HANOI, Vietnam – A human rights group is urging Washington to put Vietnam back on a list of the world’s worst abusers of religious freedoms for allegedly clamping down on minority Christian groups and forcing them to renounce their faith.

In a report released Thursday, Human Rights Watch said more than 350 hill tribe members, known collectively as Montagnards, have been sentenced to long prison terms since 2001 after being accused of violating vague national security laws for protesting or worshipping in unauthorized churches.

The New York-based group urged the U.S. State Department to reinstate Vietnam’s designation as a country of particular concern for violating religious freedoms, a decision it said is expected to be made soon.

The Communist country was removed in 2006 from the list, which currently includes Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.

Vietnamese authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but have repeatedly denied previous accusations of violations of religious rights.

The 46-page report, based on Vietnamese media reports and interviews with Montagnards who have fled the country’s Central Highlands, said at least 250 Montagnards remain in prison or are awaiting trial.

“By making peaceful dissent and unsanctioned religious activities criminal acts, the Vietnamese government disregards fundamental rights and Vietnam’s own commitments under international human rights treaties it has signed,” the report said.

The group also accused the government of conducting police sweeps to locate Montagnards who are hiding, breaking up religious gatherings, and forcing followers to publicly renounce their religion. It said both Catholics and Protestants have been persecuted.

“Officials have employed coercion to pressure Montagnards to renounce their religion and pledge their loyalty to the government and the Communist Party of Vietnam,” it said.

There is long-running distrust between the government and the Montagnards, many of whom fought alongside the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975 with northern Communist forces reunifying the country.

Hanoi only permits churches officially sanctioned by the government to operate. Others are banned because the government asserts they are not practicing a legitimate religion, but rather are running a front for political activities. Overseas Vietnamese have also been accused of using religious freedom and land rights issues to incite Montagnards to create public unrest viewed as a threat to the one-party government’s control.

Many Montagnards distrust government-sanctioned churches and have opted to worship in villages or “house churches” where they can maintain control.

“Freedom of religion does not mean freedom for state-sanctioned religions only,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Vietnam should immediately recognize independent religious groups and let them practice their beliefs.”

The United States has been a harsh critic of restraints on religious freedom in Vietnam. However, Michael Michalak, the former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, said in a January 2010 cable obtained by WikiLeaks that despite some continuing problems, Vietnam should be credited for improvements in the area since being removed from the 2006 blacklist.

 

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