Religious persecution and beating to death of Khmer Krom protestants in Preah Trapaing (Tra Vinh), South Vietnam

Unofficial translation from Vietnamese by Google

INFORMATION OFFICE OF ETHNIC Protestant VIETNAM

URGENT NOTICE

To:

U.S. Consulate General

Pastor Council TLH-UMCC/VPCEF Vietnam & USA

The Protestant agencies

Foreign mass media & journalists

Individuals and organizations, community associations in Vietnam

Religious organizations

Sunday at 10 o'clock on 04.04.2009, at Tha la Hamlet, Ngoc border, Tra Cu district, Tra Vinh province, the government has mobilized security forces and guerrillas armed with sticks and stones to surrounded and repress the Khmer-Krom Protestant Church of Christ Fellowship (part of UMCC / VPCEF). The police force and the armed guerrillas were used to beat the Protestant deacons who died on the way home. Mr. Thach Thanh Noah was born in 1991, he is Khmer-Krom native residing in Tha la hamlets, Ngoc border, Tra Cu district, Tra Vinh province. Mr. Thach Thanh Chi Noah serves Khmer-Krom protestants in Tha la hamlets, Ngoc border, Tra Cu district, Tra Vinh province. Currently, his family and relatives at the Khmer Krom Protestant Church in the southwest are very afraid after witnessing the beating to death and the assault on protestant followers.

To the news media and Protestant people of Vietnam, we are reporting this information to you for general broadcast. We ask that you pray for the family of the victims and we want to attract your attention to the fate of Khmer-Krom people.

News Media and Protestant people of Vietnam, we will continue to update information and images of the death of Deacon Thanh Thach Chi Noah in the days to come ... Please note that you should go to the incident location and speak to the minority siblings about their religious beliefs, as well as to share information about the unjust beating to death by government agents..!

News media can contact us at the phone number (01676971956) which belongs to missionary Thach Thi Phai, the manager of the Khmer Krom Protestant Church of Christ Fellowship in Tha la village, for more details about the death of Thach Noah Thach.

Nguyen Cong Chinh

Chairman of VPCEF UMCCMs. 

WARNING: Due to the graphic nature of the photos included in the following file, viewer discretion is advised.

https://www.box.com/s/366e5720ef98ce671c74

Khmer-Krom Buddhist Monk Defrocked by Vietnam Authority

http://www.box.com/s/c96ukm2lkg9dhmq956lm

ខ្មែរ​ក្រោម​ស្នើ​ឲ្យ UN ជួយ - Khmer Krom ask for UN help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1dJjMbGIho

What Religious Freedom Means in Vietnam

June 12, 2011
By Michael Benge
American Thinker

For many Vietnam veterans, Memorial Day was for remembering not only those Americans who died in the Vietnam War, but also our counterparts -- the Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians who died fighting for freedom, and for all who still suffer persecution under the brutal communist regimes of those countries.

It seemed that Vietnam's wave of human rights violations and religious persecution might have peaked with the arrest and detention of over 1,500 activists for democracy, human rights, and religious freedom prior to the nation's 11th Congress of the Communist Party, but the brutal communist regime may have outdone itself with last month's reported slaughter of over 75 ethnic Hmong Christians. Hundreds more were wounded and/or arrested and taken to undisclosed locations.

An estimated 9,000 Hmong, mainly Catholics and Protestant Christians, gathered in the Muong Nhe district in North Vietnam's Dien Bien province on May 1 to honor the beatification of Pope John Paul II. According to Catholic sources, the late "Polish Pope," who had opposed both fascist Nazis forces and communist totalitarianism, is a source of inspiration to many Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, and Hmong Christian believers due to the courageous moral conduct of his life and his powerful call to "be not afraid" in challenging social injustice and Stalinist-type regimes around the world.

The religious services honoring the pope evolved into peaceful protests by Hmong seeking religious freedom and the cessation of human rights abuses, institutional corruption, social injustice, and land-grabbing. Dien Bien is one of Vietnam's poorest provinces, located in the remote and mountainous area bordering Laos and China. The province's estimated 170,000 Hmong represent 35 percent of its population (1.24% of VN's total), with the Hmong earning less than a tenth of the average annual income of the Vietnamese.

Vietnam: Montagnards Harshly Persecuted

Jarai women in Plei Lao village, Gia Lai, where Mobile Intervention Police broke up an all-night prayer meeting in March 2001, fired on villagers- killing one-then burned the village church (Photo: Human Rights Watch)

Y Ben Hdok who was alleged to have been murdered while in police custody (Photo: Montagnard Foundation)

Forced Renunciation of Faith, Harassment, Violence, and Arrests

Thursday April 14, 2011

By Dan Wooding

VIETNAM (ANS) -- The Vietnamese government has intensified repression of indigenous minority Christians from the country's Central Highland provinces who are pressing for religious freedom and land rights, Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) has said in a just released report.

The 46-page report, "Montagnard Christians in Vietnam: A Case Study in Religious Repression," details the latest government crackdowns on these indigenous peoples, known collectively as Montagnards. The report documents police sweeps to root out Montagnards in hiding. It details how the authorities have dissolved house church gatherings, orchestrated coerced renunciations of faith, and sealed off the border to prevent asylum seekers from fleeing to Cambodia.

Human Rights Watch found that special "political security" (PA43) units conduct operations with provincial police to capture, detain, and interrogate people they identify as political activists or leaders of unregistered house churches. More than 70 Montagnards have been detained or arrested in 2010 alone, and more than 250 are known to be imprisoned on national security charges.

Vietnam: Montagnards Harshly Persecuted

Forced Renunciation of Faith, Harassment, Violence, and Arrests

March 30, 2011

Source: Human Rights Watch

"Freedom of religion does not mean freedom for state-sanctioned religions only. Vietnam should immediately recognize independent religious groups and let them practice their beliefs." - Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director.

(Bangkok) - The Vietnamese government has intensified repression of indigenous minority Christians from the country's Central Highland provinces who are pressing for religious freedom and land rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 46-page report, "Montagnard Christians in Vietnam: A Case Study in Religious Repression," details the latest government crackdowns on these indigenous peoples, known collectively as Montagnards. The report documents police sweeps to root out Montagnards in hiding. It details how the authorities have dissolved house church gatherings, orchestrated coerced renunciations of faith, and sealed off the border to prevent asylum seekers from fleeing to Cambodia.

Human Rights Watch found that special "political security" (PA43) units conduct operations with provincial police to capture, detain, and interrogate people they identify as political activists or leaders of unregistered house churches. More than 70 Montagnards have been detained or arrested in 2010 alone, and more than 250 are known to be imprisoned on national security charges.

Lawmaker protests 'reprehensible' Vietnam attack on U.S. diplomat

Human rights campaigner: Christian Marchant, a political officer at the US embassy in Hanoi, who was allegedly attacked by Vietnamese police

Nguyen Van Ly muzzled in court by Viet cops

01/08/11
By Bridget Johnson
The Hill (Washington DC, USA)

A member of the congressional caucuses on Vietnam and human rights lashed out at Hanoi for roughing up a U.S. diplomat who was attempting to visit a well-known dissident.

Christian Marchant, a political officer with the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, was attempting to meet with Father Nguyen Van Ly, a democracy advocate being held under house arrest. Ly told Radio Free Asia that the diplomat was "wrestled down to the ground right in the middle of the road" in front of hundreds of witnesses.

"We are aware of and deeply concerned by the incident and have officially registered a strong protest with the Vietnamese government in Hanoi," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Wednesday.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement Friday that Marchant's legs were repeatedly slammed in a car door in violation of international laws protecting diplomats.

What kind of religious cooperation can you boost with Vietnam? Communism? Oppression? Censorship?

Vietnam and Cambodia boost religious cooperation

12/16/2010
VOV News (Hanoi)

Head of the Vietnam Government Committee for Religious Affairs, Nguyen Thai Binh received a delegation of the Ministry of Cults and Religions of the Kingdom of Cambodia led by Minister Khin Min, in Hanoi on December 16.

Both sides compared notes on religious issues in their respective countries and the implementation of a cooperation memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2007 in Cambodia.

In his address at the reception, Mr Binh said Vietnam treasured all beliefs and religious culture (sic!) is part of what creates the sense of national unity and feeds the people’s spiritual needs. This position is clearly stipulated in the 1992 Constitution (revised) in which, belief and religion are considered one of the people’s basic rights. All religions in Vietnam are equal before law. Using religious activities to incite violence and create divisions among the people within the nation as well as superstitious practices are strictly banned, stressed Mr Binh.

Mr. Min Khin urged the two sides to implement the MoU effectively to tighten their relations.

He reiterated that Cambodia always pays attention to people’s rights to freedom of belief and religion which are specified in its constitution, while adding that his country wants to tighten its cooperation with the Vietnam Government Committee for Religious Affairs.

Vietnamese police attack Catholics because they were praying

08 December 2010
The Underground

Hundreds of Vietnamese security forces attacked recently 100 Degar Catholics while they were worshiping, including women, children and elderly, leaving 22 injured and one crippled.

The attack occurred in Ploi Kret Krot, a highland village in Gia Lai province bordering Cambodia. This is the third attack on Christians in the province, the other two occurring in Ploi Kuk Kong and Ploi Kuk Dak villages, Montagnard Foundation reported.

Villagers were threated with arrest if they told media overseas. Vietnam has, of late escalated a crackdown on Catholics and Christians, some say in light of its pending congress (its first in five years) to meet in January. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/10/vietnam-jails-catholics-over-funeral-melee-14218).

Others blame the crackdown on internal party struggles amid strengthening relations between Vietnam in the U.S. Several human rights groups have asked that Vietnam be placed on the U.S. annual list of Countries of Particular Concern for its violations of religious freedom rights. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/12/christian-watchdog-seeks-release-of-two-pastors-in-vietnam-14706\).

Electric prods, batons

In the latest attack Degar Catholics were holding an open prayer service when local police told them to leave. When the Christians said they were not committing a crime, the police confiscated their crosses, pictures of Jesus and the virgin Mary and other religious artifacts, Montagnard Foundation’s website said.

The website reported the police also beat the worshipers with electric prods, batons, kicks and stomps including women, children and the elderly. Nine were rendered unconscious, while others escaped into the forest.

Those rendered unconscious ranged in age from 24 to 60. They were beaten several times on the head with batons after which they were kicked and stomped on. One of them, A Bom, 50, may be crippled, the website said.

The website listed those who were beaten to unconsciousness as A Kat, 45, A cuun, 27, A Li, 31, A Cur, 43, A Liu, 24, A Sung, 24, A Khin, 46, and A Hlai, 60.

Those who managed to escape were hit on the back and thighs rather than on the head. The website said they are A Wung, 29, A Sinh, 27, A Yil, 30, A Gyun, 28, A Raih, 26, A Do, 30, A Kinh, 31, A Bop, 35, A Ngo, 34, A Mun, 22, A Wung, 17, A Yim, 16, and A Blun, 28.

Many who fled are now in hiding, while the police are hunting them down, patrolling the village and disallowing villagers to leave their homes, according to the website.

There are about 1 million Degar, nearly half of whom are Protestant and 200,000 Roman Catholics. Degar tribes who reside in the highlands do not share the language and culture of Vietnam.

Last month, at a General Assembly of the People of God, Bishop Cosmas Hoang Van Dat, secretary general of the Vietnamese bishops’ conference said, “Vietnamese Catholics are Vietnamese citizens. Our people have contributed to the development of the nation, in culture, education, society and the defense of the country. In particular, good pastors have consolidated and strengthened the Church in Vietnam in the context of contemporary society. We need to have dialogue and cooperation with the government. Above all, we trust in the Vatican and are in communion with the pope,” Spero News reported.

Nothing changes with the authoritarian regimes in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma

Saturday, January 23, 2010
By Scott Johnson
Canada Free Press

Nothing changes in Vietnam. Nor in Laos, Cambodia or Burma. These authoritarian regimes continues to do anything to repress its people in order in maintain a corrupt and brutal regime.

And can you beleive that hundreds of Montagnards remain in Vietnam’s prisons and the US State Department doesn't want to include these people as prisoners of concern?? (ie: not enough evidence of religious persecution)

Just an appalling act of abandonment.

Regards
Scott
Human Rights Watch
-------------

Vietnam: Repression Intensifies Prior to Party Congress

"With its treatment of peaceful critics, the Vietnamese government seems determined to stand out as one of the most repressive countries in Asia. We’d be thrilled if the Vietnamese government proved us wrong, but there are no signs that it will reverse its increasingly harsh crackdown on dissent." - Brad Adams, Asia director

Rights Defenders, Democracy Activists Targeted

January 21, 2010
Source: Human Rights Watch

(New York) - This week’s convictions and heavy sentences for four Vietnamese democracy activists, including the prominent human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh, highlighted the climate of increasingly harsh political repression in Vietnam, Human Rights Watch said today after the release of its World Report 2010.

The 612-page World Report 2010, the organization’s 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights trends in more than 90 nations and territories worldwide. In Vietnam, the report says, the government arrested and imprisoned dozens of democracy activists linked to opposition parties, independent bloggers, land rights protesters, and members of unsanctioned religious organizations during 2009.

“With its treatment of peaceful critics, the Vietnamese government seems determined to stand out as one of the most repressive countries in Asia,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “We’d be thrilled if the Vietnamese government proved us wrong, but there are no signs that it will reverse its increasingly harsh crackdown on dissent.”

In the lead-up to a key Vietnamese Communist Party congress in 2011, Human Rights Watch is concerned that the Vietnamese government will intensify its campaign to silence government critics and curb social unrest in an effort to quell any potential challenges to its one-party rule.
Away from the public spotlight, in 2009, the police cracked down on farmers protesting land grabs in the Mekong Delta, on Catholic parishioners in central and northern Vietnam opposing government confiscation of church properties, and on Montagnard activists in the Central Highlands resisting government control of their churches.

The four activists just sentenced to prison - Le Cong Dinh, Nguyen Tien Trung, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, and Le Thang Long - were tried in Ho Chi Minh City on January 20 and 21 and received prison sentences ranging from five to 16 years. They were arrested during May and July for alleged links with the banned Democratic Party of Vietnam. They were accused of “colluding” with Vietnamese activists based abroad to create anti-government websites, post critical articles on the Internet, and incite social instability, and charged with attempting to overthrow the government under article 79 of Vietnam’s penal code. A fifth defendant, Tran Anh Kim, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison under article 79 on December 28.

On January 14 and 15, the Gia Lai provincial court sentenced two Montagnard Christians to prison, for nine and 12 years respectively, allegedly for organizing a “reactionary underground” network in violation of the country’s unity policy.

“Rights-respecting governments should speak up to protect peaceful activists and rights defenders in Vietnam and insist that the government abide by its international commitments,” Adams said. “Donors have been far too quiet about rights in recent years, but Vietnamese activists say that they will never succeed without consistent support from influential governments.”


Vietnamese courts sentenced at least 20 government critics and independent church activists to prison during 2009 on vaguely worded national security charges, according to the World Report. These include nine dissidents from Hanoi and Haiphong convicted in October for disseminating anti-government propaganda under penal code article 88. Their sentences are expected to be upheld in hearings before Vietnam’s Supreme Court this week even though the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined last year that five of the defendants had been detained arbitrarily.

Hundreds of other peaceful political and religious activists are serving long prison sentences in Vietnam. Religious freedom deteriorated during 2009, Human Rights Watch said. The government targeted religious leaders and their followers who advocated civil rights, religious freedom, and equitable resolution of land disputes.

There were also clashes between police and thousands of Catholic parishioners in Quang Binh protesting government confiscation of church properties, and government-orchestrated mobs violently dispersed followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, a renowned Buddhist monk who has advocated more religious freedom.

In the Central Highlands, authorities continued to arrest Montagnard Christians suspected of belonging to unregistered house churches considered subversive by the government, or of planning land rights protests or conveying information about rights abuses to activists abroad. On several occasions the police beat and shocked Montagnards with electric batons when they refused to sign pledges to join government-sanctioned churches.

During the review of Vietnam’s rights record by the UN Human Rights Commission in May, Vietnam defiantly rejected recommendations by UN member states to allow groups and individuals to promote human rights, express their opinions, and express public dissent. The government also refused to issue invitations to visit Vietnam to UN rights experts covering freedom of religion, expression, torture, and violence against women.

Vietnam’s antipathy toward free expression and other fundamental rights does not bode well for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Vietnam now chairs, Human Rights Watch said. Vietnam has signed the ASEAN Charter, a legally binding agreement that commits member states to “strengthen democracy, enhance good governance, and protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

“By locking up peaceful rights defenders, democracy activists, and cyber-dissidents, the Vietnamese government is clearly flouting its promises to ASEAN and the international community,” Adams said.

Khmer Krom requests Hun Xen to discuss grievances with Nong Duc Manh

On December 16, 2009, KKC Executive Director Hon. Thach Setha, Phnom Penh Councilman-elect (SRP) and former Senator of the Kingdom of Cambodia (SRP), wrote a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen to raise Khmer Krom issues with the visiting communist Vietnam's Secretary General Nong Duc Manh on Dec. 17 - 19 in Phnom Penh.

The following grievances were raised:

1. Land grabbing
2. Khmer schools
3. Khmer Theravada Buddhism
4. Freedom of Assembly, threat on Khmer Krom monks and people
5. Forced assimilation of Khmer nationals as Vietnamese

Please note that the same letter is also written to the presidents of the National Assembly and Senate.

Vietnam: Sharp Backsliding on Religious Freedom

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh returned to Vietnam in 2005 after years in exile. Despite initially welcoming the monk to open a Buddhist center at Bat Nha monastery in Lam Dong province, in September 2009 Vietnamese authorities launched a violent crackdown on Thich Nhat Hanh’s followers at the monastery. (Reuters)

Harsh Crackdown on Followers of Buddhist Peace Activist Thich Nhat Hanh

October 18, 2009
Human Rights Watch

"Once again Vietnam has clamped down on a peaceful religious group – even one that was initially welcomed by the government. The government views many religious groups, particularly popular ones that it fears it can’t control, as a challenge to the Communist Party’s authority." - Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) - The violent forced expulsion of more than 300 followers of the world-renowned Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh from Bat Nha monastery in late September highlights the Vietnamese government's suppression of religious freedom, Human Rights Watch said today.

In 2005, the Vietnamese government welcomed Thich Nhat Hanh during his first return to his homeland after 39 years in exile abroad. Government and religious officials subsequently invited him to open a Buddhist meditation center at Bat Nha monastery in Lam Dong province, which soon began to draw large numbers of followers.

But on September 27, 2009, police officers cordoned off the monastery as more than 100 thugs and undercover police officers armed with sticks and hammers broke down the doors and forcefully evicted 150 monks - all followers of Thich Nhat Hanh - beating some of the monks in the process. Police reportedly arrested two senior monks, Phap Hoi and Phap Sy, whose whereabouts remain unknown. The next day, in response to threats and coercion, more than 200 Buddhist nuns, also adherents of Thich Nhat Hanh, fled the monastery, seeking temporary refuge with the monks at a nearby pagoda.

"Once again Vietnam has clamped down on a peaceful religious group - even one that was initially welcomed by the government," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government views many religious groups, particularly popular ones that it fears it can't control, as a challenge to the Communist Party's authority."

The crackdown is thought to be linked in part to proposals Thich Nhat Hanh made during a private meeting with President Nguyen Minh Triet in 2007 - and later made public - urging the government to ease its restrictions on religion.

All religious groups must be authorized by the government and overseen by government-appointed management committees. For Buddhists - the majority of the population - the management entity is the government-sanctioned Vietnamese Buddhist Church (VBC), sometimes referred to as the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha.

The VBC, which is designated to preside over all Buddhist organizations and "sects" in Vietnam, oversees pagodas and educational institutes. Its approval is required for Buddhist ordinations and ceremonies, donations to pagodas, and temple expansions. It also vets the content of Buddhist publications and religious studies curricula offered at pagoda schools. In 2007, it authorized the establishment of Thich Nhat Hanh's Buddhist training and meditation center at Bat Nha monastery.

Other Buddhist organizations - such as the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and some Hoa Hao and ethnic Khmer Buddhist congregations - are banned by the government because they choose to operate independently of government-appointed management committees.

The UBCV has faced decades of harassment and repression for seeking independent status and appealing to the government to respect human rights and cease its interference in religious affairs. Its leaders have been threatened, detained, put under pagoda arrest, imprisoned, and placed under strict travel restrictions for many years.

"Sadly, the harassment and expulsion of Buddhists in Lam Dong is not an isolated incident," said Pearson. "Buddhists in Vietnam have long faced harsh treatment and persecution."

Other religious groups, including some Catholics, ethnic minority Christians, Mennonites, and members of the Cao Dai faith, suffer repression and persecution for practicing their faith or conducting peaceful demonstrations calling for religious freedom and the return of church properties confiscated by the government. (For more information, see Background on Religious Freedom, below.)

The Crackdown on Thich Nhat Hanh's Followers

Thich Nhat Hanh - one of the world's most prominent and influential Buddhist monks - first drew international attention in the 1960s as a leader of South Vietnamese Buddhists opposed to the US war in Vietnam, critical of all sides to the conflict. He continued his anti-war activities from exile in France after he left the country in 1965. The government banned him from the country as he increasingly took on human rights issues, including the plight of the thousands of boat people who fled Vietnam after the communist victory in 1975 and the persecution of Buddhist clergy and patriarchs.

In February 2005, Thich Nhat Hanh was warmly welcomed by the Vietnamese government during his widely publicized return from exile. Thousands of Vietnamese attended Buddhist ceremonies, lectures, and monastic retreats led by Thich Nhat Hanh during three visits to Vietnam.

His return took place at a time when the government wanted to present a less-repressive stance toward religion in the hope that the United States would remove Vietnam from its blacklist of countries violating religious freedom, a stepping stone for its entry into the World Trade Organization in 2007.

During Thich Nhat Hanh's second visit to Vietnam in 2007, Thich Duc Nghi, the abbot of Bat Nha monastery and a VBC member, invited him to open a Buddhist center at the monastery. Thich Duc Nghi donated the monastery to Thich Nhat Hanh, whose followers and supporters invested money to rebuild it.

During that trip, Thich Nhat Hanh presented a 10-point proposal for religious reforms in his meeting with Triet. "Please separate religion from politics and politics from religious affairs," Thich Nhat Hanh said. "Please stop all surveillance by the government on religious activities, disband the Government Department for Religious Affairs, but first of all disband the Religious Police. All religious associations should be able to operate freely in accordance to laws and regulations, just like any cultural, commercial, industrial and social associations."

Tensions with the authorities over his calls for religious reforms, as well as the growing popularity of his meditation center, surfaced in 2008. His public support for the Dalai Lama and Tibet, which likely caused China to put pressure on Hanoi, may also have played a role.

In October 2008, the central government's Religious Affairs Committee stated that Thich Nhat Hanh had distorted Vietnam's religious policies and that some of his followers lacked legal rights to live at Bat Nha monastery. The abbot of Bat Nha - reportedly under pressure from his superiors - ordered Thich Nhat Hanh's followers to leave.

In June 2009, water, electricity, and telephone lines were shut off in an effort to force the monks and nuns to leave. Local civilians overran the monastery in June and July, shouting and threatening the monks and nuns, and confiscating food, furniture, and other property. The forced expulsions followed in September.

"The ousting of Thich Nhat Hanh's followers is clearly linked to his call for religious reforms, rather than the alleged failure of his followers to fulfill local residency and registration requirements," said Pearson. "Religious groups should be allowed to conduct religious activities freely, organize and manage themselves, and engage in peaceful expression."

The government accuses Thich Nhat Hanh's followers of conducting "illegal activities" and "abusing the religious regulations of the Communist Party and the government, to sabotage the government and oppose the VBC," according to a confidential memo from the District People's Committee in Lam Dong, dated September 17, 2009, obtained by Human Rights Watch. The directive instructs government officials to pressure Thich Nhat Hanh's followers to relocate to other pagodas under VBC management or return to their home villages.

Buddhists in Vietnam and around the world, as well as foreign embassies in Hanoi, condemned the harassment and eviction of Thich Nhat Hanh's followers. On October 5, 180 Vietnamese academics, poets, teachers, and scientists, including some Vietnamese Communist Party members, sent a petition to the government requesting an investigation into the incident. Even the VBC management board in Lam Dong deplored the crackdown in a confidential report to the VBC executive management council dated October 6, 2009.

Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese government to release everyone imprisoned for peaceful religious or political activities, and to end restrictions on religious groups, regardless of whether they affiliate with the officially authorized religious organizations. Human Rights Watch also urged the United States to reinstate Vietnam on its blacklist of countries violating freedom of religion.

"Vietnam's respect for human rights and religious freedom has sharply deteriorated since the US removed it from its blacklist and Vietnam was accepted into the World Trade Organization," said Pearson. "The Vietnamese government should stop treating freedom of religion as a privilege to be granted by the government rather than an inalienable right."

Background on Religious Freedom

Vietnam's 2004 Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions affirms the right to freedom of religion. However, it requires that all religious groups register with the government, and bans any religious activity deemed to cause public disorder, harm national security, or "sow divisions." Adherents of some religious groups that are not officially recognized by the government are persecuted. Security officials disperse their religious gatherings, confiscate religious literature, and summon religious leaders to police stations for interrogation. In some instances, police destroy churches of unauthorized religious groups and detain or imprison their members on charges of violating national security.

Members of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), once the largest organization of Buddhists in southern and central Vietnam, have been threatened, detained, put under pagoda arrest, imprisoned, and placed under strict travel restrictions for many years. In July 2009, for example, police surrounded many UBCV pagodas in southern and central Vietnam to prevent monks - including the current Patriarch, Thich Quang Do - from attending a memorial ceremony for the UBCV patriarch, Thich Huyen Quang, who died in 2008.

While Hoa Hao Buddhism and the Cao Dai religion are officially recognized religions, many members strongly resist official pressure to affiliate with the government-appointed committees that oversees their religious affairs. Two Hoa Hao Buddhists immolated themselves in 2005 to protest religious repression and imprisonment of their leaders. In 2005, nine Cao Dai members were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison on national security charges after they tried to deliver a petition calling for religious freedom to delegates attending an international conference in Cambodia.

The government persecutes other unsanctioned religious groups, such as members of Christian churches not registered with the government-authorized Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN), including independent Mennonite congregations affiliated with Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, a former prisoner of conscience; and ethnic minority Christians in the northern and central Vietnam.

Christian members of indigenous ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands, commonly referred to as Montagnards, face ongoing persecution and restrictions, particularly in villages where people refuse to join the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, or are suspected of following "Tin Lanh Dega" (Dega Christianity), an unauthorized religion the government considers subversive.

During 2009, at least 40 Montagnard Christians have been arrested in Gia Lai province alone for participating in unregistered "Tin Lanh Dega" house churches. On August 14, for example, police raided a prayer meeting in a home in Chu Se district, badly beating eight Montagnard Christians, including one who had to be hospitalized. In another raid in February, the police arrested 11 Montagnard Christians from several villages, beating and shocking them with electric batons when they refused to sign documents pledging to join the Evangelical Church of Vietnam. During the last year, authorities destroyed at least two churches in Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands.

Hundreds of people are currently imprisoned in Vietnam for their religious or political beliefs, or a combination of the two. They include at least 300 Montagnard Christians; Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest; Nguyen Thi Hong, a Mennonite pastor; members of the Cao Dai faith, and at least five Hoa Hao Buddhists.

In some cases, church leaders who have emerged as civil rights campaigners are charged with national security crimes and sent to prison. This was the case with Father Nguyen Van Ly, who peacefully called for the government to show greater respect and tolerance for human rights, religious freedom and democratic principles. Arrested in 2006, he is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence.

Other prominent religious figures who advocate religious freedom and democratic reforms, such as the UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Quang Do and another Catholic priest, Phan Van Loi, have been held under pagoda or house arrest for years.

"In a country such as Vietnam, where the government bans independent human rights organizations, church leaders are often the leading voices advocating for fundamental rights to free speech and religious freedom," said Pearson. "While the Vietnamese government loves to tour visiting dignitaries around crowded churches and model pagodas, it tries to deny the repression of believers that takes place every day."

Conflicts over government confiscation of church properties often go hand-in-hand with increased repression of certain denominations, for example the violent crackdown by police and government-hired thugs in 2008 on peaceful prayer vigils conducted by Catholics calling for the return of church properties in Hanoi. In July 2009, as many as 200,000 Catholics peacefully protested in Quang Binh province after police destroyed a temporary church structure erected near the ruins of the historic Tam Toa Church in Vinh Diocese. Police used tear gas and electric batons to beat parishioners who resisted, arresting 19, of whom seven were charged with disturbing public order.

US Lifting of Restrictions

As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other human rights covenants, Vietnam is obligated to respect freedom of expression, religious belief, and worship.

In 2004, the US State Department designated Vietnam a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) because of what it called "particularly severe violations of religious freedom." In 2006, the State Department removed Vietnam from the list, citing the release of religious prisoners and less-restrictive legislation governing religion. Two months later, the US granted Vietnam permanent normal trade status, which led to Vietnam's membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The lifting of Vietnam's CPC status by the US was deemed premature by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and many international human rights and religious freedom groups. After a visit to Vietnam in May 2009, the commission recommended once again that the US reinstate Vietnam on the list, stating that "Vietnam's overall human rights record remains poor, and has deteriorated since Vietnam joined WTO in January 2007."

Critics dismiss [the toothless] ASEAN human rights charter

July 21, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

ASEAN, meeting on the Thai island resort of Phuket this week, had hoped to be recognised for its new Human Rights Commission, which it sees as a huge step in its 42-year existence.

But document details released so far have been criticised as being too vague and lacking bite.

Presenter: Karen Percy, South East Asia correspondent
Speakers: Rafendi Djamin, co-ordinator of the Human Rights Working Group; Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai Prime Minister

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

PERCY: There's little doubt that South East Asia needs a human rights body. Burma's generals have used violence against monks, locked up comedians and have been relentless in their campaign to silence and sideline the country's beloved pro-democracy hero, Aung San Suu Kyi. Cambodia sues its political opponents or allows violent vigilantes to intimidate dissenters. In Vietnam, practising Christianity can put you on the wrong side of the law. Even advanced and wealthy Singapore discriminates against gays and lesbians. Each of the 10 member countries could do with improvement, but critics say that isn't likely to happen with ASEAN's new human rights body.

RAFENDI: It's going to be a political as well as a legal document so in that sense you cannot just go to the lowest, lowest common denominator.

PERCY: Rafendi Djamin is with the Indonesian-based Human Rights Working Group. He's teamed up with civil society and advocacy groups from across the region trying to persuade ASEAN nations to take a stronger stand.

RAFENDI: Human rights itself is already something that is already committed in the charter and enshrined in the charter. That means that the principal of non-interference, if you're going to put it that way, is one that becomes barriers for the human rights body to operate.

PERCY: The 11-page document setting out the framework for the intergovernmental commission on human rights is laced with qualifications and generalisms. Even Indonesia tried to beef up the language with no luck. Instead it had to be content with a statement from AEAN leaders later this year, promising that the process will be strengthened over time. ASEAN's president and Thailand's prime minister, is Abhisit Vejjajiva.

ABHISIT: It's not something that we will just go on doing without any kind of assessment at all. But we believe that with the implementation of the charter, when the grouping and the community becomes more rules-based there will be more room for manouevre in terms of trying to tackle these kinds of issues.

PERCY: Human rights advocate Rafendi Djamin understands the idea of an evolving body but he maintains that there have to be better provisions to protect ASEAN's 500-million citizens.

RAFENDI: When the mandate of protection was not clearly stipulated then you will have the problem because then at the operation level some government will not accept that kind of action when they say, well, this is an interpretation that we do not accept.

Universal Periodic Review Submission: Vietnam

May 8, 2009
Source: Human Rights Watch

Although Vietnam has made important strides in poverty reduction and economic reforms, the country remains a one-party state that denies its citizens the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and religion, as well as the right to form independent trade unions and political parties. Domestic legislation effectively criminalizes peaceful dissent and unsanctioned religious activities, resulting in people imprisoned under harsh conditions for peaceful expression of their political and religious views. Vietnam is party to nine major international human rights instruments. Vietnam has not extended invitations to any of the UN special procedures since 1998.

This submission focuses on six core areas on which Human Rights Watch has conducted extensive research: criminalization of peaceful dissent, detention and mistreatment of detainees, freedom of religion; media and internet restrictions; labor rights violations; and freedom of assembly.

1. Criminalization of Peaceful Dissent

Vaguely-worded and loosely-interpreted national security crimes in Vietnam's penal code and other laws are used to imprison political and religious dissidents. These include conducting propaganda against the government (penal code article 88); "abusing democratic freedoms" of speech, press, belief, religion, assembly, and association to "infringe upon the interests of the State" (article 258); "undermining the unity police" (article 87) "disrupting security" (article 89); "causing public disorder" (article 245), and spying (article 80).

Other legislation, such as Ordinance 44, "Regulating Administrative Violations," authorizes local officials to arrest and detain in compulsory Social Protection Centers (Trung Tam Bao Tro Xa Hoi in Vietnamese), rehabilitation camps, psychiatric facilities, or under house arrest persons deemed to have violated national security laws, without going through a judicial process. For example, in March 2008, police arrested Bui Kim Thanh, an activist who defended victims of land confiscation, and involuntarily committed her to a mental hospital for the second time in two years.

Vietnam has not revised or repealed national security laws that criminalize peaceful expression of political views and independent religious activities, despite appeals to do so by the UN Human Rights Committee (2002), the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (1995) and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief (1998). Vietnamese officials continue to publicly assert that there are no political trials or prisoners of conscience in Vietnam and that the only people who are arrested are those who have violated Vietnamese laws.

2. Detention and mistreatment of detainees

Vietnam has more than 400 political and religious prisoners. They include those who refuse to join state-controlled churches, members of opposition political parties, human rights defenders, independent trade union activists, cyber-dissidents, journalists, and land rights activists. Human Rights Watch has compiled compelling evidence of torture and ill-treatment of political and religious prisoners, including beatings and electric shock, and punitive placement of prisoners in solitary confinement in dark, cramped, and unsanitary cells.

Police are also authorized to arrest and detain people without warrants in Social Protection Centers when they are deemed to be "social evils", including street children, sex workers, trafficking victims, and street peddlers. Such detainees are also subject to harsh treatment and physical abuse. For example, in 2006 Human Rights Watch has documented serious mistreatment of street children arbitrarily detained at Dong Dau Social Protection Center near Hanoi-including instances of corporal punishment, collective punishment, placement in isolation, deprivation of food and medical treatment, and denial of family contact.

3. Freedom of Religion

As a result of international pressure regarding its violation of religious freedom, since 2004 Vietnam has released a handful of religious prisoners and implemented some reforms, such as directives that expedite church registration requirements and forbid forced recantations of faith. However, Vietnam's 2004 Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions requires that all religious groups register with the government and bans any religious activity deemed to cause public disorder, harm national security and national unity, or "sow divisions." Those groups that do not join one of the officially-authorized religious organizations whose governing boards are under the control of the government are considered illegal. Authorities harass and arrest church leaders campaigning for rights or choosing not to affiliate with state-controlled religious oversight committees. Some examples include:

• For decades, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do, now Supreme Patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, has either been in prison, internal exile, or under house arrest for publicly protesting government policies.
• Five ethnic Khmer Buddhist monks were imprisoned in Soc Trang province in 2007 after participating in a peaceful protest in 2007 calling for greater religious freedom. On June 28, ethnic Khmer monk Tim Sakhorn was released from one year's imprisonment in An Giang province. Although a recognized citizen of Cambodia, Vietnamese authorities have prohibited from returning to Cambodia since his release by placing him under constant police surveillance.
• Authorities beat and arrest ethnic minority Christians in remote areas such as Montagnards for refusing to join state-sanctioned church organizations, protesting land confiscation, making contact with relatives or Montagnard groups abroad, or trying to seek political asylum in Cambodia. In April 2008 Montagnard Christian Y Ben Hdok was beaten to death while in police custody in Dak Lak after other Montagnards in his district tried to flee to Cambodia to seek political asylum.

4. Media and Internet Restrictions

The Vietnamese government strictly controls the media. Criminal penalties apply to authors, publications, websites, and internet users that disseminate information that in the eyes of the leadership opposes the government, threatens national security, reveals state secrets, or promotes "reactionary" ideas. The government controls internet use by monitoring online activity, harassing and arresting cyber-dissidents, and blocking websites covering human rights, religious freedom, democracy groups, and independent media. Instances of cyber-dissidents and journalists sentenced to prison in 2008 include:

• In July 2008, the Kien Giang People's Court upheld a five year prison sentence for internet reporter and land rights activist Truong Minh Duc, a member of Dang Vi Dan (Vietnam Populist Party) for "abusing democratic freedoms".
• In September 2008, prominent internet writer and democracy activist Nguyen Hoang Hai (or Dieu Cay), was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
• In October 2008, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced two reporters from state-controlled newspapers, Nguyen Viet Chien and Nguyen Van Hai, to two-years imprisonment and two year's "re-education", respectively for "abusing democratic freedoms" after they exposed a major corruption scandal in 2005.

5. Freedom of Association and Labor Rights

The government bans all political parties, unions, and human rights organizations that are independent of the government or the Party. Decree 88 provides for strict government control of associations, which effectively serve as agencies of government ministries or the Vietnamese Communist Party. Vietnamese workers are forbidden from organizing unions independent of the government-controlled labor confederation. Government regulations impose fines on workers who participate in "illegal" strikes not approved by the government, enable local officials to force striking workers back to work, and ban strikes in 54 "strategic" sectors. Activists who announced formation of independent trade unions in Vietnam were arrested, imprisoned, harassed, intimidated, and "disappeared," with at least ten members of independent trade unions arrested since 2006. The whereabouts of Le Tri Tue, one of the founders of the Independent Workers' Union, remains unknown since his "disappearance" in May 2007.

6. Freedom of Assembly

Decree 38 bans public gatherings in front of places where government, party, and international conferences are held, and requires organizers of public gatherings to apply for and obtain government permission in advance. The government has forcefully dispersed peaceful public protests over land confiscation, corruption, religious persecution and confiscation of church property. Instances include:

• In September 2008, police used tear gas and electric batons to disband prayer vigils conducted by thousands of Catholics in Hanoi calling for return of government confiscated church property. Authorities detained both protesters as well as journalists covering the vigils, and bulldozed properties considered sacred to Vietnamese Catholics.
• In February 2008, police used dogs and electric batons to break up a land rights protest by ethnic Khmer farmers in An Giang province, injuring several protesters and arresting two women on charges of causing public disorder.
• In 2001, 2004 and 2008, police and soldiers forcibly dispersed Montagnard Christians demonstrating in the Central highlands, arresting hundreds of Montagnards for their involvement in the protests and killing as many as ten Montagnards during a protest in April 2004.

Human Rights Watch's Recommendations:

1.Regarding criminalization of peaceful dissent, the Vietnamese government should:

• Amend or repeal provisions in the Ordinance on Religion, penal code, and other domestic laws that criminalize peaceful dissent and certain religious activities on the basis of imprecisely defined "national security" crimes, including penal code articles 80, 87, 88, 89, 245 and 258.
• Repeal Ordinance 44, which authorizes administrative detention, house arrest, or detention in Social Protection Centers and psychiatric facilities for two year renewable periods, without trial, for individuals deemed to have violated national security laws.

2. Regarding Detention and mistreatment of detainees, the Vietnamese government should:

• Immediately release and exonerate all people imprisoned, detained, or placed under house arrest, administrative detention, or involuntary commitment to mental hospitals or Social Protection Centers for the peaceful expression of political or religious beliefs.
• Investigate allegations of physical abuse and corporal punishment of children in police detention and government detention facilities, including Social Protection Centers; enforce the absolute prohibition on such abuses of children by police, security officials, staff and other detainees; and end the practice of arbitrary arrests, roundups, and detention of street children and others in Social Protection centers, and ensure that any detentions are in full compliance with both the ICCPR and CRC.
• Provide unrestricted access to UN human rights officials to all regions, including the central and northern highlands, where they should be allowed to conduct confidential interviews in individual homes, pagodas, prisons, police stations, Social Protection Centers, rehabilitation camps, mental institutions and other places where political and religious dissidents are detained or imprisoned.

3. Regarding Freedom of Religion, the Vietnamese government should:

• Allow independent religious organizations to freely conduct peaceful religious activities in accordance with international legal standards. End the restrictions on peaceful gatherings or activities by religious groups that are not registered with the government; pressure to join government-authorized churches, and abusive police surveillance and harassment of religious leaders and followers. Allow these religious organizations to obtain legal status and operate independently of already-registered religious organizations if they choose to do so.
• Cease repression of ethnic minority Christians in the Northern and Central Highlands and ethnic Khmer Buddhists in the Mekong Delta and allow independent NGOs, UN officials, and international observers to freely monitor conditions in these areas.

4. Regarding Controls over Freedom of Expression and the Internet, the Vietnamese government should:

• Bring press laws into compliance with Article 19 of the ICCPR.
• Authorize the publication of independent, privately-run newspapers and magazines
• Remove filtering, surveillance and other restrictions on Internet usage and release people imprisoned for peaceful dissemination of their views over the Internet.

5. Regarding Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly, the Vietnamese government should:

• Bring legislation regulating public gatherings and demonstrations into conformity with the rights of free assembly in the ICCPR.
• Address rural grievances about land rights and local corruption without resorting to excessive use of force or other human rights violations by strengthening the legal system and the independence of the judiciary, and making legal services available to the rural poor.
• Investigate and bring to justice government security officials and civilians working on their behalf in using excessive force in suppressing protests in the Central Highlands in April 2004, in which at least ten demonstrators were killed.

6. Regarding Freedom of Association and Labor Rights, the Vietnamese government should:

• Permit individuals the right to associate freely and peacefully with others of similar views regardless of whether those views run counter to the political or ideological views approved by the Party and state.
• Immediately and unconditionally release all persons detained for peaceful activities to promote the rights of workers to freely associate, including the right to form and join trade unions of their own choice; to peacefully assemble to protect and advance their rights; and to exercise their right to freedom of expression on behalf of workers and their concerns.
• Recognize independent labor unions.
• Provide information about the whereabouts of labor activist Le Tri Tue who "disappeared" in May 2007 after claiming political asylum in Cambodia.

[US] Congressman Urges Freedom of Religion

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
24 July 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

The US has the ability to sanction governments that restrict freedom of religion, a US congressman said Thursday.

Trent Franks, a Republican representative from Arizona, said international religious groups actively encourage the US to put pressure on countries that restrict religious and political freedom.

International activists "empower the United States in a lot of different ways" to pressure or put sanctions on countries that restrict such freedoms, Franks told VOA Khmer.

Countries like Vietnam or Cambodia should understand "the basic commitment to religious freedom for all making," he said.

Both Cambodia and Vietnam have come under pressure in recent years for the treatment of Khmer Kampuchea Krom minorities, including the defrocking and jailing of Khmer Krom monk Tim Sakhorn.

The Vietnamese government has attempted to erase the religion and nationality of the Khmer Krom, said Prak Sereyvuth, vice president of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation.

"On behalf of a Khmer Krom, I think that the religious issue is very important, because Kampuchea Krom Buddhism is a religion for our nation," he said. "More than 500 pagodas are still maintaining our culture, traditional and Buddhist religion. The communist Vietnamese government is using cruel activities through secret politic to destroy our religion and our nation. Several Khmer Kampuchea Krom monks and politic prisoners are still detaining in Vietnam."

Vietnam Embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam said only those who violate Vietnamese laws are put in prison.

"There is no political prisoners or [imprisoned] monks in Vietnam," he said. "There are only people who violate Vietnamese law."

The US ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedoms is expected to travel to Vietnam in October to seek the release of political and religious prisoners.

Speaking Up for Vietnam

SPEAKING OUT Vietnamese protesters in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Photo: Chitose Suzuki/AP)

June 25, 2008
By SARA COLM
New York Sun (USA)

A Buddhist monk missing since authorities evicted him from his pagoda. A Montagnard Christian beaten to death in police custody. A lawyer involuntarily committed to a mental hospital after she championed the rights of farmers kicked off their land. Journalists jailed for exposing corruption. A young man sentenced to prison after chatting online about democracy and human rights. More than 400 people wasting away in harsh prison conditions for their political views or religious beliefs.

This week, the prime minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Tan Dung, brings Vietnam's road show to Wall Street and meets President Bush and leaders likely including the U.S. presidential contenders, John McCain and Barack Obama.

When America's political and financial leaders sit down with Prime Minister Dung, they should not forget these courageous individuals and should address directly the systemic pattern of rights violations in Vietnam that they represent: the Vietnamese government's lack of tolerance for dissent and denial of fundamental rights to freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religious belief.

In Vietnam today, the government still controls all media, as evidenced by the arrest in March 2008 of two investigative reporters who exposed a major corruption scandal in 2005. The reporters, Nguyen Viet Chien of Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper and Nguyen Van Hai of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper face charges of "abusing their positions and powers while performing official duties."

Police harass and arrest bloggers and cyber-dissidents for Internet postings critical of the government. In January 2008, a court sentenced cyber-dissident Truong Quoc Huy to six years of imprisonment for distributing leaflets criticizing the Communist Party and participating in pro-democracy forums on the Internet. He was charged with "abusing democratic freedoms of association, expression, assembly to infringe on the interests of the state."

National security laws are used to imprison members of opposition political parties, independent trade unions, and unsanctioned press outlets or religious organizations. Laws such as Ordinance 44 authorize the detention without trial of dissidents at "social protection centers" and psychiatric facilities if they are deemed to have violated national security laws.

In March 2008, police arrested Bui Kim Thanh, an activist who defended victims of land confiscation and involuntarily committed her to a mental hospital.

Mr. Bush should know that Vietnam's leaders harass and arrest church leaders campaigning for rights or choosing not to affiliate with state-controlled religious oversight committees. For the last 30 years the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam's Supreme Patriarch, Thich Huyen Quang, has either been in prison or under house arrest for publicly protesting government policies.

Authorities have beaten and arrested members of ethnic minorities in remote areas such as Montagnard for refusing to join state-sanctioned church organizations, protesting land confiscation, making contact with relatives or Montagnard groups abroad, or trying to seek political asylum in Cambodia.

In April of this year, police arrested Y Ben Hdok in Dak Lak after other Montagnards in his district tried to flee to Cambodia. Police refused to allow his family or a lawyer to visit him during three days in detention. On May 1, police told Mr. Y Ben's wife to pick up his battered body. His rib and limbs were broken and his teeth had been knocked out. Police labeled the death a suicide.

During Prime Minister Dung's visit to America, he should hear that the American people and government care about how Vietnam treats its people. This is an all too rare chance to back Vietnam's courageous activists, writers, and human rights defenders, who have risked their liberty to make their country more open, tolerant, and free.

Ms. Colm, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, is based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

KKF Appeal for Religious Freedom in Vietnam

From Left to Right:Kim Muon (born 1985), Danh Tol (born 1981), Ly Suong (born 1975), Ly Hoang (born 1986), and Thach Thuong (born 1982). There are former Buddhist monks participated in peaceful demonstration to demand religious rights in Soc Trang province.
Tim Sakhorn, former Abbot of North Phnom Denh temple, Phnom Denh Village, Kirivong District, Takeo Province, Cambodia faces trial in Vietnam.

2008-05-21
Originally posted at KhmerKrom.org

United Nations Day of Vesak Appeal by KKF

To whom it may concern,

On behalf of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation, we would like to bring to your attention the issue of our Khmer Krom Buddhist monks Venerable TT Dhammo,from Ontario, Canada and Venerable Rong Be, from California, USA. were denied entry to participate at the United Nations Day of Vesak which falls on 13 May to 17 May in Hanoi, Vietnam.

For the last five years, our Khmer Krom Buddhist monks residing in USA have been actively participating at this event. However, this year, we are not given such an opportunity.

The Mekong Delta is home to over 25,000 Khmer Krom Buddhist monks. The teaching of Buddhism plays an important role in the lives of our Khmer Krom people. Buddhism teaches and guides our very way of life and our moral beliefs. It lays the foundation of our culture and society, to be fair, honest and truthful in everything we do.

Since Vietnam's accession into the World Trade Organisation on 11 January 2007, its government has arbitatily arrested and imprisoned several Khmer Krom Buddhist monks for organising and participating in peaceful demonstrations. Currently, there are six former Khmer Krom Buddhist monks imprisoned in Vietnam.

The religious congregations of Khmer Krom indigenous people suffer severe abuses because of actions by Vietnam , which have included forced renunciations of faith, identifying our monk as having no religion on identification card, the arrest and harassment of abbots, the withholding of social programs provided for the general population, confiscation and destruction of properties, and subjection of severe beatings.

The Khmer Krom Buddhists suffer persecutions as the Government of Vietnam continues to restrict contacts and movement of senior monks for refusing to join the state-sponsored Buddhist organizations. Vietnam continues to place Khmer Krom leaders under `pagoda' and house arrest, destroy temple property and harass, threaten and intimidate local Khmer Krom Buddhist monks.

On behalf of our defendless Khmer Krom Buddhist monks, we appeal for your support to urge the Vietnamese government to unconditionally release all the Khmer Krom political and religious prisoners, including the five Buddhist monks at a prison in Soc Trang Province and Abbot Tim Sakhorn who was arrested from Cambodia and now imprisoned in An Giang Province of Vietnam.

Yours sincerely,

Thach Ngoc Thach
Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation President

Khmer Krom Monks Remain imprisoned as Vietnam Hosts Vesak Day

Reclining Buddha newly built in Preah Trapeang (renamed Tra Vinh) province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam
An ID Card given to Khmer Krom Buddhist monks stating that they had no religion (Eliminated Without Bleeding)

May 14th, 2008
Khmer Krom Network

As millions of Buddhist followers and practising Buddhist gear up for the celebration of Vesak Day, six former Khmer Krom Buddhist monks, savagely defrocked by Vietnam authorities sit in a dark cell, forgotten by the world.

Vietnam often boasts that it is a country that celebrates diversity; in fact it claims to have over 53 ethnic groups within its borders.

Every time that it attends a UN conference, Vietnam maintains that it respects all people regardless of its ethnic background and that their rights are guaranteed under its constitution.

Vietnam may be convincing the world but for the indigenous Khmer Krom people of the Mekong Delta and the indigenous peoples of Central Highlands, the Montagnard, they are no where near convinced.

In fact, if one digs beyond Vietnam’s first line of defence which reassures the world that everything is fine, one will start to see a governmental system that only works for its ethnic Kinh.

This year, Vietnam was granted the right to host the United Nations Day of Vesak on its soil between 13 May and 17 May 2008.

Vesak Day is an annual event to celebrate the birth, enlightenment and the passing away of Gautama Buddha by practising Buddhists.

The Mekong Delta of Vietnam, referred as Kampuchea-Krom by the indigenous Khmer Krom is home to over 25, 000 Theravada Buddhist monks.

Ironically, Vesak Day is not hosted on these very lands where over 450 temples are erected in respect for Buddhism but in a place where there are little respect for Buddhism or practising Buddhist monks.

Vietnam’s disrespect for Theravada Buddhism is well known especially in the recent case of the Khmer Krom Buddhist monks.

Early last year, over a dozen Buddhist monks from Khleang (renamed Soc Trang) were forcefully defrocked for participating in a peaceful demonstration.

Despite the monks’ protest that a politically motivated defrocking was against their religion, that they could only be defrocked for violating Buddhism rules, they were still defrocked.

Few managed to flee the borders seeking refuge, abandoning their home, family and way of life.

Five of the defrocked monks are currently serving 2- 5 years imprisonment accused of organising the protest. Five of whom that were used to the peaceful life of temple were commanded to change to civilian clothes without ceremony and then thrown in jail and tortured.

Venerable Tim Sakhorn, a monk of Khmer Krom descendent and resident of Cambodia was defrocked, deported and trialled in Vietnam for helping Khmer Krom people fleeing Vietnam – Cambodia border.

Vietnam’s contempt and disrespect towards Khmer Krom Buddhist monks is so obvious that it even hands out Identification Cards which stated that they had no religion.

One monk, who has fled Vietnam and currently seeks refugee protection in Thailand, carries such evidence in the award wining film called Eliminated without Bleeding.

Such evidences suggest that not all is right in Vietnam. In fact, things are going very wrong especially if one is of Khmer Krom descendent and a practicing Buddhist monk.

According to the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation, it has participated in this annual event for five years now, held previously at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. This year, their register of interest to attend was declined by the authorities in Hanoi.

“At that occasion, we and the international committee will see clearly that the Vietnamese government action, based on (international) convention or based on its own declaration to allow freedom rights, in fact, the Vietnamese government only talked about them, but in reality, it is the opposite,” says Mr. Thach Ngoc Thach, KKF President in interview with Khmer Radio Free Asia on Monday.

As we speak, there incoming reports of armed Vietnamese police patrolling the local temples in the Mekong Delta in a massive operation to subdue any protest.

The lack of invitation for practising Khmer Krom and Vietnam Buddhist monks abroad as well as Human Rights Watch to attend Vesak Day clearly shows that Vietnam is not an open country and that it has very little respect for Buddhism, a sharp and disturbing contrast to the image it attempts portray to the world.

Given the opportunity to host such a significant event in Vietnam, perhaps Vietnam should take to heart the teachings of Buddhism, to practice morality, simplicity and humility for all beings and not for just its own Kinh people.

More information on the upcoming Vesak Day:
http://www.vesakday2008.com/

Vietnam: Religious Freedom Denied

Buddhists Remain Behind Bars While Vietnam Hosts UN Buddhist Celebration

"It is a travesty that Vietnam has been allowed to host a major international Buddhist celebration while its state policy is political control of every religious organization –Vietnam continues to systematically imprison and persecute independent Buddhists as well as followers of other religions. All members of the United Nations must respect freedom of religious belief and worship. Vietnam, now a member of the Security Council, should be exemplary – not among the worst – in this regard." - Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch

(New York, May 8, 2008) – As Vietnam prepares to host the United Nations Day of Visak next week, one of the most sacred days for Buddhists, the government should cease the persecution, harassment and imprisonment of Buddhists and other independent religious groups, Human Rights Watch said today. More than 400 people remain behind bars in Vietnam for their peaceful religious or political activities.

As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other human rights covenants, Vietnam must respect freedom of religious belief and worship.

“It is a travesty that Vietnam has been allowed to host a major international Buddhist celebration while its state policy is political control of every religious organization –Vietnam continues to systematically imprison and persecute independent Buddhists as well as followers of other religions,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “All members of the United Nations must respect freedom of religious belief and worship. Vietnam, now a member of the Security Council, should be exemplary – not among the worst – in this regard.”

Human Rights Watch also urged the United States to reinstate Vietnam on its global blacklist of countries that violate the right to religious freedom.

Repression of Buddhists
Visak, celebrated by millions of Buddhists each year, commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha. This year’s Visak celebration, which has been recognized as an international holiday by the UN since 1999, is expected to draw 3,500 delegates from 80 countries to Vietnam for a series of events conducted throughout the country from May 13-17.

The theme of this year’s UN Visak Day is “Buddhist Contribution to Building a Just, Democratic and Civil Society.” Yet Vietnam regularly imprisons religious activists who advocate for the government to uphold civil rights and religious freedom and implement democratic reforms.

The Visak celebrations fall one year after Vietnam courts sentenced nine Buddhists to prison terms of two to six years in May 2007 for “causing public disorder” under article 245 of Vietnam’s penal code. Four of the nine were convicted after protesting the imprisonment of Hoa Hao Buddhists in 2006 in Dong Thap province. While Hoa Hao Buddhism is an officially recognized religion in Vietnam, many members strongly resist official pressure to affiliate with the government-appointed committee that oversees Hoa Hao affairs. Two Hoa Hao Buddhists self-immolated in 2005 to protest religious repression and detention of their leaders.

The remaining five sentenced in May 2007 are Theravada Buddhist monks who are members of an ethnic minority group known as Khmer Krom in Soc Trang province. The five were convicted for their participation in a half-day peaceful protest earlier in the year when more than 200 Khmer Krom monks demonstrated for greater religious freedom.

Leaders of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) have been imprisoned or detained under pagoda arrest for many years for appealing for the government to respect human rights and cease its interference in religious affairs. Once the largest organization of Buddhists in southern and central Vietnam, the UBCV has faced increased harassment and repression in the weeks leading up to the UN’s Day of Visak, with government officials reportedly trying to evict UBCV monk Thich Tri Khai from his pagoda in Lam Dong province in late April in order to control it during the Visak celebrations.

Repression of other religious groups
Authorities harshly suppress most mass public protests, with the most recent crackdown taking place in April 2008 in the Central Highlands against a wave of demonstrations by Montagnard Christians in Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces. The Montagnards – many of whom belong to independent house churches – were calling for release of Montagnard prisoners, land rights, and religious freedom. Police and soldiers forcefully dispersed the protesters and sealed off many villages, particularly in Ayun Pah, Ia Grai and Cu Se districts of Gia Lai, to prevent the demonstrations from spreading further. Dozens of protesters were arrested.

Even members of churches officially recognized by the government are starting to publicly air their grievances. In March 2008, the government-authorized Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam released a rare public appeal calling on the government to cease its discrimination against Christians, stop interfering in the church’s internal affairs, and return confiscated church properties. Earlier this year, hundreds of Roman Catholics – one of the larger officially recognized religions in Vietnam – conducted unprecedented prayer vigils in Hanoi to demand the return of church property confiscated by the government.

US urged to reinstate Vietnam on religious freedom blacklist
Human Rights Watch joins the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a governmental body created by Congress, in urging the United States to reinstate Vietnam’s designation as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for religious freedom violations. The United States, which designated Vietnam as a CPC in 2004, lifted the designation from Vietnam just days before President George W. Bush’s visit to Hanoi in November 2006.

In a letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on May 1, the USCIRF maintained that the State Department’s decision to remove Vietnam from the CPC list in 2004 was premature:

“A commission delegation traveled to Vietnam in October 2007 and found that progress in improving conditions for religious freedom has been very uneven: improvements for some religious communities do not extend to others; progress in one province is not similarly realized in another; national laws are not fully implemented at the local and provincial levels; and there continue to be far too many abuses and restrictions of religious freedom, including the imprisonment of individuals for reasons related to their religious activity or religious freedom advocacy.”

Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese government to release people imprisoned for peaceful religious or political activities and end restrictions on independent religious organizations who choose not to affiliate with the officially authorized religious organizations under the control of the government.

“Independent religious groups should be allowed to freely organize and manage themselves, conduct religious activities, and even engage in peaceful public protests,” said Pearson. “Vietnam’s respect for human rights and religious freedom has sharply deteriorated since the US removed it from its blacklist of religious freedom violators and Vietnam’s subsequent acceptance into the World Trade Organization.”

US Official Challenged on Vietnam Religious Rights

Khmer Krom monk defrocked and sentenced by the communist Vietnamese regime

Father Nguyen Van Ly muzzled by the communist Vietnamese regime

By Dan Robinson
Voice of America
Washington
07 December 2007

At a U.S. congressional hearing Thursday, witnesses challenged the testimony of a U.S. official who was defending a decision to remove Vietnam from a list of countries failing to do enough to promote religious freedom. VOA congressional correspondent Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill.

In a move that angered some members of Congress and was criticized by human rights groups, the State Department in late 2006 removed Vietnam from a list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) believed to be severe violators of religious freedom.

Whether Vietnam should remain off that list is a decision U.S. officials will have to make, and was also the focus of a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill.

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, John Hanford, points to significant progress by the government of Vietnam in addressing key religious freedom concerns.

Noting that to be on the list a government must be found to be engaging or tolerating systematic, ongoing egregious violations, Hanford says legal changes implemented by Hanoi banned such things as forced renunciations of faith, and granted clear legal rights for freedom of religious belief and practice. "I would say that what we have seen occur in Vietnam is the biggest turnaround that I have seen a sitting government make in a two year period on religious freedom," he said.

But Hanford's remarks, which also attributed progress by Hanoi to what he called strong diplomatic engagement by the U.S., were challenged by other witnesses.

Leonard Leo of the U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, says what he calls serious and systematic problems continue to darken the religious freedom picture in Vietnam.

These include abuses by provincial authorities; long delays in processing religious group applications for legal recognition; confiscations of land of ethnic minority Protestants and in some areas training of provincial officials to deny medical, educational and other services to religious families or families of converts.

At the core of problems, Leo says Buddhist groups such as the United Buddhist Church of Vietnam and others are still viewed by the government as a threat to its power. "There is no religious freedom if there is control. What Vietnam essentially has done is, it has begrudgingly allowed religious worship but it has built a very large fence around it, an effort to ensure that it does not grow, and in an effort to make sure that the religions that are present in Vietnam are doing things that the government wants them to do," he said.

Amnesty International representative T. Kumar asserts Vietnam's government continues to use criminal laws to harass believers, particularly those in ethnic minority groups. "Even though they have these regulations, we have documented reports that still forced renunciation is going on, in the Montagnard areas, still people have been arrested, short-term detentions, harassment and other issues, and people are still fleeing to neighboring Cambodia," he said.

Nguyen Dinh Thang of the Vietnamese-American organization Boat People SOS, asserts that little has changed in the Vietnam government's attitude toward religious freedom. "Before the CPC designation Vietnam closed down over four-thousand protestant churches, mainly in the central highlands and the northwest highlands. After the ordinance was promulgated so far only about two dozen religious organizations or churches have benefited from that ordinance. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, prior to the [CPC] designation they were outlawed, now they continue to be outlawed. The entire leadership was under temple arrest, now they remain under temple arrest. There is no change. And the catholic church, prior [to CPC] designation Father Ly was in prison, now he is still in prison," he said.

In other testimony, Chris Seiple of the Institute for Global Engagement supported Ambassador Hanford's view of progress, citing among other things the cessation of forced renunciation, and increasing registration of churches. "There are significant and ongoing challenges to be sure, but I think we are in the beginning of a significant and strategic paradigm shift. We are in the initial stages, but we have to take the long view," he said.

Democratic congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who chaired the hearing, used her remarks to draw attention to Father Nguyen Van Ly, the noted dissident and Roman Catholic priest imprisoned again last March, along with the recent arrests of two Vietnamese-American democracy activists: "I want the government of Vietnam to know that we will continue to fight for the release of our U.S. citizens, as well as for other dissidents currently being imprisoned in Vietnam," she said.

Sanchez says she hopes the U.S. Senate acts on legislation called the Vietnam Human Rights Act, approved by the House of Representatives last September.

Among other things, it would prohibit any increase in non-humanitarian aid to Vietnam beyond 2007 levels unless it shows substantial progress toward releasing political and religious prisoners and solidifying religious freedom.

The sponsor of the legislation, Republican congressman Chris Smith, told VOA Thursday he still hopes the Senate will act on the measure which also supports democracy programs for Vietnam, and contains funds to help the U.S.-government funded Radio Free Asia overcome Vietnamese government jamming of its transmissions.