European Parliament resolution on religious freedom in Vietnam
Date: 2001-07-05
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Viet Nam, freedom of religious beliefs, human rights, prisoner, religious discrimination

14.3.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 65 E/369

Thursday 5 July 2001

Urges the Council and Member States to ensure that strong and meaningful mechanisms are put in

6.
place to monitor government obligations and commitments made at the Special Session;

7.
Calls on the Council to nominate an EU Special Envoy charged with coordinating EU activities in the
area of children(cid:146)s rights and ensuring full respect for and implementation of a future EU common strategy
on children(cid:146)s rights;

8.
Calls on the Member States to establish an independent body to monitor the implementation of the
outcome document of the Special Session and to adopt a comprehensive national action plan, with spe-
cific, time-bound and measurable objectives;

9.
Calls on the Council to make the ratification of the new treaties by third countries a priority in its
political dialogue with these countries, and to make the ratification and implementation of theses treaties
an important element in talks with candidate countries;

10.
Calls on the Commission to ensure that EU policies and programmes contain a children(cid:146)s rights and
protection perspective and are subjected to child-impact analyses in order to assess their potential impli-
cations for children;

11.
Calls on the Member States at the next Intergovernmental Conference to include a legal base in the
Treaties for the promotion of a child perspective and compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child;

12.
Asks the Council and Commission to ensure that the rights of the child are part of the negotiating
process on human rights in accordance with the Copenhagen criteria for accession and calls on the Com-
mission to make an assessment of all the candidate countries from the point of view of children(cid:146)s rights in
the annual progress reports;

Calls on the Presidency to report to Parliament on EU efforts and priorities for the 2001 Special

13.
Session as expressed during the Ungass Prepcom;

Calls on the bodies and governments concerned to do everything in their power to solve the cases

14.
of missing children;

Calls on the Member States and other countries to do everything possible to speed up the universal
15.
ratification of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, so that substantial
progress regarding the early entry into force of the Optional Protocol, which lays the basis for a global ban
on the use of child soldiers, can be announced at the UN Special Session on Children;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Co-Presidents
16.
of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the national parliaments of the EU Member States, the
UNGASS secretariat, UNICEF and the national delegations at the UN General Assembly(cid:146)s Special Session
on Children.

18. Human rights: Religious freedom in Vietnam

B5-0482, 0488, 0499, 0507, 0514 and 0521/2001

European Parliament resolution on religious freedom in Vietnam

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Vietnam of 19 January 1995, 15 May

1997, 16 March 1998 and 16 November 2000,

A. whereas Vietnam as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

must uphold freedom of religious belief and worship as enshrined in its Article 18,

C 65 E/370

Official Journal of the European Communities

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14.3.2002

Thursday 5 July 2001

B. whereas Article 70 of Vietnam(cid:146)s constitution guarantees freedom of faith and religion,

C.

D.

E.

concerned at the further increase in tension between the government and the religious communities in
Vietnam as well as the many instances of persecution of religious leaders, following the ninth Con-
gress of the Vietnamese Communist Party from 19 to 22 April 2001,

concerned at the criticism expressed in March 1999 on religious persecution in Vietnam by the United
Nations Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Mr Abdelfattah Amor,

having regard to the persecution of leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, including its
Patriarch, the Very Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, detained without charge or trial for 20 years, set
free in 1997, but still not allowed to leave his place of detention, and the Venerable Thich Quang Do,
amnestied in 1998 after 20 years of detention, but sentenced to two years of administrative detention
after he tried to arrange for medical attention for the ailing Patriarch,

F.

having regard to the persecution suffered by Catholics,
in particular the imprisonment of Father
Nguyen Van Ly on 17 May 2001 for having practised his religion following a ban issued by the
Vietnamese authorities,

G. having regard to the persecution of all followers of so-called non-recognised churches, notably the Cao

Dai Church, the Hoa Hao Church and Protestant Churches,

H. having regard to the violent State repression in February 2001 of a massive protest by ethnic minor-
ities of the high plains of central Vietnam, who were protesting against the confiscation of their
ancestral lands, religious persecution and the ban on their conversion to Protestantism,

I. whereas respect for human rights and democratic principles is an essential element in the 1995 coop-

eration agreement between the European Union and Vietnam,

1.
Calls on the Government of Vietnam to implement the recommendations of the UN Special Rappor-
teur on Religious Intolerance, and in particular to guarantee the right of all people in Vietnam to practise
the religion of their choice, including the right to freedom of worship and the right of assembly;

2.
Calls for the release of all prisoners of conscience, especially the Very Venerable Thich Huyen Quang,
the Venerable Thich Quang Do and Father Nguyen Van Ly, and for them to be granted freedom of
movement;

3.
Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to respect the religious freedoms of Buddhists, Catholics, Protes-
tants as well as all other so-called non-recognised churches and to stop all anti-religious campaigns
throughout the country;

4.
Calls on the Vietnamese Government to ensure the (cid:145)safe, dignified and voluntary(cid:146) return of those who
fled from the high plains of central Vietnam to Cambodia, as agreed with the UNHCR, while guaranteeing
freedom of faith and worship;

5.
Calls on the ambassadors to Vietnam of the Member States and the European Union to follow devel-
opments in this connection with the closest attention and to report to Parliament in the framework of
relations between the Council, Commission and Parliament;

6.
Asks its Delegation for relations with the Member States of Asean, South-East Asia and the Republic
of Korea to plan a visit to Vietnam to meet religious leaders of all confessions, especially those who have
been imprisoned;

7.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the representatives of the Vietnamese Unified Buddhist Church, the
Cao Dai Church, the Hoa Hao Church, the Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches.