<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Under the new law, the definition of a religious organization is \u201c<\/em>a grouping of believers, dignitaries, auxiliaries and clergy of a religion, which is organized according to a given structure recognized by the State\u201d<\/u> <\/em>(our emphasis) (Article 2.12). Once the law comes into force on 1st<\/sup> January 2018, religious organizations which cannot or choose not to register with the state will have no legal safeguards for conducting religious activities.<\/p>\n Over the past months, the government has been racing to prepare for the law\u2019s enforcement. On 8th<\/sup> March 2017, Prime Minister Nguy\u1ec5n Xu\u00e2n Ph\u00fac issued Decision 306\/Q\u0110-TTg with a \u201cPlan to Implement<\/u> the Law on Belief and Religion<\/u>\u201d calling on government agencies at all levels to \u201cestablish a roadmap to guarantee that the Law will be implemented in a uniform, complete and synchronized manner on a nationwide scale by 1st<\/sup> January 2018\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n A follow-up plan was issued by the Ministry of the Interior on 29th<\/sup> March. The plans will be overseen by the Ministry of the Interior in collaboration with the Government Board of Religious Affairs, the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, the Communist Party\u2019s Central Mobilization Department, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Ministries of Finance, Justice and Public Security. Alongside training and deployment of religious cadres, the Plans call for increased vigilance and sanctions against those who \u201cviolate regulations on religion or belief\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe recent crackdown on the BYM\u2019s Summer Camp is a typical example of Vietnam\u2019s two-faced religious policies\u201d,<\/em><\/strong> said V\u00f5 V\u0103n \u00c1i, VCHR President and international spokesman of the UBCV. \u201cWhilst the state claims to protect freedom of religion or belief, it clamps down on the activities of a Buddhist educational movement which seeks simply to impart the values of tolerance, compassion and understanding to the younger generation\u201d. <\/em><\/strong>Mr. \u00c1i added that the BYM\u2019s guiding principles are enshrined in its motto \u201cBi \u2013 Tr\u00ed \u2013 D\u0169ng\u201d \u2013 compassion, wisdom and courage.<\/p>\n On 12th<\/sup> July 2017, the BYM prepared to hold the \u201cHi\u1ebfu – H\u1ea1nh\u201d camp at the Long Quang Pagoda in Hu\u1ebf for members from 8-16 years old. The camps are held each year on the festival of the Bodhisattva of Compassion (Qu\u00e1n Th\u1ebf \u00c2m), whilst monks and nuns are engaged in their summer retreat. They are a favourite meeting place for young UBCV Buddhists who come from all over the province and work hard to prepare the camp\u2019s activities and cultural events. Because of its affiliation with the UBCV, the BYM\u2019s camps are frequently disturbed by the Police, but harassments this year were particularly harsh.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, on 10th<\/sup> July 2017, BYM leaders L\u00ea V\u0103n Kh\u00e1<\/strong> and L\u00ea V\u0103n Th\u1ecd<\/strong> of the BYM section in H\u00f2a \u0110a T\u00e2y were summoned for \u201cworking sessions\u201d (interrogations) by the local authorities and pressured not to allow their members to attend the camp. The following day, almost all BYM leaders in the province had received similar convocations from the Police and local authorities (see the summons issued to a BYM leader by the local People\u2019s Committee for (sic) \u201cworking sessions on the organization of festivities concerning the Bodhisattva of Compassion Qu\u00e1n Th\u1ebf \u00c2m\u201d.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n During the night of 11th<\/sup> July, Police surrounded the homes of V\u0103n \u0110\u00ecnh T\u1ea5t,<\/strong> BYM leader of Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110i\u1ec1n district and Tr\u01b0\u01a1ng Phi\u00ean,<\/strong> leader of the Hi\u1ebfu H\u1ea1nh camp and prohibited them from leaving their homes. In many localities, Police visited the homes of BYM members and threatened parents not to let their children attend the camp.<\/p>\n On the morning of 12th<\/sup> July, BYM leaders Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u1ee9c Ti\u1ebfn, Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n \u0110\u00ea<\/strong> (from Ph\u00fa Vang district), Ho\u00e0ng T\u00e1nh, V\u0103n \u0110\u00ecnh T\u1ea5t<\/strong> (Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110i\u1ec1n district), L\u00ea Th\u1ecb Kim Th\u00f4ng<\/strong> (Phong \u0110i\u1ec1n district), Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n L\u00e0nh <\/strong>and T\u00f4n Th\u1ea5t K\u1ef3 Nam<\/strong> (Ph\u00fa L\u1ed9c district) were all intercepted by Police and forbidden to attend the event.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In N\u01b0\u1edbc Ng\u1ecdt <\/strong>and H\u1ea3i Nhu\u1eadn<\/strong> districts, as children were about to board buses taking them to Hu\u1ebf, Police intercepted the buses, prevented the children from boarding and forced the drivers to turn back.<\/p>\n In face of these arbitrary harassments by the local authorities, during the early hours of 12th July, parents, friends and BYM members organized an impromptu<\/em> transport network, using bicycles, motorcycles and private cars to bring their children to the camp. By 8.30am on 12th<\/sup> July when the Camp was declared open, 435 young members of the Buddhist Youth Movement were present to take part in the event.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n —————-<\/p>\n The Buddhist Youth Movement (Gia \u0110\u00ecnh Ph\u1eadt t\u1eed Vi\u1ec7t Nam),<\/em> is an unofficial educational organization based on the Scouts movement. Founded in 1943 and affiliated to the UBCV, it has a membership of 300,000 members nationwide in Vietnam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PARIS, 21st July 2017 (VCHR – IBIB) \u2013 Police and local authorities in Hu\u1ebf harassed, intimidated and intercepted members of the Buddhist Youth Movement (BYM – Gia \u0110\u00ecnh Ph\u1eadt t\u1eed Vi\u1ec7t Nam) as they organized the movement\u2019s annual Summer Camp in Hu\u1ebf. This incident takes place as Vietnam prepares to enact its very first …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":36489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,137,113,98,64],"tags":[364,286,665,287,288],"class_list":["post-36589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-ibib","category-latest-posts","category-news","category-press-release","category-vchr","tag-bym","tag-forb-2","tag-le-cong-cau-2","tag-religious-freedom-2","tag-ubcv-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Entrance](\"http:\/\/queme.org\/\/app\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-0719b.jpg\")
![\"Summons](\"http:\/\/queme.org\/\/app\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-0719a.jpg\")
![\"Traditional](\"http:\/\/queme.org\/\/app\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-0719v.jpg\")