolitions, arrests, imprisonment, torture, and so
on. In 1982, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was admitted to membership of
the United Nation. It disavows the principles the Charter of the United
Nations, disregarding the right to religious freedom .It was equally acceded to
the International Covenant on Social Political Rights, It is nevertheless in
violation Article 18 of the said covenant, which guarantees freedom of
religion. It continues to oppress its
own citizens.
State-affiliated religious associations are
compelled to operate conditionally under State direction. Other cults are
subject to dissolution. There exist popular cults 31 of which are classified
into the category superstitions. They are forbidden to operate as their
practices do not conform to the ideological concepts and religious precepts
conceived by the political regime. Quite contrarily to the laws, practices of
fortune-telling, sorcery, sordid superstitions for commercial purposes thrive
with least concern of the authorities.
The Persecution
Government-sanctioned Churches formed during the
previous decades were instrumental in dividing, replacing, or simply destroying
independent organizations. Church leaders who refuse to join them are forced to
destroy worship places or risk to face violence or arrest. Except for the Roman
Catholic Church which stands firm as a legal independent institution, other
legitimate independent Churches of Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Evangelical Christianity,
and the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church faced elimination. Independent Cao Dai
sects are subject to ill-treatment, harassment, and detention. The
administration supports the State-affiliated Cao Dai Supreme Administration at
Tay Ninh to subjugate them to submission. Refusals to abide by its rule face
rude violent practices. Cao Dai Temples at My Phuong District at Loong An and
Phan Rang City are demolished. Sessions of prayers and attendance at holy
celebrations are forbidden and deranged by police raids.
Adepts of Pure Hoa Hao Buddhism take risk to serve
faith. State-supported Hoa Hao Executive Board is given full authority to
control the Church. Non-sanctioned sects face brutal violence, arrest, and
imprisonment. Requests for religious practices are denied, holy celebrations at
the Ancestral Temple are forbidden, and sessions of preaching or saying prayers
at residence preaching halls deranged and aborted by police raids. Resistance
to persecution proves to be futile and protests in all forms including
self-immolation by fire come to result. Persecuted victims are numerous.
Recognized among the victims are male and female prestigious dignitaries and not
tables. The list is far from complete but includes the venerable Le Quang Liem
and other leaders such as Nguyen Thi Thu, Truong Van Thuc, Nguyen Chau Lang,
Tran Van Be, Nguyen Duy Tan, Bui Van Hue, Tran Nguyen Anh, Tran Van Hoang, Tran
Van Thong, Vo Van Buu, Mai Thi Dung, Tran Van Ut, Le Van Dung, Nguyen Van Tho,
Nguyen Van Dien, Nguyen Thanh Phong, Nguyen Ngoc Ha, To Van Minh, Le Van Soc,
Nguyen Van Thuy, Duong Thi Tron, Nguyen Van Lia, Tran Hoai An, Tran Nguyen
Huon, and Bui Van Trung.
Authorities executed harsh measures of control after
the death of Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, July 5, 2008. The Church leadership,
the Shanga, and laity organizations suffered isolation from one another by police
raids and prohibitions on all religious services and activities within and
without temples and pagodas. Assemblies of laity for celebrations and
activities at pagodas in Hue, Saigon, and major cities are totally
paralyzed. Followers and visitors are
questioned, denied access to communication with guardian monks, and chased
away. Patriarch Thich Quang Do is
strictly isolated from the world outside at Thanh Minh Thien Vien
by police guard. The Most Venerable Thich Vien Dinh, the Shangha highest
rank of hierarchy is placed under permanent watch and police intervention at
his pagoda in Binh Dinh Province. The most venerable monk for faith and
activist for rights Thich Khong Tanh are restricted to inaction by frequent
police raids at Lien Tri Pagoda, Precinct II, and Saigon. Pagodas still
affiliated with the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church in the provinces, estimated
at 115 pagodas and temples, all solely practiced faith in silence. The Movement of Buddhist Family suffers
disbandment. The movement leader Le Cong Cau is under constant police watch,
restricted to limited movement.
Regarding Evangelical Christianity increasing mass
conversions to the faith posed a threat to the regime. Thousands of H’mong in
the northern western North left heir homeland to seek refuge in the province of
Dak lak in the Central Highlands where mass conversion was on the rise. The
authorities, on the one hand, sought to stop the movement, pacifying opposition
and protest with police raids and intimidating adamant leaders and chiefs with
arrest and imprisonment. While escalating repression, it sought to soothe
others to come to terms with them, working in lines with principles and guidelines
Seth for by them and operating services and activities under their
‘protection.” Works were proceeded to
integrate various Evangelical denominations into a unique organization operating
within the orbit of the Fatherland Front and supervision of the Bureau of
Religious Affairs. Many denominations came to terms with the administration,
others did not. A 22-member Executive Board came into force and a new charter
was adopted. A State-sanctioned “Church” came into being, regardless of
separation and division was in disarray between and among leaders and chiefs of
various congregations.
This normalization of Evangelical Christianity had
not successfully prevented active resistance from interdependent Evangelical
Churches, notably the Mennonite Church in the Central Highlands. Successive
troubles with protests beginning in the year 2000 in the Central Highlands.
Thousands of Montagards marched in the streets of Peiku denuding religious freedom
and claiming rights to their ancestral lands. Unrest took place in the
provinces of the northwestern North. The authorities sought to control religious
leaders, execute methods of stricter surveillance, and implement tactics of
propaganda to keep hold on mass conversions to Evangelical Christianity.
Directives and solutions were issued to help the cadres firmly grasp the
situation of religion and kept a close watch on it. Evangelical Christianity
suffered a gradual forcible process of “normalization” –involuntary submission
to the control of the State. This process includes a selection of
representatives from various congregations, the use of methods of fighting the
expansion of Christianity in the ethnic minority areas, with such measures as
to use force to make converts renounce their faith, fine, arrest, and confine
missionaries to disperse their assembly,
and crack down on then, if necessary. Also, they used all kinds of measures of
the “internal policy,” including strong administrative measures to forbid and
stop cold independent Churches’ religious services and activities.
Persecution
against H’mong Christians, in particular, was harsh as a result of mass
conversions in the Northwestern Highlands in the North. These people are the
followers of the worship of Vang Chu --the Lord of Heaven. Victims of merciless
repression, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 H’mong Christians fled their ancestral
lands to Dak Lak in the Central Highlands to seek refuge and practice their new
faith. The persecution was violent; it spread throughout the northwestern
provinces of the North, including Dien Bien, Viet Tri, Lai Chau, and Tuyen
Quang. A tragic incident happened at Muong Nhe, Dien Bien Province (2012).
Several thousand H’mong gathered and preached faith. The authorities,
apprehensive of pervasive unrest, dispatched troops and security forces and
even tanks to suppress the gathering. Hundreds of H’mong was reportedly
arrested. Eight H’mong were brought to stand trial before the Court and
sentenced to prison terms. Unprecedented
incidents of harassment and arrest ensued in large provinces and cities, Hanoi,
Thai Binh, Hai Duong, and Haiphong.
In the
Center, Evangelical Christians in the provinces of Thanh Hoa, Quang Nam, and
Quang Ngai faced similar incidents of repression. Gatherings for prayers and
assemblies for religious services were disbanded or forbidden. The situation
was even much more tragic in the Central Highlands. Persecution was frequent and self-evident in
ethnic minority congregations in the districts of Buon Me Thuot, Gia Lai, and Kontum
of Dak Lak Province. Wrath and anger against injustice in the land
administration and abuses of power against the rights to religious freedom of
the authorities led to unsustainable unrest. Thousands of Montagmards stood up
in protest and demand for justice. The repression was merciless as ever. Many
Church leaders were brought to stand trial and given prison terms. Harassment
and arrests of religious leaders ensued. Ministers and pastors suffered the
most tragic fate. The Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, who professed loyalty to his
faith and his congregation, faced 11 years in prison on March 26, 2012.
Religious persecution intensified as the movement of
independent Evangelical Churches flourished. Raids on gatherings and assemblies
for prayers were common practices in Saigon and the provinces in the lower
plains of the Mekong. Missionaries and the followers were equally treated with
harsh treatment. Instances of harassment, arrest, and detention for interrogation
were systematic and comprehensive. The authorities disallowed all religious
services and activities. Police intrusion on houses of worship was rude and
destructive. Ministers and pastors met
with frequent difficulties in movement and contact with the believers. All of
them were forbidden to perform their religious duties. The Pastor Duong Kim
Khai of the Mennonite Church in Saigon faced six years of prison on unfounded
charges of subversive activities. Other pastors, among who were Nguyen Hong
Quang, Ngo Hoai Bo, Pham Ngoc Thach, Thai Van Truong, Nguyen Tan Minh, and
Nguyen Thanh Tam were under constant police surveillance.
While the
Roman Catholic Church’s religious life, in general, is conditional on “ State
normalization,” the Church in the Central Highlands is still governed by
restrictions and prohibition's This is a “white region” where the authorities
strictly observe the “three No’s Approach”
"No Priest-No Cathedral --No Religious Service." Besides, land
grabs and evictions by the local authorities in parishes throughout the country
gave rise to popular opposition and unrest.
The conflict over land between the State and the Church originates from
unclear policy on land a property whereby the former has not kept promises to
return the lands and properties it borrowed from the latter. Still, abuses of power of the authorities to
execute unlawful occupation and dispossession of land and properties in use of
the Church aggravated the conflict over the years. Incidents of repression happened to parishes
and congregations in Hanoi, Hue, Saigon, and other cities and provinces in the
country.
Facing ever-growing demands for religious freedom of
all Churches, the Communist administration relied on a two-pronged policy
repressing religious groups, persecuting prestigious clergy and laymen. On the
one hand, it lent hand to State-run religious organizations to dislodge
traditional legitimate religious and social associations and organizations. On
the other hand, it sought to hinder the believers from serving faith in
non-sanctioned religious organizations and groups. Harsh measures of the
authorities provoked protest and created lasting unrest in many parishes in
Vinh and Da Nang, for instance. Potential opposition following the collapse of
Eastern Communist regimes, Hanoi further tightened its grip over religious
legitimate organizations and groups for fear of a church-backed popular
uprising.
Systematic
repression fell on the Roman Catholic Church subsequent to incidents of tragic
repression of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. Security police and
troopers encircled and paralyzed all activities of Tra Co Parish, Dong Nai
(1997); St. Joseph Cathedral at Nha
Trang (2000); Thien An Monastery, Hue (2000), An Bang Parish Thua Thien
Province (2007); Toa Kham Su (Old Vatican Mission Siege), Hanoi Archdiocese
(2007), Thai Ha Parish (2008), and Dong Chiem Parish (2010), Hanoi; Bo Trach Parish (2009), Quang Binh Province;
Tam Toa Parish (2009), Dong Hoi Province; Con Dau (2012), Da Nang; Long Thanh
Parish Parish (2009), Cau Ram
Congregation (2011), Ngoc Long Parish (2007), Chau Binh Congregation (2012),
and Con Cuong Congregation (2012).
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