Report Reveals Vietnam’s Decades-Long Crackdown on Minority Christians

Vietnam’s communist government continues committing gross acts of repression against indigenous Christian minorities living in the country’s Central Highlands, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday.

The organization reported Hanoi’s decades-long brutality directed at the Montagnard tribes, whose members are predominantly evangelical Protestant or Catholic.

“Montagnards face harsh persecution in Vietnam, particularly those who worship in independent house churches, because the authorities don’t tolerate religious activity outside their sight or control,” said Phil Robertson, HRW deputy Asia director, according to The New York Times. “The Vietnamese government has been steadily tightening the screws on independent Montagnard religious groups, claiming they are using religion to incite unrest.”

Traditionally animalist, Montagnards later converted to Christianity in large numbers – first with the French Catholic missionaries in the 19th century, then with U.S. Protestants in the 1950s thru 60s. The Americans made a more lasting impact as most Montagnards currently are Protestants.

Fiercely independent, the highland Christians often meet clandestinely in house churches that are outside government supervision. Many distrust the Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV), the state-authorized Protestant church in the Central Highlands.

The main authority in Hanoi has actively attempted to stamp out house churches by deploying specialized paramilitary units to assist provincial policemen, who routinely conduct arbitrary arrests. Officials often stage communal struggle sessions to humiliate and coerce Christians into renouncing their faith.

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