Dec 12, 2024

USCIRF Alarmed over Escalating Crackdown in Vietnam

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is alarmed by the Vietnamese government’s escalating crackdown on independent religious communities—including Khmer Krom Buddhists, Montagnard Protestants, Cao Dai followers, and many others.

“USCIRF condemns the Vietnamese government’s recent targeting of independent religious communities,” stated USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck. “Authorities sentenced five Khmer Krom Buddhist monks to prison terms between two and six years, disrupted independent Cao Dai followers’ worship and funeral services, and continued to force Montagnard Protestants in the central highlands to denounce their faith. This behavior is inconsistent with Vietnam’s position as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and we are closely monitoring these disturbing developments with grave concern.”

Vietnamese law imposes restrictive requirements on religious activities that are unevenly applied throughout the country. Moreover, in recent years, USCIRF has observed significant backsliding on religious freedom in Vietnam, as the government has increasingly repressed independent religious groups, including those it considers “strange, false, or heretical religions” that refuse to comply with state control.

“In light of this deterioration, the U.S. government should enhance its efforts to press the Vietnamese government to release religious prisoners and make concrete improvements to religious freedom conditions, including by amending the 2018 Law on Belief and Religion and the implementing decree,” added USCIRF Commissioner Meir Soloveichik. “We also urge the State Department to designate Vietnam as a ‘country of particular concern’, or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act, as USCIRF recommended in our 2024 annual report.”

Since 2002, USCIRF has consistently recommended the U.S. Department of State designate Vietnam as CPC, for its government’s systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. In 2022 and 2023, the State Department placed Vietnam on its Special Watch List (SWL) for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom. The State Department’s CPC and SWL designations for 2024 are expected by the end of the year. In September 2024, USCIRF released a report on “State-Controlled Religion and Religious Freedom in Vietnam.”

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].