Vietnam religious freedom violations

Report: Vietnam Religious Freedom Violations Escalate

Scott Morgan on May 15, 2023

An independent U.S. government commission charged with monitoring religious freedom abroad has released its annual report documenting violations that took place in 2022. A statement made by U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair Nury Turkel framed commissioners’ dour mood.

“USCIRF is disheartened by the deteriorating conditions for freedom of religion or belief in some countries,” Turkel wrote in comments accompanying the May 1 release of the report.

A country is designated to be a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) or recommended to be placed on the “Special Watch List” (SWL) when it is determined that the governments engage in or tolerate “systemic, ongoing and egregious” violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief.

Countries designated as CPCs by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last year include Burma, the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. For 2023, five other nations were  recommended by USCIRF to be added: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Syria and Vietnam.

USCIRF functions independent of the U.S. State Department as a bipartisan government commission created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act to monitor religious freedom abroad.

On the same day as the report’s release, two priests, Father Chochos Kunav and Father Ralph Ogigba, were kidnapped in Nigeria’s Delta State. This continues a pattern of kidnappings that have taken place in Nigeria over the last couple of years. On Pentecost Sunday 2022, more than 40 Christians were killed during an attack in Ondo State.

The recommendation to have Vietnam designated as a CPC instead of being placed on the SWL last year shows that the situation has further deteriorated in the southeast Asian country. One group specifically targeted for their faith is the Hmong people who refuse to recant. The faithful have new challenges in the country as the Vietnamese government revised its law to where the government can step in and suspend all activities of Faith Based Organizations.

The situation in Afghanistan has not improved for Christians after a full year of Taliban rule in the south Asian country. Some reports describe that Christians who remain in the country suffer persecution not only from the Taliban regime but also from their own families.

Previously in 2022, Algeria, Comoros, the Central African Republic and Vietnam were placed on the Special Watch List. This year USCIRF recommended that nine additional countries be placed on the SWL along with Algeria and the Central African Republic. They are Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Comoros is removed from the list altogether.

The recommendation of Sri Lanka should not be a surprise. The island nation has been in political turmoil over the last couple of years. In one high profile incident that occurred in March 2022, a mob of 600 people broke into Mercy Gate Chapel demanding that all religious activities cease or that they would kill the pastor and the church be closed. The incident was one of 120 attacks against Christians documented in 2022.

USCIRF also recommended that the seven non-state actors designated last year as Entities of Particular Concern (EPC) Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) be designated again. An EPC is designated for systemic, ongoing and egregious religious freedom violations.

“We urge Congress and the Executive Branch to implement the recommendations in USCIRFs 2023 Annual Report to further advance this universal, fundamental human right,” urged USCIRF Vice-Chair Abraham Cooper. 

The USCIRF recommendations and the determinations are pillars that the Biden Administration should use as benchmarks to foster a sound foreign policy. Holding persecutors accountable by imposing sanctions and other measures is a good first step.


More: Mixed Bag as State Adds Cuba, Nicaragua, Excludes Nigeria, India from Watch Lists

Religious Freedom Advocates Upset as State Department Omits Nigeria, Vietnam

  1. Comment by David on May 15, 2023 at 8:25 am

    “The picture of safe coexistence painted by Israeli officials is starkly at odds with the experiences Jerusalem’s Christian leaders themselves describe. While they readily acknowledge that there is no organized or governmental effort against them, Christian clergy in the Old City tell of a deteriorating atmosphere of harassment, apathy from authorities, and a growing fear that incidents of spitting and vandalism could turn into something far darker.”

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-attacks-on-christians-become-more-frequent-a-crisis-looms-for-israel/

  2. Comment by David Gingrich on May 23, 2023 at 7:58 am

    It’s not just other countries: “The bottom five companies when it comes to respecting free speech and religious freedom rights are Airbnb (2%), Amazon.com (4%), Alphabet (Google) (4%), eBay (5%) and Microsoft (5%). Those companies saw their scores drop by 3%, 2%, 5%, 2% and 0%, respectively, compared to last year.”

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