E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.2 page 26 permission from the authorities, at a high level of Government (Council of Ministers); this provision appears to be contrary to the principle of the religious communities' freedom to organize; (b) Decree No. 69/HDBT, Directive No. 379/TTg and Directive No. 500 HD/TGCP give the authorities excessive direct control over the activities of religious congregations: permission from the authorities for very diverse and numerous activities (Directive No. 500 HD/TGCP and Directive No. 379/TTg), including religious retreats and meditation periods (art. 9 of Directive No. 69/HDBT), religious organizations' periodic congresses and national meetings (art. 10 of Directive No. 69/HDBT), the ordination of priests and bonzes and the appointment of religious and secular leaders (arts. 19 and 20 of Directive No. 69/HDBT, Directive No. 500 HD/TGCP and Directive No. 379/TTg), relations between Vietnamese clergy and their counterparts abroad (arts. 23 et seq. of Directive No. 69/HDBT, Directive No. 500 HD/TGCP), places of worship (placed under State auspices and opened, repaired or enlarged subject to permission from the authorities with no specification of the criteria which the request must meet: arts. 11 and 12 of Directive No. 69/HDBT, Directive No. 379/TTg) and training schools (which are also opened on the basis of permission from the Council of Ministers, although the criteria which the request must meet are not defined: art. 17 of Directive No. 69/HDBT). (c) The above-mentioned texts also provide the authorities with indirect control over religious matters. Certain religious activities which are not subject to governmental authorization (ordinary activities within places of worship: art. 8 of Decree No. 69/HDBT) in fact must be programmed and registered every year, and this constitutes a form of monitoring and indirect permission from the authorities. The same applies to freedom to print religious books: although recognized (art. 14 of Directive No. 69/HDBT, Directive No. 379/TTg), the fact that the books are published by State printing houses (Directive No. 500 HD/TGCP) enables the authorities to exercise control and even a form of censorship (Directive No. 379/TTg explicitly indicates this). It would therefore be useful to know whether the establishment of a printing house and the publication of a journal on religious matters, as stipulated in the Directive of 2 July 1998, will be governed by the same principles or whether there will be full freedom both for the establishment of private printing houses by the religious communities and for the publication and distribution of writings on religious matters. (d) Several provisions are vague and imprecise and therefore liable to permit interference by the authorities, by granting them excessive discretionary powers, in religious matters, including arrest, detention and imprisonment for religious activities that are in full conformity with international law. The following are the problematical provisions: (i) Article 5 of Decree No. 69/HDBT, a vague and “catch-all” provision: “any activity using religion to sabotage national independence, oppose the State, sabotage the policy of uniting the whole people, undermine the healthy culture of our nation or prevent the faithful from carrying out their civic duties”;