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From July 3-6, 2024, IGE and its Vietnam partners co-hosted the 12th Religion and Rule of Law certificate training program in Da Lat city, Lam Dong province. There were 55 participants consisting of government officials, academics, and faith leaders from four provinces: Lam Dong, Binh Phuoc, Dak Lak, and Dak Nong.

The program featured three and a half days of sessions focusing on international religious freedom standards, Vietnam’s religion policies, and comparative models of religion and law around the world. There were also discussions on challenges and best practices of government-religion relations and religious affairs work. Participants examined factors behind religion-related conflicts, approaches towards resolving conflicts, and related legal cases in Vietnam and other countries. During the program, participants also discussed issues related to religious affairs in their own localities. On the final day, participants took a field trip to visit religious sites in Da Lat city.

This program was implemented under new five-year Memorandum of Understanding signed between IGE and the Vietnam-USA Society to promote religious freedom and foster people-to-people relations between the two countries. The training was covered by local Vietnamese media outlets including Lam Dong province’s People Mobilization and Lam Dong Online

IGE and its partners, Vietnam National University’s University of Social Sciences and Humanities,  Institute for Religion and Belief at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics,  International Center for Law & Religion Studies at Brigham Young University Law School, and Vietnam-USA Society, have conducted 12 training programs on Religion and Rule of Law since 2012, training more than 1,200 government officials, academics, and faith leaders.

To learn more about previous trainings and IGE’s work in Vietnam, click here.