Statement by Penelope Faulkner

Mr Chairman,

The Transnational Radical Party is deeply concerned by discrimination in the exercise of religious freedom in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The main target of discrimination is the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), which is adhered to by three-quarters of the population and has a 2,000-year tradition in Vietnam. Over more than two decades, since the UBVC was banned by the authorities in 1981 and supplanted by a State-sponsored Buddhist organization, Buddhists have suffered grave discrimination because of their membership of the UBCV and their peaceful advocacy of religious freedom. UBCV pagodas, schools, universities, hospitals and orphanages have been seized by the State, monks, nuns and followers harassed, intimidated and imprisoned.

In April last year, after a landmark meeting between the UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, Vietnam promised greater religious tolerance for the Buddhists, and the UBCV held its first peaceful Assembly in Binh Dinh Province to choose a new leadership. However, in flagrant contradiction of these promises, on October 8th 2003, Vietnam launched a brutal crack-down against the UBCV and arrested all its leaders. Hundreds of UBCV pagodas were placed under surveillance, telephone lines cut and mobile phones confiscated. Today, 11 prominent UBCV leaders are under administrative detention, either officially or effectively. The situation of Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, 86, and Thich Quang Do, 75, is particularly alarming. Both monks are currently detained incommunicado, respectively at the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh and the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Ho Chi Minh City, deprived of all right to receive visits or adequate medical care. Although they have not been formally charged, the government says they are under investigation for “possessing state secrets” – a crime that carries the death penalty in Vietnam. They have both spent more than twenty years in prison or under house arrest on account of their religious beliefs

Former monk and UBCV member Pham Van Tuong (Thich Tri Luc) is also a victim of flagrant discrimination. After escaping to Cambodia and obtaining refugee status from the UNHCR, Pham Van Tuong was arrested by Vietnamese Security Police whilst under UN protection in July 2002 and detained in total secret in Vietnam for over nineteen months. On March 12th 2004, he was condemned to 20 months in prison at an unfair, closed trial in Ho Chi Minh City. The case of Pham Van Tuong not only violates all UN standards, but also disregards the recommendations of the CERD which urge the Vietnamese authorities to “protect the rights of all refugees in Vietnam, including the rights of Vietnamese repatriated from Cambodia”. Pham Van Tuong should be immediately released and placed under UNHCR protection.

Mr Chairman,
The Transnational Radical Party calls upon the 60th Session of the Commission on Human Rights to press Vietnam to cease its policy of discrimination against the UBCV. The authorities should immediately release all detained UBCV leaders, beginning with Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and his Deputy Thich Quang Do, and restore the UBCV’s legitimate status.