The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Vietnam.

Brief Description of the Situation

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by a reliable source that a delegation of monks from the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), including Thich Thien Hanh, Thich Nhu Dat, Thich Chi Thand, Thich Thai Hoa, Thic Hai Tang, Thich Tri Tuu, Thich Hai Lac and several other young monks, were detained on 21 June 2005 on their way to visit UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, who is under house arrest at Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh (See 2004 Annual Report of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and OMCT).

The monks were travelling back to Hue after attending the funeral of a senior UBCV monk, Venerable Thich Dong Minh, when they decided to visit Thich Huyen Quang. Upon arrival at the Nguyen Thieu Monastery, plain-clothed security agents stopped their van and prevented them from entering, stating that no one was allowed to visit the UBCV Patriarch. The monks asked for identification from the security agents but the agents refused to provide it. Instead, the agents seized the monks' cell phones and confiscated their driver identity papers. The agents then instructed the driver of the van to take the monks to the Go Gang police station where the monks remain in detention.

OMCT is gravely concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of the monks, as well as by the general climate of arbitrariness against UBCV monks. UBCV monks have been subjected to systematic harassment and repression on the part of the Vietnamese authorities for many years because of their commitment to religious freedom, human rights and democracy in Vietnam (See relevant urgent appeals from OMCT and the Observatory).

More generally, OMCT urges the Vietnamese authorities to comply with international human rights standards included in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments ratified by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Action Requested

Please write a letter to the authorities in Vietnam urging them to:

1. Immediately guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the monks;
2. Order their immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges, and if such charges exist, to ensure that they are given prompt and fair trials, in which their procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;
3. Ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
   
   

Addresses

• Tran Duc Luong, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Office of the State, 1 Bach Thao, Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Fax : (+84) 4199 2682
• Phan Van Khai, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, 1 Bach Thao Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Fax : (+84) 4823 1872
• M. Nong Duc Manh, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Hanoi. Fax: (+84) 48 23514
  
• M. Nguyen Nang Tien, Permanent Mission of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to the United Nations in Geneva, Fax : (+ 41 22) 798 24 69 ; (+ 41 22) 798 07 24, e-mail : mission.vietnam@ties.itu.int
  

Please also write to the embassies of Vietnam in your respective country.

Geneva, June 23, 2005