Freedom of Religion in Vietnam - Implementation of 2004 Legislation - Restrictions On Religious Freedom

Restrictions On Religious Freedom

The constitutional right of freedom of belief and religion continued to be interpreted and enforced unevenly. In some areas local officials allowed relatively wide latitude to believers; in other provinces members of unrecognized religious groups were sometimes subject to harassment from local officials. Government practices and bureaucratic impediments placed some restrictions on religious freedom and growth, although in many areas Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, as well as the Government itself, reported an increase in religious activity and observance. Officially recognized religious groups faced limitations in obtaining teaching materials, expanding training facilities, building new houses of worship, publishing religious materials, and expanding the number of clergy in religious training in response to increased demand from congregations. However, the Government continued to ease limitations compared to previous years.

Because of the lack of due process in the legal system and inconsistent high-level oversight, the actions of religious adherents can be subject to the discretion of local officials in their respective jurisdictions. In some cases, local officials reportedly told religious leaders that national-level laws do not apply to their jurisdictions. In other cases, different provinces applied the same laws differently. For example, the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai closely followed government policy and registered all of the SECV "meeting points" in the province pending their future recognition. However, in neighboring Dak Lak and Binh Phuoc provinces, many SECV "meeting points" remained unregistered. In certain cases recognized and unrecognized Protestant groups were able to overcome local harassment or overturn negative local decisions when they have appealed to higher-level authorities.

During the reporting period, obstacles to religious growth and training remained. These included impediments to registration for Protestant congregations in northern Vietnam, an unresolved ECVN property claim that has prevented the establishment of a pastors training facility, failure by Dien Bien provincial authorities to register their local Catholic diocese, failure of Ha Giang authorities to grant legal residency to a parish priest, restrictions by the authorities in Thừa Thiên-Huế province on Catholic seminary recruitment and Baptist Church property claims, and legal restrictions on proselytizing. In some provinces house churches were required to submit lists of all worshipers as part of the registration process in contravention of the legal framework on religion. This phenomenon appeared to be widespread in the Mekong Delta but has been noted elsewhere in the country, including in north-central Thanh Hóa Province. In some cases the authorities removed this requirement following the protests of the registering groups; in other cases the requirement was maintained, impeding the registration process.

The Government continued to ban and actively discourage participation in certain unrecognized religious groups, including the outlawed UBCV and some Protestant, Hoa Hao, and Cao Dai groups.

The Government requires all Buddhist monks to be approved by and work under the officially recognized Buddhist organization, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS). The number of Buddhist student monks is controlled and limited by the Committee on Religious Affairs, although the number of Buddhist academies at the local and provincial levels has increased in recent years in addition to several university-equivalent academies.

In the Mekong Delta, reliable information indicated that at least 10 ethnic Khmer monks were derobed and subjected to disciplinary action, including detention and pagoda arrest, for participation in a protest or protests against the authorities in early 2007.

The Government continued to oppose efforts by the outlawed UBCV to operate and continued to restrict the movement of UBCV leaders. In August 2006 the Government allowed Thich Huyen Quang to travel to Ho Chi Minh City for 2 months for medical treatment but discouraged him from returning to Ho Chi Minh City in 2007. However, Thich Quang Do and Thich Huyen Quang were able to receive visits from foreign diplomats. Thich Quang Do was on occasion able to see other UBCV members during the period covered by this report. Thich Quang Do and some other UBCV leaders also were able to maintain contact with associates overseas. However, provincial leaders of the UBCV throughout southern Vietnam came under pressure. In one case a nun on the representative board of the UBCV in Khanh Hoa Province faced severe harassment beginning in March 2006 and reportedly was forced out of the pagoda she founded. UBCV chapters in central Vietnam were able to gather to celebrate Buddha's birthday in May 2006 and May 2007, but its leaders in HCMC and in Binh Dinh province were unable to organize similar celebrations.

The Government technically maintains veto power over Vatican appointments of bishops and exercised that veto authority over the nomination of two bishops in early 2007. For the most part, however, the Government has in practice cooperated with the Catholic Church in nominations for bishops' appointments. The Church operates 6 seminaries in the country, with more than 1,000 students enrolled, as well as a new special training program for "older" students. All students must be approved by local authorities for enrolling in a seminary and again prior to their ordination as priests. The Church believed that the number of students being ordained remained insufficient to support the growing Catholic population and indicated it would like to open additional seminaries and enroll new classes more frequently; however, it received no official response from the Government.

The Government continued to remain concerned that some ethnic minority groups active in this region were operating a self-styled "Dega Church", which reportedly mixes religious practice with political activism and calls for ethnic minority separatism. This factor complicated and slowed the registration and recognition process for other churches in the Central Highlands.

Despite improved conditions over the reporting period, SECV and house churches in the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, and Dak Nong continue to be under close government scrutiny.

A number of Protestant house church organizations, including the Baptists, Presbyterians, and United World Mission Church, also operated in the Central Highlands. These groups reported substantially improved conditions for their congregations.

The Government continued its oversight and, with varying degrees of success, exerted control over religious hierarchies, organized religious activities, and other activities of religious groups through Committees for Religious Affairs at the national and provincial levels.

Several hundred ECVN congregations applied to register during the reporting period; however, most applications remained pending or were rejected, at least initially. Reasons cited for registration rejections, more often than not, included bureaucratic impediments, such as incorrect application procedures or forms, or incomplete information. Less frequently, local authorities cited vague security concerns, saying either that their political authority could be threatened or that confrontations could occur between traditional believers and recently converted Christians in a certain geographic area. Despite some registrations in the Northwest Highlands during the reporting period, much work remained in processing both Protestant and Catholic registrations there.

The Hoa Hao have faced some restrictions on their religious and political activities since 1975, in part because of lingering Communist Party suspicions stemming from the Hoa Hao's armed opposition to communist forces dating back to French colonial rule. After 1975, all administrative offices, places of worship, and social and cultural institutions connected to the Hoa Hao faith were closed. Believers continued to practice their religion at home, but the lack of access to public gathering places contributed to the Hoa Hao community's isolation and fragmentation. In 1999, a new official Hoa Hao body, the Hoa Hao Administrative Council, was formed. In the spring of 2005, the Hoa Hao Administrative Council was expanded and renamed the Executive Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhism. Several leaders of the Hoa Hao community, including several pre-1975 leaders, openly criticized the Committee. They claimed that the committee was subservient to the Government and demanded official recognition, instead, of their own Hoa Hao body, the Hoa Hao Central Buddhist Church (HHCBC). Although still unregistered, on May 4, 2005, the HHCBC held an organizational meeting that was attended by 126 delegates from across the southern part of the country. However, its members faced significant official repression.

Frictions between some Hoa Hao activists and government officials in the Mekong Delta continued during the reporting period.

In May 2007 a court in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap sentenced four Hoa Hao followers to between 4 and 6 years in prison for "creating public disorder" under article 245 of the 1999 Penal Code. The four were arrested for their involvement in a June 2006 hunger strike protesting the arrest and imprisonment of other Hoa Hao sect members in 2005 as well as more general allegations of government suppression of the Hoa Hao faith.

Eight Cao Dai believers were imprisoned in July 2005 for up to 13 years for "fleeing abroad to oppose the Government" and "propagating documents against the Vietnamese Government to incite demonstrations and riots." The group had attempted to protest government control over the Cao Dai church in September 2004 in Phnom Penh but were arrested and expelled to Vietnam.

There are no formal prohibitions on changing one's religion. However, formal conversions appear to be relatively rare, apart from those that occur when non-Catholics marry Catholics. Many converts may find the conversion procedures overly cumbersome or fear government retribution. There were isolated reports that local officials in rural communities continued to discourage conversion to Protestantism by threatening converts that they would lose education and social welfare allowances. A national CRA-produced training manual for local officials being used in the north was found to contain language telling officials to encourage recent religious converts to return to their traditional beliefs. The Government has pledged to diplomats and foreign representatives that it would revise the problematic language, acknowledging that it may not have been in compliance with regulations.

The Government controls and monitors all forms of public assembly, including assembly for religious activities; however, during the reporting period, some large religious gatherings were allowed.

Article 35 of Decree 22 requires government approval for foreign missionary groups to proselytize. Such activities should take place under the sponsorship of a national or local religious organization. It discourages public proselytizing outside of recognized worship centers, including by citizens. Some missionaries visited the country despite this official prohibition and carried on informal proselytizing activities.

In April 2006 the Ho Chi Minh City-based New Life Fellowship Church (NLF) was able to hold its first large prayer meeting for foreigners since August 2005 on the grounds of a Ho Chi Minh City hotel. The NLF, which catered to both foreigners and citizens and is headed by a foreign missionary, was prevented from gathering in Ho Chi Minh City hotels in August 2005 after it launched and advertised services for local citizens in contravention to the law. Since then, foreigners in the NLF were able to gather in smaller groups at home. The NLF remained in discussion with city- and national-level officials to find a permanent, legal solution to its status. Other expatriate-only groups did not face any government harassment. At least one expatriate church group received a formal operating license from the HCMC government in mid-2007.

Government policy does not permit persons who belong to unofficial religious groups to speak publicly about their beliefs, but some continued to conduct religious training and services without harassment. Members of registered religious organizations are permitted to speak about their beliefs and attempt to persuade others to adopt their religions in recognized places of worship but are discouraged from doing so elsewhere.

The Government requires all religious publishing to be done by the Religious Publishing House, which is a part of the Office of Religious Affairs, or by other government-approved publishing houses after the Government first approves the proposed items. The Religious Publishing House printed 130 new religious titles during the reporting period, including Bibles in two Central Highlands ethnic languages. A range of Bibles, Buddhist sacred scriptures, and other religious texts and publications are printed by these organizations and are distributed openly. The Religious Publishing House has printed 250,000 copies of parts of the Hoa Hao sacred scriptures, along with 100,000 volumes featuring the founder's teachings and prophesies; however, Hoa Hao believers reported that the Government continued to restrict the distribution of the full scriptures, specifically the poetry of the founder. The official Hoa Hao Representative Committee cited a lack of funds, not Government restrictions, as the reason why the Hoa Hao scriptures had not been published in full. The Bible is printed in Vietnamese, Chinese, Ede, Jarai, and English. However, in January 2007 authorities seized Bibles and other religious materials that were printed abroad, belonging to a Protestant house church group in HCMC, on the grounds that any "foreign language" material that has not been explicitly authorized by the Government is illegal. The group later purchased government-approved bibles for distribution.

The Government allows travel for religious purposes, but the approval of authorities is required for participation in religious conferences and training courses abroad. Muslims are able to undertake the Hajj, and Buddhist, Catholic, and Protestant officials have generally been able to travel abroad for study and for conferences. Other unofficial leaders travel internationally on a regular basis. Religious persons who traveled abroad in the past were sometimes questioned about their activities upon their return and required to surrender their passports; however, this practice appeared to be becoming more infrequent.

Religious affiliation is indicated on citizens' national identification cards and in "family books", which are household identification documents. In practice, many citizens who consider themselves religious do not indicate this on their identification cards, and government statistics list them as nonreligious. While it is possible to change the entry for religion on national identification cards, many converts may find the procedures overly cumbersome or fear government retribution. The Government does not designate persons' religions on passports.

The Government allows, and in some cases encourages, links between officially recognized religious bodies and coreligionists in other countries; however, the Government actively discourages contacts between the UBCV and its foreign Buddhist supporters.

Contacts between some unregistered Protestant organizations and their foreign supporters are discouraged but occur regularly, including training and the provision of financial support and religious materials. The Government remained concerned about contact between separatist "Dega" Protestants in the Central Highlands and overseas supporters. The Government regards Dega Protestants as a group that uses religion as a rallying point to encourage ethnic minority separatism, political unrest, and the establishment of an independent ethnic minority state.

Adherence to a religious faith generally does not disadvantage persons in nongovernment civil, economic, and secular life, although it likely would prevent advancement to higher CPV, government, and military ranks. The military does not have a chaplaincy. Avowed religious practice was formerly a bar to membership in the CPV, but now the CPV claims that tens of thousands of the more than three million Communist Party members are religious believers. Clergy and believers of various faiths serve in local and provincial government positions and are represented on the National Assembly. CPV and government officials routinely visit pagodas, temples, and churches, making a special point to visit Protestant churches over Christmas.

The 2005 Implementing Decree for the Ordinance on Religion and Belief stipulates that provincial People's Committees must approve the construction of new religious facilities. The renovation or upgrade of religious facilities also requires notification of authorities, although not necessarily a permit, depending on the extent of the renovation. The Decree stipulates that authorities must respond to a construction permit application within 20 days.

The Government does not permit religious instruction in public schools; however, it permits clergy to teach at universities in subjects in which they are qualified. Buddhist monks have lectured at the Ho Chi Minh Political Academy, the main Communist Party school. Several Catholic nuns and at least one Catholic priest teach at Ho Chi Minh City universities. They are not allowed to wear religious dress when they teach or to identify themselves as clergy. Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and Buddhist groups are allowed to provide religious education to children. Catholic religious education, on weekends or evenings, is permitted in most areas and has increased in recent years in churches throughout the country. Khmer Theravada Buddhists and Cham Muslims regularly hold religious and language classes outside of normal classroom hours in their respective pagodas and mosques. Religious groups are not permitted to operate independent schools beyond preschool and kindergarten.

Provincial authorities have returned a limited number of church properties confiscated following the reunification of the country in 1975 and remained in protracted discussions on other properties. One of the vice chairmen of the government-recognized VBS stated that approximately 30 percent of Buddhist properties confiscated in Ho Chi Minh City were returned, and from 5 to 10 percent of all Buddhist properties confiscated in the south have been returned. Catholic and recognized Protestant organizations obtained a small number of previously confiscated properties, but continued to have ongoing disputes with officials over others. The SECV estimated more than 250 properties for which it seeks restitution; other Protestant denominations active in southern Vietnam pre-1975 also had property claims. Some properties were returned to the Hoa Hao Administrative Council, but few Cao Dai properties were returned, according to church leaders. Many of the properties seized in the past were religious schools and hospitals that were incorporated into the state system.

Although the Ordinance on Religion and Belief encourages religious organizations to conduct charitable activities in education and healthcare, the degree of government oversight of these activities varied greatly among localities. In some areas, especially in the south, Catholic priests and nuns operated kindergartens, orphanages, vocational training centers, and clinics and engaged in a variety of other humanitarian projects. In Ho Chi Minh City and Huế, the Catholic Church was involved in supporting HIV/AIDS hospices and treatment centers and providing counseling to young persons. Buddhist groups also were involved in HIV/AIDS and other charitable work across the country. The Ho Chi Minh City archdiocese ran the HIV/AIDS clinic at the Trong Diem drug rehabilitation center on behalf of the city government. The city government and the Catholic Church remained in discussion about how to officially approve new initiatives, such as a walk-in clinic for possible HIV/AIDS victims, but it allowed the Church to pursue these initiatives quietly. Charitable activities by the Catholic Church were much more restricted in northern Vietnam, but during the reporting period, a number of northern provinces were reported to have become more permissive. Thai Binh Province, for example, actively encouraged the Catholic Church's work in HIV/AIDS and the treatment of the sick and disabled. Haiphong authorities also began working with the Catholic Church in areas related to drug addiction treatment and HIV/AIDS during the reporting period. Thanh Hóa Province has engaged its Catholic Diocese on religious infrastructure and general reconstruction programs. The Province of Hanoi allowed a number of VBS-run temples to run orphanages for abandoned and disabled children, as well as treatment programs for those that suffer from HIV/AIDS.

The VBS engaged in humanitarian activities, including antidrug and child welfare programs, in many parts of the country. The officially recognized Hoa Hao organization also reported that it engaged in numerous charitable activities and local development projects during the reporting period.