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RELIGIOUS
RIGHTS IN VIETNAM
Article
18 of UN Declaration of Human Rights Everyone
has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion …and to manifest
his religion or belief in worship…
Article
20 of UN Declaration of Human Rights Everyone
has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
Evangelist Nguyen Van
Hoang has been repeatedly arrested, imprisoned, tortured and held in solitary
confinement. He has paid a heavy price for exercising his freedom of assembly
and worship. It is a price that Christians have to pay every day in Vietnam.
The 7 - 8 million Vietnamese
Christians face restrictions and harassment on a day to day basis from the
security forces and local government authorities. Religious organisations
and denominations have to adhere to strict regulations requiring permission
for every facet of religious life from publication of religious books to
holding of meditation periods. Religious activities are controlled and monitored
by the Bureau of Religious Affairs.
The Protestant churches
in particular face difficulties in gaining official registration. In the
last 23 years not a single Protestant church organisation has received legal
recognition thus denying these organisations and the more than 3,000 congregations
they represent even the minimal protection of freedom afforded by the law.
The vast majority of these Christians are forced to meet 'illegally' in
homes or in the case of the highland tribes, somewhere in the forest.
These 'illegal' worship
meetings are routinely invaded by the security services. The leaders and
the home owners are levied huge fines - often in excess of $ 100 US. Any
Christian literature found is regularly confiscated in these raids, even
Bibles with the official government imprimatur. Whilst Vietnamese legislation
does not guarantee freedom of assembly, contrary to Article 20, it does
permit meetings of up to 20 people in homes.
Protestant pastors and
lay leaders are also frequently harassed, threatened and faced with imprisonment
and hard labour in one of the re-education camps often in appalling conditions.
Human rights and religious organisations have documented numerous incidents
of beatings, maltreatment and torture of imprisoned Christians by Vietnamese
prison and security services officials
Vietnamese Christians
of ethnic origin are facing perhaps the heaviest persecution due to the
phenomenal growth of Christianity amongst them. In addition to the usual
harassment, house arrest, detention and other restrictive measures applied
to religious communities, the authorities have also targeted their places
of worship burning down and destroying a number of them in an attempt to
force these minorities to relinquish their newly adopted faith.
Despite these threats
Christianity continues to grow in Vietnam and the Christians continue to
practise their faith even in them most difficult circumstances. When Nguyen
Van Hoang was in solitary confinement, he found a way to communicate with
the woman next door via a water pipe and led her to Christ.
Joanna
Milosz is Research and Advocacy Officer with Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
The information in the article was complied from WEF (World Evangelical
Fellowship -- Religious Liberty Commission). |
