During its second review in 2014, Vietnam accepted nine recommendations directly related to FoRB and noted one. Accepted recommendations included calls to comply with international standards, remove administrative obstacles to religious practice and protect the rights of religious and ethnic minorities. However, a recommendation to issue a standing invitation to all UN Special Procedures was rejected. 

Reports of FoRB violations during the reporting period indicate that the accepted recommendations have not been implemented. Also, changes to the legal framework fall short of meeting international standards on FoRB – including the Law on Belief and Religion which came into effect on 1 January 2018. Religious communities, lawyers and HRDs have criticised the law for interfering in the internal affairs of religious organisations. They further criticised vague and ambiguous language regarding ‘national unity’ and ‘traditions’ which could be easily misused. 

During the third cycle of the UPR, CSW continued to receive reports of violations against every major religious community in Vietnam, including Buddhists, Catholics, Cao Daists, Hoa Hao Buddhists, Protestants and Muslims. Violations included harassment, intimidation, forced eviction, intrusive surveillance, the disruption of religious services and confiscation of religious materials, arrest, imprisonment, torture and extra-judicial killing.

The situation for religious communities varies widely between different parts of Vietnam and individuals who are both ethnic and religious minorities, and those in remote areas and belonging to unregistered groups, are at particular risk of the gravest violations. FoRB defenders are also especially targeted by the authorities.

Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton, a protestant pastor and HRD, was tried on 5 April 2018 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Pastor Ton, his family and church members were repeatedly and violently attacked by local authorities and police. In February 2017 Pastor Ton was kidnapped by state agents, stripped naked, tied, beaten and abandoned in a remote mountainous location in the middle of the night, leaving him with serious injuries. Following an appeal hearing in June 2018, Ton’s sentence was upheld. 

Also tried on 5 April 2018 was Hoa Hao Buddhist Nguyen Bac Truyen, a legal expert who has provided pro bono legal assistance to families of political prisoners, victims of land grabs and persecuted religious communities. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Prior to his detention, Mr Truyen and his wife were physically attacked by unknown assailants on several occasions. Following an appeal hearing in June 2018, his sentence was upheld. Independent Hoa Hao Buddhist groups not affiliated with the state-sponsored Hoa Hao Administrative Council suffer ongoing harassment from the authorities, including confiscation of property used for worship, intrusive surveillance and disruption of religious activities.

CSW urges Vietnam to safeguard FoRB and to revise all regulations and legislation pertaining to religion to ensure they align with international standards as set out in Article 18 of the ICCPR, and to ensure this is done so in consultation with religious communities and legal experts. Ensure that no citizen is detained incommunicado and that family members of detainees are informed of their whereabouts and the charges against them in good time, in accordance with international standards. 

We urge member states to put forward recommendations that ensure any form of registration system is optional, not mandatory, and is not used as a tool to control religious activities and to call on Vietnam to immediately release all prisoners of conscience detained in connection with their religion or belief, and investigate cases of wrongful imprisonment. All forms of torture and ill-treatment must cease immediately and where necessary, legal provisions should be revised or revoked in order to comply with the Convention against Torture (CAT), to which Vietnam is party. 

Finally, cases of abuse of power by authorities should be subject to thorough, impartial investigations, and mechanisms established to deal with complaints by religious communities and individuals.