GENEVA (Reuters, 16 March 1999) - The United Nations special investigator on religion Tuesday accused Vietnam of continuing to deny people freedom of worship and called for reforms.
Abdelfattah Amor, in his report on the situation in Vietnam, said all of the religious communities there were prevented from conducting activities freely.
These include Buddhists, who form the majority of Vietnam's 78 million people, the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao sects based in the south, as well as Muslims, Catholics and Protestants, according to Amor's report to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
The 53-member forum opens its annual six-week session in Geneva Monday to examine violations worldwide.
"Religion appears as an instrument of policy rather than a component of society, free to develop as it wishes, something which is ultimately contrary to freedom of religion or belief as governed by international law," said Amor, a former dean of the University of Tunis law faculty who visited Vietnam in October.
"The current situation of the religious communities, in which circumscribed areas of freedom are emerging within a general framework of controls...appears to be valid for all religious denominations," he added.
Since Vietnam introduced a policy of openness in 1990, there have been some positive developments, Amor said.
The government has moved away from "an anti-religious policy toward the authorisation, within a framework that is well defined...by authorities, of religious practice and the building of places of worship.
"The freedom and therefore the progress in question are granted and withdrawn according to the pleasure of authorities," he said.
Amor noted that he was prevented from holding talks with certain political leaders and with representatives of the Hoa Hao, Hindu, Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist communities.
"Some major...obstacles were encountered in connection with private interviews and movements," he said.
The U.S. State Department, in its annual report on human rights worldwide, said last month that Vietnam's human rights record was poor last year despite some improvements. It cited improvements in freedom of worship and said in many areas an increase in religious activity and observance had been reported.
"However, government regulations control religious hierarchies and organised religious activities, in part because the (Communist) party fears that organised religion may weaken its authority and influence," the U.S. report said.