USCIRF's Travels in Northwest Vietnam

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 000609 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/IRF and DRL/AWH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF VM SUBJECT: USCIRF's Travels in Northwest Vietnam Ref A) Hanoi 500 Ref B) Hanoi 595 HANOI 00000609 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Three USCIRF staff and PolOff traveled to Son La and Dien Bien provinces from May 18-21 to meet with Catholic and Protestant congregations in two provinces that are well-known for difficulties in implementing the national law on belief and religion. In Son La province, while no Catholic congregations are registered by the local government, one congregation in Moc Chau district has no problems conducting regular services officiated by visiting priests while another congregation in Son La City experiences regular harassment by local officials which prohibit visiting priests from conducting formal services and providing Communion. In Dien Bien province, congregations affiliated with the nationally recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam North have little difficulty in holding services even in the remotest of areas, while churches lacking national recognition experience varying degrees of difficulty. The Assembly of God Church experiences low-level harassment from local officials and followers of the Inter-Evangelistic Movement Church (IEM) experience regular persecution, including attempts by local officials to have followers recant their faith. END SUMMARY. Son La - Some Catholics OK, Others Not -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Following the departure of both commissioners following their visit to Vietnam (ref B),the remaining USCIRF staff and PolOff traveled for four days in the Northwest Highland provinces of Son La and Dien Bien. Both Son La and Dien Bien provinces are known as some of the most restrictive and backwards in implementing the central governments edicts on religion. In Son La, the delegation first met with a Catholic congregation in Moc Chau district which meets in the large basement of a wealth parishioner that has been converted into a chapel that holds about 100 people. ¶3. (SBU) The Catholics in Moc Chau said that harassment from local authorities had dropped noticeably in the past two years and that they are now able to have a priest travel to the district and hold mass and give Communion every other Saturday. While the congregation still lacks formal registration, they are able to celebrate Christmas and Easter and have upwards of 600 parishioners participate in services on religious holidays. Parishioners said that they are not discriminated against due to their religious beliefs and only wish to have registration and be able to build a church in the district. ¶4. (SBU) In Son La City, the situation for Catholics is more difficult. The delegation met with over 100 representatives of the Catholic community in Son La City in an open courtyard attached to the home of a wealthy Catholic parishioner. The Catholics said local precinct officials have regularly prevented visiting priests from conducting mass or offering Communion. This past Easter and Christmas, planned celebrations had to be put on hold while local officials questioned the visiting priest for an extended period of time and then only allowed the priest to pray with those present and not to conduct formal mass. Parishioners said that priests do, however, regularly travel to the city to offer Communion in secret. ¶5. (SBU) Parishioners said that they do not face general discrimination due to their religious beliefs, but that the congregation continues to await a reply to its application for registration. According to local Catholics, in a disturbing use of "local democracy" the Chairman of the precinct-level People's Committee called together all the heads of household from the precinct where the current Catholic meeting point is located and held a "vote" to ask whether the Catholics should be registered. The vote was overwhelmingly against registering the Catholic meeting point. ¶6. (SBU) In a meeting with Tran Dinh Yen, Son La province's Chairman of the Communist Party's Mass Mobilization Committee, Yen stressed that the province was trying to balance the needs of the minority of citizens that profess a belief in God against the non-believing majority. Yen asserted that 92 percent of inhabitants in the province were atheist and that religious conversions at times created a "clash of cultures" within families. The main goal of the government is to support social unity, Yen affirmed. He noted that the province is currently evaluating requests for registration from the Catholics and some Protestant churches. He highlighted that religious worship at home is encouraged and said that the province did not welcome outsiders coming into the province to celebrate religious holidays. (NOTE: The delegation did not meet with any Protestant congregations in Son La at the recommendation of Protestant leaders. They said that their congregations, while not yet registered, were not experiencing difficulties like the Catholics and that they feared that undue attention from USCIRF could complicate their situation. END NOTE.) HANOI 00000609 002.2 OF 003 Dien Bien - Story of Three Protestant Churches -------------- - ¶7. (SBU) In Dien Bien province, the delegation traveled three hours on bumpy mud paths and through streams to meet with a small ECVN congregation in the mountainous area of Tuan Giao district. The congregation is made up of the entire ethnic H'mong community in Hua Sat village in Na Say commune. The villagers explained that they converted to Christianity after listening to Protestant radio programs broadcast in H'mong from the Philippines. ¶8. (SBU) After deciding to convert to Protestantism, the village chief and the most observant male member of the community traveled to Hanoi to make contact with the ECVN church and express a desire to start a congregation. After making contact with ECVN headquarters, the observant male began training to become an ordained pastor. Once he completed his training, he was ordained and the province then facilitated registration of the congregation, the village chief explained. The pastor said that each family has a Bible and hymnal in H'mong provided by the ECVN headquarters in Hanoi. The villagers said that they have experienced no difficulties since their conversion to Christianity at the hand of government officials and thanked officials for facilitating their travel to Hanoi for religious conferences. ¶9. (SBU) In Dien Bien Phu City, the delegation met with Dien Bien province's Chairman of Communist Party's Mass Mobilization Committee Liu Van Binh. Binh claimed that 99 percent of all religious followers in the province were Protestant and that the province had 32,000 Protestants. (NOTE: The ECVN claims that close to half of its followers - over 70,000 people - reside in Dien Bien province. With the inclusion of other Protestant religions means the number of believers is likely closer to 80,000. END NOTE.) ¶10. (SBU) The government has begun the process of registering religious meeting points and has currently registered two meeting points out of 274 that are currently operating, according to Binh. He claimed that nearly all Protestants in the province were ethnic H'mong and that more than 70 percent of the H'mong had only recently migrated to the province. He claimed that the constant moving of parishioners and church leaders has complicated the ability of the province to register local congregations. ¶11. (SBU) The delegation later met with an Assembly of God congregation made up of ethnic Thai in Dien Bien District, Nong Luong Commune. Parishioners said that they meet weekly without difficulty on Sunday to conduct services with an average of 30 individuals attending. A decade ago, it was common for local officials to pressure followers to recant their faith according to the leader of the congregation, Pastor Khoa. He said that while outright hostility against the church is now abnormal, low-level harassment from local officials is still common. For example, new converts are routinely questioned by local officials as to why they have chosen to become Protestants and ethnic H'mong followers are prohibited from attending their congregation. Pastor Khoa complained that they were unable to register their congregation, in spite of repeated attempts. ¶12. (SBU) The delegation encountered many difficulties en route to its final meeting in Dien Bien province. Originally, local officials objected to the delegation meeting with an Inter-Evangelistic Movement (IEM) congregation in Dien Bien Dong district, Pu Nhi commune but after much discussion eventually relented to allow the meeting. While traveling to Pu Nhi commune, the delegation encountered three large dump trucks broken down and abandoned on the road. The first dump truck was left unlocked and the delegation was able to push it out of the way. The delegation was able to drive off the road around the second abandoned dump truck. The third dump truck was left about 8 km outside of Pu Nhi commune in the middle of the road which had a precipitous drop-off on one side and a mountain-wall on the other. PolOff called the awaiting IEM pastors, and they agreed to travel to meet with the delegation on the side of the road. The pastors arrived shortly thereafter on motorbikes and were followed by approximately 12 plain clothes police officers. ¶13. (SBU) It was immediately apparent why local officials had attempted to prevent the meeting from occurring. The IEM lay-pastors reported regular difficulties in several locations in Dien Bien province. They said that the police in the past year had routinely disrupted meetings of worshippers and that local authorities had pressured several IEM followers to abandon their faith. One lay-pastor reported that his son, a pastor-in-training, had been detained in February 2009. The son, a student with an IEM-affiliated Bible school in Ho Chi Minh City, was reportedly detained for "illegal evangelizing" while visiting his family. The authorities demanded a fine of VND 2 million (US $114) from his HANOI 00000609 003.2 OF 003 parents in exchange for his release. Local police from Pu Nhi village later reportedly attempted to confiscate a TV, VCR and rice cooker from the parents of the student in detention in place of payment of the fine. With the intervention of district police, the student was released after his family paid a reduced fine of VND 500,000 (US $29). Comment -------------- ¶14. (SBU) The Vietnamese have a saying, "The King's law is lower than the law of the village." In remote areas, like the Northwest Highlands, provinces typically function with a high degree of autonomy and local officials alone decide how to apply or not apply national regulations -- on religion or on any other topic. END COMMENT. ¶15. (U) The USCIRF delegation did not have an opportunity to clear this cable.