For 15 years in a row, Vietnam has been proposed to be included in the list of "countries of particular concern"

*State officials wearing medical protective gear control followers at the funeral of sect founder Duong Van Minh in December 2021*

For the fifteenth year in a row, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has proposed to put Vietnam on the list of “countries of particular concern” (CPC) on religious freedom.

The one-party state has so far maintained legal barriers to prevent the formation of religious organizations and to carry out acts of repression against followers of religious beliefs without the government’s permission.

The latest report was released on February 7 on the situation in Vietnam by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent bipartisan advisory body that oversees religious freedom worldwide.

According to this report, in 2021, despite remarkable progress compared to the previous ordinance on religion, the Law on Beliefs and Religions that took effect in early 2018 is still limited in nature and is still plagued by uneven and inconsistent application across the country.

Government repression continues to be a harsh reality facing unregistered independent religious groups, with many of them seen as “strange, false or heretical” religions.

Three prominent issues related to religious freedom in Vietnam raised in this report include:

The fact that the state sets strict legal conditions to prevent religious groups from forming, typically the Law on Religion and Belief in 2018, secondly, the repressive campaigns targeting independent religious groups, and the third is to imprison believers, religious dignitaries, or religious activists.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Mr. Nguyen Kim Lan, Chief Political Officer of the Cao Dai community in 1926 in Vinh Long province, commented on the above report:

“Indeed, I strongly agree (with the report). In short, our activities are not recognized now, the State is silent when it is happy, and when it is unhappy, it suppresses. There’s no basis at all, it’s just like being outlawed.”

Most Venerable Thich Khong Tanh at the ruins of Lien Tri Pagoda, which was coerced by the government in 2016

Not being recognized by law is still an excuse often used by the authorities when targeting a certain religious community. However, being recognized by the law does not mean being free to operate. Mr. Nguyen Kim Lan added:

“When we don’t register, we can do as we please, the State does not agree, then suppresses. And if we register, there are things that the State allows or not, the State (check-PV) approves. If we sign up and the State doesn’t agree but I still do it, the State will attack us.”

Regarding the issue of independent religious organizations being caused difficulties in their operation, Mr. Le Quang Hien, Chief Secretary of the Pure Hoa Hao Buddhist Church confirmed it to be true, he said:

“In Vietnam, for independent religions that do not follow the government, that is, do not follow the Fatherland Front, will have restrictions on their freedom of religion, such as worshiping, walking, sometimes followers are being blocked from leaving their houses to go to places of worship of their religion.”

According to this Hoa Hao Buddhist dignitary, religious activities of the religion are often prevented by the government in two ways, one is to blockade the place where religious activities take place and the other is to guard and prevent religious followers of the religion from leaving their homes whenever there is a religious holiday.

The most severe form of repression that the State carries out against adherents of unrecognized beliefs or religions, according to a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, is the imprisonment of those who oppose the will of the regime.

One of the religious communities that suffers this form of persecution the most are the Protestants in the Central Highlands.

Ms. H Biap Krong, who has more than ten years of experience monitoring the religious freedom situation of communities in the Central Highlands, tells RFA more about this issue:

“The number of Central Highlands people arrested from 2000 until now is more than 500 people sent to prison for the crime of fighting for religious freedom. Most of them, are the leaders in the church, or are assistant followers of the church leaders, or are active believers in the services of God in the churches.”

She also said that the Ede and the Gia Rai are the two ethnic groups most heavily persecuted among the ethnic groups living in the Central Highlands. The crimes that the government often uses to prosecute these people are “undermining the great national unity” and “conspiring to overthrow the government“, which Ms. H Biap said is “ambiguous” in nature.”

Recently, the People’s Police Newspaper also published many offensive articles targeting the Evangelical Church of Christ, a branch of Protestantism operating in the Central Highlands but not recognized by the state.

Those from this religious group who are persecuted include Pastor A Dao, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2017, or Pastor A Ga, who had to flee to Thailand to seek asylum.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent federal government organization, established in 1998 to monitor religious freedom around the world.

One of the organization’s recommendations to the US Government is to send delegations focusing on religious freedom and human rights related to Vietnam, and specifically request visits to areas affected by restricting religious freedom and prisoners of conscience such as Mr. Nguyen Bac Truyen.

Vietnam was removed from the list of countries of special concern for religious freedom in 2006, but since then the one-party government has repeatedly been recommended by the US agency to put it back on this list due to incessant violations.

Thoibao.de (Translated)

Source: https://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/news/vietnamnews/vietnam-has-been-proposed-to-be-named-in-the-cpc-list-for-the-15th-year-in-row-02082022062723.html

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