Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in this chamber of the Australian federal parliament to address a matter that will deeply concern Australians who cherish freedom of expression of religious belief and of political ideology. This issue deeply affects the many Australians who were born in Vietnam—more than 150,000—and has been raised with me by leaders of the Vietnamese community in Australia. It relates to the Vietnamese government’s actions in its reported treatment and persecution of a prominent Catholic priest, Father Nguyen van Ly. Father Ly, who has already spent 10 years in jail for defending freedom of religion, appears to have again been arrested.

International reports indicate that Father Ly’s home was raided by authorities on 18 February this year, when a large force of up to 60 officers cut phone lines to the premises and searched and ransacked the priest’s compound. Six laptop computers and six cell phones belonging to Father Ly and his aides were confiscated. Additionally, on 16 or 17 February, the eve of the Lunar New Year, Tet, the homes of Father Ly’s aides—Nguyen Phong and Nguyen Binh Thanh—were also searched. It has been reported that both men were taken away and nothing is known about their fate.

It is reported that following this raid authorities returned to Father Ly’s compound and moved him to a rural parish in Phong Dien district, where he remains under house arrest. I have read deeply concerning reports of the treatment of Father Ly by the Vietnamese authorities. For example, he is forbidden to perform religious services at the church. There have also been reports of assaults on Father Ly and repeated interrogation, whereupon he has refused to answer questions believing that the manner in which he is being treated is in breach of international laws on human rights. I understand that he has been on a hunger strike in protest at his treatment. The treatment of this Catholic priest, his house arrest and his interrogation and imprisonment for advocating for rights guaranteed by the Vietnamese constitution and its international obligations under human rights treaties is unacceptable. It is worth while noting that in its recent annual human rights report the US State Department rated Vietnam’s record as unsatisfactory. Accounts of Father Ly’s treatment give credence to that report.

It concerns me that the government in Vietnam—which hosted an APEC summit last year and which has been admitted to the WTO—appears to be increasing restrictions on religious or political freedom of expression, utilising very oppressive means. I urge the government of Vietnam to release Father Ly and to allow him to practise his religion free of harassment and intimidation, as is dictated in article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

I ask the Vietnamese government to take that into account.