Speech by Penelope Faulkner

Mr.Chairman,



The Transnational Radical Party is also deeply concerned by discrimination based on religion against members of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV). Over more than two decades, the State has persecuted Buddhists because of their adherence to the UBCV.

UBCV member Pham Van Tuong (Thich Tri Luc) is also a victim of grave discrimination. After obtaining refugee status from the UNHCR in Cambodia, he was arrested by Vietnamese Security Police, detained in secret for over a year, then condemned to 20 months in prison at an unfair trial in March this year. The case of Pham Van Tuong violates all UN standards and also disregards the CERD’s recommendations that Vietnam must “protect the rights of all refugees, including the rights of Vietnamese repatriated from Cambodia”. Pham Van Tuong should be immediately released and placed under UNHCR protection.
According to the International Buddhist Information Bureau, In October last year, contradicting promises of increased religious tolerance made by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai at a meeting with Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, Vietnam launched a brutal crack-down against the UBCV and arrested all its leaders. Hundreds of pagodas were placed under surveillance, telephones cut or confiscated. Today, 11 prominent UBCV leaders are arbitrarily detained. Thich Huyen Quang, and his Deputy, Thich Quang Do, both of whom have spent more than twenty years in detention, are detained incommunicado today, accused of “possessing state secrets” – a crime that carries the death penalty in Vietnam.

We urge the Commission to press Vietnam to cease its policy of religious discrimination, release Thich Huyen Quang, Thich Quang Do and restore the UBCV’s legitimate status.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.