<<previous  |  index  |  next>>

II. Violations of the Right to Religious Freedom

They were angry, and slapped me on the face and choked me. They asked me if I wanted to die. …The police made me kneel for three hours on my knees, with my hands up in the air. They placed a Bible in front of me and told me, “Pray to your Bible to help you now.”
—An Ede woman, describing her treatment in police detention

Since Vietnam was designated by the United States as a “Country of Particular Concern” for its violations of religious freedom in 2004, the Vietnamese government has released some religious dissidents, reportedly including some prisoners from the Central Highlands.²³ The government has also issued new directives on religion that expedite church registration requirements and strictly forbid official coercion to convert as well as forced recantations of faith.²⁴

While there has been some improvement in religious freedom for many Vietnamese citizens who are willing to worship in government-registered religious institutions, significant abuses remain.²⁵ In the Central Highlands, the government continues to persecute members of unregistered Christian groups, particularly highlanders who belong to unsanctioned house churches.²⁶ Reports persist well into 2006 of forced recantations of faith.

New Legal Framework

Observers note that not only has overall implementation of the new directives been poor, but that in some cases the new regulations have been used as a basis for monitoring, restricting, and repressing some religious groups, especially those that seek to operate independently of the government.²⁷ The regulations advance Vietnam’s official stance that religious freedom is a privilege to be requested from and granted by the government, rather than a fundamental human right. In addition, the regulations give weight to the government’s efforts to eradicate certain independent religious groups who practice their faith outside of state-sanctioned institutions or whose governing boards are not approved by the government.

The 2004 Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions and its implementing mechanism, Decree 22,²⁸ affirm the right to freedom of religion but require that all religious groups be officially authorized and subject to government control, and ban any religious activity deemed to threaten national security, public order, or national unity.²⁹ The Ordinance defines “legitimate” religions as those that do not oppose “national interests.”

The Vietnamese government asserts that many Central Highlanders who belong to independent or unregistered house churches are “Dega Christians” (Tin Lanh Dega),which the government asserts is not a legitimate religion, but a cover for a separatist Montagnard movement.

According to the official Voice of Vietnam radio, under the Ordinance, Dega Christianity “should be considered evil and unlawful, and be eliminated.”³⁰

Religions with legitimacy will be accepted by society and protected by law. Whereas organizations that claim to be religions but in fact lead people into darkness…should be called heresies.…According to the provisions of the Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions, religions such as Degar Protestantism should not be considered as legitimate and should be outlawed.³¹

The Prime Minister’s Instruction on Protestantism (No. 01/2005), issued in February 2005, instructs officials to “fight attempts by hostile forces to abuse Protestantism to incite people to act subversively” and to publicly expose “those disguised Protestants whose activities go against the nation and sow division among the people as well as their illegal activities.”³² Saigon Gia Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper quoted the decree as saying:

If the religious followers there have pure religious needs, commit to abiding by the law, do not work for the reactionary FULRO,³³ and have no connection to Dega Protestantism, the local governments will create conditions for them to carry out normal religious activities at home or at suitable places in their villages.³⁴

The new regulations enable authorities to force those perceived as following Dega Christianity to abandon their faith on the grounds that it is illegal, despite other provisions in the regulations banning forced recantations. The regulations also give legitimacy to government security forces to monitor, interrogate, arrest, and imprison suspected Dega Church activists or followers.

Many Central Highlanders have been imprisoned on charges that they are separatists who use religion to “sow divisions among the people” and “undermine state and party unity.”³⁵ Arrests and imprisonment of highlanders on these charges have continued into 2006. (See Section III, Arrests and Imprisonment of Central Highlanders) 

Restrictions on Religious Gatherings

Human Rights Watch continues to receive reports from Central Highlanders in some parts of the region that they cannot gather in large groups to pray, except in churches presided over by pastors who are officially recognized by the Vietnamese government.³⁶ These areas include Ia Grai and Cu Se districts of Gia Lai province; Ea H’leo, Cu Mgar and Buon Don districts of Dak Lak; and Dak Song and Dak Rlap districts, Dak Nong. In areas such as these, minority people are only allowed to pray in their homes with their family. If authorities notice that any non-family members have joined, the service is broken up on the grounds that the religion is illegal. In order to avoid detection many highlanders regularly change the houses where they gather for group services, which are conducted before dawn. “The police are in the village every Sunday, watching what we do and say,” a Jarai man from Gia Lai province told Human Rights Watch.³⁷

In other areas that are less sensitive because political activity has lessened or the villages are not near the Cambodian border, authorities sometimes take a less strict approach. Movement between villages is not as rigidly controlled, and authorities might turn a blind eye to religious gatherings, except for Christmas, when there is more surveillance of religious activities, church leaders, and people suspected of wanting to flee to Cambodia.³⁸

Forced Recantations Continue

Human Rights Watch has received reports throughout 2005 and into 2006 of provincial, district, and village authorities in parts of the Central Highlands regularly pressuring members of independent Christian churches to sign pledges renouncing their religion or pledging loyalty to the government-authorized church. Areas affected include Cu Se and Ia Grai districts of Gia Lai, Dak Song and Dak Rlap districts of Dak Nong, and Cu Mgar and Buon Don districts of Dak Lak. It is not known if only perceived “Dega Christians” are targeted.³⁹

In one district of Dak Lak,⁴⁰ district and commune authorities convene monthly village meetings in newly-built longhouses, constructed as part of an official campaign throughout the Central Highlands to preserve traditional highland culture.⁴¹ At the meetings, people known to have participated in demonstrations or suspected of relaying information about abuses to people abroad are forced to sign pledge forms (to giay kiem diem).⁴² An Ede woman explained:

Just about everyone has to sign the pledges, which say: “I won’t demonstrate anymore, I won’t participate in the Dega separatist movement or Dega religion. If I do wrong and violate the pledge, I understand that next time, the police will arrest me.”⁴³

During the first months of 2006, provincial and local authorities and police and government-approved pastors from the officially recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN) convened mandatory monthly meetings in villages in Gia Lai province. During these meetings—some of which were held in the local soccer field—villagers were asked to sign forms pledging to follow the ECVN, as related by a Jarai woman from Ia Grai district:

The pastor said if everyone follows his religion, there will be no problems in the future with the authorities [government].

Authorities from the province, district, and commune were there to make people afraid not to sign. People were afraid—not of being beaten—but of encountering problems in the future.

The authorities keep a register of who joined [the ECVN pastor’s church] and those who didn’t.

Some of us did not sign. We want to follow Christianity—not a political directive. We believe in God; not in a particular person. In our faith, we follow the Bible, not a particular pastor or political leader.

The authorities twist it around and say that if we don’t follow [the ECVN pastor], we are Tin Lanh Dega.⁴⁴

In Dak Nong province, local authorities informed villagers in March 2006 that in May they will have to sign a pledge entitled Quyet Dinh (decision) affirming their support for the ECVN.⁴⁵ In several parts of Gia Lai, authorities have told villagers that there will be a six-month campaign until September 2006 to push Central Highlanders to recant their religion and support the government-authorized church.⁴⁶

People suspected of being political activists or “Dega Christians” are summoned to local police stations for questioning, often on a weekly basis.⁴⁷ They are told to stop practicing their religion, questioned about their religious leaders, and pressured to sign statements pledging to abandon their religion and political activity and acknowledging that they face imprisonment if they violate the pledge. In some areas people are forced to sign pledges without being given a chance to read the text.

A Jarai man interviewed by Human Rights Watch described being detained and interrogated about his religion:

The police told me not to follow my religion anymore. If I agreed not to follow Christianity then I would be released. If I continued following [my] religion then I would be sent to prison in Hanoi. The police wanted to know the names of the religious leaders in my area. I told them that they had all been arrested; there were no leaders to follow anymore. The police wanted me to either follow the ‘old traditional religion’ [animism] or if I wanted to continue to follow Christianity, then it must be the approved Vietnamese religion. I refused.⁴⁸

Three days later he was summoned to the commune police station, where he was detained for three days.

They pointed their finger at me and said I was a Dega Christian. They said I should not join Tin Lanh Dega (Dega Christianity). If I did, they would arrest me and I would never see my wife and children again. The police wanted me to sign a document renouncing my religion but I refused. The police were angry but they did not beat me that time. I told them: “I won’t stop following my religion. I stop drinking, I stop smoking, but I will follow my religion forever.”

Pressure on Religious Leaders

Central Highlanders interviewed during the last six months by Human Rights Watch report that in some areas, many of the prominent religious leaders in their areas (except for members of the ECVN) have been imprisoned, gone into hiding, or fled to Cambodia.⁴⁹ Other religious leaders have greatly curtailed their religious activities after being summoned to the commune and district police stations numerous times, where they have been interrogated about their activities and told not to gather people for religious services. A Jarai woman from Ia Grai district, Gia Lai, explained:

In my village they arrested the pastor because people gathered in his house. They asked him many questions and told him he was not allowed to worship. They threatened that if he continued to convene church meetings, he would go to jail. When he returned home he didn’t dare gather people in his house anymore. Since then, we just meet in small groups in our homes, with one person watching the door.⁵⁰

In some areas authorities have placed the remaining village church leaders under surveillance virtually around the clock, and in some cases, under informal house arrest. Police are posted in their homes to monitor and restrict their activities without actually having to arrest or imprison them.⁵¹ A villager from one district in Dak Lak ⁵² described the situation:

The government does not approve of my village pastor. He has had police from Ban Mathuot posted in his house since 2001. They are in his house all the time—they eat and sleep there. He is not allowed to leave the village to visit his mother, who lives in another village. They don’t allow him to teach the Bible. On Sundays, if people go to his house, the police send them away.⁵³

A Bunong religious leader in Dak Nong had police billeted in his house as recently as May, according to his son:

Every month he has to report to the police station. Police are now posted in his house—they stay there all the time.⁵⁴

Travel Restrictions

Local authorities in many areas restrict people going to other villages to pray or to evangelize (again, unless such gatherings are presided over by officially recognized pastors). A Bahnar woman from Dak Doa district, Gia Lai described the situation in her commune:

If you go east, it’s no problem. If you go west, it’s a problem—they are afraid you will try to flee to Cambodia. But we still have to ask permission from the village chief if we want to go from one village to another, even if it’s to a relative’s house.

People who follow [the ECVN pastor] can go east or west to evangelize. We [non-ECVN members] can’t go west to evangelize.⁵⁵

Soldiers remain permanently posted at commune centers, and sometimes in villages, where they are billeted in the homes of people the authorities want to keep an eye on—church leaders, people thought to be in touch with Montagnard groups in the U.S., and families of people in prison or refugees in the United States.⁵⁶

A woman from a village in Dak Lak that was very active during the 2004 demonstrations said:

There are four to six bu doi (soldiers) from Hanoi permanently posted in my village. Some stay at the house of “K”, who has been sent to prison—in part because he had a longhouse so there’s more room—and some stay at Ami “L”’s home, who has a small church. There are soldier posts along the roads; each post is responsible for controlling a small group of people.⁵⁷

The soldiers also help out with village infrastructure projects, such as digging ditches and helping with planting and harvesting.⁵⁸

They do not allow us to sing

Villages are surrounded or even blocked off by soldiers during Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Soldiers are also deployed to villages to monitor wedding or funeral services, especially if people from several different villages attend. A woman from Dak Lak described the situation:

From 2001 to now, we have had no church in our village. Two or three families can secretly meet together and pray. If the police see us, they arrest us. Every Sunday, police ride motorcycles around the village. If there’s a funeral and people need to come from other villages, they bring many soldiers to control the village. We cannot read the Bible. They do not allow us to sing.⁵⁹

Concerned that large gatherings for religious purposes could erupt into unrest, authorities routinely detain people suspected of being religious or political leaders before Christian holidays, especially Christmas. In Dak Doa district of Gia Lai, for example, police arrested a local religious leader right before Christmas 2005:

They arrested and beat him while forcing him to hold his hands straight out like Jesus. Afterwards he had to go to the hospital for a week. Three other people were detained at the same time. In fact, they were political. But they were also our religious leaders.⁶⁰

Some parts of the highlands have seen a gradual lessening of religious persecution. In some areas, the forced recantation meetings appear to have stopped during the last year, and villagers—even those who have not signed pledges in support of the ECVN—are allowed to worship in large groups. A villager from Dak Doa district, Gia Lai, told Human Rights Watch:

Now we can worship as usual in my village. It has changed a lot during the last year. On Wednesdays and Sundays we join to worship in houses, with many people gathering together. I don’t know why they are letting us worship like this.

She added, however, that authorities continue to keep an eye on people suspected of blending religion and politics:

Regular Christians who don’t do politics are okay. However the four or five people in my village who are suspected of doing politics are still summoned often to the police station.⁶¹

Travel restrictions have also eased up in her commune, the same woman said:

It’s no problem to travel between villages. If we want to go to Ho Chi Minh City, though, we have to ask permission from the commune.⁶²

She noted that authorities remained much stricter in nearby Ha Bao commune.