HANOI, Vietnam — The Vietnamese government has intensified repression of indigenous minority Christians from the country’s Central Highland provinces who are pressing for religious freedom and land rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released March 31.
The 46-page report, “Montagnard Christians in Vietnam: A Case Study in Religious Repression,” details the latest government crackdowns on these indigenous people, known collectively as Montagnards.
The report documents police sweeps to root out Montagnards in hiding. It details how the authorities have dissolved house church gatherings, orchestrated coerced renunciations of faith and sealed off the border to prevent asylum seekers from fleeing to Cambodia.
Human Rights Watch found that special “political security” units conduct operations with provincial police to capture, detain and interrogate people they identify as political activists or leaders of unregistered house churches.
More than 70 Montagnards were detained or arrested in 2010 alone, and more than 250 are known to be imprisoned on national security charges.
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