Distress, Harassment Continue for Vietnam's Montagnards
U.N. relief workers airlift 198 refugees to Cambodian capital.
By Compass Direct | posted 8/01/2004 12:00AM
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Montagnard Christians who object to the loss of their lands are accused of supporting the Dega Protestant movement, which has sometimes promoted self-determination. In reality, the vast majority of Montagnards, both Christians and others, simply want equal access to development opportunities and the return of their tribal homes and lands.
Veteran Vietnam watchers say the authorities exaggerate the security threat of rapidly growing Christianity to keep attention away from their own misdeeds. The official propaganda campaigns against Christians helps divert attention from human rights crimes, which are the underlying cause of the dissatisfaction of Vietnam's minority peoples.
The government has also refused to grant official status to many of the highland churches it has tried to disband in recent years. In Gia Lai province only 15,000 of the estimated 80,000 local Christians belong to the 11 government-sanctioned churches. Other churches remain unregistered and their members are still subjected to constant harassment to renounce their faith.
The crisis caught international attention again in July, when 198 Montagnard refugees were airlifted from the Cambodian border province of Ratanakiri to the capital, Phnom Penh. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had initially allowed forced repatriation of the refugees to Vietnam. However, he relented before international pressure to allow the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to rescue refugees from the malaria-infested jungles near the border and airlift them to Phnom Penh.
According to an August 9 report by Agence France Presse, Cambodia has authorized a second such rescue mission. In addition, 91 Montagnard refugees have found their own way to UNHCR safe houses in Phnom Penh. The majority of the exiles are Christian.
One Vietnamese source told Compass that he believed the successful rescue of Montagnards from the border region could encourage others to flee Vietnam.
"It's hard to describe the desperation people are feeling," he said. "Some of it comes from the lack of concern and action from the international community. Vietnamese authorities tell everyone that the highlands are a place of peace, happiness and ethnic equality.
"But in reality they make it a hell for the Montagnards."
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Related Elsewhere:
For more articles on Vietnam, see Christianity Today's World Report and Yahoo's full coverage.
Previous Christianity Today articles about religious freedom in Vietnam include:
Lip Service | Vietnam's guarantees of religious freedom are not fooling anybody. (April 06, 2004)
Christmas in Vietnam | A missionary writes about this year's bleak holiday in the Dak Lak Province (Dec. 26, 2002)
Vietnam's Hidden Tragedy | American church leaders manipulated as communists cover up abuse of tribal Christians. (Sept. 20, 2002)
Proposed Repatriation of Vietnamese Tribal Christians May Be Flawed | The government continues to persecute believers while giving a guarantee for the safety of returning refugees. (Jan. 29, 2002)
Empty Legal Rights | What you can do to help persecuted Christians in Vietnam. (Jan. 15, 2002)
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