VIETNAMUSCIRF–RECOMMENDED FOR COUNTRIES OF PARTICULAR CONCERN (CPC)KEY FINDINGSI

n 2021, religious freedom conditions in Vietnam generally trended
the same as in 2020. The government continued to enforce the2018 Law on Belief and Religion, which, as written and implemented, contravened international human rights standards.
Authorities persecuted members of unregistered independentgroups and subjected believers and religious freedom advocates
to long-term imprisonment.
Authorities continued to persecute independent religious
communities, including Protestant Hmong and Montagnard Christians, Hoa Hao Buddhists, Unified Buddhists, Cao Dai followers, andadherents of other religious movements such as Falun Gong, DuongVan Minh, the World Mission Society Church of God, and Ha Mon.
The government designated many of these groups as “strange,”“evil,” or “heretical” religions and often cited security grounds tosuppress them, causing some—such as Ha Mon—to reportedly
face extinction. As of April 2021, the Government Committee for
Religious Affairs (GCRA) listed 85 groups as “strange religions.”
In June, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and head of the GCRA
Vu Chien Thang stated that “Vietnam is ready to welcome all religions, even strange ones.” In an official document published inNovember, the GCRA discussed the positive and negative aspectsof new religious movements but offered no indication as to when
the government would recognize and permit these new religions.
Throughout 2021, authorities routinely disrupted religious
services, training, and ceremonies and harassed, detained, andthreatened adherents and activists belonging to independent
religious groups. Unregistered Hmong and Montagnard Christian groups remain particularly vulnerable to persecution. Local
authorities harassed, detained, intimidated, and physically abused
members of the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ in
Phu Yen Province. The group reportedly tried to register withthe government but received no response in the past few years.
The Protestant Church of Christ in Dak Lak Province similarly had

trouble registering their religious activities and gatherings withlocal authorities. Moreover, authorities subjected members ofthese Protestant groups to “criticism sessions” and forced themto renounce their faith in public. Thousands of Hmong and Montagnard Christians remain effectively stateless because local
authorities refused to issue them identity cards and household
registration documents, in many instances in retaliation against
Christians who refuse to renounce their faith. In a positive development, this past year Lam Dong provincial authorities issued
identity cards to stateless residents of Subdivisions 179 and 181
and allowed them to vote in elections.
Authorities harassed independent Hoa Hao Buddhists anddisrupted their observance of important religious rituals and holidays, forcing them to carry out religious activities at home. USCIRF
received reports that in January 2021, local authorities in Ben Cau
Township, Tay Ninh Province, harassed adherents of a home-based
independent Cao Dai group and disrupted its religious service. In
September, authorities in Cho Gao District, Tien Giang Province,
detained and interrogated independent Cao Dai followers andforced them to join the state-sanctioned group. Several independent Cao Dai groups tried to register their religious activities inearly 2021 but received no response.
Land disputes between the Catholic community and local
governments persisted. The An Hoa Parish dissented from the Da
Nang City government’s decision that sold and repurposed the land
the parish owned prior to 1975. The parish petitioned the government to return its land and cease construction by a private entitythat had begun in March 2021. The Da Nang government, however,agreed to resettle Catholic residents of Con Dau Parish after over
10 years of land disputes that had led to violent clashes between
parishioners and local authorities in the past. Moreover, authorities
in Loan My Village, Tam Binh District, Vinh Long Province, denieda Khmer-Krom Buddhist group’s request to build a religious site.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT• Designate Vietnam as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging insystematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by
the International Religious Freedom Act(IRFA), and enter into a new binding agreement with the government to address key
areas of concern to further improve religious freedom;• Engage with the Vietnamese governmentand relevant academic and civil society

stakeholders to encourage amendments
to the Law on Belief and Religion and its
implementing decree to conform to international standards, including by making
registration simpler and optional;• Work with the Vietnamese government
to provide a pathway to full citizenship—based on the existing model of Subdivisions
179 and 181 in Lam Dong Province—for all
Hmong and Montagnard Christians in the
Northern and Central Highlands, including

KEY USCIRF RESOURCES & ACTIVITIES• Podcast: The State of Religious Freedom in Vietnam• Country Update: Religious Freedom in Vietnam in 2021
• Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project: Nguyen Bac Truyen

40 U S C I R F | A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 2 2by providing funding to facilitate improving
religious freedom conditions among thosecommunities; and• Direct the U.S. Mission in Vietnam to highlight and monitor the conditions of religious
prisoners of conscience and to advocate for
their wellbeing in prison and their release.
The U.S. Congress should:• Support legislation pertaining to religious
freedom in Vietnam, such as the Vietnam
Human Rights Act.

Vietnam’s constitution states that citizens “can follow any religion orfollow none” and that “all religions are equal before the law.” The constitution also mandates respect and protection for freedom of belief
and religion. However, it allows authorities to restrict human rights,
including religious freedom, for reasons of “national defense, nationalsecurity, social order and security, social morality, and communitywellbeing.” Vietnam’s 2018 Law on Belief and Religion contains similar
provisions permitting restrictions on the right to religious freedom.
Vietnam is a religiously diverse country with religious demographics varying greatly across research studies and reports. Religious
traditions with a significant presence in the country include Buddhism,
Hoa Hao Buddhism, Cao Dai, Catholicism, and Protestantism. At theend of 2020, the government had officially recognized a total of 16
religions and 43 religious organizations. Many groups, however, refuse
to register for fear of persecution or concern over their independence,
which has led state-sponsored and independent religious groups tocompete over who represents their religion.

Legal and Policy Developments
The 2018 Law on Belief and Religion presents notable improvements
compared to the 2004 ordinance, including reducing the waiting
period for religious organizations to register with the government andgranting legal personhood to registered religious organizations. Nevertheless, the law imposes burdensome and complex requirementson religious groups to register with the government. For example,
the law requires religious groups to register for religious activities,
religious gatherings, and official recognition. Each of these steps
entails a separate registration process, requiring groups to submit
extensive information about their organizations and activities. Moreover, groups seeking official recognition as a religious organizationmust have legally operated for at least five years before applying.
Over the past three years of implementation, USCIRF has observed
uneven and inconsistent application of the law throughout Vietnam.
In September 2021, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an Action
Plan for State Management of Belief and Religion, which included anemphasis on state control of religion to ensure political and socialstability. In November, the GCRA held a meeting to amend and supplement the implementing Decree (162/2017/ND-CP) for the 2018 Law
on Belief and Religion. Deputy Minister Vu Chien Thang stated that thedecree has demonstrated shortcomings that need to be addressed,
but he did not identify these shortcomings.

Religious Prisoners of Conscience
USCIRF has long expressed concerns regarding religious prisonersof conscience in Vietnam. This year, many believers and religious
freedom advocates remained in prison, serving long sentences. Theseprisoners included Montagnard Christian pastor Y Yich (sentenced to12 years), founder of the Buddhist An Dan Dai Dao religious group
Phan Van Thu (sentenced to life imprisonment), and many others
who reportedly have been abused or otherwise mistreated in prison
and are suffering from deteriorating health conditions. USCIRF has
consistently advocated for the release of Hoa Hao Buddhist Nguyen
Bac Truyen (sentenced to 11 years)—a renowned religious freedom
advocate adopted under USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience(RPOC) project—who has reportedly been in poor health.

Key U.S. Policy
The Biden administration has emphasized that human rights—whichincludes the fundamental freedom of religion and belief—are an
integral part of U.S. foreign policy, including policy toward Vietnam. In
his July 2021 visit to the country, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin
expressed concerns over Vietnam’s human rights record. Prior to Vice
President Kamala D. Harris’ trip to Vietnam in August 2021, membersof Congress and politicians in other countries, as well as civil society
groups, called on the Vice President to raise Nguyen Bac Truyen’s caseand urge the government of Vietnam to release him immediately andunconditionally. Vice President Harris later said at a news conferencein Hanoi that she had raised the issues of human rights abuses andthe release of dissidents with her Vietnamese counterparts. Thennominee for U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper voiced thesame concerns during his Senate confirmation hearing and said thatbilateral relations could only reach their fullest potential if Vietnam
makes significant progress on human rights. In November 2021, during
the 25th U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue, U.S. officials raised
concerns with their Vietnamese counterparts about religious freedom conditions, the situation of ethnic minority groups, and otherhuman rights issues. With U.S.-Vietnam relations trending in a positive
direction and the United States considering a potential upgrade ofbilateral relations from a “comprehensive partnership” to a “strategicpartnership,” experts observe that human rights remain a challenge
in the growing relationship.
In May, Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced the bipartisan Vietnam Human Rights Act (H.R. 3001), which would allow theU.S. government to sanction Vietnamese officials and others who arecomplicit in systematic violations of internationally recognized humanrights, including particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
In August, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) sent a letter to Secretaryof State Antony J. Blinken urging him to take action to address theVietnamese government’s human rights abuses and discrimination
against religious groups and religious expression. While USCIRF
has recommended Vietnam’s designation as a CPC every year since
2002—finding that despite some areas of progress, “systematic,ongoing, and egregious” violations of religious freedom within themeaning of IRFA persist—the State Department designated it as a
CPC only in 2004 and 2005.

U S C I R F – R E C O M M E N D E D F O R C O U N T R I E S O F PA R T I C U L A R C O N C E R N ( C P C )41

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