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2002 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
March 31, 2003
Freedom of Religion
Both the Constitution and government decrees provide for freedom of worship; however, the Government continued to restrict significantly those organized activities of religious groups that it declared to be at variance with state laws and policies.
The Government technically required religious groups to be registered and used this process to control and monitor church organizations. The Government officially recognized Buddhist, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and Muslim religious organizations. To obtain official recognition, a group must obtain government approval of its leadership and the overall scope of its activities. Officially recognized religious organizations were able to operate to varying degrees throughout the country, and followers of these religious bodies were able to worship without government harassment, except in some isolated provinces. Officially recognized organizations had to consult with the Government about their religious operations, although not about their tenets of faith. Some leaders of the pre-1975 Buddhist and Hoa Hao religious bodies unsuccessfully requested official recognition of their organizations. Their activities, and those of the unregistered Protestant "house churches" were considered illegal by the authorities, and they sometimes experienced harassment as a result. The Government actively discouraged contacts between the illegal UBCV and its foreign Buddhist supporters, and between unofficial Protestant organizations, such as the underground churches, and their foreign supporters, although such contacts continued.
The Government generally allowed persons to practice individual worship in the religion of their choice, and participation in religious activities throughout the country continued to grow significantly. The Penal Code establishes penalties for "attempting to undermine national unity" by promoting "division between religious believers and nonbelievers." In some cases, particularly involving Hmong Protestants, when authorities charged persons with practicing religion illegally, they used provisions of the Penal Code that allow for jail terms of up to 3 years for "abusing freedom of speech, press, or religion." There were reports that officials fabricated evidence, and some of the provisions of the law used to convict religious prisoners contradict international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to credible reports, the police arbitrarily detained persons based upon their religious beliefs and practice, particularly in the mountainous, ethnic minority areas. There were credible reports that Hmong Protestant Christians in several northwestern villages and various ethnic minority Protestant Christians in the Central Highlands were pressured or forced to recant their faith. In the northwest provinces and the Central Highlands, local officials allowed believers little discretion in the practice of their faith. The Government continued to harass members of the UBCV, and prevented their conducting independent religious activities, particularly outside of their pagodas. The Vietnamese Roman Catholic Church hierarchy remained frustrated by the government's restrictions but has learned to accommodate itself to them. A number of clergy reported a modest easing of government control over church activities in certain dioceses during the year. In most locales, local government officials allowed Catholic Church officials to conduct religious education classes (outside regular school hours). However, in many areas, officials strictly prohibited these activities. In some areas, including HCMC, local officials allowed unregistered religious organizations to operate with little or no interference.
Restrictions on the hierarchies and clergy of religious groups remained in place, and the Government maintained supervisory control of the recognized religions, in part because the Communist Party feared that organized religions may weaken its authority and influence by serving as political, social, and spiritual alternatives to the authority of the central Government. Religious organizations were required to obtain government permission to hold training seminars, conventions, and celebrations outside of the regular religious calendar, to build or remodel places of worship, to engage in charitable activities, operate religious schools, and to train, ordain, promote, or transfer clergy. Religious organizations also were required to submit their "annual plans" and "schedules" for approval by local authorities. Many of these restrictions principally were exercised by provincial or city people's committees, and treatment of religious persons varied widely by locality.
In general religious groups faced difficulty in obtaining teaching materials, expanding training facilities, and expanding the clergy in training in response to the increased demand from congregations; the Government regulated the number of clergy that the Buddhist, Catholic, Hoa Hao, and Cao Dai churches officially may train. The Government has not allowed officially recognized training of Protestant clergy since 1993, although the Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV), which only formally was recognized in 2001, requested permission to open a seminary in HCMC. In principle the Government gave the SECV permission to establish a seminary in 2001. However, the SECV was not able to obtain permission for many specific steps to open the seminary such as recruiting or assigning faculty, using or building a facility, or recruiting students.
The Roman Catholic Church faced significant restrictions on the training and ordination of priests and bishops. The Government effectively maintained veto power over Vatican appointments of bishops; however, in practice it had shown willingness to discuss appointments with the Vatican. In recent years, the Government eased its efforts to control the Roman Catholic hierarchy by relaxing the requirements that all clergy belong to the government controlled Catholic Patriotic Association. The Catholic Church operated 6 seminaries, and in 2001 received permission from the central authorities to open a seventh. However, local authorities did not consent to the seminary's proposed location and it had not opened by year's end. The Catholic Church also received permission to accept new seminarians, but only every other year. Over 800 students were enrolled nationwide at year's end. The local people's committee must approve all students, both upon entering the seminary and prior to their ordination as priests. A few more recent seminary graduates remained unordained as long as 10 years. Most observers believed that the number of ordained priests was insufficient to support the growing Catholic population.
Although the authorities arrested and otherwise strictly controlled Hoa Hao "dissidents," the Government permitted other Hoa Hao believers more freedom to practice their faith. Between 100 and 200 visitors worshipped at the central Hoa Hao Pagoda in An Giang Province on a daily basis. Police authorities routinely questioned some persons who held alternative religious or political views, such as UBCV monks and Hoa Hao leaders.
Since 1975 the Government has prohibited ordination into the Cao Dai priesthood. However, during the year, at least 18 new priests were ordained and 920 apprentices entered the process leading to priesthood. Other existing priests were promoted to higher ranks.
Muslim Association members were able to practice their faith, including daily prayer and fasting during the month of Ramadan.
The Government restricted and monitored all forms of public assembly, including assembly for religious activities. Large regularly scheduled religious gatherings were allowed, such as the Catholic celebrations at La Vang. The Hoa Hao also were allowed to hold large public gatherings to commemorate some traditional anniversaries, but not others. Some specially scheduled religious gatherings also were allowed. However, in December there were reports that police in Lai Chau Province attempted to disperse one or more gatherings of Hmong Christians. Police reportedly used a gas, possibly pepper spray, during at least one of these actions, leading to the hospitalization of four or more persons (see Section 2.b.).
Open adherence to a religious faith generally did not disadvantage persons in civil, economic, and secular life, although it likely would prevent advancement to the highest government and military ranks. Avowed religious practice theoretically barred one from membership in the Communist Party, but in 1997 the CPV reported that approximately 23,000 of the 2.4 million party members were religious believers. Government and party officials increasingly admitted that they follow traditional and Buddhist religious practices.
The law prohibits foreign missionaries from operating in the country.
The Government established a publishing house under control of its Committee for Religious Affairs specifically to oversee the publishing of all religious materials. Many Buddhist sacred scriptures, Bibles, and other religious texts and publications are printed by government-sanctioned organizations and are sold or distributed at religious institutions.
The Government allowed religious travel for some, but not all, religious persons; Muslims were able to take the Hajj (although none did during the year due to lack of foreign financial support), and many Buddhist and Catholic Church officials, and some Protestant officials were able to travel and study abroad. Most of the country's Catholic bishops visited the Vatican for several weeks in the early part of the year. The Government allowed many bishops and priests to travel freely within their dioceses and allowed greater, but still restricted freedom for travel outside these areas, particularly in many ethnic areas. Several Protestant house church leaders traveled overseas during the year. Government officials discouraged officially recognized clergy from entering Son La, Lai Chau, and some other border provinces. In March several hundred Hao Hoa believers traveled to the Hoa Hao Pagoda in An Giang Province to commemorate a traditional anniversary that the Government refused to recognize officially. In July up to 300,000 persons traveled there to celebrate another traditional anniversary that the Government recognizes. Persons who held alternative religious opinions sometimes are not approved for foreign travel. Buddhist monk Thich Thai Hoa in Hue, for example, was refused permission to travel outside the country on several occasions. Thich Huyen Quang, Nguyen Lap Ma, and Nguyen Nhat Thong were restricted from travelling or had to request permission from authorities to travel (see Section 2.d.).
Ethnic minority, underground Protestant congregations in the Central Highlands and in the northwestern provinces continued to suffer severe abuses. Certain northwest provinces reportedly did not have any officially recognized churches or pagodas, allegedly due to provincial government disapproval. Authorities in those areas also reportedly arrested and imprisoned ethnic minority believers for practicing their faith nonviolently, citing their lack of officially recognized status. During the year, there were reports that some Protestants in the Central Highlands, particularly in Dak Lak Province, experienced continued difficulties and restrictions despite evidence of reduced tensions in some other parts of the Central Highlands.
Several reports described a systematic campaign on the part of local officials in Dak Lak and Gia Lai Provinces in the Central Highlands to force ethnic minority Protestants to renounce their faith. Similar campaigns were reported and continued to be reported during the year in Lai Chau, Lao Cai, and other mountainous northern provinces. Under threat of physical abuse or confiscation of property, ethnic minority Protestants allegedly were made to sign a formal, written renunciation or to undergo a symbolic ritual, which included drinking rice whiskey mixed with animal blood. Officials reportedly ordered Protestant gatherings to cease, forbade pastors from traveling, withheld government food distributions from Protestant believers, and prohibited children of Protestant families from attending school beyond the third grade.
For a more detailed discussion see the 2002 International Religious Freedom Report.
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