CORRESPONDENCE - 85A COMBINED REPORTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM 2012

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V. NO FREEDOM OF RELIGION In 2006 the U.S. State Department decided to remove Vietnam from the list of `Countries of Particular Concern' (CPC) but this has not ameliorated the situation of freedom of religion in this country. Indeed, from the sight of crowds at religious festivals, churches, or pagodas in Vietnam in the last several years, one easily gets the impression that religion is thriving in Vietnam, and some U.S. officials are convinced that there have been "strong improvements"" in religious freedom. In actuality, however, this is a misleading impression for the Vietnamese government keeps in place all the measures it has devised in the past to control and oppress various churches as well as other civil society organizations despite the fact that religious freedom is written in the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Art. 70). Restrictions on religious activities continue to be imposed by means of- - Legal prohibition, - Organizational control, and - Violent suppression. 1. Legal Prohibition In 2004, the "Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions" was promulgated by the Standing Committee of the SRV National Assembly. Many people had thought that this was a step forward in the respect and guarantee of religious freedom in Vietnam; in reality, it is used to obstruct various churches from exercising their religious freedom by, among many measures, outlawing some of these 11 Remarks by Ambassador Michael W. Michalak at Human Rights Day Event, http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/ambspeechl209lO.ht ml (accessed 18 Dec 2011) Vietnam Human Rights Network * Annual Report 2011 churches through registration requirements and guiding the churches' religious tasks toward the state's political ends. For instance, religious and theological education must push the type of "patriotism" favored by the communist party, i.e. "socialism. 1112 In April 2011, the Government Committee for Religious Affairs held a number of seminars on a new draft of the Government Decree on Religious Freedom 2011 intended to replace the Government Decree 22 /2005/ND -CP. Despite loud publicity, the document turned out to be very much similar to the 1991 and 2005 decrees. On 13 May 2011, representatives from dioceses in the Ecclesiatical Province of Saigon, through a conference, made a number of recommendations to the government with the comment that "Overall, the proposed decree intended to replace the Government Decree 22/2005 is a huge retrograde step compared to the original one, the Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions, and the Constitution. Essentially, the proposed amendments of the decree reflect the desire of the government to re- establish the mechanism of Asking and Granting in religious activities. The Asking and Granting process turns the legitimate rights of citizens into privileges in the hands of government officials who would grant or withhold them from people through bureaucratic procedures. The mechanism of Asking and Granting, hence, does not only eliminate the freedom rights of people, but also turns a `government of people by people and for people' in to a `Master of the country' who holds in his hands all the rights, and grants or withholds them to people as his random mood swings . ,,13 12 Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions, Chapter 1, Article 2 13 Comments of Archdiocese of Saigon on the draft amendments for the Government Decree 22/2005 NE)-CP, http: / /vietcatholic.org /News /Html /90073.htm (accessed 15 Dec 2011) 18