Letter to Mr John D Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State of USA
January 14, 2008
John D. Negroponte
Deputy Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Re: Emphasis on Human Rights and Religious Freedom during Your Upcoming Trip to Vietnam
Dear Deputy Secretary Negroponte:
I write to request your support and emphasis on human rights and religious freedom issues on your upcoming trip to Vietnam by late January 2008.
As you are fully awared that despite having won Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the United States, which is now Vietnam's largest export market, and Vietnam's admission to both the World Trade Organization and the United Nations as an observer, human rights and religious freedom repression there continues to escalate at an alarming rate.
Although the constitution and government decrees provide for freedom of worship, the Vietnamese government restricted religious freedom to a significant degree. The 2005 government framework on religion maintained overall government control of religious organizations and kept in place significant limitations on education, medical, and charitable work by religious groups, especially from the Catholic Church. The government continued to use the recognition and registration processes to monitor and limit the activities of church organizations. Official approval is required for ordination of clerics, establishment of such religious teaching institutions: colleges and universities, etc., and entry of students into seminaries or convents. The law mandates that the government act in a time bound and transparent fashion, but the approval process for recognition and registration could be slow and nontransparent.
Lately, local government officials keep harassing and terrorizing Catholic faithful. They illegally seize the Church’s lands by force along with other important properties such as: the former Apostolic Nuncio’s office and the land at Thai Ha parish in Hanoi; the former rectory at Ha Dong parish in Ha Dong City; the former Pontifical Academy Pius V in Dalat city; the 4.7-acre land of La Vang Pilgrimage Center in Quang Tri province; the Church property at 11 Nguyen Du Street in Ho Chi Minh City; and so on. (You might read these articles, we reported them on our website http://vietcatholic.net ). These properties are very much needed for the Vietnamese Catholic Church today and in the long run in her mission to evangelize, educate, and train all the Catholic faithful to become useful and productive citizens, to actively contribute to the overall development and protection of Vietnamese society as a whole.
According to our credible reports, Catholics in Hanoi, Ha Dong, and Saigon continue to hold peaceful protests by conducting several prayer and candle-light vigils throughout the day, and this really capture the serious attention of worldwide Catholic media. According to these sources, this kind of protest that has been ongoing for some weeks now is the first such public demonstration to be held by the Vietnamese Catholics. The situation may get worst if it does not get proper attention and action by the United States government as consequences are at high stake.
As human rights remains a high priority for the United States in contacts with Vietnam, and if Vietnam continues to violate this, U.S. government must withdraw Vietnam's favorable trade status with us unless Hanoi releases all political and religious prisoners such as: Father Nguyen Van Ly, and other priests, and takes significant steps to reform its human rights policies. The United States can not loose her leverage on human rights reform in Vietnam.
Mr. Michael Marine, the former U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, in his farewell press conference on August 9, 2007 said: “Perhaps my biggest disappointment here is that we've not been able to expand the space for political dialogue in Vietnam, I wish I could say it's improving, but I can't, in fact, I'm a bit discouraged."
Human rights and religious freedom are the basic freedom which everyone is entitled to and in your capacity as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State I urge you to pressure the Vietnamese regime to recognize these rights, return church properties immediately, release all prisoners of conscience, and encourage democracy.
Sincerely,
Rev. John Tran Cong Nghi
Director, VietCatholic News Agency (VNA)
Chairman, Mass Communications Committee of Vietnamese Catholic Federation in USA.
January 14, 2008
John D. Negroponte
Deputy Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Re: Emphasis on Human Rights and Religious Freedom during Your Upcoming Trip to Vietnam
Dear Deputy Secretary Negroponte:
I write to request your support and emphasis on human rights and religious freedom issues on your upcoming trip to Vietnam by late January 2008.
As you are fully awared that despite having won Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the United States, which is now Vietnam's largest export market, and Vietnam's admission to both the World Trade Organization and the United Nations as an observer, human rights and religious freedom repression there continues to escalate at an alarming rate.
Although the constitution and government decrees provide for freedom of worship, the Vietnamese government restricted religious freedom to a significant degree. The 2005 government framework on religion maintained overall government control of religious organizations and kept in place significant limitations on education, medical, and charitable work by religious groups, especially from the Catholic Church. The government continued to use the recognition and registration processes to monitor and limit the activities of church organizations. Official approval is required for ordination of clerics, establishment of such religious teaching institutions: colleges and universities, etc., and entry of students into seminaries or convents. The law mandates that the government act in a time bound and transparent fashion, but the approval process for recognition and registration could be slow and nontransparent.
Lately, local government officials keep harassing and terrorizing Catholic faithful. They illegally seize the Church’s lands by force along with other important properties such as: the former Apostolic Nuncio’s office and the land at Thai Ha parish in Hanoi; the former rectory at Ha Dong parish in Ha Dong City; the former Pontifical Academy Pius V in Dalat city; the 4.7-acre land of La Vang Pilgrimage Center in Quang Tri province; the Church property at 11 Nguyen Du Street in Ho Chi Minh City; and so on. (You might read these articles, we reported them on our website http://vietcatholic.net ). These properties are very much needed for the Vietnamese Catholic Church today and in the long run in her mission to evangelize, educate, and train all the Catholic faithful to become useful and productive citizens, to actively contribute to the overall development and protection of Vietnamese society as a whole.
According to our credible reports, Catholics in Hanoi, Ha Dong, and Saigon continue to hold peaceful protests by conducting several prayer and candle-light vigils throughout the day, and this really capture the serious attention of worldwide Catholic media. According to these sources, this kind of protest that has been ongoing for some weeks now is the first such public demonstration to be held by the Vietnamese Catholics. The situation may get worst if it does not get proper attention and action by the United States government as consequences are at high stake.
As human rights remains a high priority for the United States in contacts with Vietnam, and if Vietnam continues to violate this, U.S. government must withdraw Vietnam's favorable trade status with us unless Hanoi releases all political and religious prisoners such as: Father Nguyen Van Ly, and other priests, and takes significant steps to reform its human rights policies. The United States can not loose her leverage on human rights reform in Vietnam.
Mr. Michael Marine, the former U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, in his farewell press conference on August 9, 2007 said: “Perhaps my biggest disappointment here is that we've not been able to expand the space for political dialogue in Vietnam, I wish I could say it's improving, but I can't, in fact, I'm a bit discouraged."
Human rights and religious freedom are the basic freedom which everyone is entitled to and in your capacity as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State I urge you to pressure the Vietnamese regime to recognize these rights, return church properties immediately, release all prisoners of conscience, and encourage democracy.
Sincerely,
Rev. John Tran Cong Nghi
Director, VietCatholic News Agency (VNA)
Chairman, Mass Communications Committee of Vietnamese Catholic Federation in USA.