 |
There are currently, 22 guest(s) and 0 member(s) that are online.
|
We received
1279490
page views since May 2005
Site established September 2000
|
| |
Vietnam Falls Short on Religion and POW/MIAs
Posted on January 26, 2006
|
|
Vietnam falls short in identifying MIAs, allowing religious freedom
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/14/05
BY CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH
When discussing Vietnam, our minds often revert back 30 years to a different time and a different generation. Currently, we probably hear about Vietnam more often in the context of Nike sneakers, a political campaign or Avian flu than of human rights violations. Yet the truth is that the government of Vietnam continues to heavily regulate and systematically suppress the practice of religion within its borders.
I visited Vietnam Dec. 1-3 to see how Vietnam is treating its religious practitioners, as well as to monitor progress on our efforts to obtain a full accounting of the remaining American MIAs from the Vietnam conflict.
On the latter, we are still urging the Vietnamese to be more forthcoming as we work to recover and identify remains with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. Four joint field assessments are conducted each year. There are still 1,390 servicemen unaccounted for in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government must do more to provide greater access to official archives and restricted areas, including access for U.S. Navy vessels to conduct underwater coastal searches. It is our sacred duty to the families of the missing that we never cease our pursuit until we achieve the fullest possible accounting of our MIAs and the last known alive in Vietnam.
The situation regarding religious freedom in Vietnam is equally troubling. After meeting with more than 60 religious leaders of numerous faiths, I found that while there have been some improvements — including banning forced renunciations of faith, the release of some prisoners, the registration and reopening of several churches and an increase in faith-based charitable work — the Vietnamese government still mandates the parameters by which religious groups may operate, and ruthlessly cracks down on those who insist on their independence.
For example, I met with Thich Quang Do, general secretary of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. Do, 76, has been detained under effective pagoda arrest since a government crackdown on his church in October 2003. On Nov. 19, 50 police sought to prevent Do from leaving his pagoda to preside over a memorial ceremony, grabbing his collar and tearing his robe.
While the government of Vietnam recently permitted the ordination of 57 Catholic priests, the Catholic Church is forced to operate in Vietnam on a tight leash. Government officials decide who will be approved for the priesthood. Publications are censored. The church is unable to carry out charitable projects, such as hospices for the dying and assistance for those with HIV/AIDS. And priests who speak out are imprisoned, mistreated and put under house arrest.
One such priest is Father Ly, whom I visited last week. Ly was imprisoned in 2001 after providing testimony to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. In his testimony, he criticized the communist government of Vietnam for its repression of religious freedom. Though Ly was released from prison earlier this year, he remains under severe physical house arrest.
Evangelical House church leaders face particularly difficult obstacles, especially in the Central Highlands. The government has taken legal steps to address the problem, including adoption of an Ordinance on Religion and Belief in 2004. However, implementation of the law is uneven and harassment continues. I was appalled at stories of confiscation of Bibles, police harassment during services and inability to register churches despite the new law. Only a few of the 400 forcibly closed churches in the Central Highlands have reopened, and forced renunciations of faith are continuing.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in November announced President Bush's decision to sanction Vietnam in its International Religious Freedom Report for systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom. She noted that "if Vietnam's record of improvement continues, it would enable us to eventually remove Vietnam from our list of "Countries of Particular Concern.' "
Vietnam must go much further in allowing its religious groups to operate freely and independently, and I urge Rice to go slowly before we consider removing any sanctions.
At its upcoming Party Congress in July 2006, Vietnam should make a decision to increase political freedom, just the way it decided in 1992 to increase economic freedom. It should allow religious groups to conduct charitable and humanitarian activities that will only help its people. Vietnam should also free immediately, and release from any form of house arrest, all political and religious prisoners. Finally, it should legalize all religious groups and restore property expropriated.
If Vietnam is to be a close business and political partner of the United States in Asia, it must also share the core values of the United States that make our country great. Values such as the promotion of democracy, respect for human rights, and the protection of religious freedom, free speech and the rights of minorities. The people of Vietnam deserve no less.
Christopher H. Smith is a Republican member of Congress who represents the 4th District, which includes parts of Monmouth and Ocean counties.
|
| |
Average Score: 5
Votes: 1
|
|
Associated Topics
|
|
|
|
