(SBU) MFA CONFIRMS DISSIDENT'S RELEASE UNDER CONSIDERATION;

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 001897 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/IRF, DRL/AWH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KIRF PHUM PGOV HUMANR VM SUBJECT: (SBU) MFA CONFIRMS DISSIDENT'S RELEASE UNDER CONSIDERATION; REITERATES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS REF: A) HANOI 1764; B) EAP/MLS OI 73-06; C) HANOI 1666 HANOI 00001897 001.2 OF 004 Summary and Comment -------------- ¶1. (SBU) On July 25, the MFA confirmed to the Ambassador that prominent dissident Dr. Pham Hong Son will (likely) be released September 2, but requested we keep this information close-hold within the USG until the GVN makes their final decision in August. The GVN has not decided if it will release other political and religious prisoners. The MFA also provided a written update on religious freedom developments and a written response to Senator Grassley's recent questions on human rights in Vietnam. The Ambassador encouraged the GVN to release all prisoners of concern and to repeal or reform GVN Decree 31 (allowing arbitrary imprisonment) before the President visits in November. He also noted that slow progress on Protestant house church registration in the north and continuing abuse of a Protestant congregation in Thanh Hoa Province, including the beating of two women on July 24 (Poloff was given photographs of their injuries),threatens to overshadow Vietnam's progress on religious freedom even as the United States considers its decision regarding Vietnam's Country of Particular Concern (CPC) status. ¶2. (SBU) Summary and Comment cont'd.: Son's impending release is welcome news, although we will continue to push for the release of all prisoners of concern. The Ambassador will meet with Son's wife on July 27 to ascertain what she and another dissident's wife have heard about the amnesty. Visits from Assistant Secretary Lowenkron and Ambassador Hanford could help to continue to move the Vietnamese in the right direction in the areas of human rights and religious freedom before the President's November visit. End Summary and Comment. Human Rights Developments -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Late on July 25, the Ambassador met with the MFA's Department of International Organizations (MFA/IO) Director General Pham Binh Minh. (Note: Minh is the GVN's Human Rights Dialogue coordinator. He chaired the Vietnamese side in our bilateral dialogue in February as well as similar dialogues with the EU, Australia and other nations. End Note). Minh stated that he had been instructed to keep us informed of human rights developments in Vietnam following the February Human Rights Dialogue as part of the GVN's commitment to show that the dialogue is "results based." He handed over two documents outlining religious freedom and human rights improvements in Vietnam. The first document, which detailed religious developments over the past six months, is identical to what Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA) Chairman Ngo Yen Thi sent to Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom John Hanford on July 8 (Ref A, paragraph 4). The second document was drafted in response to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Grassley's July 12 questions concerning religious freedom and Vietnam's Tier-2 status on Trafficking in Persons efforts (verbatim text in paragraph 9). ¶4. (SBU) The Ambassador thanked Minh for the GVN's response to Chairman Grassley's questions and urged the GVN to publicly commit to continue to work with the United States to address our human rights and religious freedom concerns following Vietnam's WTO accession (Ref B). The Ambassador further noted that Assistant Secretary for Democracy Rights and Labor Barry Lowenkron hopes to SIPDIS return to Vietnam before the President visits in November. ¶5. (SBU) Reminding Minh that the United States is committed to a results-based Human Rights Dialogue, the Ambassador noted that one agenda item from February's round that has not seen much progress is Decree 31 (which allows administrative detention on vague national security grounds). We would like to see Decree 31 repealed or at least reformed. To achieve substantive movement in this area, hopefully before November, the United States is willing to assist the GVN in providing technical assistance and expertise, but we need an expression of interest from Hanoi, the Ambassador said. Pham Hong Son -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Minh confirmed that prominent dissident Dr. Pham Hong Son will "likely" be among the prisoners released in a general amnesty on the occasion of Vietnam's National Day (September 2). MFA/IO had recommended that the GVN consider releasing all four individuals on our list of prisoners of concern (the others are Ma Van Bay, Nguyen Vu Binh and Phan Van Ban). Minh was careful to state that "the procedure for considering Son's release is still continuing" and requested that the United Stated keep this information close hold, even from other missions, until the GVN gives permission to inform the public and Son's family. He implied, however, that news of the HANOI 00001897 002.2 OF 004 release could be given to Members of Congress if it would not mean public release of the information. (Note: On July 26, the MFA provided Post with a copy of the letter Vietnamese Ambassador Chien sent to Senator Grassley on July 25, which, among other things, informs the Senator of the decision to release Son. Copy of letter e-mailed to EAP/MLS. End Note.) The final decision will likely be made public in late August, Minh added. The Ambassador asked if others on our list of prisoners of concern, mentioning each by name, will also be released. Minh only replied that "the (consideration of amnesty) process is still ongoing." The Ambassador encouraged the GVN to release all three, and reiterated his request to visit Nguyen Vu Binh in prison if he is not to be released. Religious Freedom -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The Ambassador noted that the decision point for continuation of removal of Vietnam's CPC status on religious freedom is fast approaching, and Ambassador Hanford may return to Vietnam soon to encourage the GVN to speed up progress with registration of Protestants in northern Vietnam and the Northwest Highlands. He also raised U.S. concerns about the continuing troubles facing the "Full Gospel" house church in Thanh Hoa Province (Ref C). (Note: Poloff met with four members of the church just prior to the MFA meeting. They reported that local officials continue to verbally and physically abuse members of the congregation who attempt to visit the home in which the group gathers for worship. On July 24, two women who did so, Mrs. Le Thi Duc and her daughter Nguyen Thi Huong, were beaten by plain clothed police and dragged to the local cultural building where community residents were forced to insult the pair and throw cow manure at them. Poloff met with Duc, who showed him the severe swelling to the left side of her face and provided photographs of the two taken just after the incident the previous day. End Note.) Showing these photographs to DG Minh, the Ambassador stressed that it would be unfortunate if continued unpunished incidents like this overshadow the good progress Vietnam has made in religious freedom. Minh stated that he has no information about the situation in Thanh Hoa, but promised to investigate. "We also know that some people who do bad things are associated with religion and claim they are being persecuted for religious reasons, though they really are not," he said. The Ambassador stressed that the evidence in this case does not support that explanation. Comment -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Son's impending release is welcome news, although we will continue to push for the release of all prisoners of concern. We had already planned to meet with Son's and Binh's wives on July 27 to discuss their husbands' status. We will honor the GVN's request to keep the decision to release Son close hold, but will ascertain what they have heard about the amnesty. Visits from Assistant Secretary Lowenkron and Ambassador Hanford could help to continue to SIPDIS push the Vietnamese in the right direction in the areas of human rights and religious freedom before the President's November visit. End Comment. GVN RESPONSE TO CHAIRMAN GRASSLEY -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Begin verbatim GVN text: RESPONSES OF THE EMBASSY OF VIETNAM TO QUESTIONS OF CHAIRMAN GRASSLEY AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE AT HEARING ON VIETNAM PNTR (Para) 1. How does the trafficking categorization work? The U.S. Department of State's Report on Trafficking in Persons released 5 June 2006 placed 26 countries in Tier 1; 79 countries in Tier 2 Non-watch list; 32 countries in Tier 2 Watch list and 12 countries in Tier 3. Vietnam continues to be listed in Tier 2 Non-watch list, together with 78 others (79 out of 149 countries covered by the report), including such countries as Portugal, Moldova, Thailand, and the Philippines. As compared with other countries in the region, Vietnam is placed higher then Malaysia, India, Taiwan, and China. (Para) 2. Why is Vietnam in the Tier 2 Non-watch category? The major reason is that Vietnam has not made sufficient efforts to combat trafficking, particularly the trafficking of Vietnamese women as brides to destinations in East Asia and the forced labor conditions of many Vietnamese workers sent abroad. The Vietnamese Government has taken significant steps in this area, HANOI 00001897 003.2 OF 004 including the following: - increase the level of punishment for trafficking in women; - pay increased attention to reintegrating victims of trafficking into the community; - strengthen cooperation with other countries in combating trafficking in women, especially in controlling the Vietnamese border with neighboring countries; - inspect and regulate services offered by brokers in employment, marriage, child adoption; - increase activities on poverty reduction and job creation for women; and - advocate actively increasing the responsibility of the people in preventing and fighting trafficking in women The Government has also been collaborating with concerned countries to fight the crime and to ensure the rights and dignity of Vietnamese nationals who are there through marriages or labor contracts. With respect to collaboration with the U.S., Vietnamese government agencies have been cooperating with the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, providing information and data on this issue at the request of the Embassy. (Para) 3. What does the constitution and new religious freedom law say about the right to establish a religion and practice one's faith? -Citizens have to right to freedom of belief and religion, that is, to follow or not to follow a religion; -The State guarantees the right to freedom of belief and religion of its citizens. -The Ordinance on Religion and Belief (passed by the National Assembly on 18 June 2004) has elaborated on provisions in the Constitution and codified the guidelines and policies of the State of Vietnam on religions and beliefs in this new context. This legal document better reflects the aspiration and needs for religious belief and spiritual practices of the people and ensures compliance with international conventions on human rights that Vietnam has signed. Article 38 of the Ordinance eloquently states that "in case of non-compliance with an international convention that Vietnam has signed, the international conventional shall prevail." (Para) 4. How many religions are recognized by the state, what are they, and what does it mean to not be recognized? Does it mean you cannot hold religious services by law and/or in practice? On recognized religions: Vietnam is a multi-religious state, with more than 20 million believers, and more than 30,000 places of worship. Buddhism is the largest of the major world religions in Vietnam, with about ten million followers and more than 20,000 pagodas dedicated to Buddha. The second largest is Catholicism, with about six million followers and more than 6,000 churches engaged in religious activities throughout the country. More than 500 churches damaged during the U.S. air war against Vietnam are being rebuilt. Other recognized religious organizations are northern Vietnam Evangelical Church and Southern Vietnam Evangelical Church; Caodaism, Hoa Hao and Islam. These 6 major religions consist of thousands of denominations. Those denominations that have not been registered still can carry out normal religious activities. At the same time, the Government facilitates the process of application for official recognition. The question of registration is for Protestant denominations only. The process of registration was started a year ago after the Ordinance of Religions and beliefs was promulgated in 1/1/2005. The Prime Minister's ("PM") instruction on Protestant affairs was released at the same time. So far, about 400 house churches and 600 worshipping places in the Central Highlands have been registered. Three denominations (including one of the Baptist Churches) have been recognized. The process of registration for all the remaining denominations has been accelerated according to the Ordinance and PM Instruction. (Para) 5. What is status of Latter Day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Baptists? These denominations are in the process of registration. In Vietnam, Baptists have 7 different churches. One of these has been recognized; the remaining is in the process of registration. (Para) 6. Of the 2 Cardinals, 1 archbishop and 36 bishops in the Catholic religion, who has been appointed by the Vatican and who by the government of Vietnam? Does the Government appoint cardinals, HANOI 00001897 004.2 OF 004 bishops, and priests etc, or have veto power? When did it last use its veto or disapproval power? The last time the Government used its veto on a Vatican appointment was in 1998. The current 2 Cardinals, 1 archbishop, and 36 Bishops were all ordained by the Vatican. According to Vietnamese law, the State does not nominate or ordain religious officials or leaders. End verbatim GVN text. MARINE