Violations of religious freedom in Vietnam denounced at a Hearing in the European Parliament

BRUSSELS, 27 May 2011 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) – Speaking at a Hearing on Freedom of Religion or Belief at the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights in Brussels on Thursday, 26 May, Ms. Penelope Faulkner, Vice-President of Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam and the Vietnam Committee for Human Rights presented a global overview of violations of religious freedom and urged the European Union to place freedom of religion and belief high on its external policy agenda.

Ms. Faulkner spoke on behalf of the European Platform on Religious Intolerance and Discrimination (EPRID), along with Ms. Sarah Vader of the Bahá’í International Community. EPRID is a network of civil society organisations and religious bodies working in the EU to ensure that religious intolerance and discrimination are addressed within EU policy and activities. Dr. Heiner Bielefelt, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief was a keynote speaker. He explained the challenges faced under his mandate, which takes place in a climate of growing intolerance. Mr Charles-Michel Geurts from the European External Action Service (EEAS) presented the EU’s policies. The Hearing was presided by MEP Heidi Hautala, Chair of the EP Subcommittee on Human Rights.

Describing religious freedom abuses in a wide range of religious and geographical contexts over the past year, Ms. Faulkner noted the systematic repression of the Bahá’í in Iran, Coptic Christians in Egypt, Ahmadiyya Muslims in Indonesia and Pakistan, Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims, house church Christians and Falun Gong practitioners in China, as well as sectarian violence in Nigeria and state-endorsed tightening of religious freedom in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan following the Spring revolutions in the Middle East.

Although Buddhism is a philosophy of tolerance and peace, she said, “Buddhists in many parts of Asia suffer repression and discrimination for their non-violent beliefs. In Vietnam, the government has banned the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), Vietnam’s largest and oldest religious community and supplanted it with a State-sponsored body under Communist Party control. UBCV monks and nuns are systematically detained, intimidated and harassed, and Buddhists who frequent UBCV pagodas risk grave reprisals”.

Ms. Faulkner told the EP that “just a few days ago, during the celebrations of the Vesak (Anniversary of Buddha’s Birth), the government launched a widespread crack-down on UBCV pagodas, impeding celebrations and harassing UBCV followers”. Police prohibited Buddhists at the Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang from reading out the Vesak message by UBCV leader Thich Quang Do, the UBCV leader and Nobel Peace prize nominee, who remains under house arrest in Saigon after almost three decades in detention for his peaceful advocacy of religious freedom and human rights.

Ms. Faulkner also expressed concern about violations of religious freedom against other religious communities in Vietnam. She recalled that armed forces brutally suppressed peaceful demonstrations of H’mong Christians calling for religious freedom and land reforms in the northern province of Dien Bien in May 2011, killing at least 18 people and wounding hundreds, including many children. She also deplored the continued detention of at least 300 Christian Montagnards from the Central Highlands under harsh prison sentences for staging demonstrations to protest religious persecution and state seizure of lands.

According to the Chair of the EP Subcommittee on Human Rights, MEP Heidi Hautala, the Hearing was motivated by “Parliament’s concerns about discrimination based on religion or belief that still exists in all regions of the world”. On 21 February 2011, the Council of the European Union adopted a Resolution expressing the Council’s “profound concern about the increasing number of acts of religious intolerance and discrimination, as epitomized by recent violence and acts of terrorism” and affirming that “freedom of religion is a universal human right which needs to be protected everywhere and for everyone. (…) All persons belonging to religious communities and minorities should be able to practice their religion and worship freely, individually or in community with others, without fear of intolerance or attacks”.