A new decree settles further restrictions of religious freedom

For Vietnam, the new year brings further restrictions of the freedom of religion. "With decree No. 92, supposed to be in effect from January 2013 onwards, the authorities will have even more possibilities to keep religious communities from practicing their faith," said the STP’s expert on questions regarding Asia, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Friday. "Any religious community that wants to be officially recognized must now register and provide detailed documentation about its organizations and activities, allowing extensive control and observation." Religious communities must also prove that they have not violated any laws for the past 20 years. "This is very problematic for many religious communities, because there were times when they were persecuted so relentlessly that they were forced to go underground and into illegality." 

"If a strategic partner oppresses religious beliefs, the German government should publicly criticize this," demanded Delius. He recalled the fact that Christians and human rights activists who campaigned for more religious freedom in the socialist state had repeatedly been arrested and sentenced to long prison terms in the last few years. Just last Thursday, the human rights advocate Le Quoc Quan was arrested in Hanoi. The famous dissident had campaigned for religious freedom in online-blogs. The fate of four Christian members of the ethnic community of the Hmong is another example for religious persecution in Vietnam. On December 12, in the province of Lai Chau in the north-west of the country, four men between 27 and 38 years of age were sentenced to prison terms from three to seven years. They were accused of endangering public order by participating in an unauthorized religious meeting in May 2011.

Many native inhabitants of Vietnam belong to unregistered protestant churches or illegal house churches. At the moment, more than 250 indigenous people are being kept in prison because of their commitment towards religious freedom.