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I. Summary

When foreign officials go to Dak Lak, they send canh sat co dong (riot police) with guns and electric batons to the village. They worry we will demonstrate. They declare a holiday, block the road to the city, and prohibit us from leaving the village.
—Ede woman from Dak Lak, interviewed in April 2006

For the last five years, the Central Highlands region of Vietnam has periodically erupted with social unrest. In 2001 and 2004, thousands of indigenous minority people, known as Central Highlanders or Montagnards,¹ have joined mass demonstrations in the five provinces of the Central Highlands² protesting religious repression and widespread confiscation of their ancestral lands, with some advocating self-rule or autonomy.³

The Vietnamese government has responded to such protests with force, with as many as ten demonstrators killed during demonstrations in April 2004.⁴ Authorities have arrested hundreds of activists, religious leaders, and individuals trying to flee to Cambodia, sometimes using torture to punish or extract information.⁵ In 2005, the Vietnamese government continued to crack down on Central Highlanders’ rights to freedom of religion, speech, and assembly, imprisoning more than 100 during the year. The repression has continued in 2006.

Officials have placed many minority villages in the region off-limits to visits by outsiders, unless arranged and controlled by the government. Attributing the instability in part to the evangelical Christianity practiced by many Central Highlanders, the government has closed many churches and set restrictions on Christian gatherings. Additional police and soldiers have been posted at commune centers and in villages. The harsh response has triggered the exodus of thousands of Central Highlanders to Cambodia over the last five years. Approximately 1,300 refugees have resettled abroad since 2001.

This report details recent and ongoing human rights abuses in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.⁶ Despite diplomatic and United Nations visits to the region, the Vietnamese government continues to persecute Central Highlanders out of view of international observers.⁷ The most harshly treated are evangelical Christians who belong to independent house churches, and supporters of a non-violent movement for independence or autonomy and for protection of and greater control over ancestral lands.⁸

The government has persistently blamed the turmoil on agitation and manipulation of the local population by “hostile foreign forces”—meaning Montagnard advocacy groups in the United States—demanding religious freedom, land rights, and a separate state. According to the government, activists in the Central Highlands are using religion as a cover for separatist political activities.

Even if the Vietnamese government claim is true—that some pro-independence highlanders are blending politics and religion—the appropriate response is not to repress the religion but to respect both political and religious freedom. Individuals who seek to pursue political objectives through violence can and should be prosecuted, but individuals should not be subjected to any kind of sanction for expressing their peaceful political or religious views. Our research shows that Vietnamese officials, recent reforms notwithstanding, are blurring the lines, not making the distinctions required by international law, and continuing to crack down on what should be protected political and religious expression and behavior. This is a violation of the basic human rights that Vietnam is obligated to uphold as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Reforms

In recent years Vietnamese authorities have begun to admit that one source of the unrest in the Central Highlands is the lack of farmland available to the indigenous ethnic groups who have traditionally inhabited the region. In December 2004, an article in the state media attributed the instability to “government policies using large areas of fertile forestland in the region for industrial crops and [allowing] massive immigration into the region of the Kinh [lowland Vietnamese] majority people from the North.”⁹

In response to international concern about reports of repression in the Central Highlands, the Vietnamese government has taken some steps to address the grievances of the highlanders. The government has launched official programs to allocate plots of land to ethnic minority families. In July 2004, Prime Minister Pham Van Khai issued Decision 134, in which the government pledged to provide each low-income minority household in the Central Highlands from 0.15 to 0.5 hectares of farm land, or at least 200 square meters of housing land.¹⁰ In August 2004, the government announced that it would temporarily suspend government-sponsored migration of lowlanders to the Central Highlands and work to slow the rate of unplanned, “spontaneous” migration to the region.¹¹  By August 2005, Vietnamese state media reported that 19,378 hectares of land had been allocated to 46,617 minority households (an average of 2.4 hectares per family, for both accommodation and cultivation) in the Central Highlands.¹²

The government has also endeavored to clean up its image as a serious violator of the right to religious freedom. In response to its designation by the United States as a “Country of Particular Concern” in 2004 for religious freedom violations, the Vietnamese government has passed new regulations aimed at streamlining the process for churches to apply for official registration and banning forced recantations of faith. Christian pastors belonging to the government-recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN) are now authorized to conduct religious services and travel within the highlands for evangelical purposes.¹³ During 2005, twenty-nine of the 1,200 ethnic minority churches closed by the government after the 2001 protests were approved for official registration and re-opened, and other churches were allowed to operate unofficially pending registration.¹⁴ In some parts of the Central Highlands authorities have turned a blind eye to religious gatherings of unregistered house churches.¹⁵

Rights Abuses Persist

Our research, conducted from December 2005 through May 2006, finds, however, that Vietnamese officials continue to violate the right to religious freedom in some parts of the Central Highlands. Officials continue to pressure ethnic minority Christians who belong to independent house churches to sign pledges renouncing their religion or to pledge loyalty to the officially-recognized ECVN. Authorities also restrict peoples’ movement between villages for the purpose of religious undertakings that are not authorized by the government. In some areas large Christian gatherings continue to be banned, unless they are presided over by officially-recognized pastors.

More worrying, the Vietnamese government continues to criminalize peaceful dissent, unsanctioned religious activity, and efforts to seek sanctuary in Cambodia by arresting and imprisoning Central Highlanders for their religious or political beliefs. More than 250 highlanders have been imprisoned since 2001. The arrests are ongoing: during 2005, at least eighty people were arrested and 142 people—some of whom had been in pre-trial detention for as much as a year—were sentenced to prison terms of up to seventeen years. Appended to this report is a list of Central Highland prisoners as of May 2006.

Vietnam has also violated a January 2005 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) by detaining, interrogating, and severely mistreating some Central Highlanders who had fled to refugee camps in Cambodia and then returned to Vietnam, either voluntarily or under duress. The MoU specifically prohibits reprisals by the Vietnamese government against returnees from Cambodia.

In April, May, and December 2005 Human Rights Watch received credible reports, including first-hand accounts, of officials detaining and beating Central Highlanders who had returned to Vietnam from UNHCR sites in Cambodia. The most vivid accounts were provided by three highlanders who returned to Vietnam during 2005 and then “doubled back” to Cambodia because of the harsh treatment they received in Vietnam.¹⁶ Immediately upon return to Vietnam they were detained in dark cells in the provincial prison in Pleiku for five to seven days. They were interrogated every day about why they had left Vietnam and pressured to renounce their religion. They were beaten and tortured during interrogation. One man was punched with closed fists on his face; beaten in the chest, back, and groin; and kicked in the shins with army boots. All three said they were slapped in the face during interrogation.

Once back in their villages, each was largely confined to his home. They had to depend on family members to keep their farms going and bring food home. Two of these returnees were arrested and detained again and repeatedly pressured to renounce their religion. During interrogation sessions, police forced one of the men to lie down, with his hands and feet raised in the air for three hours. If he dropped his hands or feet, he was beaten. He was also hung upside down by his feet for thirty minutes at a time. He was questioned about the Tin Lanh Dega religion (Dega Christianity),¹⁷ accused of helping people who had fled to the forest to escape arrest, and pressured to provide names and locations of people in hiding.

All three of the returnees said they had been visited by UNHCR. They provided precise accounts of serious threats and intimidation by local officials prior to UNHCR visits. Police and government officials warned these men not to say anything negative to UNHCR officials. The UNHCR visits were conducted in the presence of government officials and undercover police. The men could not understand the questions being asked, lacked confidence that the exchanges with UNHCR were being fully translated, and were afraid to tell how they had been treated. One of the returnees told Human Rights Watch:

The UN … asked about any mistreatment but I was too afraid to answer. I told them I had not been hit or threatened. I didn’t dare tell them I’d been sent to prison; if I told, they would have beaten me.¹⁸

The United States has indicated that it believes that religious freedom in general has improved.¹⁹ Because the Vietnamese government restricts international human rights organizations’ access to the country, Human Rights Watch cannot assess the status of religious freedom across the country. In the areas from which Human Rights Watch is able to obtain credible information, however, the situation does not appear to have improved. The testimonies below documenting arrests of those practicing religions not sanctioned by the state, forced recantations, and pressure on religious leaders, among other abuses, illustrate that freedom of religion in Vietnam remains highly restricted.

Inadequate Monitoring

International attention and support for development projects in the Central Highlands, as well as visits to the region by foreign delegations, have increased during the last several years, a welcome step toward opening the Highlands to the outside world. The value of monitoring missions remains questionable, however, because the Vietnamese government still manages to maintain control over what monitors see and hear—if not by the obvious presence of official escorts, then by the intimidation of villagers out of direct sight and hearing of the monitors. In January 2005 UNHCR signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Vietnam and Cambodia regarding durable solutions—resettlement or repatriation—for some 750 ethnic minority people from Vietnam then residing in temporary camps in Cambodia. However, the MoU was vague about how UNHCR would monitor the agreement, saying only that, at an appropriate time, the Vietnamese Government and UNHCR would “consult and cooperate” on visits to the returnees.²⁰ It did not guarantee UNHCR free and unfettered access to returnees before, during, and after repatriation, as required by UNHCR’s own standards for voluntary repatriation. Subsequently, many of the visits by UNHCR and other international delegations have been conducted in the presence of government officials and uniformed and undercover police officers.

While UNHCR’s increased access to the Central Highlands since the signing of the MoU is a step forward, monitored access or even private access in a climate of fear remains inadequate. Human Rights Watch has found that many Central Highlanders remain fearful of speaking frankly with visitors about abuses, only feeling safe enough to do so when they have left Vietnam and are safely in another country.²¹ The fact that some foreign delegations have recently been able to meet privately with villagers––a significant step forward––does not, unfortunately, lessen the fear among some highlanders that if they speak freely about what has happened to them they will not be protected and the authorities may retaliate.

UNHCR officials have compounded the problem by making public pronouncements, even during monitoring missions, that the returnees are “under no particular threat or duress.”²² They have said this despite having been presented reliable evidence that returnees have, in fact, been threatened and are under duress prior to and during UNHCR visits.

UNHCR’s choice to make public statements praising Vietnam’s treatment of returnees appears to be calculated to encourage the Vietnamese government to grant it greater access. A strategic choice such as this, however, compromises the organization’s obligation to report accurately and without bias. It has the effect of failing precisely the people it is mandated to protect.

The disturbing first-hand accounts documented by Human Rights Watch in this report call into question the legitimacy of UNHCR’s monitoring missions. Without reliable monitoring, it also becomes necessary to question both the appropriateness of UNHCR’s role in promoting and facilitating voluntary repatriation to the Central Highlands as well as its ongoing participation in refugee screening that results in forced returns of ethnic minority people to the Central Highlands. Although the January 2005 MoU has expired, the parties continue to operate as though it is an open-ended agreement. The MoU had insufficient safeguards, and should be renegotiated. In the meantime, UNHCR should insist on unfettered access to returnees so that––as it does very effectively in many other difficult parts of the world––it can conduct private and independent monitoring and address the real protection needs of returnees.

Key Recommendations

Important decisions have to be taken soon by international actors on Vietnam. These include whether the United States decides this year to remove its designation of Vietnam as a “Country of Particular Concern” for religious freedom violations, UNHCR’s decision whether to continue its Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam and Cambodia, and Vietnam’s pending entry into the World Trade Organization. Human Rights Watch urges that the Vietnamese government’s adherence to international human rights standards be made a critical factor in each of these decisions. Specifically, we recommend that:

The Vietnamese government:

• End the restrictions on gatherings of religious groups that are not registered with the government, abolish the practice of forced recantations of faith or pressure to affiliate with officially registered religious organizations, and bring an end to abusive police surveillance and harassment of religious leaders and followers.
• Make a public commitment to end the practice of torture. Appoint a special commission to investigate allegations of torture and excessive use of force by security officials during demonstrations in the Central Highlands and to recommend appropriate prosecutions and discipline.
• Release all highlanders imprisoned for peaceful expression of their political or religious beliefs, or for attempting to seek asylum abroad.

The Cambodian government:

• Provide asylum to Central Highland refugees until safe and proper durable solutions become available for them.
• Honor its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and the Convention Against Torture not to return anyone to a place where his or her life or freedom would be threatened or where there are substantial grounds to believe that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

The United States:

• Continue Vietnam’s designation as a “Country of Particular Concern” for its violations of the right to religious freedom until substantial progress is made, as outlined in the recommendation to the Vietnamese government above.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees:

• Do not cease refugee status for Central Highlanders in Cambodia until UNHCR and independent observers have credible evidence that there have been fundamental and enduring changes in the circumstances that caused people to flee the Central Highlands of Vietnam, and that protection of and full respect for their human rights have been restored.
• Oppose the forced return of Montagnards to the Central Highlands as long as religious and political persecution of Central Highlanders continues. 
• Insist on free, unfettered, unannounced, and in-depth UNHCR monitoring missions to the Central Highlands before, during, and after any repatriation in order to provide independent information to potential returnees and thoroughly monitor their protection upon return. Continue to push for private and confidential access to Central Highland interviewees in a non-coercive environment.
• Encourage the Vietnamese government to continue to streamline the procedures for family reunification of Central Highlanders in Vietnam who have received authorization from resettlement countries to join family members who have resettled abroad.Insist that the Vietnamese government not persecute or discriminate against Central Highlanders whose families have petitioned for family reunification.

Additional detailed recommendations can be found in Section VI.

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This report is based on based on interviews and written and electronic communication with sources in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the United States conducted between December 2005 and May 2006. Interviews were conducted in private and facts were corroborated by several different informants interviewed at different times and in different places. This research was supplemented by open source journalists’ reports, official Vietnamese sources, and reports by the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations, and diplomatic sources. The names of Central Highlanders interviewed by Human Rights Watch, as well as any other identifying details, have been withheld to protect their security.