Democratic Voice of Vietnam

Next week, BPSOS will conduct two international advocacy activities at the same time in Geneva and in Taipei.

The Geneva delegation, coordinated by BPSOS, consists of more than 30 people from the United States, France, England, Germany, Holland, Norway, Switzerland and Thailand, will participate in many activities from March 11 to March 15. The delegation includes clergy members of various faiths, such as Most Venerable Thich Nhu Dien from Germany, High Venerable Thich Vien Giac from Norway, Pastor Vang Chi Minh from the United States, and a Catholic priest from Vietnam.  Concurrently, a four-person delegation from the United States and Thailand set out for Taipei to attend the Indo-Pacific Forum on Religious Freedom. In the delegation, Most Ven. Thich Vien Ly represents the Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam and a young man represents Protestants in the Central Highlands.

Advocacy in Geneva

On March 11 and 12, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) will conduct a third review of Vietnam on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The review will consist of 2 sessions. On the afternoon of March 11, UNCHR will address questions to the Vietnamese government’s delegation. The Vietnamese government’s delegation will respond in the following morning.

Before the review, UNCHR will meet with civil society organizations that contributed reports to the review. BPSOS arranged for the delegation (of Vietnamese clergy members) to speak at this meeting on the Vietnamese government’s torture, religious persecution, expropriation, prisoners of conscience, “nationless” status of Hmong and Central Highlands Protestants, violation of women’s rights, among other topics.

Immediately after the review, BPSOS will hold a press conference at the Swiss Press Club to report and make comments on the review. Also at this event, BPSOS will make public a report on stateless Hmong and Central Highlands Protestants. In particular, a representative of the Loc Hung Vegetable Garden community will speak at the press conference.

On March 13, a number of members of the BPSOS-coordinated delegation will participate in a discussion with UN Special Rapporteurs to continue to raise the “nationless” issue of Hmong and Central Highlands Christians. Shortly thereafter, our delegation members will participate in a forum organized by the Jubilee Campaign at the UN Headquarters.During 5 days, from  March 11 to 15, members of the BPSOS-coordinated delegation will participate in about 20 meetings with UN human rights organizations, several countries’ delegations, and a number of international human rights organizations with a presence in Geneva.

Forum on religious freedom in Taipei

The event in Taipei, which will take place on March 11 and 12, is considered to be a continuation of the ministerial convened by US Secretary of State last July in the US capital. This year’s event is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan and the US State Department with the participation of the US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, and many State Department officials.

The forum will focus on religious persecution in China and a number of Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam. The main purpose of the forum is to work out common measures to promote religious freedom in the entire Indo-Pacific region. BPSOS will introduce the “Vietnam multi-faith round table” model and the Southeast Asian Conference on Religious Freedom or Belief that resulted from a BPSOS initiative and has been held annually from 2015 to the present. A dozen of the conference organizers, from many countries, will also be at the forum in Taipei.

In particular, Ambassador Brownback will honor a number of victims who became proactive religious freedom advocates, among them.a young Protestant from the Central Highlands will be named.

Documents used for both activities

BPSOS, together with several organizations, compiled many documents to give to UN human rights organizations, countries’ delegations, and international human rights organizations. The documents will be distributed at the press conference held at the Press Club and at the forum held at the UN. The delegation that we sent to Taipei will also use some of these documents when informing others about religious persecution in Vietnam.

To make the documents accessible to other organizations or individuals, BPSOS temporarily stores these documents at: http://dvov.org/iccpr/.

Update on both activities

BPSOS’s media team will regularly report on these activities at 2 Facebook pages:

Below is a summary timeline of major events in Geneva:

March 11:

– Noon – 2:45 pm: Meeting with the UN Commission on Human Rights to offer our comments for their preparation for the review.

– 3pm – 5pm: The first day of review – The UN Human Rights Committee will ask questions. Watch online at: http://webtv.un.org/

March 12:

– 10am – noon: Day 2 of the review – Government of Vietnam’s delegation will answer questions. Watch online at: http://webtv.un.org/

– 2pm – 4pm: Press conference organized by BPSOS. Watch online at: http://pressclub.ch

March 13:

– 12 noon: Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues

– 2pm – 3pm: Forum on human rights situation in Vietnam