~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

[Year 1997]
[Year 1998]
[Year 1999]
[Year 2000]
[Year 2001]

New Vietnam religion decree sets state controls

HANOI - A new decree on religion in communist-ruled Vietnam enshrines religious rights but warns of punishments for those who use religion to harm the state, the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported on Wednesday.

The decree, which was issued by the government on Monday and comes into force on May 4, also states that religious property and lands once handed to the government now belong to the state, VNA said.
Following victories in 1954 over the French in North Vietnam and the U.S. backed South Vietnam in 1975, the new communist regimes took control of properties which belonged to Buddhist, Catholic and other religious orders.
These included a Vatican-owned seminary in the central highland town of Dalat, schools, administrative offices and pagodas, temples and churches.

A foreign diplomat in Hanoi said some religious properties and lands were subsequently returned, but the issue remained a potential flashpoint for relations between the state and religious groups.
VNA said under the decree there should be no discrimination, and that people were free to follow or not to follow religion, and to change their religion if they wished.
Recent official documents and letters seen by Reuters show that in some highland areas local authorities have used force in an attempt to make some people -- particularly Protestants -- abandon religious beliefs.
The decree warned that ``violations of religious freedom,'' including activities deemed superstitious, would be punished.

``Any acts conducted under the pretext of worship and religion to oppose the Socialist Republic of Vietnam...shall be punished in accordance with the law,'' VNA said.
International human rights organisations and some foreign governments have accused Vietnam of failing to respect religious freedoms.
Vietnam says allegations that it exerts strict state control over religion and imprisons people for peaceful expression of religious or political beliefs are false.
In an official report U.N. Special Rapporteur for Religious Intolerance Abdelfattah Amor, who visited Vietnam last October, said the country continued to limit religious freedoms.
Vietnam countered that Amor lacked objectivity and expressed bad will towards the country. It added that visits from human rights or religion investigators would no longer be welcome.

The diplomat said the new decree appeared to reinforce last June's Communist Party politburo directive on religion.

That directive said political will was lacking to counter wrongdoings such as illegally organising religious activities; printing, importing, exporting and circulating religious books; and excessive public support for the construction and repair of places of worship.

Reuters - April 21, 1999.