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August 12, 2020
USCIRF ADVOCATE: Anurima Bhargava
Related Reports and Briefs:
2019 Annual Report Chapter on Vietnam
Newsroom:
Press Release: USCIRF Calls for Release of Nguyen Bac Truyen (April 3, 2020)
Other Resources:
Department of State 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom: Vietnam
Country:
Vietnam
Key Fact:
Hoa Hao Buddhist and human rights defender
Detained Since:
Jul 30, 2017
Biography:
Nguyen Bac Truyen is a legal expert who leads the Vietnamese Political & Religious Prisoners Friendship Association, which assists prisoners of conscience and their families. On November 17, 2006, Truyen was arrested and sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison on charges of “conducting propaganda” against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He was released on May 2010. On July 30, 2017, he was again detained, arrested, and ultimately sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment on charges of “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration.” He is currently serving this sentence.
The Vietnamese government has targeted Truyen due to his human rights and religious freedom advocacy, particularly on behalf of Hoa Hao Buddhists. He is a 2011 recipient of Human Rights Watch’s Hellman/Hammett Award.
August 12, 2020
USCIRF ADVOCATE: Jackie Wolcott
Advocacy:
Press Release: VIETNAM: Religious Prisoner of Conscience Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh Released (July 31, 2017)
Letter: Open Letter from USCIRF Commissioner Jackie Wolcott to Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh and Mrs. Tran Thi Hong (May 15, 2017)
Article: Catholic News Agency -- US leaders tell persecuted believers: 'You are not alone' (April 6, 2017)
Related Reports and Briefs:
2018 Annual Report Chapter on Vietnam
Newsroom:
Press Release: VIETNAM: USCIRF Assesses State Department's CPC Removal (February 8, 2017)
Press Release: VIETNAM: At a Crossroads, 10 Years after CPC Designation Removed (November 10, 2016)
Op-Ed: America Magazine -- Report From Vietnam (February 19, 2016)
Other Resources:
Father Thomas J. Reese Remarks to the Vietnam Caucus/Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (Oct. 24, 2017)
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission prisoner profile of Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh
State Department International Religious Freedom Report
Country:
Vietnam
Key Fact:
Evangelical pastor
Charges:
Undermining national solidarity
Sentence:
Pastor Chinh was released from prison on July 28, 2017, almost six years before the end of his sentence. The Vietnamese government released him on the condition that he immediately leave the country in exile.
Detained Since:
Apr 28, 2011
Release Date:
Jul 28, 2017
Biography:
Nguyen Cong Chinh is an evangelical pastor originally from the Quang Nam province, and has lived in the Central Highland provinces of Kon Tum and Gia Lai since 1985. He is a long-time pro-democracy activist and critic of the Vietnamese government’s ban on preaching in the Central Highlands. He is also the founder of the Vietnamese People’s Evangelical Fellowship, a charitable organization that ministers to ethnic minority communities in the central highlands, including ethnic minority prisoners and their families. He and his wife, Mrs. Tran Thi Hong, a Lutheran member of the Vietnamese Women for Human Rights organization, have five children.
In 2011, Pastor Chinh was imprisoned on false charges of undermining national solidarity.Prison authorities reportedly physically and verbally abused him, and he spent approximately one month in solitary confinement. His health rapidly declined: he suffered from high blood pressure, acute nasal sinusitis, arthritis, and stomach inflammation and was denied treatment or access to medication.
While the Vietnamese government unjustly imprisoned Pastor Chinh, they also harassed his wife, Mrs. Tran Thi Hong, monitoring her closely, sealing up her house, and preventing her from meeting with her husband or procuring medicine for her sick daughter. On March 30, 2016, local authorities violently prevented Mrs. Hong from meeting with then U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein. Although she eventually was able to meet with the Ambassador, she suffered for this meeting: she endured a beating which left her with injuries to her head, knee, leg, hand and foot. This visit was followed by a three-day interrogation during which Mrs. Train Thi Hong was pressured to sign a document stating that her meeting with the Ambassador was illegal and that she was a member of an illegal and subversive church due to her Lutheran faith. After refusing to sign, she was abused for four hours by female officers.
Pastor Chinh was released from prison on July 28, 2017, almost six years before the end of his sentence. The Vietnamese government released him on the condition that he immediately leave the country in exile. He and his family now reside in the United States.
August 12, 2020
USCIRF ADVOCATE: Kristina Arriaga
Related Reports and Briefs:
2018 Annual Report Chapter on Vietnam
Newsroom:
Vice Chair Arriaga Expresses Concern About Patriarch Thích Quảng Độ
VIETNAM: At a Crossroads, 10 Years after CPC Designation Removed
Vietnam Policy Focus: New USCIRF Report Details Ongoing Arrests, Harassment, and Repression of Religious Freedom
Asia Times -- Say a Prayer for Vietnam
Country:
Vietnam
Key Fact:
Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, advocate for religious freedom, democracy, and human rights for Vietnam
Charges:
Never formally charged for his most recent detention; accused of “possessing state secrets”
Sentence:
On October 5, 2018, the Venerable Thich Quang Do was expelled from Thanh Minh Zen Monastery. After a brief visit to his home province of Thai Binh, he returned to Ho Chi Minh City.
Detained Since:
Oct 8, 2003
Release Date:
Oct 8, 2018
Biography:
Most Venerable Thich Quang Do was born on November 27, 1928 in Thai Binh Province. Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) since 2008, Thich Quang Do has been a lifelong advocate for democracy, religious freedom, and human rights.
Vietnamese authorities have repeatedly targeted, harassed, and detained Thich Quang Do both for practicing his faith and for his tireless advocacy for religious freedom and related human rights. For example, in 2001, he launched a plan called “Appeal for Democracy in Vietnam,” which was supported by more than 300,000 Vietnamese from different faith backgrounds, as well as international stakeholders. As a result, the government placed him under administrative detention without trial at Thanh Minh Zen Monastery and prevented him from receiving medical treatment despite suffering from diabetes.
During a brief reprieve beginning in June 2003, Thich Quang Do attempted to participate in a UBCV Assembly called by then Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang. But in October 2003, authorities accused him of “possessing state secrets” and again confined him to Thanh Minh Zen Monastery where he was under constant surveillance and effective house arrest.
USCIRF met with Thich Quang Do at Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in August 2015.
On October 5, 2018, the Venerable Thich Quang Do was expelled from Thanh Minh Zen Monastery. After a brief visit to his home province of Thai Binh, he returned to Ho Chi Minh City and currently resides at Tu Hieu Pagoda, where Vietnamese authorities continued to regularly surveil him. On February 22, 2020, the Patriarch passed away at the age of 91.
August 12, 2020
USCIRF ADVOCATE: James W. Carr
Country:
Vietnam
Key Fact:
Protestant Pastor of Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ (MECC)
Detained Since:
Aug 18, 2016
Release Date:
Sep 18, 2020
Biography:
A Dao, resident of Gia Xieng Village, Ro Koi Commune, Sa Thay District, Kontum Province, is a Protestant pastor of the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ (MECC). He took over as the lead pastor of this church after his predecessor, Pastor A Ga, fled to Thailand in 2013 (in July 2019, A Ga met with U.S. President Donald J. Trump during the second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom).
A Dao has also advocated for religious freedom for his fellow church members in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and elsewhere. In August 2016, he attended the conference on Freedom of Religion in Southeast Asia and the ASEAN Civil Society Conference / ASEAN People's Forum in East Timor. At these events, he presented the plight of MECC and asked the international community for help.
A Dao was arrested on August 18, 2016, shortly after his return to Vietnam. On April 28, 2017 was sentenced to 5 years in prison for “helping individuals to escape abroad illegally” under Article 275 of the country’s Penal Code. During interrogation, he was reportedly tortured in order to extract a confession. He denied the charge and claimed his innocence.
He continues to suffer mistreatment in detention. For example, in the morning of September 1, 2018, his wife, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuoi visited him in Gia Trung Prison of Gia Lai Province. The guards allowed a very brief visit, much shorter than in the past. His face was bruised, with traces of blood. She learned that in August 2018 the prison guards had been using other inmates to beat him. His health was poor as a result of frequent beatings.
Pastor A Dao’s health has deteriorated as a result of the harsh treatment typically reserved for prisoners of conscience. It was reported that he was tortured in late 2019. Without viable means of livelihood, his wife had to sell their land and move in with her own relatives after sending their two school-age children to live separately with different relatives. His son is now 16 years old, while his daughter is 6 years old.
His expected release date was August 18, 2021.
August 29, 2019
Jan 08
WHEN:
Jan 8th 1:30pm
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Hearing
Global Efforts to Counter Anti-Semitism
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
1:30 – 3:00 PM
325 Russell Senate Office Building
Hearing Summary
Hearing Transcript
Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a hearing about how U.S. foreign policy and the international community can counter the growing threat of anti-Semitism around the world.
The global Jewish community is facing a rising tide of anti-Semitic hatred characterized by vandalism, Holocaust denial, violent attacks, hate speech, and the perpetuation of vicious stereotypes. Devastating attacks on synagogues, like the one in October in Halle, Germany on Yom Kippur, illustrate the risks Jews take by seeking to worship and live out their religious identity. Jews in some regions are even refraining from wearing kippahs, Star of David necklaces, and other identifying clothing in order to prevent targeted attacks against them.
Nations around the world have sought to respond to the threat by increasing security at synagogues and schools, strengthening education aimed at countering prejudice and Holocaust denial, and by supporting interfaith dialogue and understanding. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief recently released a comprehensive report on anti-Semitic trends globally and offered policy recommendations to governments, and the European Union recently held a summit to develop strategies to address anti-Semitism. In the United States, Congress continues to work on these issues, most recently through bipartisan taskforces aimed at combatting anti-Semitism.
Witnesses will highlight recommendations to counter anti-Semitism and discuss how the international community can more effectively ensure that the global Jewish community can worship freely and without fear.
Opening Remarks
- Senator Jacky Rosen, D-NV, Co-Chair, Senate Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism
- Tony Perkins, Chair, USCIRF
- Gayle Manchin, Vice Chair, USCIRF Written remarks
- Gary Bauer, Commissioner, USCIRF Written remarks
- Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Written testimony
- Elan Carr, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, U.S. Department of State Written testimony
- Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, Tam Institute for Jewish Studies and the Department of Religion, Emory University Written testimony
- Sharon Nazarian, Senior Vice President of International Affairs, Anti-Defamation League Written testimony
- Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and Professor of International Relations, American University Written testimony
- Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Director of the Global Social Action Agenda, Simon Wiesenthal Center Written testimony
August 28, 2019
Jul 24
WHEN:
Jul 24th 1:00pm
-
Jul 24th 1:00pm
Summer Seminar #2 — Anti-Semitism: The World's Oldest Hatred — New Again?
Wednesday, July 24
2168 Rayburn House Office Building
Speakers:
The Honorable Elan Carr, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
The Honorable Nita Lowey, Chair, Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism, and Member, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Lee Zeldin, Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Rabbi David Saperstein, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom
Gary Bauer, Commissioner, USCIRF
Tad Stahnke, William and Sheila Konar Director of International Outreach, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Anti-Semitism Factsheet Anti-Semitism Around the World
June 24, 2019
Jun 24
WHEN:
Jun 24th 6:59pm
Summer Seminar #1 — A Foundational Human Right: Why International Religious Freedom Matters
Monday, June 24, 2019
Capitol Visitor Center, Room SVC 203-02
Speakers:
Brian Grim, President, Religious Freedom and Business Foundation
Presentation
The Honorable Frank Wolf, former member, House of Representatives
Commissioner Kristina Arriaga, USCIRF
April 16, 2021
Apr 16, 2021
Bilateral relations between the United States and Vietnam has grown increasingly cooperative since 1995. The two countries have built strong economic, political, and security partnerships. Despite this relationship, the US government continues to pay particular attention to the overall human rights situation in there, including freedom of religion or belief. USCIRF traveled to Vietnam in 2019 to observe religious freedom conditions on the ground, and has maintained that Vietnam should be designated as a Country of Particular Concern.
While there has been some progress regarding religious freedom conditions in Vietnam in recent years, the situation for certain groups remains concerning. The Christian community, in particular, faces persecution. Policy Analyst Mingzhi Chen joins us to discuss the state of religious freedom in Vietnam.
Featuring:
Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
Mingzhi Chen, Policy Analyst, USCIRF
Don’t miss our 2021 Annual Report, which will be released April 21, 2021.
Register for the virtual launch: https://www.uscirf.gov/events/uscirf-2021-annual-report-virtual-launch
April 21, 2021
Apr 21, 2021
USCIRF Releases 2021 Annual Report with Recommendations for U.S. Policy
No Longer Recommends Three Countries for Special Watch List
Washington, D.C. – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released its 2021 Annual Report documenting developments during 2020, including significant progress in countries such as Sudan. Meanwhile, other nations implemented laws and policies that further target religious communities, and in some cases amount to genocide and crimes against humanity. USCIRF’s 2021 Annual Report provides recommendations to enhance the U.S. government’s promotion of freedom of religion or belief abroad.
In its report, USCIRF also monitored public health measures put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and their impact on freedom of religion or belief. In many cases, these measures complied with international human rights standards, but in some countries, already marginalized religious communities faced official and societal stigmatization, harassment, and discrimination for allegedly causing or spreading the virus.
“This past year was challenging for most nations trying to balance public health concerns alongside the fundamental right to freedom of religion or belief. Though some governments took advantage of the restrictions to target specific religious communities, we were encouraged by the positive steps various countries took. For example, as a result of COVID-19 outbreaks, many prisoners of conscience were furloughed or released, such as in Eritrea,” USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin said. “USCIRF will continue to monitor how countries respond to and recover from COVID-19, and whether the loosening of restrictions is fair to people of all faiths and nonbelievers.”
USCIRF’s independence and bipartisanship enables it to unflinchingly identify threats to religious freedom around the world. In the 2021 Annual Report, USCIRF recommends 14 countries to the State Department for designation as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) because their governments engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations.” These include 10 that the State Department designated as CPCs in December 2020—Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan—as well as four others—India, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam. For the first time ever, the State Department designated Nigeria as a CPC in 2020, which USCIRF had been recommending since 2009.
The 2021 Annual Report also recommends 12 countries for placement on the State Department’s Special Watch List (SWL) based on their governments’ perpetration or toleration of severe violations. These include two that the State Department placed on that list in December 2020—Cuba and Nicaragua—as well as 10 others—Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. In 2021, USCIRF is not recommending SWL placement for Bahrain, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Sudan, which were among its SWL recommendations in its 2020 Annual Report. USCIRF has concluded that, although religious freedom concerns remain in all three countries, conditions last year did not meet the high threshold required to recommend SWL status.
The 2021 Annual Report further recommends to the State Department seven non-state actors for redesignation as “entities of particular concern” (EPCs) for systematic, ongoing, egregious violations. The State Department designated all seven of these groups as EPCs in December 2020—al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), and the Taliban.
“In 2020, the Trump administration continued to prioritize international religious freedom. Much progress was made, and our 2021 Annual Report makes recommendations about how Congress and the Executive Branch, now under President Biden, can further advance the U.S. commitment to freedom of religion abroad,” USCIRF Vice Chair Tony Perkins stated. “In order to maintain the crucial momentum of international religious freedom as a U.S. foreign policy priority, USCIRF strongly urges the Biden administration to take a unique action for each country designated as a CPC to provide accountability for religious freedom abuses and to implement the other recommendations contained in our report.”
In addition to chapters with key findings and U.S. policy recommendations for these 26 countries, the annual report describes and assesses U.S. international religious freedom policy overall. The report also highlights important global developments and trends related to religious freedom during 2020, including in countries that do not meet the criteria for CPC or SWL recommendations. These include: COVID-19 and religious freedom; attacks on houses of worship; political unrest leading to religious freedom violations; blasphemy laws; global antisemitism; and China’s international influence on religious freedom and human rights.
“USCIRF’s 2021 Annual Report documents both the deepening of religious divides, and intensified religious persecution and violence during the global pandemics; and the swift and significant progress that can and has been made, as in Sudan, to support and strengthen religious communities of all faiths,” USCIRF Vice Chair Anurima Bhargava added. “We urge the Biden administration and Congress to champion religious freedom and to center the safety and dignity of religious communities as foreign policy priorities. USCIRF recommends that the administration should immediately increase the annual ceiling for refugees; and definitively and publicly conclude that the atrocities committed against the Rohingya people by the Burmese military constitute genocide and take action accordingly; as the State Department recently determined regarding China’s genocide against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims.”
The report includes two new sections, one highlighting key USCIRF recommendations that the U.S. government has implemented from USCIRF 2020 annual report, and the other addressing human rights violations perpetrated based on the coercive enforcement of interpretations of religion.
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at Media@USCIRF.gov or Danielle Ashbahian at dashbahian@uscirf.gov or +1-202-702-2778.