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UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION the Government of Vietnam and Its Assurance of Freedom of Religions and Belief I. Situation of Religions

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UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION the Government of Vietnam and Its Assurance of Freedom of Religions and Belief I. Situation of Religions UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION The Government of Vietnam and its assurance of freedom of religions and belief I. Situation of religions Vietnam is a multi-religion country. At present, about 95% of the Vietnamese population has a religious life, including more than 24 million religion followers (about 27% of the total population); 83,000 religious dignitaries/leaders and 28,000 places of worship. There are over 12 million Buddhists; 6.7 Catholics; 2.5 million Cao Dai followers; 1.5 million Protestants followers; 80 thousand Muslims; 1.5 million “Pureland Buddhist Home Association” followers; over 1.3 million “Hòa Hảo Buddhists; 60,000 “Four debts of Gratitude Religion” followers; 57,000 Hindu followers; about 15,000 “Strange Perfume from Precious Mountains Religion” followers; about 11,000 “Minh Sư Faith” followers; and about 1,000 “Minh Lý Faith” followers. There are 40 religious organisations, belonging to 15 recognised and registered religions, which include the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam; Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam; ten Protestant Sects and organisations; Hoa Hao Sangha; 10 Cao Dai sects and organisations and one religious teaching centre; six Islamic organisations; two Cham Hindu organisations; Representative Board of Vietnam Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon church); Four Debts of Gratitude Religion organisations; one Pureland Buddhist Home Association; one Baha’i faith of Viet Nam organisation; one Minh Su Faith organisation; one Minh Ly Faith organisation; and one Strange Perfume From Precious Mountains organisation. Religious followers who are ethnic minority people, especially in remote areas always receive support and agreement from local government for their religious activities provided that those activities are in line with provisions of law. For the Khmer community in the south west, the Government agreed for the establishment of the Khmer Theravada Buddhism Institute in Can Tho. For the Cham community following Islamism and the Hinduism followers in the south-central region, the Government recognised the Representative Boards of Islam and Hindu communities in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan provinces respectively. The Government has approved the establishment of 53 training centres at intermediate and graduate levels to meet the training needs of all religions, of which there are 13 graduate centres including four Buddhist institutions; seven Catholic seminaries; one Catholic institution; and one Protestant biblical theology institution. In addition, there are 40 intermediate and college training centres. About 13,000 clergies are studying at those religious dignitary training centres. 1,000 religious dignitaries have pursued Masters or Doctorates abroad, of which there have been nearly 700 Buddhist dignitaries. II. Assurance of freedom of religions and belief In 1986, Vietnam started the renovation period in all socio-economic aspects. This revolution has resulted in poverty elimination, with the lives of people improved significantly, Vietnam’s position has been increasingly realised over the world. Keeping pace with the development of the country, the Government has made profound and comprehensive changes to socio- economic policies in general and to religious policies in particular. 1. View of Vietnamese government on religions and beliefs - Freedom of religion and belief is a basic human right. This has been obviously seen in the first rank of the right of freedom to religions and beliefs in the legal document UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION system, it was clearly enshrined in foundational law – that is the Constitution (Article 24, Chapter II, 2013 Constitution). - Vietnamese Government has constantly improved the policies, mechanisms and legislation on religion so citizens can best practice their right of freedom of religion and belief. - Religious followers are a part of the unified nation, the government encourages solidarity between different religions, between people with and without religions, people have the right to religious activities in accordance with the law, the government seriously prohibits any infringement of freedom of religion and belief of citizens. 2. Legal documents on religions and beliefs since 1986 During the period of opening for international integration, all legal documents in general, and legal documents on religion and belief in particular, have shown the innovative policies of the Vietnamese government that are in line with its commitments in international treaties and conventions to which Vietnam is a party. The Vietnamese government has promulgated the following legal documents on religion and belief : Constitutions Article 70, 1992 Constitutions affirms : Citizens have the right to follow or not follow religions and beliefs. All religions are equally positioned in law. All religious places of worship are protected by law. No one is allowed to infringe freedom to religion and belief or abuse religion and belief to violate the laws and policies of the government. On 28 November 2013 the National Assembly ratified the amended 1992 Constitution. The 2013 Constitution issued many amended contents to previous constitutions including 1992 Constitution, in which it confirmed that the right to freedom of religion and belief is one of the human rights protected by the Government. Article 24 of the 2013 Constitution states : 1. Everybody has the right to follow or not follow religions and beliefs, all religions are equally positioned in law. 2. The Government respects and protects the right to freedom of religion and belief. 3. Nobody is allowed to infringe freedom of religion or belief or abuse religions and beliefs to violate the laws and policies of the government. 3. Developing the Law on Religion and Belief - Expanding the range of subjects of the right to freedom of religion and belief from “citizens” to “everybody” which accurately shows that right to freedom of religion and belief is a human right. - Religious activities are a need of everybody, therefore the registration for religious activities cannot be considered as a condition for the recognition of a religious organisation, thus the whole recognition process is reduced from 23 years (according to regulations of the Ordinance on Religions and Beliefs) to 5 years. - Many regulations in the law have been changed from “register-license” or “propose- accept” to “notify”. UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION These new contents aim at giving favorable conditions for individuals and organisations to implement religious activities, ensuring the right to freedom of religion and belief of everyone, these contents also show the government’s respect towards the internal issues of religious organisations. - Supplementing a regulation on legal status of a religious organisation, an affiliated religious organisation : “a religious organisation is a non-commercial legal entity since being recognised by an authorised governmental body”. Regulation on the legal entity status of a religious organisation is a new and important component of the Law which aims at clear identification of legal existence of a religious organisation, in order to ensure the rights and obligations of a religious organisation when it enters legal relations. - Adjusting the approval authority of major religious activities such as opening a training centre; ordaining a title or position; organising a conference or religious congress. This adjustment will help ease the implementation of administrative procedures in shorter time for religious organisations. - Supplementing regulations on social activities of religious organisations, in order to promote different roles for religions, especially in the field of social activities. Thanks to these regulations, social activities have been expanded in accordance with related laws so religious organisations can actively participate, with medical support and charity activities particularly encouraged. - Supplementing some regulations relating to religious activities of foreigners in Vietnam : a foreigner who resides legally in Vietnam is allowed to lead a religious life at a religious establishment; to be ordained a title, position; to join in public religious activities with other Vietnamese people or to have their own religious activities at a religious establishment or other legitimate locations in Vietnam, to invite a dignitary or a clergy – either foreign or Vietnamese – to preach. - In order to ensure a full set of legal tools to implement effectively the state’s management of religions, at the same time to ensure the rights of raising issues, recommendations and denouncement of religious individuals and organisations, Law on Religions and Beliefs also includes regulations on inspection of religions, claim and denouncement responses, dealing with violations on religions and beliefs and some sanctions. 4. Recognition of religious organisations in accordance with laws Since the implementation of the Ordinance on Religion and Beliefs (2005), government authorities have recognised or given registration licenses to 22 religious organisations, of which there are 7 new religions (Baha’i, Four Debts of Gratitude, Strange Perfume from Precious Mountains, Pureland Buddhist Home Association of Vietnam, Minh Su Faith, Minh Ly Faith, Hinduism), and registration licenses for religious activities to Pentecostal Evangelical Churches of Vietnam. In 2016 the Vietnamese Government recognised the official representative board of Vietnam’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), announced the registration certificate of religious
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