History (from www.fathernguyenvanly.blogspot.com ) Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly is a Roman Catholic priest and prominent Vietnamese dissident involved in many pro-democracy movements. Father Ly spent around 15 years in prison for peacefully criticizing government policies on religion and advocating for greater respect for human rights since the late 1970’s. For his ongoing imprisonment and continuous non-violent protest, Amnesty International has adopted Nguyen Van Ly in December, 1983 as a Prisoner of conscience. In November, 2000, Nguyen Van Ly gained global and official attention, when members of the Committee for Religious Freedom visited Nguyen Van Ly in his village, during US president Clinton's visit to Vietnam but he was sentenced again in October 2001 to 15 years in prison for activities linked to the defence of free speech. The sentence was later reduced several times and he was finally released in February 2004. Most recently, his support for the Bloc 8406 manifesto has led to his sentence on March 30, 2007 for an additional eight years in prison. Prepared by Amnesty International Group 19 for Vietnamese community   more »

Shocked by Mr. Hill's remarks that "religious freedom in Vietnam has expanded significantly" and that "Vietnam no longer qualifies as a serious violator of religious freedom", Mr. Vo Van Ai, President of Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam and International Spokesman of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) sent a letter today to Senator Barbara Boxer, Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs expressing deep concern that Mr. Hill's testimony "gave an incorrect and misleading assessment of Vietnam's alleged "progress" on religious freedom". In view of the upcoming vote in the Senate, Mr. Vo Van Ai drew Senator Boxer's attention to the following "grave errors and omissions" in the State Department's official's testimony: c) Vietnam's majority religion is Buddhism, which was introduced into Vietnam 2,000 years ago. Yet there is not one mention of Buddhism in Mr. Hill's testimony on religious freedom. "d) Repression against Hoa Hao Buddhists, four of whom were sentenced to 4-6 years imprisonment in 2007 and another 10 detained in 2005, according to the State Department's Report, is not mentioned. Nor is the forced de-frocking of Khmer Krom Buddhist monks in 2007. Nor the continued detention of Christian Montagnards; "e) Last but not least, Mr. Hill states that Vietnam has "addressed the problems that constituted serious violations of religious freedom as defined by the 1998 US International Religious Freedom Act". This remark is totally inconsistent with the recommendations made by the US International Commission for Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the independent body established under that very 1998 International Religious Freedom Act to advise the Congress and the US President. Indeed, the USCIRF has recommended that Vietnam be maintained on the backlist of "Countries of Particular Concern" for its grave religious freedom abuses. In October 2007, a top-level USCRF delegation made a two-week visit to Vietnam, holding private meetings with UBCV Deputy leader Thich Quang Do at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery on 26 October, and with senior UBCV official Thich Thien Hanh and Le Cong Cau, a leader of the UBCV's Buddhist Youth Movement in Hue on 27 October, during which they heard extensive first-hand testimonies on Vietnam's continuing repression against the outlawed UBCV. It is deeply regrettable that the USCIRF was not on the panel of witnesses at this Hearing to inform the Senate of their important findings. n conclusion, Mr. Vo Van Ai wrote: "The situation of religious freedom in Vietnam is far more serious than Mr. Hill's testimony suggests. I urge the Senate to vote in favour of the Vietnam Human Rights Act to ensure that religious freedom and human rights remain a core element of US-Vietnam relations. Economic development alone will not bring democracy to Vietnam. By supporting human rights as well as enhanced trade, you will positively impact the lives of 84 million people in Vietnam.   more »

PARIS, 12th March 2008 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) - The US State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in 2007, released on Tuesday in Washington D.C., condemned Vietnam's "unsatisfactory" human rights record in a 52-page overview of the legal and extra-legal barriers to citizens' enjoyment of human rights in Vietnam. Describing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as "an authoritarian state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam", the report noted that in 2007 "citizens could not change their government, and political opposition movements were prohibited. The government continued its crackdown on dissent, arresting a number of political activists and disrupting nascent opposition organizations…". "Prison conditions were often severe. Individuals were arbitrarily detained for political activities and were denied the right to fair and expeditious trials. The government reinforced its controls over the press and the Internet and continued to limit citizens' privacy rights and freedom of speech, assembly, movement, and association". The Vietnamese government "persisted in placing restrictions on the political activities of religious groups [and] maintained its prohibition of independent human rights organizations. Violence and discrimination against women remained a problem. Trafficking in women and children for purposes of prostitution continued. Some ethnic minority groups suffered societal discrimination. The government limited workers' rights, especially to organize independently, and arrested or harassed several labor activists". Whereas the State Department reported that "in March [2007] the government repealed Decree 31, a provision on administrative probation often used to punish perceived political dissidents. However… the government also used other decrees, ordinances, and measures, such as Article 88 [of the Criminal Code – "conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam"] to detain activists for the peaceful expression of opposing political views", Vo Van Ai denounced Vietnam's adoption of Ordinance 44 in 2002, an even more prohibitive act of legislation that authorises not only administrative detention without trial, as Decree 31/CP, but also permits the internment of dissidents in psychiatric hospitals or "Social Protection Centres" for bad elements of society. Vo Van Ai called on Vietnam to immediately repeal Ordinance 44.   more »

This lengthy report is strong in specifics and notes the many arrests and imprisonments for advocating political reform, which is crime under Article 88 of the Vietnamese Constitution of 1992. Portions are in bold by the editor of VietAm Review on topics that are frequently cited -- prison labor, specific prisoners, political parties, and the book Perfect Spy by Larry Berman, which is soon to be published in Vietnamese by the state-controlled press. To access the whole report by link, it is: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100543.htm   more »