Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang stated that although Vietnam has made some progress in protecting and promoting freedom of religion and belief, the US State Department's 2023 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom still makes subjective assessments based on unverified and inaccurate information about the actual situation in Vietnam.
According to Ms. Pham Thu Hang, Vietnam is willing to discuss with the US side issues of mutual concern in a spirit of frankness, openness and mutual respect on remaining differences, thereby contributing to promoting the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
First of all, it must be affirmed that in Vietnam, no one is discriminated against on the basis of religion or belief and the activities of religious organizations are guaranteed in accordance with the provisions of law.
As a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country with a rich religious and belief life, the Vietnamese State always consistently implements a policy of respecting and ensuring the freedom of belief and religion, the right to follow or not follow a religion of the people, ensuring equality, non-discrimination for reasons of religion and belief, and protecting the activities of religious organizations by law.
These rights are recognized in the 2013 Constitution, the 2016 Law on Belief and Religion and related legal documents and are guaranteed and respected in practice.
Achievements in ensuring human rights in Vietnam are positively evaluated internationally.
At the dialogue session on Vietnam's National Report under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) cycle IV of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, last May, many countries recognized and highly appreciated Vietnam's policies, efforts and achievements in ensuring human rights, including freedom of religion and belief.
Countries welcomed Vietnam's achievements in economic development, ensuring social justice, promoting education to raise awareness of human rights, promoting women's rights, the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and the rights of ethnic minorities.
During a working session with Vietnamese leaders last year, Pope Francis and the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, expressed their impression of the positive, diverse and rich development of religious life and beliefs in Vietnam, including Catholicism; they agreed that the Catholic Church in Vietnam needs to continue to better implement the guidelines of “accompanying the nation,” “good parishioners are good citizens,” and that Catholic parishioners and dignitaries in Vietnam need to continue to actively contribute to the development of the country and the Church.
In the article “Human Rights in Vietnam: Truth Over Words,” author Moisés Pérez Mok, Chief of the Latin American News Agency Prensa Latina’s Hanoi Bureau, affirmed the undeniable progress that Vietnam has achieved thanks to its consistent implementation of the policy of promoting and protecting human rights, including freedom of belief, for all people.
According to journalist Moisés Pérez Mokt, freedom of the press and freedom of speech, as well as the right to access information in Vietnam, are guaranteed. After 26 years of connecting to the Internet, Vietnam has a modern telecommunications technology system with high popularity.
As of September 2023, Vietnam had 78 million Internet users, an increase of 21% compared to the number of subscribers in 2019. The number of mobile broadband subscribers was 86.6 million, an increase of 38%.
There are currently about 72,000 associations operating in Vietnam regularly, actively participating in contributing to solving important economic and social issues of the country.
The veteran journalist of Prensa Latina pointed out that Vietnam respects and guarantees the right to freedom of religious belief, as well as the right to association, which have been established since the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and are clearly stated in the 2013 Constitution. Vietnam has up to 43 organizations belonging to 16 different religions operating nationwide, with 26.7 million followers, nearly 60,000 dignitaries and 30,000 places of worship, as well as a large number of religious publications.
In the article “Vietnam: Socialist regime respects human rights” in the Russian newspaper “Independence”, author Grigory Trofimchuk, an international political analyst who has spent many years researching Vietnam, emphasized that one of the most difficult aspects of the human rights issue is religion. In Vietnam, a socialist state, the religious life of the people is completely open. Currently, 95% of the Vietnamese population has a religious life, even higher than in Russia.
In addition, in Vietnam there are currently 43 religious organizations belonging to 16 religions, with over 26.5 million followers, accounting for 27% of the country's population, more than 54,000 dignitaries, over 135,000 officials and nearly 30,000 places of worship.
Many types of beliefs, relics, and objects of worship are recognized as World Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The author emphasizes that this may seem strange for a socialist state, but it is true in Vietnam.
Expert Trofimchuk highly appreciated the diversity of types and content of media in Vietnam, with 1 national news agency and 72 radio and television broadcasting agencies with 79 radio channels and 198 television channels. This proves the freedom of speech, freedom of the press and information in Vietnam.
The author also mentions the right to life, the right to respect for human dignity and physical integrity in efforts to ensure human rights in Vietnam.
It is an undeniable fact that Vietnam has always been proactive, positive and made many contributions in the field of promoting and protecting human rights in the region and in the world.
The clearest evidence for that is the level of trust with a very high consensus vote rate when Vietnam ran for membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term and had many initiatives on ensuring human rights, the rights of developing countries, the rights of vulnerable groups... which were recognized and highly appreciated by the international community.
Vietnam affirms the principles of dialogue, cooperation, and respect for differences; at the same time, it emphasizes that there is no common model for all countries; each country, depending on its own characteristics and conditions, will have its own development path.
I think it is time for US authorities to stop making biased and inaccurate comments about the actual situation of human rights and freedom of religion in Vietnam.
Instead, discuss with Vietnam issues of mutual concern in a spirit of openness, frankness and mutual respect to contribute to and promote the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development between the two countries.
VN (according to VNA)Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/can-cham-dut-nhan-dinh-thieu-khach-quan-ve-bao-dam-quyen-con-nguoi-o-viet-nam-386694.html
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