United Nations Fact Finding Mission

After the incident at Hue radio station, the arrests of dissidents at several Buddhist temples in Saigon, and the protest of Venerable Thich Quang Duc, Cambodia broke off diplomatic relation with South Vietnam and declined further U.S. aid packages. Laos declared neutrality. Sixteen members of United Nations filed human right violations against South Vietnam. To clear itself of the allegations of persecuting the Buddhists, South Vietnam Ambassador to Morocco Buu Hoi (Vietnamese: Bữu Hội), invited an independent panel of representatives to visit and did an exhaustive investigation of these allegations. Embassies from Afghanistan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dahomey, Morocco, Ceylon and Nepal, accompanied by Marguerite Higgins, began their investigation on October 11 and concluded their findings on December 9, 1963. This report was largely ignored by international press until December 20, when Costa Rica Ambassador Fernando Volio-Jimenez granted an interview to NCWC News Agency and brought it to international attention.

On February 17, 1964, U.S. Senator Thomas Dodd (D-CT) presented these findings to Senator James Eastland (D-MS), chairman of U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security, to inform the American public that they had been misled[2].

During their visit, the fact finding mission was permit to travel anywhere in South Vietnam and met with many government officials, mainly Buddhists and Confucian, as well as members of the Buddhist Hierarchy. No Catholic clergies or citizens were invited to participate in the United Nations investigation.

Served as a time capsule, the mission's report consisted of United Nations recommendations, the testimonies of South Vietnam government officials, demands from moderate Buddhist leaders as well as the radical Thich Tri Quang accusations of religious persecutions.

The appendices included decrees, dated from Emperor Bao Dai's reign, stating:

1) All South Vietnam citizens could enjoy practicing their faith of choice.

2) All religious flags must be flown below the national flag.

3) Government could hold South Vietnam citizens indefinitely for political reasons.

Some of the findings included:

1) There were no religious persecutions as the law did not single out any one particular religion.

2) Deaths at the unfortunate incident near Hue radio station was caused by explosions, most probably made by Communist infiltrators. As South Vietnam army did not have such weapon in their possession.

3) There were only 8 dead, 7 children and one adult, in contrast to the 9 dead and 24 wounded, as perpetrated by the international press.

4) Victims suffered massive wounds, in contrast to claims of gun or artillery fires, as perpetrated by international press.

5) The victims came from various religions, not all were Buddhists, as perpetrated by international press.

6) A young Buddhist monk reported that he was recruited to perform self sacrifice acts, with promises of using drugs to dull pain, and he later learned the heinous acts committed by the government were complete fabrications.

Ambassador Volio-Jimenez stated that though no government was perfect, the very act of South Vietnam to invite United Nations investigators proved that the First Republic was forthright and willing to fix its human rights violations, as alleged by the sixteen member nations[1].