Quê Me Quê Me: Action for democracy in Vietnam & Vietnam Committee on Human Rights
STRASBOURG, 21st November 2003 (VCHR) – At the issue of a week of meetings with a delegation of senior monks from the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) led by Mr Vo Van Ai, Director of the International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB), the 626-memberEuropean Parliament in Strasbourg unanimously voted a Resolution on Thursday calling for the respect of religious freedom in Vietnam. The Resolution condemned, in very strong terms, the Vietnamese government’s recent fierce crackdown on the outlawed UBCV. It called on Vietnam to “halt immediately the policies of repression of the UBCV” and cease its “deliberate policy… of eliminating non-recognised Churches, especially the UBCV”.
This is the second time in six months that the EP has singled out Vietnam for its abuses of religious freedom and human rights (see Resolution on Freedom of Expression and Religion in Vietnam, 15 May 2003). It ishighly unusual for the EP to issue two such closely-following resolutions, and this underscores the grave concern of the European Union – one of Vietnam’s major aid donors and trade partners – on the lack of progress in human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam.
The Resolution deplored Vietnam’s decision to place UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, 86, his Deputy and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Quang Do, 75, and virtually all monks appointed to the UBCV’s new leadership under house arrest “on account of their faith, their religious practices or simply their attachment to freedom of religion”, and called for their immediate release.It also regretted that the promises of religious tolerance raised at the “unexpected and widely publicized meeting” between Vietnamese Premier Phan Van Khai and UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang in April 2003 had been followed by “the resumption and intensification of the repression of the UBCV, as well as by the continuing persecution of other non-recognised confessions“.
The Resolution pressed the EU to take concrete measures, such as mandating EU diplomatic missions and Embassies of EU member states to “follow the case of the dignitaries of the UBCV imprisoned or kept under house arrest” and “coordinate their efforts to promote [religious] freedom in a concrete manner”, and also to send an EP delegation to Vietnam to monitor religious freedom. A previous EP delegation in September 2002 was prevented by the Vietnamese authorities from meeting Thich Huyen Quang, Thich Quang Do and other detained religious leaders.
The EP Resolution urged the European Commission to immediately implement the ‘human rights clause” (Article 1) in the 1995 EU-Vietnam Cooperation Agreement, which has been dead-letter up till now. In the immediate future, religious freedom in Vietnam should be placed “at the top of the agenda for the meeting of the Joint EU-Vietnam Commission to be held in Brussels on 21 November 2003”, it urged. The Joint Commission, which meets once a year under the EU-Vietnam Cooperation Agreement, is composed of senior officials from Vietnam and the EU, and takes place alternatively in Brussels and Hanoi.
Mr Vo Van Ai, IBIB President and UBCV International Spokesman, who attended the EP debate, welcomed the Resolution and urged the EC to take up its recommendations with the Vietnamese government in the Joint Commission meeting in Brussels today (Friday 21st November). “We are all very encouraged by the firm position taken by the EP on religious freedom and its condemnation of the recent crackdown on the UBCV. This is a formidable gesture of support for all Vietnamese who are suffering repression simply for advocating fundamental freedoms, and a powerful acknowledgement of the UBCV’s non-violent movement for religious freedom and human rights. In today’s meeting, the European Commission should demand that Vietnam makes concrete progress towards religious freedom, beginning by re-establishing the legitimate status of the UBCV and all other non-recognized religious bodies. This is the litmus test that will show whether or not Vietnam is truly committed to fulfilling its international obligations towards the EU and respecting its citizen’s right”.
Mr. Ai also noted that a very similar resolution, H. Res. 427, spearheaded by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, had been passed by the U.S. Congress on Wednesday : “It is surely not a coincidence that just one day before the EP, the American people also spoke out for religious freedom in Vietnam and in support of the UBCV. It is profoundly encouraging to see the people of Europe and America united together to support the cause of the Vietnamese people.”
The full text of the EP Resolution is as follows :
European Parliament resolution on Vietnam
(20 November 2003)
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on Vietnam, in particular those of 16 November 2000, 5 July 2001 on religious freedom in Vietnam and 15 May 2003,
– having regard to the Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam of 17 July 1995, Article 1 of which lays down respect for human rights and democratic principles as the basis for cooperation,
– having regard to Articles 69 and 70 of Vietnam’s Constitution, which guarantee freedom of religion in the following terms: ‘the citizen (…) can follow any religion or follow none’,
– having regard to Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Vietnam has ratified and which guarantees freedom of religion,
– having regard to the Cooperation Agreement signed between the European Union and Vietnam in 1985,
– having regard to its report on the situation of human rights in the world in 2002,
– having regard to the EC-Vietnam Strategy Paper 2002-2006,
– having regard to Rule 50(5) of the Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas freedom of religion is one of the fundamental freedoms defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and guaranteed by various international conventions to which Vietnam is party,
B. whereas the EU-Vietnam Cooperation Agreement is, precisely, based on respect for fundamental rights as defined in these conventions,
C. whereas also despite the repeated declarations of the Vietnamese authorities, the situation with regard to fundamental freedoms in Vietnam, especially freedom of religion, remains extremely worrying,
D. having regard to the multiethnic, multicultural and multireligious character of the country,
E. having regard to the hopes raised by the meeting in March this year between Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, 86, Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, who has spent 21 years in prison,
F. regretting deeply that the unexpected and widely publicised meeting on 2 April of this year between Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the (outlawed) Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, has been followed by the resumption and intensification of the repression of the UBCV, as well as by the continuing persecution of other non-recognised confessions such as the Protestant Churches of the Montagnards or the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church,
G. deploring the decision to place the Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and the Venerable Thich Quang Do under house arrest, and the immediate condemnation of the Venerables Thich Tue Sy, Thich Thanh Huyen and Thich Nguyen Ly, as well as the personal assistant of the Patriarch, the Venerable Thich Dong Tho, to two years’ administrative detention by written order of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, and the condemnation of four other monks, Thich Thien Hanh, Thich Vien Dinh, Thich Thai Hoa and Thich Nguyen Vuong, to two years’ administrative detention by ‘verbal’ order of the authorities of Hue and of Ho Chi Minh City,
H. whereas respect for human rights is one of the essential elements of the Cooperation Agreement signed between the European Union and Vietnam,
I. having regard to the meeting of the Joint EU-Vietnam Committee pursuant to the Cooperation Agreement,
J. recalling the condemnation of Father Nguyen Van Ly and three of his relatives as well as the continual repression suffered by the Christian Montagnards and the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church,
K. noting that other religious groups are under government surveillance as well despite Vietnam’s constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion and belief for its citizens,
1. Strongly condemns the new and more serious wave of repression of the religious freedom of the UBCV and of the Christian Montagnards in Vietnam and the deliberate policy of the Vietnamese regime of eliminating non-recognised Churches, especially the UBCV;
2. Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to halt immediately the policies of repression of the UBCV, the Catholic Church, Montagnard Christian groups and Hoa Hao Buddhists and to adopt without delay all the reforms necessary to guarantee all these churches legal status;
3. Calls on the Vietnamese Government to release immediately all Vietnamese citizens detained on account of their faith, their religious practices or simply their attachment to the freedom of religion, beginning with the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the UBCV, and the Venerable Thich Quang Do, his deputy;
4. Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to respect the freedom of religion of all religious groups and guarantee the right of all Vietnamese to practise the religion of their choice, including freedom of worship and assembly, and calls for the establishment of a judicial system independent of the political authorities;
5. Calls on the Commission to place the question of freedom of religion in Vietnam at the top of the agenda for the meeting of the Joint EU-Vietnam Committee to be held in Brussels on 21 November;
6. Calls on the Council and Commission to use all political and diplomatic means to ensure that freedom of religion finally becomes a reality in Vietnam;
7. Calls on the Commission and Council to ensure that the human rights clauses contained in the agreements and treaties concluded are strictly complied with;
8. Calls on the diplomatic representations of the European Union and of its Member States in Vietnam to follow the case of the dignitaries of the UBCV imprisoned or kept under house arrest, to pay particular attention to the situation of religious freedom in the country, and to coordinate their efforts to promote this freedom in a concrete manner;
9. Recommends the appointment of a delegation of the European Parliament to visit Vietnam, to appraise the religious situation, especially that of the UBCV, and to meet its leaders, first and foremost the Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and the Venerable Thich Quang Do; 10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the President, the Prime Minister and the President of the People’s Assembly of Vietnam, the Patriarch and the deputy Patriarch of the UBCV, the Secretary General of the United Nations and the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on freedom of religion.
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