Towards the Rule of Law for Freedom of Religion and Belief in Vietnam

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Notes

1. From September 1, 2016 memo of the TV arm of the National Assembly to the Hanoi church of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) at 2 Ngo Tram Street. The memo asks the church's leaders to participate in a TV seminar on Article 22 in the draft law which requires all religious education to teach Vietnamese history and law as a core courses to be completed before religious teaching. The quotations are English summaries of the points in the Vietnamese document.

2. The interviews were part of author Reimer's research for the Under Caesar’s Sword project (overseen by Notre Dame University’s Center for Civil and Human Rights) which is examining how Christians in some 20 countries and regions respond to persecution. Findings to be published by Cambridge University Press in 2017.

3. The Vietnamese term is nhà nước pháp quyền, literally “state rule-of law.” It seems to us that in translating the term as “rule-of-law state” there may also be an attempt to under-emphasize “state” in the English translation, as well as following Vietnamese syntax in which the adjective usually follows the noun.

4. The idea of civil society remains highly suspect in Vietnam. Of 15 civil society leaders (not dissidents!) invited to meet President Obama in Hanoi on May 24, 2016, nine were prevented from coming. The meeting was not even mentioned by the Vietnamese state media.

5. For example, for many months the Thanh Khê, Quảng Bình congregation of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North), registered since the 1950’s, has been raided and congregants sometimes physically abused and their motorbikes smashed by local authorities and thugs. Church leaders who came from Hanoi to intervene were likewise treated. All attempts to seek redress from higher authorities have failed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Reg Reimer

Reg Reimer served as an evangelical missionary and aid worker in Vietnam for the duration of the Vietnam War. Alongside executive posts in international relief and development organizations, teaching assignments, and senior staff responsibilities with the World Evangelical Alliance, Reimer has visited the Socialist Republic of Vietnam numerous times since 1980 to research religious oppression of Christians and advocate for religious freedom. He is acknowledged as an authority on the century-old Evangelical Protestant movement in Vietnam and is the author of Vietnam’s Christians: A Century of Growth in Adversity (2011).

Hien Vu

Hien Vu is Vietnam Program Manager at the Institute for Global Engagement. She holds an MA in Peacemaking and Conflict Studies from Fresno Pacific University. She has prepared bilingual (English and Vietnamese) training manuals and provided numerous workshops on Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking to Vietnamese and multi-cultural Christian groups. Prior to joining IGE, Hien worked with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) in Hong Kong.