Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to draw attention to the persecution of Christians in Vietnam; and what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Vietnam on that matter.

Mr Hugo Swire

We highlight Vietnam as a country of concern in the annual Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights report published on 10 April.

Our assessment is the Vietnamese government is allowing more space for religious expression and has increased the number of churches and places of worship approved for use in 2013. In general the Vietnamese are able to practise the religion of their choosing and a number of prominent Ministers, including the Prime Minister, are openly Buddhist.

The authorities take a harder line when religious groups are involved in political movements, with persecution taking place in this context.

Our Embassy continues to promote freedom of religion and belief in this atmosphere and meets with leaders of all faiths. In January they accepted a petition by families of Catholic activists on trial and supported an EU statement calling for the Vietnamese to uphold freedom of expression in these cases. Staff also attended meetings, alongside other EU Member States, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling for greater transparency over allegations that authorities had intimidated Catholics in Nghe An province.

We also make sure to raise our concerns at a Ministerial level at every opportunity – be it through the annual UK-Vietnam Strategic Dialogue in October 2013 or the Foreign Secretary’s meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh earlier this month. The UK also runs projects deisgned to allow greater scope for civil society to develop and receive basic protections when raising their concerns and pursuing their beliefs.