HRW Issues Statement on Religious Freedom in Vietnam
''Despite a few well-timed gestures earlier this month [...] Vietnam has in all other respects continued its exceptionally repressive policies''
Despite a few well-timed gestures earlier this month, such as the release of two prominent religious prisoners and a directive to stop forcing Protestant Christians to recant their faith, Vietnam has in all other respects continued its exceptionally repressive policies, New York-based Human Rights Watch reported Monday.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding Religious Freedom in Vietnam, HRW said Vietnam’s track record on respecting religious freedom and other fundamental human rights has continued to deteriorate since the U.S. granted normal trade relations status to Vietnam in 2001.
“The Vietnamese government brands all unauthorized religious activities—particularly those that it fears may attract large followings—as potentially subversive,” HRW stated in the Feb. 28 letter.
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Although Hanoi has made a number of goodwill gestures in recent weeks including the release of several high-profile prisoners just before the first day of the Lunar New Year, HRW claimed that the Vietnamese government continues to arrest and imprison ethnic minority Protestants in the northwestern provinces and Central Highlands.
“Human Rights Watch has documented the arbitrary arrest and torture of ethnic minority Protestants, as well as persistent reports of officials forcing minority villagers to abandon their religion and cease all political or religious activities in public self-criticism sessions or by signing written pledges,” the group reported.
The organization also claimed that ethnic Hmong Christians in the northwest provinces have been beaten, detained, and pressured by local authorities to abandon their religion and cease religious gatherings. At least ten Hmong Christians remain in detention in Lai Chau and Ha Giang provinces, HRW reported.
In the Central Highlands, the government has increased its persecution of members of ethnic minorities—collectively known as Montagnards—particularly those thought to be following “Dega Protestantism.” According to HRW, the government’s crackdown against Dega Protestantism—which it charges is a political movement and not a religion—has impacted all Montagnard Christians, whether they are Dega supporters or not. Since 2001, when thousands of Montagnards first joined widespread protests for land rights and religious freedom, the government has launched an official campaign to eradicate “Dega Protestantism.”
Members of the Mennonite Church have also come under fire in recent years, in part because of the outspoken and at times confrontational style of Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, the activist leader of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam. Quang, who also served as an active member of the Vietnamese Evangelical Fellowship, has publicly criticized the arrests of religious and political dissidents, defended land rights cases of farmers from the provinces and used the Internet to call for religious freedom.
On Nov. 12, Quang and five others were sentenced to prison for “inciting people to obstruct officials from carrying out their duties.” Nguyen Thanh Nhan and Nguyen Hieu Nghia, who were also among the “Mennonite Six” that were handed sentences in November’s trial, were released early in December. Quang and the others currently remain in detention.
Meanwhile, Mennonites in other parts of the country have also encountered difficulties. HRW reported that on two separate occasions during 2004, officials in Kontum province bulldozed a Mennonite chapel that doubled as the home and office of Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, superintendent of the Mennonite churches in the Central Highlands. In September and October 2004, police reportedly pressured Mennonites in Kontum and Gia Lai provinces to sign forms renouncing their religion.
In their concluding remarks, HRW urged the U.S. Secretary of State to “send a strong message to the Vietnamese government that the U.S. will not tolerate Vietnam’s violations of the right to religious freedom.”
“We hope our concerns will be taken into account as the U.S. conducts its consultations with Vietnam in regard to improving its record on upholding the right to religious freedom,” it added.
According to reports received last week, an impending decision on whether or not to punish Vietnam for its poor record on religious freedom has put the communist country under mounting pressure. Washington must decide by Mar. 15 if Hanoi is to face sanctions.
