WRITTEN QUESTION E-0004/03

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(16 January 2003)

Subject: Illegal detention of Buddhist leaders in Vietnam

According to information provided by the Paris-based NGO Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam, the situation of Ven. Thich Huyen Quang and Ven. Thich Quang Do, prominent dissidents and leaders

of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) is extremely disturbing. UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang is now celebrating his twentieth year under house arrest without trial in Quang Phuoc Pagoda, Nghia Hanh village in the remote central province of Quang Ngai. Arrested in 1982 for protesting the suppression of the independent UBCV and the creation of a State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church, he has never been formally charged nor granted the right to a fair trial. Today, the 84-year-old Buddhist monk is in very poor health as a result of harsh detention conditions. In a message to the European Parliament in September 2002, he confirmed that he is routinely harassed by security police, denied all freedom of movement and communication, and deprived of medical care. The UBCV's deputy leader, Ven. Thich Quang Do, is detained under extremely severe conditions at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Ho Chi Minh City. The 74-year-old Nobel Peace Prize nominee was condemned to two years' administrative detention in June 2001 for launching an Appeal for Democracy in Vietnam proposing a peaceful transition plan for democratic change. He is currently detained incommunicado. Both monks have been recognised by the UN as victims of arbitrary detention. Despite the fact that Commissioner Christopher Patten reiterated the EU's grave concern about their continued detention, the Vietnamese authorities refused last September to allow a visiting EP delegation to travel to Quang Ngai and Ho Chi Minh City to meet Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, even though the delegation was mandated by an EP resolution (July 2001(1)) to meet detained religious leaders in Vietnam.

Does the Commission consider that the Vietnamese Government's recent obstruction of the EP delegation's meetings with detained religious leaders in Vietnam constitutes a violation of the human rights clause embodied in the 1995 EU-Vietnam Cooperation Agreement and, if so, what steps does the Commission intend to take in this regard? In view of the UBCV Patriarch's seriously deteriorating health, will the Commission strongly press the Vietnamese Government to allow him to return to Ho Chi Minh City for medical treatment? Will the Commission send an EU diplomatic envoy to visit Thich Huyen Quang in Quang Ngai at the earliest possible opportunity?

(1) OJ C 65 E, 14.3.2002, p. 369.

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(4 February 2003)

Commission policy, as expressed in the May 2001 Commission Communication on the European Union's role in promoting human rights and democratisation in third countries(1), is to encourage and support continued progress in Human Rights and Democracy in all appropriate international and bilateral fora. The Commission, together with the Member States represented in Vietnam, closely monitors human rights developments in the country.

The Human Rights clause of the Community Vietnam Cooperation Agreement of 1995 provides the Commission and the Government of Vietnam with a supplementary framework to have a political dialogue on all questions of concern in addition to the regular diplomatic channels and Union-démarches to the government of Vietnam.

Please refer to the Commission's answer to Written Question E-0003/03 by the Honourable Member(2) on the Union's joint statement with regard to religious freedom in Vietnam during the Consultative Group meeting in December 2002.

The Commission and Member States have requested the Vietnamese authorities to release both Mr Quang and Mr Do. The Commission believes that neither the crimes they are accused of, nor their advanced age justify their detainment/house arrest. The Commission Delegation in Vietnam has recently repeated the request for access to Mr Quang and Mr Do. Should the Delegation be allowed to visit them, the Commission will inform the Honourable Member about these meetings.

(1) COM(2001) 252 final.

(2) See page 206.