Below are extracts from the original report by the US State Department on Vietnam and the Khmer Krom issues International Religious Freedom Report 2007 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor The Constitution provides for freedom of worship; however, government restrictions still remained on the organized activities of religious groups. The status for the respect of religious freedom and practice continued to experience important improvements during the reporting period. The Government deepened implementation of its 2004 Ordinance on Religion and Belief and supplemental decrees on religious policy issued in 2005, (referred to as the Government’s “legal framework on religion.”) New congregations were registered throughout the country’s 64 provinces; a number of religious denominations were registered at the national level; and citizens were generally allowed to practice religion more freely. Improving economic conditions in the country also allowed for greater access to religious practice and resources. In recognition of its “significant improvements towards advancing religious freedom,” the U.S. Department of State lifted the country’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for Religious Freedom in November 2006. The Government continued to remain concerned that some ethnic minority groups active in the Central Highlands were operating a self-styled “Dega Church,” which reportedly mixes religious practice with political activism and calls for ethnic minority separatism. The Government also actively restricted the leadership of the unrecognized Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and maintained that it would not recognize this organization under its current leadership. The Government maintained a prominent role overseeing recognized religions. Religious groups encountered the greatest restrictions when they engaged in activities that the Government perceived as political activism or a challenge to its rule. The Government continued to ban and actively discourage participation in one unrecognized faction of the Hoa Hao Buddhists. Government authorities imprisoned and disrobed a number of ethnic Khmer Buddhists for their involvement in antigovernment protests in the Mekong Delta in early 2007. Some religious figures, including Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly and Protestant pastor Nguyen Van Dai, were sentenced to prison terms for their political activism. Section I. Religious Demography Buddhism is the dominant religious belief. Many Buddhists practice an amalgam of Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucian traditions that sometimes is called the “triple religion.” The Committee for Religious Affairs cited an estimate of 12 percent (10 million) practicing Mahayana Buddhists, most of whom are members of the ethnic Kinh majority and found throughout the country, especially in the populous areas of the northern and southern delta regions. There are proportionately fewer Buddhists in certain highland areas, although migration of Kinh to these areas is changing this distribution. A Khmer ethnic minority in the south practices Theravada Buddhism. Numbering more than one million persons, they live almost exclusively in the Mekong Delta. Restrictions on Religious Freedom The Government requires all Buddhist monks to be approved by and work under the officially recognized Buddhist organization, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS). The number of Buddhist student monks is controlled and limited by the Committee on Religious Affairs, although the number of Buddhist academies at the local and provincial levels has increased in recent years in addition to several university-equivalent academies. In the Mekong Delta, reliable information indicated that at least 10 ethnic Khmer monks were derobed and subjected to disciplinary action, including detention and pagoda arrest, for participation in a protest or protests against the authorities in early 2007. The Government does not permit religious instruction in public schools; however, it permits clergy to teach at universities in subjects in which they are qualified. Buddhist monks have lectured at the Ho Chi Minh Political Academy, the main Communist Party school. Several Catholic nuns and at least one Catholic priest teach at Ho Chi Minh City universities. They are not allowed to wear religious dress when they teach or to identify themselves as clergy. Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and Buddhist groups are allowed to provide religious education to children. Catholic religious education, on weekends or evenings, is permitted in most areas and has increased in recent years in churches throughout the country. Khmer Theravada Buddhists and Cham Muslims regularly hold religious and language classes outside of normal classroom hours in their respective pagodas and mosques. Religious groups are not permitted to operate independent schools beyond preschool and kindergarten. Section IV. U.S. Government Policy In August 2006 the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom traveled to the country to meet religious leaders and government authorities. In November 2006, in recognition of its “improvements towards advancing religious freedom” in the last 2 years, the U.S. Department of State lifted the country’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for Religious Freedom Violations. As defined under the International Religious Freedom Act, the U.S. Department of State found that the country no longer fit the criteria of a “severe violator of religious freedom.” On November 19, 2006, President Bush attended a historic ecumenical service at a Catholic Church in Hanoi. On November 20, 2006, on the margins of the APEC meetings in Hanoi, the Secretary of State held a private meeting with religious leaders at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence. The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and the consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City actively and regularly raised concerns about religious freedom with a wide variety of Communist Party leaders and government officials, including authorities in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, and other offices in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the provinces. The mission also maintained regular contact with religious leaders and dissidents. The U.S. Ambassador, the consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, and other embassy and consulate officers raised religious freedom matters with senior cabinet ministers, including the Prime Minister, the two Deputy Prime Ministers, the Foreign Minister, other senior government officials, the head of the Committee on Religious Affairs, Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Public Security, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ External Relations Office in Ho Chi Minh City, chairpersons of Provincial People’s Committees around the country, and other officials, particularly in the Central and Northwest Highlands. Embassy and consulate officials maintained regular contact with the key government offices responsible for respect for human rights. Embassy and consulate officers repeatedly informed government officials that progress on religious freedom and human rights was critical to an improved bilateral relationship. Mission officers urged recognition of a broad spectrum of religious groups, including members of the UBCV, Protestant house churches, and dissenting Hoa Hao and Cao Dai groups. They urged greater freedom for recognized religious groups. Mission officers repeatedly advocated ending restrictions on Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, among others. The Ambassador also requested that the Government investigate alleged abuses of religious believers and punish any officials found to be responsible. Mission officers, along with the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, continued to urge a complete end to forced renunciations and the punishment of officials involved, asked for the release of religious and political prisoners, and called for the registration and reopening of house churches that had been closed. Embassy officers and other U.S. government officials repeatedly raised the case of Ma Van Bay with the Government through dissemination of an official list of prisoners of concern. The Government released Ma Van Bay as part of the National Day amnesty in September 2006. Representatives of the Embassy and the consulate general had frequent contact with leaders of major religious communities, including Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and Muslims. In April 2007 the consul general and a State Department deputy assistant secretary met with Thich Quang Do. Consulate officers maintained regular contact with Do and other UBCV-affiliated monks. Embassy and consulate officers met with the Cardinal of Ho Chi Minh City, the Catholic archbishops of Hue and Hanoi, and the bishops of Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Kontum, Can Tho, Lang Son, Buon Ma Thuot, and Haiphong, as well as other members of the Episcopal Conference. Embassy and consulate officers also met repeatedly with leaders of the SECV, ECVN, and various Protestant house churches and with leaders of the Muslim community. When traveling outside of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Embassy and Consulate General officers regularly met with provincial religious affairs committees, village elders, local clergy, and believers. Mission officers continued to encourage and monitor implementation of the Government’s legal framework on religion, on a regular basis, at the national, provincial, and local levels. International Religious Freedom Sept. 14, 2007 Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom John V. Hanford, III makes remarks and answers press questions at the release of the 2007 International Religious Freedom report at the Department of State. Read original report
