1.6.2022
At least two communities in Vietnam faced intense police harassment in violation of their right to freedom of religion or belief in the period leading up to Christmas and the year’s end. The period was also marked by a series of trials of activists, journalists and social media users.
On Dec. 12, police in Tuyen Quang province arrested at least 36 people as they attempted to attend the funeral of Duong Van Minh (DVM), the ethnic Hmong founder of a religious community not recognized by the Vietnamese government, according to a source familiar with the situation. After Minh’s death, police established checkpoints in the area around his village, allegedly to prevent the spread of coronavirus, even though no infection was reported in the area.
On the day of the funeral, hundreds of persons in medical protective suits and plainclothes, and police, some armed with shields and batons, disrupted the funeral, claiming they were there to force people to take COVID-19 tests. At least 36 people were initially beaten and arrested, while seven more were arrested on Dec. 13 when they went to protest the police action. On Dec. 15, police announced over loudspeaker that five more people had to surrender, who were subsequently arrested and accused of assaulting officials. In total at least 48 people were arrested. It's believed that 11 of those arrested will face prosecution.
Followers of Duong Van Minh have suffered years of harassment and abuse by the Vietnamese authorities. For example, in January 2017 authorities destroyed funeral sheds belonging to the group and arrested and tortured seven people for two days. At a meeting with provincial authorities on Jan. 7, 2017, high ranking officials accused DVM followers of "opposing the party and the state," stating that the building of the funeral sheds is illegal, without reference to any legal provision.
On Dec. 29, Radio Free Asia (RFA)
reported that on Dec. 22 police in Phu Yen province assaulted and detained Y Cuon Nie, a pastor belonging to the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ, while he was making a Christmas banner at a printing shop. Pastor Nie told RFA that police hit him and confiscated the banner before detaining him at the town’s police headquarters for five hours. At 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve, police disrupted a Christmas ceremony in the pastor’s home and took him in for questioning again. Pastor Nie also said that his church had tried to meet the requirements for registering under the law, but he had not received any response from the authorities over several years.
Montagnard ethnic minority Catholics and Protestants in Vietnam are subject to serious ongoing human rights violations, including pressure to recant, beatings, arbitrary detention, and threats and intimidation. The Evangelical Church of Christ has long been targeted by the authorities. In 2017 another pastor, A Dao, was sentenced to five years in prison for helping people leave Vietnam illegally, a charge he denied. He was
released in 2020.
December also saw a series of trials of activists, journalists and social media users in Vietnam, with some sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. Several governments issued statements on the case of journalist
Pham Doan Trang and others, with parliamentarians, embassies and governmental organizations from
Australia,
Canada, the
European Union, the
UK, the
US and four
UN experts all expressing concern.
CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said, “Throughout 2021, there was a stream of arrests of activists and journalists for peacefully expressing their views, or for advocating for human rights and social justice in Vietnam. The brief and often closed trials following these arrests come as little surprise, but remain unacceptable violations of international norms. We condemn the imprisonment of Vietnamese citizens peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, and join governments and UN experts in calling for their release. We further call on the Vietnamese authorities to cease all abuses against the followers of Duong Van Minh, Montagnard Christians, and all other religion or belief communities in the country. If Vietnam wants to be considered a responsible global player which upholds universal human rights and rule of law, then the authorities must immediately stop these violations and hold to account those responsible. We further call on the international community to call out these violations, and to ensure that the promotion of human rights, including freedom of religion or belief, are central to governments’ foreign policy objectives concerning Vietnam.”
