V I E T N A M 

United States Commi ss ion on I nternational R eligio us Freedom

S U MMER 2008

THE U.S. COMMISSION 

ON INTERNATIONAL 

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

was created by the Interna-

tional Religious Freedom 

Act of 1998 to monitor 

the status of freedom 

of thought, conscience, 

and religion or belief 

abroad, as defined in the 

Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights and related 

international instruments, 

and to give independent 

policy recommendations to 

the President, Secretary of 

State, and Congress.

visit our web site at 

www.uscirf.gov

POLICYFOCUS

introduction 

The Commission has recommended that 

Vietnam be named a “country of particular 

concern,” or CPC, under the International 

Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) every year 

since 2001. The State Department followed the 

Commission’s recommendation in 2004 and 

2005, designating Vietnam a CPC in those years. 

In May 2005, in response to the CPC designa-

tion, the State Department reached an agree-

ment with Vietnam “that addresses a number of 

important religious freedom concerns,” in order 

to establish benchmarks for improvement in re-

ligious freedom conditions and avoid potential 

sanctions. In November 2006, one week before 

President George W. Bush’s visit to Vietnam 

for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 

(APEC) summit in Hanoi, the State Department 

removed Vietnam’s CPC designation, citing its 

progress on religious freedom and the release of 

“prisoners of concern.” 

A Commission delegation visited Vietnam 

from October 23 – November 2, 2007 to assess 

current religious freedom conditions and 

evaluate reports of both progress and ongoing 

abuses. The Commission found that religious 

freedom conditions in Vietnam continue to be 

mixed, with improvements for some religious 

communities but not for others; progress in 

some provinces but not in others; reforms of 

Commissioners Eid, Leo, Cromartie, and Gaer with the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do of the United 

Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City. 

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Michael Cromartie

Chair

Vice President, Ethics and 

Public Policy Center

Preeta D. Bansal

Vice Chair

Partner, Skadden, Arps, 

Slate, Meagher & Flom

Richard D. Land

Vice Chair

President, Ethics and 

Religious Liberty 

Commission of the Southern 

Baptist Convention

Donald H. Argue

Commissioner 

Chancellor, Northwest 

University

Imam Talal Y. Eid

Commissioner

Director of Religious Affairs, 

Islamic Institute of Boston

Felice D. Gaer 

Commissioner

Director, Jacob Blaustein 

Institute for the 

Advancement of Human 

Rights, The American Jewish 

Committee 

Leonard A. Leo

Commissioner

Executive Vice President, 

The Federalist Society for 

Law & Public Policy Studies

Elizabeth H. Prodromou

Commissioner

Associate Director, Institute 

on Culture, Religion & 

World Affairs and Assistant 

Professor, Department of 

International Relations, 

Boston University

Nina Shea

Commissioner

Director, Center for 

Religious Freedom, 

The Hudson Institute

John V. Hanford Iii 

Ex-Officio

Non-voting Commissioner

Ambassador-at-Large for 

International Religious 

Freedom, U.S. Department 

of State

C OMMI S S IONER

S

POLICYFOCUS

laws at the national level that are not 

fully implemented or are ignored at 

the local and provincial levels; and still 

too many abuses of and restrictions 

on religious freedom affecting most 

of Vietnam’s diverse religious communities. Some important changes 

were implemented and prisoners were 

released after the U.S. government 

designated Vietnam a CPC; however, it 

is not yet correct to state that the Vietnamese government is fully committed 

to respecting religious freedom instead 

of maintaining control of its diverse 

religious communities. In view of the 

ongoing and serious problems faced by 

many of Vietnam’s religious communities, the uneven pace of reforms meant 

to improve the situation, the continued detention of religious prisoners of 

concern, and what can only be seen as 

a deteriorating human rights situation 

overall, the Commission again recommends that Vietnam be designated a 

CPC in 2008. 

Since 2004, there have been 

important signs of improvement in 

religious freedom conditions in Vietnam. The government has expanded 

the zone of permissible religious 

activity and released a number of 

prisoners from a list provided by the 

State Department. It has issued new 

administrative ordinances and decrees 

that outlined registration procedures 

and outlawed forced renunciations of 

faith. However, this notable progress 

occurred alongside persistent abuses, 

discrimination, and restrictions. The 

government continues to imprison and 

detain dozens of individuals motivated 

by their religion or conscience to advocate for religious freedom reforms in 

Vietnam. The government persists in 

maintaining control of most religious 

organizations and restricts their activities and growth through a pervasive security apparatus and the process of requiring official recognition, registration 

with government-approved religious 

organizations, and permission for 

most activities. Independent religious 

activity is illegal, and legal protections 

for government-approved religious organizations are often vague and subject 

to arbitrary or discriminatory interpretation based on political factors. There 

are no clear penalties or procedures for 

holding accountable police or government officials who restrict or abuse religious freedom. While new laws have 

promised needed protections, they 

have not been fully implemented or 

have sometimes been used to restrict 

and discriminate. In addition, religious 

communities and individuals viewed 

as political or security threats by the 

The continued detention 

of religious prisoners of 

concern, and the existence 

of vague “national security” 

provisions in various laws 

used as the basis for their 

arrest ... is a primary factor 

in the Commission’s 

determination that Vietnam 

remains a serious violator 

of religious freedom. 
3

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Vietnamese government face continued 

harassment, detention, or arrest. These 

include ethnic minorities, both Buddhist 

and Protestant, whose religious practice 

is viewed, in the words of a government 

training manual, as something to be 

“resolutely overcome.” 

Since January 2007, when Vietnam 

joined the World Trade Organization 

(WTO), religious freedom conditions 

have not improved as quickly or as 

readily as other areas important to the 

U.S.-Vietnamese relationship. Vietnam’s 

overall human rights record remains 

very poor and in fact has deteriorated 

since that time, and the government has 

moved decisively to repress any perceived challenges to its authority. More 

than 30 legal and political reform advocates, free speech activists, labor unionists, and independent religious leaders 

and religious freedom advocates were 

arrested in 2007, placed under home 

detention or surveillance, threatened, 

intimidated, and/or harassed. Given the 

prominence of religious leaders in advocating for the legal and political reforms 

needed to guarantee religious freedom 

fully, their continued imprisonment or 

detention must be considered when 

measuring religious freedom progress 

in Vietnam. 

In testimony given before the U.S. 

Senate in March 2008, Assistant Secretary 

of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs 

Christopher R. Hill stated that Vietnam 

“no longer qualifies as a severe violator 

of religious freedom” because Vietnam 

has made a commitment to further 

change and because “all individuals the 

United States had identified as prisoners of concern for reasons connected to 

their faith” have been released. However, the Commission believes that the 

State Department’s attempts to define 

religious prisoners as those arrested for 

“reasons connected to their faith” draws 

a needless distinction between “political” 

and “religious” activity not consistent 

with international human rights law. 

The Commission maintains that there 

may be scores of religious “prisoners of 

concern,” including well-known religious 

freedom advocates such as Fr. Nguyen 

Van Ly and Nguyen Van Dai; imprisoned 

members of Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and 

Khmer Buddhist religious communities; 

and United Buddhist Church of Vietnam 

(UBCV) and Catholic religious leaders 

held under administrative detention, in 

violation of core human rights protections. In many of the most recent cases, 

those detained were motivated by their 

religious vocation, conscience, or belief 

to call for the legal or political reforms 

needed to guarantee religious freedom 

or to organize peaceful demonstrations 

against religious freedom restrictions. 

Both the freedom to worship and the 

freedom to advocate peacefully for an 

end to religious freedom restrictions are 

actions consistent with the guarantees 

of the Universal Declaration of Human 

Rights and the International Covenant on 

Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which 

include protections for the freedom of 

thought, conscience, and religion. 

 This was made plain to the Commission during its meetings with prisoners 

Nguyen Van Dai and Li Thi Cong Nhan. 

Both pointed out that though Vietnam’s 

constitution guaranteed religious freedom, further legal reforms were needed 

in order for this freedom to be fully realized. Both said that they were peaceful 

advocates and in contrast to government 

claims, did not aim to “destabilize” the 

Vietnamese government. Both also 

stated that the protection of religious 

freedom was an important foundation of 

their professional work. Nguyen Van Dai 

stated openly that his religious freedom 

advocacy was part of the reason he was 

arrested in March 2007. The continued 

detention of religious prisoners of concern, and the existence of vague “national 

security” provisions in various laws used 

as the basis for their arrest (see below), 

Commissioners Argue, Bansal, Cromartie, Gaer, and Eid meet with human rights advocate Nguyen 

Van Dai at Cau Dien Prison, Hanoi. 
POLICYFOCUS

4

is a primary factor in the Commission’s 

determination that Vietnam remains a 

serious violator of religious freedom. 

In addition to prisoners, other 

serious religious freedom violations 

continue to occur in Vietnam. Prominent religious communities, including 

the United Buddhist Church of Vietnam 

(UBCV) and some Hoa Hao and Cao 

Dai Buddhist groups, face unwarranted 

restrictions and abuses because of their 

attempts to organize independently of 

government oversight and control. Ethnic minority Buddhists and Protestants 

are often harassed, beaten, detained, 

arrested, and discriminated against, 

and they continue to face some efforts 

to coerce renunciations of faith, 

exemplified in the beating and subsequent death last year of an ethnic 

minority Protestant who refused to 

recant. Today, the intensity and number 

of religious freedom violations are at a 

lower level in comparison to previous 

years, which is a significant development; however, the changes have not 

yet been substantial enough to warrant 

the country’s removal from the CPC list. 

The Commission maintains that 

the State Department’s removal of 

the CPC designation for Vietnam in 

November 2006 was premature. In 

addition to the fact of ongoing religious freedom violations, removing 

the CPC designation suspended the 

diplomatic framework that had led to 

a productive bilateral engagement on 

religious freedom and other human 

rights concerns and therefore removed 

the potential incentives and leverage needed to urge the Vietnamese 

government to continue to improve 

its human rights record. Thus, in 

order to address Vietnam’s persistent, 

severe religious freedom concerns and 

articulate fully to the Vietnamese government that religious freedom and 

related human rights are critical matters affecting bilateral relations, the 

Commission urges the U.S. government to re-designate Vietnam a CPC. 

Soc Trang

Pleiku

Hue

Banmenthuot

VIETNAM

Ho Chi Minh City

Kuala Lumpur

Singapaore

Hanoi

man Sea

South China Sea

The Commission Visit to Vietnam

The Commission delegation to Vietnam visited Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City 

(Saigon), Hue, Pleiku, Banmenthuot, 

and Soc Trang. Commissioners met 

with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, 

Lt. General Nguyen Van Huong, the 

Vice Minister of Public Security, and 

members of the National Assembly, as 

well as numerous other government 

leaders and local officials. Even though 

human rights remains a sensitive bilateral issue, Vietnamese officials were 

willing to engage the Commission’s 

questions and accommodated all of the 

Commission’s requests for meetings 

and trip locations, including visits with 

current and former detainees. During 

its meetings with officials, the Commission made clear that the aim in raising 

concerns about religious freedom and 

other human rights was to improve 

U.S.-Vietnamese relations, which, the 

Commission maintains, cannot be fully 

normalized on the basis of mutual economic interests alone. Commissioners 

indicated that improving protection for 

religious freedom and related human 

rights, in both law and practice, would 

be of great benefit to bilateral relations 

and Vietnam’s international standing, 

particularly in light of Vietnam’s election 

as a non-permanent member of the UN 

Security Council. 

During its meetings, the Commission noted the many steps that Vietnam 

could take to improve bilateral relations, including the revision or repeal of 

all vague “national security” provisions 
5

that result in human rights violations, 

such as Article 88 of the Criminal Code or 

Ordinance 44, the release of all remaining prisoners of concern, and the lifting 

of remaining restrictions on independent 

religious practice. The Commission 

raised prisoner cases and specific legal 

issues, and sought information about 

Vietnam’s commitment to progress on 

these and other religious freedom issues. 

Both Prime Minister Dung and Lt. Gen. 

Huong invited the Commission to return 

at a later date, leaving the door open 

to future discussions. In addition to 

meetings with government officials, the 

Commission met with representatives of 

Vietnam’s diverse religious communities, 

including representatives from the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha, the UBCV, and 

the Cao Dai, Cham Muslim, Hoa Hao, 

Protestant, and Roman Catholic communities. Commissioners also met with 

representatives of various ethnic groups, 

including individuals from Hmong and 

Montagnard Protestant and Khmer 

Buddhist communities. 

In general, Commissioners were allowed to meet with religious leaders and 

dissidents without Vietnamese government officials present. However, in Ho 

Chi Minh City and some provincial areas, 

several dissidents and religious leaders 

expressed some fear about meeting with 

the Commission, having been warned by 

police not to “say anything negative.” It 

was soon discovered that police contact 

with and warnings to interlocutors prior 

to their meetings with the Commission 

was routine. Most religious leaders and 

human rights activists indicated that they 

expected to undergo some questioning 

after the meetings; however, most did not 

fear any serious repercussions. 

The Commission found that religious 

freedom conditions have improved somewhat in ethnic minority areas, particularly 

for Protestants in parts of the Central 

Highlands. However, improvements 

often depend on the province, minority 

members’ religious affiliation, and the 

goodwill of provincial officials. In the 

Central Highland province of Gai Lai, for 

example, ethnic Montagnard Protestants 

associated with the government-approved 

Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam 

(SECV) have established a positive working relationship with the provincial officials, which has led to the re-opening of 

many religious venues closed after 2001, 

new religious training courses for pastors, 

and the construction of at least one new 

church building. However, in other ethnic 

minority areas of the Central Highlands 

and central coast region, there were 

reports of restrictions, land seizures, discrimination, and other abuses of religious 

freedom. It was also clear that government officials, even in Gai Lai province, 

remain wary of independent Protestant 

groups not affiliated with the SECV. 

Reports of abuses and restrictions 

continue to emerge from Hmong Protestants and Khmer Buddhist communities. In recent years, the largest number 

of arrests, detentions, and incidents 

of harassment have come from ethnic 

minority Hmong and Khmer provinces. 

The government continues to be suspicious that religious activism will promote 

ethnic solidarity and eventually lead to 

calls for autonomy. In the northwest 

provinces and parts of the Mekong Delta, 

the government is suspicious of any 

independent religious activity it cannot fully control and actively suppresses 

Commissioners Cromartie, Bansal, and Argue with Cau Dien Prison authorities, Hanoi.

The situation for the UBCV 

and independent Hoa Hao 

and Cao Dai groups remains a 

serious religious freedom concern that has not significantly 

improved in recent years. 

 
POLICYFOCUS

6

any efforts to protest religious freedom 

restrictions publicly. During its visits to 

ethnic minority areas, the Commission 

emphasized to government officials that 

such policies of repression can often lead 

directly to the type of resentment and 

public protest they seek to avoid. 

Vietnamese Protestants, Catholics, 

and non-UBCV Buddhist leaders uniformly reported that conditions had improved since the United States designated 

Vietnam a CPC in 2004. Some leaders 

attributed changes directly to Vietnam’s 

desire to join the international community as well as to the U.S. promotion of 

religious freedom in its bilateral relations. 

The pace of progress has been faster in 

urban areas and among groups viewed as 

“non-political.” Nevertheless, even in urban areas, there are continuing problems. 

The government actively discourages independent religious activity and refuses 

to recognize legally the UBCV and some 

Hoa Hao and Cao Dai groups. Although 

the government has legally recognized 

different Protestant denominations and 

Buddhist groups and allowed them to 

operate and organize independently, it 

requires religious leaders and followers 

from the UBCV, Hoa Hao, and Cao Dai to 

affiliate only with government-approved 

religious organizations. 

The situation for the UBCV and 

independent Hoa Hao and Cao Dai groups 

remains a serious religious freedom concern that has not significantly improved 

in recent years. The UBCV’s attempts to 

create an independent organizational 

structure have been met with the harassment, detention, interrogation, and 

long-term administrative detention of 

the UBCV leadership, including the Most 

Venerable Thich Quang Do and Thich 

Huyen Quang. The Commission met with 

Thich Quang Do in Ho Chi Minh City and 

Thich Thien Hanh, another UBCV leader, 

in Hue. The restrictions on the UBCV 

leadership have also affected monks, 

nuns, and lay members of the community. 

There have been reports of the harassment and detention of leaders of the Buddhist Youth Movement, denunciations of 

UBCV monks and nuns, and harassment 

of lay Buddhists attending known UBCV 

pagodas. Independent Hoa Hao groups 

face similar restrictions, particularly in 

An Giang province. Over the past three 

years, 18 Hoa Hao have been arrested for 

either distributing Hoa Hao sacred texts 

or protesting restrictions on Hoa Hao 

religious practices. Fourteen Hoa Hao 

remain in prison, including four Hoa Hao 

sentenced in 2007 for staging a peaceful hunger strike and a religious leader 

who sent written testimony to the House 

Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on 

Vietnam in 2006. 

The continued detention 

of religious prisoners of 

concern, and the existence of 

vague “national security” 

provisions in various laws 

used as the basis for their 

arrest ... is a primary factor 

in the Commission’s 

determination that Vietnam 

remains a serious violator of 

religious freedom. 

 

Commissioner Cromartie speaks with human rights advocate Li Thi Cong Nhan at Cau 

Dien Prison, Hanoi. 
7

Findings

• Vietnam’s designation as a CPC in 2004 

resulted in positive bilateral diplomatic 

engagement on religious freedom that 

led to important reforms in the Vietnamese government’s treatment of its 

religious communities. The CPC designation did not hinder U.S.-Vietnamese 

security or economic cooperation, as 

both areas, in fact, flourished between 

2004 and 2006. Rather, diplomatic 

engagement brought about by the CPC 

designation provided a framework and 

incentives to discuss religious freedom 

and other human rights concerns, 

including restrictions on peaceful assembly, expression, and association. 

• In view of the ongoing and serious 

problems faced by many of Vietnam’s 

religious communities, including the 

continued detention of numerous 

religious prisoners of concern, the 

Commission again recommends that 

Vietnam be designated a CPC in 2008. 

Prisoners of Concern

• There are scores of known religious 

“prisoners of concern” in Vietnam, 

persons imprisoned in violation of their 

human rights, for reasons related to 

their exercise or advocacy of freedom 

of religion or belief, including, for 

example, calling for legal reforms to 

advance religious freedom or organizing protests against religious freedom 

restrictions. The number includes at 

least 15 individuals detained under administrative detention orders. It does 

not, however, include the Montagnard 

Protestants who were arrested after the 

demonstrations for religious freedom 

in the Central Highlands in 2001 and 

2004. Precise information on why these 

religious leaders and adherents were 

arrested has been difficult to obtain, 

but the continued imprisonment of 

Montagnards remains another persistent religious freedom problem. 

Ongoing Religious Freedom Abuses

• There have been some noted improvements in religious freedom conditions 

in Vietnam, including the expansion of 

permissible religious activity for Catholics, non-UBCV Buddhists, and some 

Protestant groups, the decrease in overt 

restrictions on the religious activities of 

most religious communities in urban 

areas such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh 

City, and government support for the 

building of some new religious venues, 

the training of some new religious 

leaders, and the holding of several large 

religious gatherings, particularly in Ho 

Chi Minh City. 

• Nevertheless, despite the positive 

changes, the Commission found that 

religious freedom problems continue 

to be severe in some provincial areas or 

among religious groups and individuals the government views as political 

or security threats. For example, the 

Vietnamese government continues to 

place some restrictions on Vietnamese 

Catholics and remains suspicious of 

ethnic minority religious groups, such 

as Montagnard and Hmong Protestants 

and Khmer Buddhists. Ethnic minority 

Protestants especially continue to face 

harassment, detention, arrests, discrimination, property destruction, and 

some forced renunciations of faith. 

• The Central Highlands region, the 

scene of protests for land rights and 

religious freedom in 2001 and 2004 

that were violently dispersed by the 

authorities, continues to be the site of 

particularly severe religious freedom 

A river on the Mekong Delta
POLICYFOCUS

8

and other human rights violations. 

Since the demonstrations, officials 

have imprisoned those believed to have 

organized or taken part in the protests 

and those who sought asylum in Cambodia during police crackdowns after 

the demonstrations. Some Montagnard 

villages and communes remain under 

tight government control, and no international observer has been allowed unobstructed access to the region. Even 

“approved” churches face problems 

in this region; one-third of the SECV 

churches in Dak Lak province that were 

closed in 2001 continue to face serious 

restrictions on their activities and police regularly break up meetings. 

• The freedom of movement, expression, and assembly of UBCV leaders 

continues to be restricted and there 

is significant official harassment of 

monks, nuns, and youth leaders associated with the UBCV. The government 

also continues to ban and actively discourage participation in independent 

factions of the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai, 

two religious groups unique to Vietnam, as well as the estimated 3 million 

ethnic minority Khmer Buddhists. All 

three groups are subject to harassment, 

surveillance, arrests, interrogation, and 

detention, as well as the defrocking of 

Buddhist monks. Most of the “prisoners of concern” come from among these 

three groups. 

Government Training of Provincial 

Officials

• Implementation of the new religion 

ordinances and regulations remains 

a problem and has led to uneven 

enforcement, religious freedom 

restrictions, and some abuses. Assistant Secretary of State Hill, in his 

March 2008 Senate Foreign Relations 

Committee testimony, stated that the 

Vietnamese government was training 

government officials “throughout the 

country” to implement the new religion 

laws, a sign, he suggested, of “progress.” 

However, official Vietnamese government figures indicate that since 2005, 

they have conducted only 16 training 

courses and eight workshops for Vietnamese civil servants in 17 of Vietnam’s 

59 provinces. 

• The value of government-sponsored 

training seminars or workshops 

remains unclear, since the regulations 

regarding legal registration continue 

to be routinely misapplied or ignored 

in provincial areas—particularly in the 

Mekong Delta, northwest provinces, 

Central Highlands and central coastal 

regions, including Hue. In addition, 

there is evidence to suggest that in 

the Central Highlands, government 

officials were in fact trained to discriminate against Protestant communities 

by denying them housing, medical, 

educational, and other government 

benefits, including foreign assistance 

and development aid. 

• The Vietnamese government’s training materials for dealing with religious 

adherents in the northwest provinces 

continue to be antagonistic toward 

ethnic minority Hmong Protestants 

and Catholics and do not fully reflect 

Vietnamese law or international human 

rights standards. Provincial officials are 

urged to control and manage existing religious practice through the law, 

to halt “enemy forces” from “abusing 

religion” to undermine the Vietnamese 

state, and to “overcome...and solve 

the root causes...of the extraordinary 

growth of Protestantism.” 

Registration Issues

• The Vietnamese government has extended national legal recognition to various Protestant and Buddhist groups and 

to Baha’is, and has provided pledges of 

protection for religious activities. However, there are several different levels 

of legal recognition offered to religious 

groups, with “national” recognition 

being the most difficult to obtain. Most 

religious groups are granted permission 

The value of government-sponsored training seminars 

or workshops remains unclear, since the regulations 

regarding legal registration continue to be routinely 

misapplied or ignored in provincial areas—particularly in 

the Mekong Delta, northwest provinces, Central Highlands 

and central coastal regions, including Hue. 

 

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9

to conduct “specific religious activities,” 

a status that limits religious activities 

sometimes to a specific leader, location, 

or only to weekly worship. This last 

level of recognition has been used, on 

occasion, to restrict religious activities 

and members’ participation, particularly 

among ethnic minority Protestants. 

• Despite clear timetables for providing 

responses, the Vietnamese government 

has not responded to more than a thousand applications for legal recognition, 

including applications from Protestant 

house churches in southern Vietnam 

and Hmong Protestant churches in the 

northwest provinces, thereby making 

them technically illegal. In several 

instances, churches whose applications for legal recognition were delayed 

or denied faced threats of closure by 

government officials. 

• During the past year, some religious 

groups have stopped seeking legal 

recognition because government 

officials have placed conditions on the 

approvals of applications. These conditions include requiring application 

materials to include personal information about church members, a reduction in the size of religious groups’ 

management committees at the district 

level, religious leaders to become police 

informants on the activities of other 

religious groups, and the participation 

of religious leaders in communist ideology courses. 

Prisoners of Concern

By September 2006, then-U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Marine was 

quoted by the Voice of America as saying 

that there were no longer any “prisoners 

of concern” in Vietnam. That claim was 

referenced when the State Department 

decided to lift Vietnam’s CPC designation 

two months later. As mentioned above, 

Assistant Secretary Hill, in testimony 

before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March 2008, claimed that “all individuals the United States had identified 

as prisoners of concern for reasons connected to their faith” have been released. 

Assistant Secretary Hill stated that the 

State Department recognized and continued to advocate for the immediate release 

of individuals imprisoned the previous 

year for involvement “in the pro-democracy group Bloc 8406, and other fledgling 

pro-democracy groups.” Drawing a line 

between “political” and “religious” activity, 

the contention that there were no longer 

any religious prisoners of concern was a 

principal reason the State Department no 

longer considered Vietnam a “severe violator of religious freedom.” 

However, the Commission maintains 

that there may be scores of prisoners of 

concern, including religious freedom 

advocates such as Fr. Nguyen Van Ly and 

Nguyen Van Dai; at least two dozen members of the Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and Khmer 

Buddhist communities; and those being 

held under long-term administrative 

detention, including UBCV leaders Thich 

Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do and 

Catholic Fr. Phan Van Loi. In virtually all 

of these cases, the persons were detained, 

in part, because of their religious freedom 

advocacy. However, inexplicably, the 

State Department appears to exclude 

from consideration in this category 

the arrest or detention of those who, 

motivated by their religious belief, vocation, or conscience, organize in support 

of legal or political reforms to promote 

religious freedom, or those who monitor 

freedom of religion and are arrested or 

otherwise punished for publicizing their 

findings. In addition, there are hundreds 

of Montagnard Protestants arrested after 

demonstrations in 2001 and 2004 for religious freedom and land rights held in the 

Central Highlands, including an undetermined number of religious leaders.

It is the Commission’s view that in all 

of the most recent cases of arrest, imprisonment, and other detention, religious 

leaders and religious freedom advocates 
POLICYFOCUS

10

had engaged in actions that are protected by international human rights instruments. In addition to the freedoms 

to believe and to worship, the freedom 

to peacefully advocate for religious 

freedom is guaranteed by the Universal 

Declaration of Human Rights and the 

ICCPR, which protect not only the right 

to freedom of thought, conscience, and 

religion or belief, but also the related 

rights of freedom of opinion and expression, and to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Moreover, the 

right to freedom of thought, conscience, 

and religion or belief is “far-reaching and 

profound” and “encompasses freedom 

of thought on all matters [and] personal 

conviction,” as well as “the commitment 

to religion or belief.” These international human rights law standards are specifically incorporated in IRFA’s definition 

of how to assess a “violation of religious 

freedom.” Public action may have led 

to the advocates’ detention or arrest, but 

the actions were taken on behalf of the 

right to religious freedom; thus, their 

detention is clearly a violation of international protections for this right. 

The “prisoners of concern” include:

• Five Cao Dai followers being held after 

they were arrested in Cambodia for 

handing out fliers critical of the Vietnamese government’s control of and restrictions on Cao Dai religious practice. 

The five were arrested in July 2005 with 

three other Cao Dai members, returned 

to Vietnam, and sentenced to 13 years 

for “fleeing abroad to oppose the Government” and “propagating documents 

against the Vietnamese Government to 

incite demonstrations and riots.” 

• At least a dozen Hoa Hao followers 

incarcerated since 2005 for protesting 

restrictions on Hoa Hao practice and 

the arrest of Hoa Hao followers, including four sentenced in May 2007 for 

staging a peaceful hunger strike. 

• Five Khmer Buddhists arrested in 

February 2007 for leading a demonstration protesting restrictions in Sac Trong 

province. Also, imprisoned is Khmer 

Buddhist monk Tim Sarkhorn, who was 

arrested in Cambodia and returned to 

Vietnamese authorities allegedly for 

illegally crossing the border, though 

reportedly he was arrested for engaging 

in non-violent activities critical of the 

Vietnamese government’s repression 

of the language, culture, and religious 

traditions of the Khmer ethnic minority 

in Vietnam. 

• At least 15 individuals being detained 

under long-term administrative detention orders, including UBCV and 

Catholic religious leaders. 

In addition to the prisoners of 

concern identified by the Commission, 

another persistent religious freedom 

problem is the long-term imprisonment of ethnic minority Montagnard 

Protestants. The Vietnamese government arrested and detained hundreds of 

Montagnards suspected of participating 

in protests for land rights and religious 

freedom in the Central Highlands region 

in 2001 and 2004. The non-governmental organization (NGO) Human Rights 

Watch has compiled a well-documented 

list of 355 Montagnards who remain in 

prison. Eyewitnesses confirm the continued long-term detention of Montagnards, including minors. Nguyen Khac 

Toan, sentenced to 12 years in prison for 

his advocacy of free speech and Internet 

freedom in 2002, mentioned that he 

shared a prison with “225 ethnic Protestant Montagnards.” In the past seven 

years, ethnic minority Montagnards 

have been arrested on suspicion 

Commissioner Argue meets with Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN) pastors, including 

Pastor Fhung Quang Huyen (second from left), Hanoi. 
V IETNAM

11

of engaging in demonstrations, for 

alleged connections to Montagnard 

groups in the United States, for organizing refugee flights to Cambodia, or for 

affiliation with the banned Tin Lanh 

Dega, an ethnic minority Protestant 

association that purportedly mixes religious activity with political activism. 

It is difficult to determine the exact 

number of Montagnards imprisoned 

specifically because of their religious 

affiliation or activities; however, an 

official in the SECV has compiled a list 

of almost 150 individuals imprisoned 

for alleged sympathy with Tin Lanh 

Dega or because they allegedly failed to 

turn in members of their congregations 

who participated in the 2001 and 2004 

demonstrations. Testimony by recently 

released detainees indicates that the 

Vietnamese government arrested many 

whose only “crime” was affiliation, 

whether through employment, church, 

or family, with individuals suspected 

of “anti-government” activity. A full 

accounting of Montagnard prisoners, 

and at the very least, the unconditional 

release of those imprisoned solely on 

account of their religious identity or 

association, should be a critical element 

of future U.S.-Vietnam human rights 

dialogues. 

VIETNAM

I

t is the Commission’s view that Fr. Nguyen Van Ly, Nguyen Van 

Dai, and Li Thi Cong Nhan should also be considered “prisoners of 

concern,” since they were detained, in part, because of their religious 

freedom advocacy. These three religious freedom and legal reform 

advocates were among the first arrested in March 2007 as part of the 

larger crackdown on democracy, labor, free speech, and human rights 

advocates by the Vietnamese government.

Fr. Ly was arrested in 2001 and sentenced to 15 years in prison 

after submitting written testimony to this Commission. After he was 

granted an early release in 2005, he helped found Freedom of Speech 

magazine and organize the Bloc 8406 democracy movement, which 

began in April 2006 after hundreds of people signed a public petition 

calling for greater democracy and human rights, including religious 

freedom, in Vietnam. In April 2006, Fr. Ly founded the Vietnam Progression Party with the primary goal of restoring freedom of religion, 

speech, and association in order to build a society that respects “people’s interests and human rights accords.” One year after founding 

the Progression Party, Fr. Ly and four of his associates were sentenced 

under Article 88 of the Vietnamese Criminal Code for “propagandizing 

against the state.” Fr. Ly received a sentence of eight years in prison 

and five years of house arrest. 

Nguyen Van Dai, one of Vietnam’s few human rights lawyers, has 

defended individuals arrested for their religious activities. He is also 

the co-founder of the Committee for Human Rights in Vietnam and 

one of the principal organizers of Bloc 8406. He was also arrested and 

given a five year sentence. Some of the public charges leveled against 

Fr. Ly, Dai, and his associate Li Thi Cong Nhan are related to their religious freedom advocacy. In the state Family and Society newspaper, 

for example, Fr. Ly is described as “joining hands with black forces and 

reactionary elements to build a force under the cover of freedom of 

religion activities.” In the online publication of the Ministry of Public 

Security entitled Law and Order, Dai is accused of collecting “evidence 

of Vietnam’s religious persecution” to send to “enemy powers and 

overseas reactionaries.”
POLICYFOCUS

12

The number of those who profess to be 

religious adherents continues to grow 

in Vietnam. In large urban areas, the 

Vietnamese government has expanded 

the zone of permissible religious activity 

for Catholics, non-UBCV Buddhists, 

and some Protestant groups. Religious 

leaders in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh 

City report few overt restrictions on 

their normal worship activities and the 

government continues to support the 

building of some new religious venues, 

the training of some new religious leaders, and permission to hold several large 

religious gatherings, particularly in Ho 

Chi Minh City. Protestant groups report 

that police harassment has also declined 

overall, although the movement and 

activities of a number of their leaders 

continue to be monitored by the police. 

Improvements reportedly depend on 

geographic area, ethnicity, or the relationship established by religious leaders 

with local or provincial officials. Many 

religious leaders said positive changes 

began in early 2005 and continued 

through 2006, a time frame that corresponds with the U.S. government’s designation of Vietnam as a CPC, an action 

that made religious freedom concerns 

a priority in U.S.-Vietnamese bilateral relations. Many religious leaders 

claimed that positive religious freedom 

changes were also made because of the 

Vietnamese government’s desire to join 

the international community, a goal that 

included WTO accession and election to 

a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. 

Despite noted improvements, 

the Commission found that religious 

freedom problems remained serious 

in some provincial areas and among 

religious groups and individuals the 

government views as political or security 

threats. For example, the Vietnamese 

government continues to be suspicious 

of ethnic minority religious groups, such 

as Montagnard and Hmong Protestants 

and Khmer Buddhists; those who seek to 

establish independent religious organizations, such as the UBCV, Hoa Hao, 

and Cao Dai; and those it considers to 

pose a political threat, such as “Dega” 

Protestants and individual Mennonite, 

Catholic, Buddhist, and house church 

Protestant leaders. Among these groups, 

there continue to be incidents of harassment, detention, arrests, discrimination, 

property destruction, and some forced 

renunciations of faith. 

The government continues policies to maintain control of most religious 

organizations and restricts their activities 

and growth through a pervasive security 

apparatus, bureaucratic impediments, 

the process of official recognition and 

registration, and the requirement of 

official permission for certain activities. 

Independent religious activity remains 

illegal, and legal protections for government-approved religious organizations 

are both vague and subject to arbitrary or 

discriminatory interpretations based on 

political factors. The new Ordinance on 

Religion and Belief, which came into effect 

in November 2004, reiterates citizens’ 

right to freedom of religion, including the 

freedom not to follow a religion; it also 

states that violations of these freedoms are 

prohibited. However, while the Ordinance 

promises needed protections, they are often not fully implemented or not available 

Vietnam’s Religious Communities: Improving Conditions

for Some, Ongoing Restrictions and Abuses for Others

Commissioner Cromartie meets with the leadership of the Ho Chi Minh City Cao Dai. 
V IETNAM

to all religious groups, and are sometimes 13

used to restrict and discriminate against 

religious groups rather than advance 

religious freedom. 

Vietnamese Catholics

Vietnamese Catholics report that the 

government has gradually eased its oversight over the selection and ordination of 

priests. It is still the case that all students 

for the priesthood must be approved by 

local authorities before enrolling in a 

seminary and again prior to their ordination as priests. However, the Church 

often moves ahead with ordinations after 

informing government officials. The 

government technically maintains veto 

power over Vatican appointments of 

bishops, but it reportedly cooperates with 

the Church in the appointment process. 

The government recently approved a 

bishop for the newly created Ba Ria 

Vung Tau Diocese, allowed a new Jesuit 

seminary to be built in Ho Chi Minh City, 

and permitted several local dioceses 

to hold religious education classes for 

minors on weekends and conduct some 

charitable activities. Hanoi continues to 

discuss conditions for the normalization 

of relations with the Holy See, discussions 

that included a meeting between Pope 

Benedict XVI and Prime Minister Dung at 

the Vatican and a corresponding visit of a 

high-level Vatican delegation to Vietnam 

in February 2007. 

Nevertheless, Catholics in Vietnam 

continue to face some restrictions. For 

example, in 2007, the government rejected the appointment of two bishops and 

two priests because of allegedly inappropriate “family backgrounds.” There are 

also persistent restrictions on the establishment of Catholic seminaries and the 

recruitment of seminary candidates. In 

addition, there are continuing problems 

for Catholics in many rural areas. In Ninh 

Binh province, local police destroyed a 

sacred “Pieta” statue during a procession, 

although in that incident, the police were 

reportedly reprimanded by provincial 

authorities. The Archbishop of Hanoi is 

restricted from traveling to dioceses in 

certain regions of the country, including 

northwest Vietnam. Other examples of 

problems include the fact that provincial 

authorities in Son La and Dien Bien provinces refused to register a local Catholic 

diocese and mistreated lay Catholic 

leaders, Ha Giang provincial authorities 

refused to grant a parish priest a legal 

residency permit, and officials in Thua 

Thien-Hue province placed restrictions 

on the recruitment of seminary students. 

The diocese of Hanoi continues to 

be locked in a property dispute with the 

government over buildings and property 

owned by the Papal Nuncio in Hanoi 

and seized by the government more than 

50 years ago. In December 2007, some 

Catholics began staging prayer vigils at 

one property, leading to a tense stand-off 

with police that included threats and the 

beating of at least one participant. Prime 

Minister Dung intervened in the standoff and has reportedly begun negotiations with the Vatican on the properties’ 

return. Catholics in Hanoi are reportedly staging new vigils at the Thai Ha 

Redemptorist Church. The government 

press has encouraged local authorities 

to take “extreme action” to end the vigils 

and Catholic leaders have been brought 

in for “working sessions” with local 

police. The Commission will continue to 

monitor this situation. 

Protestants in Vietnam

 Conditions for Protestants have improved somewhat since 2004, particularly in urban areas. Protestant religious 

leaders told the Commission delegation 

that in the months immediately preceding President Bush’s visit to Vietnam in 

November 2006, there were many positive changes, including an improvement 

in relations with government officials, 

decreased official harassment, fewer 

reports of forced renunciations of faith, 

expedited approvals of legal recognition 

On the grounds of the Roman Catholic seminary and church presided over by Father Steven Chun Tin, Ho Chi Minh City. 
POLICYFOCUS

14

applications, and the release of prisoners. 

The government also allowed worship activities to expand—mostly in urban areas, 

but also in parts of the Central Highlands 

as well as among Protestants affiliated 

with the government-recognized SECV. 

However, after the State Department 

lifted the CPC designation and Vietnam 

achieved both Permanent Normal Trade 

Relations (PNTR) and accession to the 

WTO, momentum reportedly slowed considerably in many places, and stopped 

altogether in others. Because of poor 

implementation of Vietnam’s regulations 

and ordinances on religion, noncompliant provincial officials, or government 

suspicion of ethnic minorities, Protestants continue to face problems. New 

bureaucratic or administrative controls 

are being used by some local officials 

to restrict worship activities, including 

zoning laws that prohibit attendance at 

services in other districts, the denial of 

applications for legal recognition, or the 

regular use of the application process to 

demand personal information about the 

members of religious communities and/

or gain control over the administrative 

affairs of independent house churches. 

In addition, some local officials have 

conditioned approval of registration applications on the leader’s willingness to 

become a government informant. Many, 

if not most, of these recent problems can 

be considered isolated cases, but taken 

together, they appear to indicate that 

the Vietnamese government remains 

determined to maintain ongoing control 

over the practice of religion in ways that 

contravene human rights norms.

In addition to official restrictions, 

members of Protestant religious communities continue to face beatings and other 

ill-treatment, interrogations, harassment, 

fines, threats, and forced renunciations of 

faith, though the number and frequency 

of such abuses are fewer today than in 

the past. In January 2007, security forces 

tore down part of the church structure 

and briefly detained the congregation of 

Pastor Nguyen Quang in Ho Chi Minh 

City. Pastor Quang had previously been 

arrested in 2004, along with five other 

members of his congregation. In June 

and July 2006, police beat two men and 

two women from an unregistered Protestant church in Thanh Hoa province, 

after a dispute erupted over the home 

used by the congregation as a place of 

worship. Although there are reports that 

security officials were punished for the 

June incident, another member of the 

congregation in Thanh Hoa was beaten 

in October 2006 when he refused police 

orders to leave a prayer meeting. 

In September 2006, Protestant pastor 

Tran Van Hoa was arrested and detained 

for two weeks and security officials closed 

down Christmas celebration services in 

a Baptist church in Haiphong, Bac Giang 

province. In Quang Ngai province, security officials reportedly told ethnic Hre 

Protestants that “unless they behave,” 

their churches would be destroyed and 

leaders arrested “once the APEC [the 

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting] is over.” In the past year, 

local officials have destroyed property 

or confiscated land from Hre Protestants, fined adherents, and told leaders 

that they would be “tolerated as long as 

they did not gather in large groups.” In 

June 2005, police detained 17 ethnic Hre 

Protestants; when community members 

refused to cease their religious activities, 

their homes and rice fields were burned 

and their land confiscated. 

In the past 18 months, unregistered 

Protestant churches in Ben Tre, Kien 

Giang, Long An, and Soc Trang provinces 

reported that police had harassed their 

congregations, confiscated property, disrupted holiday services, and threatened 

to close their buildings. Incidents of local 

police harassment and beatings were also 

reported in the provinces of Quang Ninh, 

Hai Phong, Lang Son, Son La, Thanh Hoa, 

and Tra Vinh, often involving disruption 

of “illegal” meetings at Protestant house 

churches or restrictions on religious 

holiday celebrations. In November 2007, 

police broke up a house church meeting in Haiphong. There have also been 

reports of clashes between Vietnamese 

POLICYFOCUS VIETNAM

In addition to official 

restrictions, members of 

Protestant religious 

communities continue to 

face beatings and other 

ill-treatment, interrogations, harassment, fines, 

threats, and forced renunciations of faith, though 

the number and frequency 

of such abuses are fewer 

today than in the past. 
15

Protestants and local Khmer Buddhists in 

the Mekong Delta, allegedly instigated by 

provincial officials. 

There is also disturbing evidence 

that provincial officials discriminate 

against ethnic minority Protestants. Children are denied access to high school, 

based on outdated laws prohibiting the 

entry of children from religious families. 

There are also reports that Protestants 

are denied access to government benefits 

readily available to non-Protestants. In 

addition, local officials reportedly intimidate family elders, threatening to take 

away their government benefits unless 

they convince younger family members 

to renounce their religion. Montagnard 

Protestants have long complained of 

targeted discrimination, but there is 

troubling evidence that both provincial 

and government officials are training 

local officials in these discriminatory 

tactics. At a 2007 training workshop in 

Kontum, local police and government 

officials were reportedly trained in ways 

to deny medical, educational, housing, 

financial and other government services 

to “religious families” or to the families 

of recent converts. In addition, officials 

were instructed to divert foreign aid projects from known Protestant villages. 

In March 2008, leaders of the SECV 

issued a public letter alleging that in spite 

of public promises to protect religious 

freedom, the Vietnamese government 

continues to confiscate and destroy 

church properties, interfere in church 

leadership decisions, and instigate 

communal violence against Protestants 

affiliated with the SECV. Moreover, the 

SECV expressed concern that government officials continue to interfere in the 

organization’s internal affairs, including 

the reassignment and ordination of religious leaders. SECV leaders also claimed 

that despite efforts to engage government 

officials on issues of concern, two SECV 

churches were destroyed in Ho Chi Minh 

City in December 2007 and provincial 

authorities had allowed several ethnic 

Khmer, including a number of Buddhist 

monks, to vandalize and destroy church 

property and beat the members of two 

SECV congregations in the Mekong Delta, 

a region where Khmer Buddhist culture 

and religious practice are also severely 

restricted. In addition to these abuses, 

the SECV’s letter also states that despite 

repeated requests, there has been no 

action resolving the SECV’s claims on as 

many as 256 properties confiscated by 

the government after 1975. 

Forced Renunciations of Faith

Incidents of forced renunciations of faith 

continue to occur, generally targeting 

ethnic minority Protestants, but including also some UBCV monks and nuns 

in recent years. A February 2005 decree 

outlawed the practice of large-scale 

forced renunciations of faith, which 

were a national policy before that time. 

According to the State Department, 

there continue to be “isolated but credible reports” in which local authorities 

“encourage renunciations” of recently 

converted Christians and pressure them 

to return to their traditional beliefs. In 

September 2006, a pastor in Dak Nong 

province reported that the deputy chairman of Dak Mil district accused him and 

his church of “anti-government activities” 

for not participating in required Sunday buffalo sacrifices, an activity that 

would have been contrary to his religious 

beliefs. There were other cases of fines, 

police summons, short-term detentions, 

or threats of withholding government 

benefits used to induce individuals to 

abandon their religion, including 30 ethnic minority Protestants in Coastal Ninh 

Thuan province and 10 Hmong Protestants in Dien Bien province. 

In 2007, two Hmong Protestant 

leaders in Sang Chai hamlet, Lu Thanh 

village, Si Ma Cia district were physically 

V IETNAM

Commissioner Cromartie speaks with the 

Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Tan 

Dung, Hanoi. 

Commissioner Bansal with the Roman 

Catholic Archbishop of Hanoi, Joseph Ngô 

Quang Kiêt. 
POLICYFOCUS

16

assaulted and threatened with a gun in an 

attempt to force a new Protestant church 

to close and to coerce the members of the 

congregation to recant their religion. In 

Dien Bien province, Muong Lay district, 

Cha Cang commune, local authorities 

encouraged Hmong clan leaders to pressure local Protestant families to cease 

practicing their faith, including by forcing 

some families to construct traditional 

altars in their homes and/or to sign formal documents renouncing their beliefs. 

In Thai Binh province, Tien Hai district, 

Dong Lam commune, local authorities 

tried to force Protestant house church 

pastor Nguyen Van Cam to sign documents committing him to stop holding 

church services. In Dien Bien province, 

East Dien Bien district, police broke up a 

house church meeting, banned worshippers from gathering, confiscated religious 

material, fined followers, forced some 

to cut wood, and visited the homes of 

church members to pressure them to 

abandon their faith. Religious leaders 

in the northwest provinces and central 

coast region, including leaders and followers from the Inter-Evangelistic Movement Bible Church, also reported that 

they were being denounced as “enemies 

of the state” for “believing in an American 

religion,” and were forced to pay fines.

The most serious recent case of 

forced renunciation involved the beating 

death in Phu Sen province of an ethnic 

minority Protestant man named Y Vin 

Het. Credible reports from Phu Sen 

indicated that Y Vin Het was repeatedly 

beaten in police custody for refusing 

to recant his faith. He could not 

afford medical care and died of internal injuries in March 2007. Religious 

leaders complained about police tactics, 

but provincial officials forced the young 

man, without any independent medical 

examination or investigation, to mark 

a paper indicating that he was injured 

in a drunken brawl, a story repeated to 

the Commission during its meeting with 

the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). 

The Commission asked for the Phu Yen 

provincial police responsible for the 

beating death to be held responsible and 

for an account of their punishment to be 

published in the MPS’s newspaper Law & 

Order. As of this writing, there has been 

no response from the MPS and no information about whether those responsible 

for Y Vin Het’s death have been brought 

to justice, or whether there has been any 

independent or effective investigation.

Specific Problems in the Central Highlands

Montagnard Protestants 

During the Commission’s visit to the Central Highlands in November 2007, religious leaders indicated that the situation 

had markedly improved during the past 

two years, particularly for groups affiliated with the SECV. In Gai Lai and parts 

of Dak Lak provinces, local religious leaders and government officials have worked 

together to re-open churches closed since 

2001, approve religious training classes, 

and legally recognize congregations. 

However, relations between ethnic minority residents of the Central Highlands 

and Vietnamese government officials remain tense in some provinces and there 

continue to be reports of an intrusive 

security presence in the region. 

The Vietnamese government 

remains on guard against ethnic minority unrest since the Central Highlands 

was the scene of protests for land rights 

and religious freedom in 2001 and 2004. 

Numerous eyewitnesses report that the 

2004 demonstrations were disrupted by 

attacks on protesters by security forces 

and hired proxies. There are credible reports of especially severe violence occurring in Dak Lak province, including the 

killing of at least 10 demonstrators. No 

public investigation of or accounting for 

police action during the 2001 and 2004 

demonstrations has occurred. Since the 

demonstrations, however, Vietnamese 

officials have imprisoned those believed 

to have organized the protests, others suspected of taking part, and those 

who sought asylum in Cambodia during 

police crackdowns after the demonstra-
17

V IETNAM

tions. Vietnamese security officials have 

also pursued Montagnards into Cambodia to stop the flow of asylum seekers. 

Some Montagnard villages and communes remain under tight government 

control, and no international observer 

has been allowed unobstructed access 

to the region, though diplomats have 

occasionally visited, including representatives of the UN High Commissioner for 

Refugees (UNHCR) and Ellen Sauerbray, 

the then-U.S. State Department’s Assistant Secretary of State for Populations, 

Refugees, and Migration. There continue 

to be reports of Montagnards seeking asylum in Cambodia, despite efforts to halt 

the refugee flow by both the Vietnamese 

and Cambodian governments. 

Religious leaders reported that in 

recent years, the government has relaxed 

some restrictions, allowing a reported 

100 churches in the Central Highlands 

to register legally with the SECV. Several 

hundred more have been given de facto 

or official permission to operate pending registration decisions. As many as 

700 of the 1,250 churches and meeting 

points closed after 2001 have since been 

re-opened. However, religious freedom 

improvements depend upon province, 

religious affiliation, and the goodwill 

of local and provincial officials. For 

example, severe restrictions on the activities of religious groups and believers in 

parts of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Kontum, and 

Bien Phouc provinces continue. In Dak 

Lak province, the Commission delegation 

met with one house church Protestant 

pastor who described how government 

authorities had threatened to remove 

his residency permit, brought lawsuits 

against him to confiscate his property, 

and harassed and threatened his congregation until many of them left. Officials 

then put a sign up at the end of the road 

prohibiting entry to what was termed a 

“secret military area.” This pastor stated 

that 14 other congregations affiliated 

with his group experienced similar problems. Many of the pastor’s legal problems 

“disappeared” immediately prior to his 

meeting with the Commission; however, 

there have not been additional improvements since the Commission delegation left Vietnam and most of the same 

problems remain. Other ethnic minority 

Protestants, including members of the 

Stieng minority in Bien Phouc province 

and the Hre ethnic minority in Quang 

Ngai, continue to face discrimination 

and harassment or have had property 

confiscated by provincial officials. Central government authorities either ignore 

these problems or have not yet acted to 

curtail them. After conducting extensive 

interviews with Montagnard Protestants 

in 2007, Human Rights Watch confirmed 

that ethnic minority Protestants face 

severe restrictions on religious practice, 

expression, and association. Most repression targeted Protestants who refused to 

join the SECV or who were suspected of 

affiliating with the banned Tin Lanh Dega 

(Dega Protestant Church). 

The Vietnamese government views 

Tin Lanh Dega as a subversive institution combining religion and advocacy 

of political autonomy. A recent study 

commissioned by the UNHCR found 

that few self-identified adherents of Tin 

Lanh Dega sought any type of political 

autonomy; rather, most sought “enhancement of their human rights position” and 

the “need to gather in independent Tin 

Lanh Dega church communities” that 

are separate from what they viewed as 

Commissioner Cromartie speaks with Nguyen Van Son, the head of the Foreign 

Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, Hanoi. 
POLICYFOCUS

the Vietnamese-led SECV. Even those 

Tin Lanh Dega leaders who expressed 

a desire for greater political autonomy 

sought to advance this position peacefully. Nevertheless, to suppress Tin Lanh 

Dega activity or sympathy with the group, 

security officials in Dak Nong, Dak Lak, 

and parts of Gai Lai and Kontum provinces have engaged in severe violations 

of religious freedom and related human 

rights. Human Rights Watch found that 

police do not allow people to gather for 

worship, often live in the homes of known 

religious leaders, constantly monitor and 

interrogate religious leaders, and arrest 

and detain those found meeting clandestinely for prayer. Police also reportedly 

pressure some to sign pledges agreeing 

to “abandon Christianity and politics.” 

In addition, police also use a variety of 

methods to coerce suspected Dega Protestants to join the SECV, the governmentapproved religious organization. In February and March 2006, police in Gia Lai 

province reportedly detained individuals 

from several alleged Tin Lanh Dega congregations in an attempt to force them to 

affiliate with the SECV. Police asked those 

detained whether they would remain 

“political” or whether they would follow 

the “Christianity of [the Prime Minister].” 

Those who refused to cease their religious 

activity reportedly were beaten and later 

released. SECV religious leaders told the 

Commission that attempts by police to 

coerce alleged Tin Lanh Dega congregations to join the SECV were made without 

their knowledge or cooperation. 

Beatings and Other Ill-Treatment, 

Restrictions, Detentions, and 

Discrimination 

Religious leaders in the Central Highlands have reported that progress made 

in the previous year has, for the most 

part, stalled. New legal registrations 

and recognitions have stopped, officials 

are refusing to approve new building 

permits, and the authorities have not 

renewed permission to hold additional 

religious education classes. Over the past 

year, even members of the governmentapproved SECV have been subjected to 

beatings and other ill-treatment, arrests, 

and various restrictions, including government discrimination. According to 

the State Department, one-third of the 

SECV churches in Dak Lak province that 

were closed in 2001 continue to face severe restrictions on their activities. Police 

regularly prevent people from gathering 

and break up meetings, halting religious 

activity in as many as 100 congregations. 

In Say Thay, Kontum province, district 

officials told visiting State Department 

diplomats that “no religion” existed in the 

area and refused to provide details about 

the alleged beating of two ethnic minority Dao Protestant leaders. In July 2006, 

police in Dak Nong province arrested and 

reportedly mistreated 10 ethnic minority 

M’Nong Protestants and accused them 

of “participating in American Protestantism” and “anti-government activities.” 

Six were detained for between three and 

six months. As of January 2007, four 

remained incarcerated under obscure 

provisions in the legal code relating to 

national security and “national solidarity.” Religious leaders from Dak Nong 

report that most were young people 

arrested for holding unauthorized prayer 

meetings outside of a recognized religious venue and for possessing 

cell phones. 

18 

The Vietnamese 

government remains on 

guard against ethnic 

minority unrest since the 

Central Highlands was the 

scene of protests for land 

rights and religious 

freedom in 2001 and 2004. 

Commissioners Cromartie, Eid, and Leo 

with Father Steven Chun Tin, a religious 

freedom advocate, Ho Chi Minh City. 

Commissioner Cromartie meets with 

Nguyen The Doanh, Acting Chair, 

Government Committee on Religion, Hanoi. 
V IETNAM

19

Among Protestant groups, ethnic minorities in Vietnam’s northwest provinces 

continue to experience the greatest 

number of restrictions and abuses. 

Since 2001, the government has closely 

monitored Hmong Protestants and conducted campaigns among them involving 

harassment, detention, beatings, and 

forced renunciations of faith. During this 

time, hundreds of churches and meeting 

points have been forced underground, 

and in the period between 2002 and 2003, 

at least two pastors were beaten to death 

while in detention. The Vietnamese 

government has long tied the growth of 

Protestantism in the Hmong community 

to alleged separatist aims that require a 

security response. 

Recent government documents 

appear to recognize that ethnic minority 

Protestants in the northwest provinces 

have a “genuine need” to practice their 

religion. Over the past several years, the 

Vietnamese government has begun to 

allow Hmong Protestants to gather for 

worship purposes and, according to the 

State Department, to conduct religious 

activity in homes “during the daytime.” 

In the last year, the government has given 

an estimated 60 churches official permission to conduct legal religious activity 

as a “pilot project.” An estimated 1,000 

other religious venues in the northwest 

provinces are seeking affiliation with the 

Evangelical Church of Vietnam, North 

(ECVN), and hundreds of other house 

church Protestant groups are conducting 

some sort of independent religious activity in the region. 

However, these positive moves 

have been accompanied by persistent 

official harassment and even repression. 

For example, ECVN leaders were told 

to stop accepting new applications for 

registration after the number reached 

671. Though required by law to respond 

to new applications in a timely manner, 

Vietnamese government officials have 

denied or ignored all new applications 

for legal recognition, making these religious groups technically illegal. ECVN 

officials were told that they should not 

expect approval of new registration applications this year. Two Protestant leaders from Lao Cai province were detained 

for two weeks and fined because they 

traveled to Hanoi to acquire registration 

application forms from ECVN leaders. 

ECVN leaders have also expressed 

concern about the way local authorities are interpreting the new laws on 

religion. In a State Department investigation of the current situation, ethnic 

minority religious leaders reported that 

security officials regularly attend religious services, check church membership lists, and force anyone not on the 

list to leave. In some locations, security 

officials have reportedly barred anyone 

under the age of 14 from attending 

services, banned mid-week meetings 

and programs for children and young 

people, and insisted that religious leaders be chosen under their supervision. 

During its visit to Vietnam, the Commission confirmed that some of these 

practices continue. 

Abuses in the Northwest Provinces

The Vietnamese 

government has long 

tied the growth of 

Protestantism in the 

Hmong community 

to alleged separatist 

aims that require a 

security response. 

A river community in the Mekong Delta. 
POLICYFOCUS

20

Forced Renunciations, Detentions, 

and Fines

Despite a February 2005 decree prohibiting forced renunciations of faith, official 

efforts to coerce individuals to renounce 

their religion reportedly continue. In 

2006, Protestants in Muong Lay district, 

Dien Bien province, were forced by police 

to construct traditional animistic altars 

in their homes and sign documents 

renouncing Protestantism. In April 2006, 

four Hmong Protestants from Gap Trung 

village, Hoang Su Phi district, Ha Giang 

province, were pressured unsuccessfully by border guards to sign documents 

renouncing their faith. Also in April 

2006, police in Dien Bien province beat 

10 Hmong Protestants in an attempt to 

induce them to renounce their faith. In 

January 2007, security officials threatened 

to freeze the bank account of a Protestant 

leader in Muong Khong district, Dien 

Bien province, unless he either left the 

district or renounced his faith. Members 

of one house church Protestant group 

in the northwest provinces report that 

police broke up meetings of worshippers 

and authorities refused to register their 

meeting areas. Members of this group 

reported that they were forced to “meet 

secretly at night, in the fields” in order to 

worship and that police actively pressured them to abandon their religion and 

return to “traditional beliefs.” There are 

no reports that any security officials have 

been punished for these actions, despite 

the fact that they have been technically 

illegal since the February 2005 decree. 

 In addition, although the number of 

reported abuses has declined in recent 

years, the persistent reports detailing 

detentions, fines, and other forms of 

harassment indicate that the central government continues to limit the religious 

freedom of ethnic minority groups in 

Vietnam. Ethnic minority Protestants 

have been fined and detained for carrying Protestant literature and training 

materials and for providing researchers 

with information about religious freedom 

conditions. In Muong Nhe district, Dien 

Bien province, a house church deacon 

was detained after he returned from 

Hanoi carrying church documents and 

applications for registration. Since that 

time, there are reports that a special 

task force of security personnel has 

been living in the district to monitor the 

activities of Hmong Protestants there. 

In January 2007, four Protestants from 

Tuyen Quang province were arrested for 

transporting 115 Christian books and 

training materials. They were released 

after a week and fined $1,000—several 

years’ wages. Police have threatened to 

charge the village chief of Muong Nhe 

district, Dien Bien province with national 

security crimes for sending researchers 

documents about government attempts 

to “prohibit Christian practice” in the 

northwest provinces. In June 2007, a 

Protestant group in Bat Xat district, Lao 

Cai province reported that local government authorities imposed fines up 

to approximately $100—amounting to 

one half year’s wages—on eight “illegal 

Protestants” and imposed material fines 

on nine others (apparently by confiscating chickens). The “illegal Protestants” 

were accused of following Protestantism 

without seeking permission from provincial authorities, although the group had 

submitted an application for registration 

with the ECVN. Sometimes the harassment results in violence, as in July 2007, 

when a government-sanctioned veterans’ 

group in Ha Giang province burned down 

a home where ethnic minority Protestants met for worship and damaged other 

buildings in an attempt to stop their 

worship activities. 

Commissioners Cromartie and Gaer with the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pham 

Binh Minh, Hanoi. 
V IETNAM

21

The restrictions and abuses faced by the 

UBCV remain a serious religious freedom 

concern in Vietnam. The freedom of 

movement, expression, and assembly of 

UBCV leaders continues to be restricted, 

and there is significant official harassment of monks, nuns, and youth leaders 

associated with the UBCV. During its trip 

to Vietnam, the Commission met with the 

Most Venerable Thich Quang Do in Ho 

Chi Minh City and the Venerable Thich 

Thien Hanh in Hue. Thich Quang Do, 

as well as Thich Huyen Quang, are still 

restricted in their contacts and movement. Western diplomats and high-level 

Vietnamese officials have met with these 

leaders in the last year, and Thich Huyen 

Quang was allowed to seek needed 

medical treatment. However, 12 senior 

UBCV monks remain under some form 

of administrative probation or “pagoda 

arrest.” Charges issued in October 2004 

against UBCV leaders for “possessing 

state secrets” have not been rescinded. 

Repression of the UBCV is not entirely focused on its leadership, as local attempts 

by monks to organize “provincial boards” 

are also thwarted. 

During its meeting with the Most 

Venerable Thich Quang Do, the Commission delegation asked about the 

Vietnamese government’s charge that 

the UBCV was a “political” organization. 

In September 2007, President Nguyen 

Minh Triet threatened to put on trial and 

convict UBCV monks who “are hiding 

under the cloak of religion...to overthrow 

the government.” Thich Quang Do said 

that his advocacy for religious freedom 

and related human rights in Vietnam 

was directly related to his vocation as a 

monk and the “2,000-year-old tradition 

of Mayahana Buddhism.” According to 

Thich Quang Do, “Buddhists promise not 

to kill, steal, engage in sexual misconduct, or lie, but when the government 

steals land, engages in sexual trafficking 

of young girls, stifles free speech, or arbitrarily kills or mistreats victims in prison 

we must speak out against state repression, that is why the government views 

the UBCV as political and why we are 

threatened with arrest and detention.” 

Thich Quang Do continued, “But our 

first need is freedom of religion,” [and] 

“the Vietnamese people need religious 

freedom to address all of Vietnam’s growing social problems. We have tried to 

organize and carry out our work peacefully, but we are unable.” 

Since 2005, the UBCV has organized 

more than 20 provincial and local representative boards in central and southern 

Vietnam. Police regularly harass and 

interrogate monks and laypeople who 

have organized provincial level boards in 

Quang Nam-Danang, Thua Thien-Hue, 

Binh Dinh, Dong Nai, Quang Tri, Lam 

Dong, and Bac Lieu provinces. Monks 

have been detained and ordered to 

withdraw their names from the boards 

and cease all connections with the UBCV. 

Over the past year, government officials 

in Lam Dong province have sought to depose Thich Tri Khai from his post as superior monk of the Giac Hai pagoda in Dong 

Duong district. In late March 2008, pressure on the Giac Hai pagoda increased, 

as police and representatives of Vietnam’s 

Fatherland Front, a Communist Party 

organization, reportedly offered bribes to 

anyone who would denounce Thich Tri 

Khai. Twelve Buddhist monks associated 

with the government-approved Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha (VBS) signed a petition supporting Thich Tri Khai’s ouster. 

However, 239 monks affiliated with the 

UBCV signed another petition opposing 

the government’s action. All of those who 

signed the counter-petition have been 

threatened and subjected to “working 

sessions” at local police stations. 

Prior to their action targeting Thich 

Tri Khai, Lam Dong provincial officials 

reportedly issued a “secret plan” in September 2007 to orchestrate his removal, 

according to the International Buddhist 

Information Bureau in Paris. The document, which the Information Bureau 

has obtained, is an indication of the 

Vietnamese government’s aim to harass 

and restrict the UBCV in Vietnam. It 

describes the “illegal” UBCV as a “hostile 

force” using “the advantage of religion to 

The United Buddhist Church of Vietnam

The freedom of 

movement, expression, 

and assembly of UBCV 

leaders continues to be 

restricted, and there is 

significant official harassment of monks, nuns, and 

youth leaders associated 

with the UBCV. 
22

POLICYFOCUS

oppose the State and sabotage the people’s great tradition of unity.” The document also advises provincial authorities 

to “mobilize local people against those 

who take advantage of religion...consolidate evidence in the form of complaints 

from local people and religious followers 

about Thich Tri Khai’s morals and virtue, 

and [launch] public accusations against 

him.” Thus far, however, the government 

has been unable to depose or remove 

Thich Tri Khai from the Giac Hai pagoda, 

despite the trumped-up charges and 

denunciations from local Buddhists. 

The efforts of Lam Dong provincial 

officials are being duplicated in other 

areas. In April 2008, police and local 

officials reportedly entered the UBCVaffiliated Phuoc Hue pagoda in Quang 

Tri province, vandalized the property, 

destroyed statues and the pagoda’s gate, 

assaulted monks filming the vandalism, and beat head monk Thich Tu Giao. 

Police also assaulted and detained Thich 

Tu Giao’s mother and members of the 

Buddhist Youth Movement present at the 

pagoda. Local officials set up barriers 

on roads leading to the pagoda and put 

up signs declaring the pagoda to be a 

“forbidden area.” It was the second time 

police had vandalized the Phuoc Hue 

pagoda over the past year. Previously, 

police destroyed a newly-built kitchen 

and warehouse and allegedly stole money 

contributed by local Buddhists for pagoda building projects. 

Restrictions and abuses targeting 

the UBCV affect lay Buddhists as well 

as associated monks and nuns. The 

Vietnamese government has actively 

sought to stop the organization of the 

Buddhist Youth Movement. In the last 

year, police have briefly detained monks 

attending a youth conference in Hue 

and have subjected the lay Buddhist 

organizers of the conference to constant interrogations and harassment. In 

2007, the UBCV’s national youth leader, 

Le Cong Cau, was held under house 

arrest during preparations for the Hue 

conference. In late November and early 

December 2007, UBCV Youth Leaders 

Ho Dac Thich and Mai Tien Son from 

Phuong Vy district, Hue were detained 

and interrogated. Other youth leaders in 

Phuoc Vinh district, Tay Loc district, and 

Huong Phong village were detained and 

interrogated. All reportedly were asked 

to resign their positions under the threat 

that criminal charges would be brought 

against them. Police also threatened 

to revoke family members’ government 

benefits. Former religious prisoner and 

monk Thich Thien Minh continues to 

face constant harassment and in March 

2007, local officials reportedly tore down 

the pagoda in which he was living. The 

next day he was presented with a “police 

order” accusing him of “activities opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” 

In addition, Thich Thien Minh was ordered to renounce his position as UBCV 

Youth Commissioner, cease all contacts 

with the outlawed UBCV leadership, and 

disband operation of the Former Political and Religious Prisoners Association, 

which the authorities consider an “illegal organization.” 

Vietnamese authorities continue to 

threaten and detain monks and adherents of UBCV affiliated monasteries, as 

well as others seeking to meet UBCV 

leaders. Lay Buddhists who visit the 

pagodas of known UBCV leaders are 

harassed and information about them 

is collected. In December 2005, reports 

emerged that UBCV nun Thich Nu Thong 

Man was subject to a “denunciation campaign” and expulsion order by provincial authorities in Khanh Hoa province. 

Police threatened local villagers with the 

loss of jobs and government services unless they publicly denounced the nun and 

reportedly asked provincial authorities to 

have her expelled from the local monastery. In January 2007, security officials 

from Binh Dinh province issued orders 

prohibiting future religious gatherings 

at the Thap Thap monastery, reportedly 

threatening that local Buddhists would 

lose their jobs or their children would be 

Commissioners Gaer, Eid, and Leo meet with Father Phan Van Loi (center), currently under house expelled from school if they did not obey. 

arrest, and Father Gyyi in Hue. 
V IETNAM

23

The government continues to ban and 

actively discourage participation in 

independent factions of the Hoa Hao 

and Cao Dai, two religious groups 

unique to Vietnam claiming membership of four million and three million 

respectively. There are also an estimated three million ethnic minority Khmer 

Buddhists, centered in the Mekong 

Delta region. Long-standing restrictions on the Khmer have led to peaceful 

demonstrations in both Cambodia and 

Vietnam. The Vietnamese government 

has viewed such actions as a threat 

to public order and responded with 

harassment, surveillance, arrests, interrogation, and detention, as well as the 

defrocking of Buddhist monks, some of 

whom have taken the lead in organizing protests. The Commission met with 

Hoa Hao and Cao Dai religious leaders 

in Vietnam and visited Soc Trang province to discuss issues related to Khmer 

Buddhism in Vietnam. Improvements 

experienced by other religious groups 

have not extended to these communities. In addition, most of the “prisoners 

of concern” described above come from 

these three groups. 

Both the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao 

pointed to the government’s ongoing 

oversight of and control over their communities’ internal affairs. The Cao Dai 

continue to protest that the Vietnamese government controls their rituals, 

celebrations, funerals, and the selection 

of religious leaders. For example, the 

government has long banned the use of 

séances, the key method for selecting 

Cao Dai leaders. Another complaint is 

related to the government’s rejection 

of the Cao Dai charter drawn up before 

the 1950s, the official unwillingness to 

allow the community to maintain its own 

independent source of income, and the 

seizure without compensation of Cao 

Dai properties after 1975. Some Cao Dai 

traditionalists have refused to participate 

in the government-appointed management committees and have formed 

independent groups. Eight Cao Dai were 

arrested in 2005 for protesting government control. 

The government-recognized Hoa 

Hao Administrative Committee (HHAC) 

was organized in 1999. Several leaders of 

the Hoa Hao community, including many 

pre-1975 leaders, have openly criticized 

the HHAC, claiming that it is subservient to the government. They have set up 

their own organization, the Hoa Hao Central Buddhist Church (HHCBC), and have 

sought legal recognition. HHCBC leaders 

and followers face significant official 

repression. The government has arrested 

individuals caught distributing the sacred 

texts of the Hoa Hao founding prophet, 

Huynh Phu So, broken up ceremonies 

held by the HHCBC commemorating its 

Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and Khmer Buddhist Communities

The government 

continues to ban and 

actively discourage 

participation in independent factions of the 

Hoa Hao and Cao Dai, 

two religious groups 

unique to Vietnam 

claiming membership of 

four million and three 

million respectively. 

A Market scene from the Mekong Delta. 
24

POLICYFOCUS

founder, and destroyed sacred properties, 

including a library and other artifacts in 

An Giang province. Religious leaders also 

claim that the Religious Publishing House 

publishes only a part of the Hoa Hao sacred texts and actively restricts attempts 

to distribute full scriptures. 

In May 2007, a court in the Dong 

Thap province sentenced four Hoa Hao 

followers to between four and six years 

in prison for “creating public disorder” 

under Article 245 of the 1999 Penal Code. 

The four were arrested for their involvement in a peaceful hunger strike protesting the arrest and imprisonment of at 

least eight other Hoa Hao sect members 

in 2005, as well as more general allegations of government suppression of the 

Hoa Hao religion.

The Vietnamese government’s 

repression of the language, culture, and 

religion of ethnic Khmer living in Vietnam has intensified, leading to growing 

resentment. Long-simmering tensions 

emerged in 2006 and 2007, as Khmer 

Buddhist monks in Cambodia protested 

the Vietnamese government’s religious 

freedom restrictions in demonstrations that were violently dispersed by 

Cambodian police. In February 2007, 

more than 200 Buddhist monks staged 

demonstrations in Sac Trong province 

to demand greater religious freedom, 

including, among other demands, more 

language instruction in the sacred Pali 

language and the lifting of a ban on 

month-long ordination ceremonies. At 

least 10 monks were defrocked and five 

arrested for taking part in the demonstrations. According to reports, five 

other Khmer Buddhists are being held 

under administrative detention in their 

pagodas. In May 2007, five monks were 

sentenced to terms ranging from two to 

five years for “causing a public disorder.” 

In July 2007, the Vietnamese government arrested Tim Sarkhorn, a Khmer 

Buddhist monk living in Cambodia, on 

charges of “illegally crossing the border.” 

Sarkhorn was earlier defrocked by Cambodian Buddhist leaders for undermining the “friendship” between Vietnam 

and Cambodia when he organized 

demonstrations in Cambodia.

After the February 2007 demonstration in Soc Trang, provincial officials 

and police expanded surveillance and 

restrictions on Khmer Buddhist religious 

activity and pressured Khmer Buddhist 

leaders to identify or defrock monks 

critical of the government. As Theravada 

Buddhists, the Khmer have ethnic and 

religious traditions distinct from the 

dominant Mahayana Buddhist tradition 

practiced in most places in Vietnam. 

Khmer Buddhists in Cambodia have 

called for a separate religious organization for their co-religionists in Vietnam, 

an idea roundly rejected by provincial 

officials during the Commission’s visit to 

Soc Trang. 

The Committee on Religious Affairs in 

Hanoi publishes a handbook to instruct 

provincial officials in the northwest provinces of Vietnam on how to manage and 

control religious practice among ethnic 

minorities. The Commission was critical of the 2006 version of the handbook 

because it offered instructions on ways 

to restrict religious freedom, including a 

command to “resolutely subdue” new religious growth, “mobilize and persuade” 

new converts to return to their traditional 

religious practice, and halt anyone who 

“abuses religion” to undermine “the revolution.” While the handbook is important 

because it recognizes the legitimacy of 

“some” religious activity, it also indicates 

that the Vietnamese government will 

continue to control and manage religious 

growth, label anyone who seeks to spread 

Christianity in the northwest provinces a 

national security threat, and use unspecified tactics to “persuade” new converts to 

renounce their beliefs. 

Government Handbook on Religious Practice in the 

Northwest Provinces
25

V IETNAM

The Commission, as well as international human rights NGOs, criticized 

the 2006 handbook, noting that it 

promoted control of religious communities rather than protection of religious 

freedom. The Commission also pointed 

out that the text did not reflect international human rights norms on religious 

freedom and seemed to condone forced 

renunciations of faith targeting “new” 

converts. Vietnam’s Committee on 

Religious Affairs promised to revise the 

2006 handbook and issue a new version 

in 2007. The revised handbook was 

presented to the Commission during its 

meeting with the Religious Affairs Committee in Hanoi. 

An analysis of the revised handbook 

reveals, unfortunately, that the new edition is hardly better than the previous 

one. Provincial officials continue to be 

urged to control and manage existing religious practice through law, halt 

“enemy forces” from “abusing religion” 

to undermine the Vietnamese state, and 

“overcome the extraordinary...growth of 

Protestantism.” This last instruction is 

especially problematic, since it suggests 

that the growth of Protestantism among 

ethnic minority groups continues to be 

viewed as a potential threat to public 

security and that it is the “responsibility” 

of officials to stem it. As stated in the revised handbook, “Protestant growth can 

explode at any time...and is spreading to 

other tribes and regions...some can take 

advantage of religion to practice superstition, to violate the policies and laws 

of our State, to incite division among the 

people, to cause disturbances, to violate 

the common good or threaten the security of the State.”

In the 2006 version of the handbook, local authorities were told to identify ethnic minority Protestants “new” 

to the faith and “mobilize and persuade” 

them to “return to traditional religious 

practices.” In the revised 2007 version, 

these commands are replaced with more 

vague instructions to “solve the root 

cause” of Protestant growth by “mobilizing” ethnic groups to “preserve their 

beautiful religious traditions” by “developing the economy and society...to raise 

the standard of living.” The words are 

different, but the task of officials managing religious communities remains 

essentially the same: religious practice must be managed and controlled, 

religious growth must be thwarted, and 

outsiders who, in their view, use religion 

to undermine the state must be stopped. 

The 2007 version of the handbook was revised, as promised, but the 

new version does not promote or fully 

protect religious freedom in the northwest provinces of Vietnam. Rather, it 

tolerates some religious practice while 

continuing to view new religious growth 

as a political and security problem needing to be “overcome” and “solved.” 

Provincial officials 

continue to be urged to 

control and manage existing religious practice 

through law, halt “enemy 

forces” from “abusing 

religion” to undermine the 

Vietnamese state, 

and “overcome the extraordinary...growth 

of Protestantism.” 

Commissioner Leo speaks with Church members outside the new, government-recognized, 

official meeting place of Central Highlands’ Protestants.
26

POLICYFOCUS

Both Vietnamese and U.S. government 

officials have claimed that the implementation of the November 2004 Ordinance 

on Religion and Belief and the expansion 

of legal recognition for religious groups 

are signs of progress in the protection of 

religious freedom in Vietnam. The Ordinance does affirm the right to freedom 

of religion. However, it also requires 

that all religious groups register with the 

government in order to function legally, 

and bans any religious activity deemed 

to cause public disorder, harm national 

security and national unity, or “sow divisions.” In addition, there continue to 

be problems in the implementation of a 

number of the provisions of the Ordinance, including: the excessive denials or 

delays in approving thousands of legitimate registration applications, the refusal 

to register all but a handful of Protestant 

congregations in the north and the northwest provinces, inconsistent registration 

procedures and other legal requirements, 

continued restrictions on the recruitment 

or selection of religious leaders, difficulties in establishing a sufficient number of 

Catholic seminaries and Protestant pastor training courses, and unresolved land 

expropriation claims involving a number 

of religious groups. 

Religious organizations that gain legal recognition are, in principle, allowed 

to open, operate, and refurbish places 

of worship, train religious leaders, and 

obtain permission for the publication of 

materials. To obtain official recognition, 

an organization must first receive registration at the national level. According to 

the legal framework, a religious organization must have been in operation in 

Vietnam for 20 years in order to move 

through the three legal stages needed to 

receive national-level registration. To 

its credit, since 2006, the Vietnamese 

government has issued national-level 

recognition to at least six Protestant organizations, five Buddhist groups, and the 

Baha’i community. 

Other religious groups have 

encountered problems in the application process. The most basic level of 

registration is the most problematic, 

whereby a single religious venue is 

given permission to “carry out specific 

religious activities” that may be limited 

to approval of place, time, and number of people attending. This level of 

registration sometimes requires annual 

renewal. The second level of registration allows religious venues to affiliate 

with an already established religious 

organization or denomination. It is 

possible, after one year, for this group of 

religious venues or organization to draft 

a government-approved constitution 

and hold a convention to elect officers. 

At that time, the group can apply to 

Hanoi for national-level recognition. 

Vietnam’s Prime Minister must authorize 

an organization’s application in order 

for it to gain national legal status. Only 

those religious groups that reach this 

final level of recognition can carry out 

the activities detailed in the Ordinance 

on Religion, such as religious education, 

the ordination of leaders, the operation 

of religious sites, and the conducting of 

charitable activities. 

One benefit usually noted about the 

Ordinance is that it makes the registration process clearer than the regulations 

used in the past. The new Ordinance 

does set specific timetables and delinLegal Registration and the Implementation of the New Ordinance 

on Religion and Belief 

Commissioner Leo speaks with Lt. Gen. Lu Ngoc Cu (right), provincial governor of 

the Dak Lak Province in the Central Highlands. 
V IETNAM

27

eates a process for gaining national-level 

recognition. Nevertheless, though religious groups have been approved for legal recognition at all levels, even with the 

Ordinance, the most common response 

to applications is either no response or 

denial. Religious venues whose approvals are denied remain illegal.

Other problems with the Ordinance 

have also emerged: 

• The requirement that registration be 

gained for “specific religious activities” has been used to restrict religious 

practice. Some registered congregations in the northern region and the 

northwest Highlands complained that 

officials attend services, deny entrance 

to individuals not on application lists, 

refuse to approve religious meetings that 

are not held on weekends, and prevent 

members from participating in services 

through harassment by local authorities or their agents. Annual activities by 

congregations must also be registered 

with the authorities, and activities not 

on the accepted annual calendar require 

separate government approval.

• The approval process is slow and there 

is no redress for denials. Thousands of 

applications for legal recognition have 

not been answered, including at least 

671 applications from ethnic Protestant churches seeking to affiliate with 

the ECVN. There are similar approval 

problems in the Mekong Delta region. 

Religious venues that are denied legal 

recognition have no clear avenue of appeal. Provincial authorities have threatened to close several religious venues 

that have been denied registration. 

• There are frequently unreasonable 

demands made by local officials, 

including that a religious organization provide lists of members of all its 

congregations as a precondition to 

registration, even though this specific 

requirement was not codified in the 

Ordinance on Religion. Many house 

church Protestants have ceased seeking national registration because local 

and provincial authorities are requiring that all district/provincial administrative staff be removed, religious 

leaders undergo indoctrination classes 

in Communist ideology, and denominational leaders become government 

informants as conditions for application approval. 

• Not all religious groups are eligible for 

registration. Independent Hoa Hao and 

Cao Dai groups, and some Mennonite, 

Baptist, and other house church Protestants in the Mekong Delta, Central Highlands, and northwest provinces have 

not been allowed to register. UBCV 

Buddhists are required to affiliate with 

the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha (VBS). 

Some of the problems encountered 

by religious groups in the registration 

process require a political solution, 

such as legal recognition of the UBCV 

and some Hoa Hao and Cao Dai groups. 

Other problems require better training 

on the Ordinance and implementation 

regulations among Vietnamese government officials. Assistant Secretary of 

State Hill, in his March 2008 Senate 

Foreign Relations Committee testimony, 

publicly stated that Vietnam’s efforts to 

train government officials to implement 

Vietnam’s new religion laws were a sign 

of “progress.” However, in Vietnam, 

when the Commission asked about A pagoda in Hanoi
28

POLICYFOCUS

the number of training programs that 

have been conducted for government 

officials, the delegation was told that 

between 2005 and 2007, the Vietnamese government conducted 16 training 

courses and eight workshops for Vietnamese civil servants in 17 of Vietnam’s 

59 provinces. Given the problems 

encountered implementing Vietnam’s 

Ordinance on Religion, it is difficult to 

see how the relatively small number 

of training sessions for government 

officials can be viewed as a sign 

of progress. 

Clearly, the Ordinance offers many 

important promises that have not yet 

been fulfilled and may never be given 

Vietnam’s lack of an independent and 

transparent legal system and judiciary. 

In addition, there are too many problems 

with the implementation of religion laws 

to conclude that, at this time, Vietnam 

protects the individual’s right to religious 

freedom in law. Other than the limited 

number of training courses conducted 

in the past few years, it continues to be 

unclear exactly what provincial officials and security personnel are learning in government-sponsored training 

seminars. Regulations regarding legal 

registration are routinely misapplied or 

ignored in provincial areas, particularly in 

the Mekong Delta, northwest provinces, 

Central Highlands, and central coastal 

regions, including Hue. In addition, in 

the Central Highland province of Kontum, there is evidence suggesting that 

provincial authorities are being trained to 

discriminate against Protestant families 

by denying them housing, medical, educational, and other government benefits 

and diverting foreign assistance and 

development aid away from known Protestant villages. Recent reports indicating 

that provincial officials in the central 

coast and northwest provinces also denied medical benefits to Protestants and 

threatened family elders with a cut-off 

in aid unless younger family members 

renounced their beliefs demonstrate that 

discrimination is a tactic in other regions 

and provinces of Vietnam. 

Some of the problems 

encountered by religious 

groups in the registration 

process require a political 

solution, such as legal 

recognition of the UBCV 

and some Hoa Hao and Cao 

Dai groups. Other problems 

require better training on 

the Ordinance and 

implementation regulations 

among Vietnamese 

government officials. 

Commissioner Leo meets with members of the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha (VBS). 

END NOTES

1 Article 88 targets people for “propagandizing against the 

state,” and Ordinance 44 is an administrative detention ordinance, which includes detention in mental hospitals.

2 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 18; International 

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Art. 18. 

3 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 19; International 

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Art. 19. 

4 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 20; International 

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Arts. 21 & 22. 

5

 UN Human Rights Committee General Comment 22, Article 

18 (Forty-eighth session, 1993), para 1. 

6

 See International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, Sec. 2(a) 

(2) & (3) and 3(13). 

7

 Other human rights advocates who have been temporarily 

detained, interrogated, beaten, arrested, or had warrants issued for their arrest since January 2007 include Fr. Chun Tin 

and Fr Phan Van Loi; Mennonite Pastors Nguyen Quang and 

Tran Van Hoa; Catholic seminary professor Nguyen Chinh 

Ket; and lawyers Li Thi Cong Nhan and Le Quoc Quan. 

8

 Human Rights Watch, No Sanctuary: Ongoing Threats to 

Indigenous Montagnards in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, 

Volume 18, Number 4, 

June 2006.
29

Recommendations

1 

In addition to recommending that 

Vietnam continue to be named a CPC, 

the Commission has other recommendations for U.S. government action.

 Press for Immediate Improvements to End Religious Freedom 

Abuses, Ease Restrictions, and 

Release Prisoners

• releasing or commuting the sentences 

of all religious prisoners of concern, including those imprisoned or detained 

on account of their peaceful advocacy 

of religious freedom and related human rights including, among others, 

Fr. Nguyen Van Ly, Nguyen Van Dai, 

Li Thi Cong Nhan, members of ethnic 

minorities in the Central Highlands and 

northwest provinces, Khmer Buddhist 

monks, the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao followers, and those held under administrative detention including Fr. Phan 

Van Loi, UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen 

Quang, Thich Quang Do, and the other 

UBCV leaders detained since the 2003 

crackdown on the UBCV’s leadership; 

• publicizing the names of all Montagnard Protestants currently in detention 

for reasons related to the 2001 and 2004 

demonstrations, allowing visits to prisoners from representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross or 

other independent foreign observers, 

and announcing publicly that a prompt 

review of all such prisoner cases will 

be conducted; 

The Revision of Laws to Reflect 

International Human Rights Standards

• amending the 2004 Ordinance on Religious Beliefs and Religious Organizations, Decree 22, the “Prime Minister’s 

Instructions on Protestantism,” and 

other domestic legislation to ensure 

that such laws do not restrict the exercise of religious freedom and instead 

conform to international norms regarding the freedom of thought, conscience, 

and religion or belief, including revising 

the vague national security provisions 

in the 2004 Ordinance; 

• enforcing the provisions in the Prime 

Minister’s “Instructions on Protestantism” that outlaw forced renunciations 

of faith and establishing specific 

penalties in the Vietnamese Criminal 

Code for anyone who carries out 

such practices; 

• ending the use of such far-reaching 

“national security” provisions as 

Article 88 or Article 258 of the Criminal Code, which have resulted in the 

detention of advocates for religious 

freedom and related human rights 

such as the freedoms of expression, 

association, and assembly; 

• revising or repealing ordinances and 

decrees that empower local security 

police to arrest, imprison, or detain 

citizens in administrative detention for 

vague national security or national solidarity offenses, including Ordinance 

44, Decree 38/CP, Decree 56/CP, and 

Articles 258, 79, and 88, among others, 

of the Criminal Code, and ending their 

de facto use to detain advocates;

• establishing a clear and consistent legal 

framework that allows religious groups 

to organize and engage in humanitarian, medical, educational, and charitable work; 

• investigating and publicly reporting 

on the beating deaths of Hmong 

Protestant leaders Mua Bua Senh and 

Vang Seo Giao and the 2007 beating 

death of Hroi Protestant Y Vin Het in 

Phu Sen province, and prosecuting

anyone found responsible for these 

deaths; 

Protecting Independent Religious 

Practice

• establishing a non-discriminatory 

legal framework for religious groups to 

engage in peaceful religious activities 

protected by international law without 

requiring groups to affiliate with any 
POLICYFOCUS

30

officially registered religious organization, for example:

• allowing the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) 

or the Khmer Buddhists to operate 

legally and independently of the 

official Buddhist organizations 

and the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, 

including allowing the UBCV’s 

Provincial Committees and Buddhist Youth Movement to organize 

and operate without restrictions or 

harassment;

• allowing leaders chosen by all Hoa 

Hao adherents to participate in the 

Executive Board of the Hoa Hao 

Administrative Council or allowing 

a separate Hoa Hao organization, such as the Hoa Hao Central 

Buddhist Church, to organize 

legally and operate with the same 

privileges as the Administrative 

Council;

• allowing Cao Dai leaders opposed 

to the Cao Dai Management 

Council to form a separate Cao Dai 

organization with management 

over its own affairs; and 

• allowing Protestant house church 

groups in the Central Highlands, 

central coast, and north and 

northwest provinces to organize independently and without 

harassment, and allowing them 

to operate, if desired, outside of 

either the Southern Evangelical 

Church of Vietnam (SECV) or the 

Northern Evangelical Church of 

Vietnam (ECVN);

• allowing all Hoa Hao groups freely and 

fully to celebrate their founding Prophet’s Birthday, allowing the printing and 

distribution of all the groups’ sacred 

writings, and allowing the rebuilding of 

the Hoa Hoa Buddhist Library in Phu 

Tan, An Giang province;

• approving the registration applications 

of all 671 ethnic minority churches 

in the north and northwest provinces 

and allowing them to affiliate immediately with the Evangelical Church of 

Vietnam (ECVN), consistent with the 

deadlines established in the Ordinance 

on Religious Belief and Religious 

Organizations; 

• creating a national commission of 

religious groups, government officials, 

and independent, non-governmental 

observers to find equitable solutions 

on returning confiscated properties to 

religious groups;

The Training of Government Officials

• revising the Training Manual for the 

Work Concerning the Protestant 

Religion in the Northwest Mountainous Region to reflect fully international 

standards regarding the protection of 

religious freedom and removing language that urges authorities to control 

and manage existing religious practice through law, halt “enemy forces” 

from “abusing religion” in order to 

undermine the Vietnamese state, and 

“overcome the extraordinary...growth 

of Protestantism”; 

• issuing clear, public instructions for 

provincial officials regarding the registration process, consistent with the 

provisions of the Ordinance, including 

by restating the timetables for responding to applications; providing redress 

for denials; and ceasing unreasonable 

demands for information or other 

conditions placed on registration applications, such as demanding names 

of all members of religious communities, requesting management changes, 

requiring denominational leaders 

to convene conferences to undergo 

indoctrination classes, and requesting 

that denominational leaders become 

informants on other religious groups; 

• issuing a “National Handbook for 

Religious Work” to train the estimated 

21,000 new government officials 

engaged in “religious work,” which 

should include an unambiguous statement about the need to respect international standards regarding religious 

freedom, guidelines for interpreting 

the Ordinance on Religion and Belief, 

detailed procedures on how to oversee 

the legal recognition process, a clear 

explanation of the duties of provincial 

officials under the law, and a description of the rights of religious communities under Vietnamese law and 

international human rights standards, 

including the provision of avenues to 

report inappropriate actions by local 

officials or police; 
V IETNAM

31

• issuing a clear, public statement that 

the denial of educational, medical, 

housing, and other government services or economic assistance, including 

foreign aid, based on religious belief, 

affiliation, or ethnicity is contrary to 

Vietnamese law and that government 

officials found using such tactics will be 

prosecuted under the law;

Asylum and Refugee Issues

• allowing ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands or northwest provinces 

to seek asylum safely in Cambodia and 

continue to allow representatives of the 

UN High Commissioner for Refugees 

(UNCHR) and other appropriate international organizations unimpeded 

access to the Central Highlands in order 

to monitor repatriated Montagnards, 

consistent with the Memorandum 

of Understanding (MoU) signed on 

January 25, 2005 between the UNHCR, 

Cambodia, and Vietnam, and provide 

unhindered access for diplomats, 

journalists, and non-governmental 

organizations (NGOs) to members of all 

religious communities in Vietnam, particularly those in the Central Highlands 

and the northwest provinces; and

• halting incursions into Laos and Cambodia by the Vietnamese military and 

police in pursuit of those seeking asylum because of abuses of and restrictions on their religious freedom. 

 Establish New Priorities 

for U.S. Assistance Programs

The U.S. government should assist the 

government of Vietnam in the development of protections for religious freedom 

in Vietnam, including by taking the 

following actions:

• fully implementing the Montagnard 

Development Program (MDP) created as part of the House and Senate 

Foreign Operations conference report 

of 2005 and continued in the 2008 

conference report to provide targeted 

humanitarian and development funds 

to ethnic minorities whose demands 

for land rights and religious freedom 

are closely connected. This program is 

consistent with Vietnam’s own stated 

goals of reducing poverty in the Central 

Highlands and northwest provinces 

and with the need for reform, transparency, and access to regions where many 

religious freedom abuses continue 

to occur; 

• re-allocating some funds that formerly 

supported the STAR (Support for Trade 

Acceleration Program) to new projects 

in human rights training, civil society 

capacity-building, non-commercial 

rule of law programs in Vietnam, 

education programs for minors and 

young adults, and exchange programs 

between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the U.S. Congress. Funds 

should go to the creation of a pilot 

program that would be the counterpart 

in Asia of the Supporting Eastern European Democracy (SEED) program and 

could be called Promoting Equal Rights 

and the Rule of Law (PEARL); 

• ensuring that rule of law programs 

include regular exchanges between international experts on religion and law 

and appropriate representatives from 

the Vietnamese government, academia, 

and religious communities to discuss 

the impact of Vietnam’s laws and 

decrees on religious freedom and other 

human rights, to train public security 

forces on these issues, and to discuss 

ways to incorporate international standards of human rights in Vietnamese 

laws and regulations;

• working to improve the capacity and 

skills of Vietnamese civil society organizations, including medical, educational, development, relief, youth, 

and charitable organizations run by 

religious organizations;

• offering some Fulbright Program grants 

to individuals and scholars whose work 

promotes understanding of religious 

freedom and related human rights;

• encouraging the Vietnam Educational 

Foundation, which offers scholarships to Vietnamese high school-age 

students to attend school in the United 

States, to select youth from ethnic 

minority group areas (Montagnard and 

Hmong), from minority religious communities (Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Catholic, 

Protestant, Cham Muslim, and Khmer 

2 
32

POLICYFOCUS

Buddhists), or former novice monks 

associated with the Unified Buddhist 

Church of Vietnam and Khmer 

Buddhists;

• working with international corporations seeking new investment in Vietnam to promote international human 

rights standards in Vietnam and find 

ways their corporate presence can help 

promote and protect religious freedom 

and related human rights; and

• expanding funding for additional Voice 

of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia 

(RFA) programming for Vietnam and 

to overcome the jamming of VOA and 

RFA broadcasts. 

In addition, the U.S. Congress should: 

• continue oversight, establish benchmarks, and measure progress of the 

U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogues, 

renewed in 2007, by holding appropriate hearings on a report the State 

Department is required to submit 

to Congress on the trajectory and 

outcomes of bilateral discussions on 

human rights and detail progress made 

on a series of issues specified by 

Congress (see Sec. 702 of PL 107-228);

• appropriate additional funds for the 

State Department’s Human Rights 

and Democracy Fund for new technical assistance and religious freedom 

programming, funding that should be 

commensurate with new and ongoing programs for Vietnamese workers, 

women, and rule of law training; and

• engage Vietnamese leaders on needed 

legal revisions and protections of 

individuals related to the far-reaching 

national security provisions that are 

currently used to arrest and detain 

peaceful advocates for religious freedom and related human rights.

For Additional Information 

on this Issue Contact:

Scott Flipse

Senior Policy Analyst

202-523-3240, Ext. 123

sflipse@uscirf.gov

U.S. Commission on 

International Religious Freedom

800 North Capitol Street, N.W.

Suite 790 • Washington, D.C. 20002

202/523-3240 • 202/523-5020 (fax)

www.uscirf.gov

DELEGATION

TO Vietnam

• Michael Cromartie, Chair 

• Preeta D. Bansal, Vice Chair

• Don Argue, Commissioner 

• Imam Talal Eid, Commissioner 

• Felice D. Gaer, Commissioner

• Leonard Leo, Commissioner