Vietnam:
Montagnards Face Religious, Political Persecution
Returnees from Cambodia Detained and Beaten
(New York, June 14, 2006) - Vietnamese authorities have detained, interrogated,
and even tortured Montagnard refugees and asylum seekers who have returned to
Vietnam from U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) camps in Cambodia, Human
Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government is violating an
agreement with UNHCR, which is supposed to monitor returning refugees and ensure
they are safe.
Drawing on eyewitness accounts and published sources, the 55-page report, "No
Sanctuary: Ongoing Threats to Indigenous Montagnards in Vietnam's Central
Highlands," provides fresh information about ongoing religious and political
persecution of Montagnards, or indigenous minority communities, in Vietnam's
Central Highlands.
"The Vietnamese government continues to persecute Montagnards once they are out
of the sight of international observers," said Brad Adams, Asia director at
Human Rights Watch. "The international community should oppose their forced
return to the Central Highlands as long as the authorities continue to persecute
them."Â
Human Rights Watch urged the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to review its
participation in promoting and facilitating voluntary repatriation, given the
disturbing accounts of mistreatment of returnees, as well as weaknesses in
UNHCR's monitoring mechanisms. It also called on the U.S. government to keep
Vietnam on its list of "Countries of Particular Concern" for religious freedom
violations, and urged Cambodia to continue to provide temporary asylum to
Montagnards, in line with its obligations as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee
Convention.
Vietnamese officials continue to force Montagnard Christians to sign pledges
renouncing their religion, despite passage of new regulations last year banning
such practices. Authorities in some areas restrict freedom of movement between
villages - in particular for religious purposes not authorized by the government
- and ban Christian gatherings in many areas unless they are presided over by
officially recognized pastors.Â
More worrisome, the Vietnamese government persists in criminalizing peaceful
dissent, unsanctioned religious activity and efforts to seek sanctuary in
Cambodia, by arresting and imprisoning Montagnards who engage in those
activities. The most harshly treated are evangelical Christians who belong to
independent or unregistered house churches and supporters of a non-violent
movement for the protection of, and greater control over, ancestral lands.
More than 350 Montagnards have been sentenced to prison since 2001, largely for
peaceful political or religious activities. Most have been charged under
Vietnam's Penal Code with vaguely worded national security crimes. These include
"undermining the unity policy," "disrupting security" and "causing public
disorder". More than 60 Montagnards have been imprisoned after being forcibly
returned from Cambodia, where they were seeking asylum.
The arrests are ongoing: during 2005 alone, at least 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 17 years. This is more than double the number imprisoned during
the previous year. At least 30 of those sentenced in 2005 had been arrested in
Cambodia or near the border areas, whilst trying to seek asylum. They were
apprehended by Cambodian police and turned over to Vietnamese authorities
without having a chance to make an asylum claim with UNHCR. The report includes
an annex listing Central Highland prisoners.
"Serious problems persist for Montagnards in the Central Highlands, and the
Vietnamese government continues to gloss them over," said Adams. "For those who
think the problems are all in the past, they should think again."
The report includes disturbing testimonies from Montagnards who returned to
Vietnam in 2005 from U.N. refugee camps in Cambodia, but then "doubled back" to
Cambodia after undergoing harsh treatment in Vietnam. They describe in detail
being detained, interrogated and even tortured upon return to Vietnam. They also
tell of being pressured to recant their religion and threatened not to report
any abuses to international delegations and U.N. monitors.
Despite this, UNHCR has made repeated public statements that returnees are under
"no particular threat or duress," and that it has "no serious concerns" about
the government's treatment of them.
Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese government to allow UNHCR full and
unfettered access to the Central Highlands, as well as private and confidential
meetings with local residents and returnees. The government should also ensure
that there will be no retaliation against those with whom UNHCR meets, or their
family members.
"These eyewitness accounts make it clear that some returnees have been tortured
and persecuted for their religious and political beliefs," said Adams. "We have
given this information to UNHCR. But it has continued to send people back
without the unfettered and confidential access to returnees it needs to protect
them properly."
Returnees interviewed by Human Rights Watch gave precise accounts of serious
threats and intimidation by Vietnamese authorities prior to visits by UNHCR
monitors, who have often been accompanied by Vietnamese government officials and
police, and are unable to meet privately with returnees. Returnees were warned
by authorities not to say anything negative to UNHCR officials.
One returnee, who had been beaten and pressured to renounce his religion in
police custody, 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, [the
police] would have beaten me."
"Meaningful monitoring cannot take place in front of Vietnamese officials, or
when villagers are threatened not to talk," said Adams. "The UNHCR monitoring
missions and the repatriation program are seriously flawed and need to be
reconsidered."
These testimonies, which were shown to UNHCR in January 2006, call into question
the credibility of its monitoring of returnees and the assumptions on which the
memorandum of understanding relating to repatriation is based: that returnees
will not be persecuted and that UNHCR will be able to monitor the treatment of
returnees to ensure that they are not harmed.
During the embargo period, "No Sanctuary: Ongoing Threats to Indigenous
Montagnards in Vietnam's Central Highlands" is available at:
http://embargo.hrw.org/reports/english/vietnam0606/
username: sanctuary
password: highlands
Upon release, it will be available at:
http://hrw.org/reports/2006/vietnam0606/
For more
information, please contact:
In London, Brad Adams: +44-20-7713-2767; or +44-79-0872-8333 (mobile)
In New York, Sophie Richardson: +1-212-216-1257; or +1-917-721-7473 (mobile)
In Washington, D.C., Bill Frelick: +1-202-612-4344; or +1-240-593-1747 (mobile)