Religious Groups Outside State Control Face Crackdowns in Vietnam

Photo: Vietnam - Mussi Katz

Vietnam's one-party state under the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) maintains strict control over all religious activity through a registration system that subordinates recognised religious organisations to state oversight and criminalises independent practice. Unregistered churches, Khmer Krom Buddhist temples, Cao Dai congregations outside state control, Hoa Hao Buddhists, and Catholics in the Central Highlands face systematic harassment, property confiscation, surveillance, and imprisonment. This report draws on documentation from USCIRF, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Montagnard Foundation.

The Registration System as Control

Vietnam's Law on Belief and Religion (2018) requires all religious groups to register with the government and mandates that religious activities conform to state guidelines. Registration applications are routinely denied for groups perceived as challenging CPV authority. Unregistered practice is treated as a public order offence, and leaders of unregistered congregations face administrative fines, property seizure, and criminal prosecution under provisions on "abusing religion to undermine the state."[1]

Montagnard Christians in the Central Highlands

Indigenous Montagnard (Degar) communities in the Central Highlands — predominantly Protestant Christian — face the intersection of ethnic, political, and religious persecution. Their land has been extensively expropriated for state agricultural projects, their churches are unregistered and regularly raided, and their leaders face criminal prosecution. Montagnard pastors have received sentences of up to 12 years for "undermining national unity." The CPV associates Montagnard Christianity with US-backed political activities from the Vietnam War era, creating a compounded security threat perception.[2]

Montagnard Christians face a triple jeopardy: persecution for their ethnicity, for their land rights claims, and for practising Christianity outside state-controlled channels. These grounds are inseparable in the Vietnamese security framework.
Human Rights Watch, "Vietnam: Montagnard Christians Persecuted," 2023

Unified Buddhist Church and Cao Dai

The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) — the country's largest pre-1975 Buddhist institution — has been banned since 1981 and its leaders placed under house arrest or imprisoned for decades. Thich Quang Do, the UBCV's supreme patriarch, spent decades under house arrest before his death in 2020. His successor continues to face restrictions. Similarly, independent Cao Dai and Hoa Hao Buddhist congregations that refuse to join the state-sanctioned organisation face raids, property seizure, and the arrest of their leaders.[3]