HCMC ARCHDIOCESE ENCOUNTERS RESISTANCE AS IT TRIES TO EXPAND

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000972

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL SNAR SOCI ELAB ECON VM
SUBJECT: HCMC ARCHDIOCESE ENCOUNTERS RESISTANCE AS IT TRIES TO EXPAND
HIV/AIDS ACTIVITIES

REF: HCMC 757; B) 05 HCMC 1152


1. (SBU) On August 28, HCMC CDCRep and PolOff met with Father
John Dinh Toai, head of the HCMC Catholic Archdiocese "Pastoral
Care" HIV/AIDS network to review the status of cooperation with
local authorities. Toai told us that the church is able to
conduct its HIV/AIDS activities with the tacit, unofficial
support of the city government and the People's AIDS Committee
(PAC). This includes operation of its community-based center
for mothers and children with HIV/AIDS (see reftels for more
information on the archdiocese's HIV/AIDS activities).
Officials from the PAC, the coordinator for the city's HIV/AIDS
strategy, often run interference with local officials to
facilitate church operations. For example, the mother and
children's center often faces hostile questioning and threats of
closure or expulsion of residents from local police and
administrative officials that the PAC is able to defuse.


2. (SBU) Toai complained that the Pastoral Care network has
failed to receive HCMC government support to register and
legalize its operations. For example, in 2005, the Archdiocese
sought to register the women and children's center as a
"Charitable Social Organization." Legal registration would
facilitate the church's ability to provide services for the
center's clients -- including enrolling children in school and
providing medical care. Legal registration would eliminate
episodic local harassment and would also facilitate the church's
ability to relocate the center in the future. Toai explained
that, as a legal entity, the center would be able to rent or
purchase land. Toai complained that the paperwork continues to
bounce around between various HCMC provincial-level departments,
including the PAC.


3. (SBU) Toai noted that doctors and other staff affiliated with
the Pastoral Care network also have been unable to benefit from
technical support and seminars sponsored by international
donors, but coordinated and run through the PAC. The PAC issues
the invitations and Pastoral Care staff are not invited, Toai
said. The PAC then issues training certificates to the
participants. As the PAC demands that those involved in
HIV/AIDS care be properly trained and certified as part of its
legal registration process, the Pastoral Care network suffers a
double whammy.


4. (SBU) Toai also has discussed with HCMC officials the desire
of the Archdiocese to register the Pastoral Care network as a
local NGO, in part, to facilitate the archdiocese receiving
funding from international sources. Toai noted that European
donors such as Caritas Norway told him that they could only
provide the network with funding were it to be registered
legally. However, he could never get a straight answer from
city officials on how to apply. Toai acknowledged that CARE
has been able to provide Pastoral Care limited funding along
with other local partners, but PACCOM, the GVN's international
NGO administrator, reportedly prevented Catholic Relief Services
from providing targeted funding specifically to Pastoral Care.


5. (SBU) Another Pastoral Care HIV/AIDS initiative, the
Archdiocese's plan to create an integrated, community-based
HIV/AIDS care center in HCMC, also is languishing because of
bureaucratic difficulties, Toai stated. The city has told the
church that they would not even begin to consider the project
unless the church could first demonstrate that they had the land
and the funding to carry out the project. However, on multiple
occasions, local officials refused to approve the church from
buying property once they learned that it would be used for an
HIV/AIDS center. DOLISA staff offered the church property
belonging to one of its officials in an isolated location and at
inflated prices; the church demurred.


6. (SBU) Comment: HCMC officials seem to be in uncharted
regulatory waters when it comes to legally registering a local
NGO -- faith based or not -- to provide social services.
However, HCMC officials could find ways of enhancing the
operation of church activities and facilitating its
participation in HIV/AIDS activities. The goals of the
authorities and the church in this area are congruent. HCMC
officials appear reluctant to empower a domestic
non-governmental organization outside of the Communist Party's
mass mobilization organization, the Fatherland Front. End
Comment.

WINNICK