THE VIETNAMESE SECURITY POLICE KILL DEGAR CHRISTIANS AT WILL AND THEIR LAWS ONLY PROTECT THE ETHNIC VIETNAMESE

There is no word to describe how hateful and cruel the Communist Vietnamese are because the atrocities they have committed against the indigenous Degar people are indescribable. Every day innocent Degars are being murdered. They are robbed of their homes, their farms and their freedom. Their farmlands have been taken away from them and given to ethnic Vietnamese citizens while the Degar people continue to be arrested, tortured, imprisoned and murdered. Even the Degar faith is under attack as the Vietnamese forces demand Degars renounce their faith and accept a government established church. The traditional Degar culture and way of life has been almost completely destroyed; before long, their entire race will be wiped off the face of the planet.  But, most of the governments in the world don’t dare to criticize the genocidal policies of the communist government of Vietnam because they have regarded their financial interests with Vietnam as being more important than human life. 

Articles 71 and 72 of the Vietnamese law states that:

Article 71:  The citizen shall enjoy inviolability of the person and the protection of the law with regard to his life, health, honor and dignity.

No one can be arrested in the absence of a ruling by the People’s Court, a ruling or sanction of the People’s Office of Supervision and Control except in case of flagrant offenses. Taking a person into, or holding him in, custody must be done with full observance of the law.

It is strictly forbidden to use all forms of harassment and coercion, torture, violation of his honor and dignity, against a citizen.

Article 72: No one shall be regarded as guilty and be subjected to punishment before the sentence of the Court has acquired full legal effect.

Any person who has been arrested, held in custody, prosecuted, brought to trial in violation of the law shall be entitled to damages for any material harm suffered and his reputation shall be rehabilitated. Anybody who contravenes the law in arresting, holding in custody, prosecuting, bringing to trial another person thereby causing him damage shall be dealt with severely.

But the Vietnamese security police have broken each and every one of these laws when dealing with the Christian indigenous Degar people. Is this law real, then, or is it nothing more than a cosmetic to cover up their true face from the international community?

On 14 April 2008, after his participation in the peaceful demonstration at the commune of Ia Knuec, for the release of our 3 Christian brothers and sisters who were arrested on the 9^th of April 2008, our Christian brother, Y-Cung Nie, went back to his village. Not long after he arrived home, the Vietnamese security police from the district of Cu Mgar stormed into his house to arrest him. They then took him into a nearby wooded area and tortured him to death.

When they had finished murdering our Christian brother, Y-Cung Nie, the Vietnamese security police went back to the village and told his parents and family that they had killed Y-Cung Nie and wanted the family to go pick up his corpse and bury it.  Then, the Vietnamese security police threatened the family not to tell anyone about Y-Cung’s death, especially to Degars who are living in the US. They said that they would come back and kill them all if they did.

When the family went to pick up the corpse, they were horrified to see that his body was in terrible condition, beaten beyond recognition.  His face and body were covered with blood, his skull was fractured and every inch of his body was bruised and broken.

Before the burial, the family needed to clean and dress the corpse, but during this process, the Vietnamese security police stayed there the whole time watching them because they were afraid that the family would take photos or report the incident to the outsiders.  The Vietnamese security police only left the family after Y-Cung Nie was buried on 16 April 2008.

Y-Cung Nie was born in 1982, from the village of Buon Cuor Hdang, district of Cu Mgar in the province of Daklak.

The Vietnamese soldiers seem to have been given a mission to shoot to kill anything they decide to in the Central Highland, just as it was when Vietnam was at war with America many years ago.

On August 9, 2008, our Christian brother, Y-Phit Kbuor, with his two sons, went fishing at the river of Ea Kin about 20km from his village of Buon Tri.  When they were returning home on the road, they encountered a group of Vietnamese soldiers who were operating in the area.  The Vietnamese soldiers halted them and told them to raise their hands.  While they were raising their hands up, the Vietnamese soldiers opened fire at them. Our brother, Y-Phit  Kbuor, was murdered right there on the spot. Fortunately, his two children escaped the massacre. They returned home to their village and told their mother and the villagers what had happened to their father.  Then, many villagers accompanied the family and relatives to pick up the corpse of Y-Phit Kbuor.  When they got to the place, the Vietnamese soldiers were still there. They apologized to the family and said that they had made a mistake. They also paid the family 10,000,000 VND for the coffin and the cost of burial ceremony.

How could the Vietnamese soldiers make a mistake like this?  Is the Vietnamese government currently fighting a war where they look for enemies to shoot? If so, who are they fighting against? We, the Degar people, can’t even defend ourselves. 

Obviously, the Vietnamese government not only possesses our homeland but our very lives exist in the palms of their hands.  Just as they can do anything that they want to our land and forests (poison the water, kill the animals, and destroy the trees) they can also do this and worse to us.  This is because their laws that are designed to protect citizens only apply to their own ethnic group of people - that is, the Vietnamese. The indigenous Degar people are a distinct ethic group, with different ancestry and a completely different culture and language from the Vietnamese. This is why Vietnam finds it so easy to annihilate our people.

The truly appalling fact is that the governments of this world who profess to be moral and civilized not only sit idly by, ignoring the evil and inhuman manner of the Vietnamese government, but actually aid them with financial support because of their business investments in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government, which is responsible for bringing murderers to justice, murders our people indiscriminately. Furthermore, the Vietnamese government stations its soldiers and security forces throughout the Central Highland to lay siege to our people, acting as if they were at war with the Degar. Why do they still view the indigenous Degar people as enemies when they have made friends with America?  Why does the Vietnamese government not treat Vietnamese civilians like they do the indigenous Degar people?  

VIETNAMESE POLICE BUTCHER TWO DEGAR MONTAGNARD PEOPLE

VIETNAMESE POLICE BUTCHER TWO DEGAR MONTAGNARD PEOPLE: 
MORE EVIDENCE OF RACIAL PERSECUTION AS THE MURDERERS GO UNPUNISHED

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ON THE 14th OF APRIL 2008, two Degar (Montagnard) Christians named Y-Song Nie and Y-Huang Nie were returning to their village after having participated in a peaceful protest for the release of their two Christian sisters and one Christian brother, who were arrested earlier on the 9th of April in 2008, at the commune of Ia Ken. On this day the 14th of April 2008 the Vietnamese security police arrested and savagely killed Y-Song Nie and Y-Huang Nie The security police broke both of their legs, both their hands and cracked their skulls. After murdering them, the security police returned the bodies to their family village and admitted murdering Y-Song Nie and Y-Huang Nie. The security police ordered their families to bury the corpses in one grave and provided them with one coffin for both corpses, one 100Kg bag of rice and one million 1,000,000 dong (Vietnamese currency which is worth about $66.00 USD) for each family. The security police forced the family to bury both of the dead in one grave and threatened the families, saying “If anyone of you reports this incident to the international community or to Kok Ksor, we will come and kill all of you.” The names and details of the victims are as follows:

1. Y-Song Nie, age 24 from the village of Buon Pok, commune Ea Ken, district Krong Pac in Daklak province. He is married with children and they will now have to suffer without a husband and father for the rest of their lives.
2. Y-Huang Nie, age 23 from the village of Buon Kreh, commune Ea Ken, district Krong Pac in Daklak province. He was married with children and his family also will have to suffer without a husband and father for the rest of their lives.

Please look at the following Vietnamese laws and read about what the Vietnamese government has done to the Degar ancestral homelands and indigenous people. Judge whether or not the Vietnamese government upholds their own laws. Pay careful attention to the events which have transpired since April 10th of this year when our Christian brothers and sisters conducted a peaceful protest for the release of Degar Christians who have been imprisoned by the Vietnamese government. These recent incidents of oppression testify to the ongoing reprehensible and unlawful actions of the Vietnamese government.

Article 52: All citizens are equal before the law. 

Article 71: The citizen shall enjoy inviolability of the person and the protection of the law with regard to his life, health, honor and dignity.
No one can be arrested in the absence of a ruling by the People’s Court, a ruling or sanction of the People’s Office of Supervision and Control except in case of flagrant offenses. Taking a person into, or holding him in, custody must be done with full observance of the law.
It is strictly forbidden to use all forms of harassment and coercion, torture, violation of his honor and dignity, against a citizen. 

Article 72: No one shall be regarded as guilty and be subjected to punishment before the sentence of the Court has acquired full legal effect.

The situation is worse in that many of the governments in the world seemingly agree with Vietnam, or otherwise sit idly by saying nothing for fear of jeopardizing their country’s business deals with Vietnam. We question why does the world continue giving financial aid to Vietnam when such little progress is made in Vietnam and the money is used to murder innocent Degar people? With all the aid money that the world has given to Vietnam, especially the United Nations, United States, European Union, and Japan, and the deafening silence about our peoples suffering it seems the Vietnamese government is actually granted permission to murder our people. If Vietnam tells the world they have compensated the families, the less inclined the world community will do anything and thus in this way, Vietnam will surely annihilate our people and our culture in a very short time span.

The Montagnard Foundation asks: 

Is $66 dollars the price for an indigenous Degar Montagnard person’s life? How much does it cost for one whole cow in the US market or in European countries? Is a cow worth more than a human life? How long will the wives and children of these murdered men have to suffer without their husbands and fathers? Who will support them now? Who will raise the children? 

With a humble heart, we, the indigenous Degar people, would like to ask the international community, especially the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and the rest of the governments in the world, to help stop these injustices in the Central Highlands of Vietnam so that our indigenous people and ethnic Vietnamese can co-exist in peace.

CATHOLIC PRAYER VIGIL AMBUSHED BY VIETNAMESE POLICE

CATHOLIC PRAYER VIGIL AMBUSHED BY VIETNAMESE POLICE:

TWO DEGAR MONTAGNARDS MURDERED ON 22 JUNE 2008

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Background: Since 1975 when the communist government of Vietnam invaded South Vietnam and occupied the Central Highlands, their government has been carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing by arresting, torturing, imprisoning and murdering the indigenous Degar people. It is common knowledge among our people that when torturing Degar people, the Vietnamese police would ask, “Where are your American friends now? Call your American friends to come save you.” They always mocked the Degar people because we trusted the Americans during the American war in Vietnam. These Vietnamese police would also gather Degar children and place them in one room, forcing them to remain there from morning until evening without food or water. When the children were so hungry and thirsty that they begged for food and water, the police told the children to pray to their God for help. They returned to the children later and then asked them, “Did your God bring you food and water?” The children said “No.” Then the police then asked the children to pray to Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh) for about an hour and then they would come back to the room with food and water. This is how the anti-Christian communist Vietnamese authorities historically used such despicable tactics to brainwash young children. Today the communist government continues to repress religious freedom in Vietnam in various ways as in the case below.

Two Catholic Degars Are Murdered By Vietnamese Police at a Prayer Vigil

On June 22, 2008, approximately 38 Degar Catholic believers attempted to travel in canoes to a sacred place to conduct a prayer vigil. Previously these believers reported that Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared to them in a vision and told them to go to this place, which is close to their old village of Ploi Hamong Katu, and pray every 20th and 30th day of the month. Therefore, as was their custom, our Catholic Christian brothers and sisters took canoes to cross to the other side of the lake to pray at this particular site. But, when they got close to the other side of the lake the Vietnamese security police ambushed them by pelting them with heavy rocks. While the Degar Catholics were still in their canoes, the Vietnamese security police (who also encouraged Vietnamese civilians to do so) began throwing rocks at them. Two of our Christian brothers, A Lat age 61 and A Brin age 46, were hit by heavy rocks on their heads and both men fell into the lake and died. Both of the men are from the village of Plei Kuk Gyer, commune of An Thanh, district of Dak Bo in the province of Gialai. The families wished to bury their dead at that site where Mary came to them in a vision because the men were killed for their Christian faith. The Vietnamese security forces however, forced them to carry the corpses back to their village for burial.

Chapter 70 of the Vietnamese constitution states:
The citizen shall enjoy freedom of belief and of religion; he can follow any religion or follow none. All religions are equal before the law. The places of worship of all faiths and religions are protected by the law. No one can violate freedom of belief and of religion; nor can anyone misuse beliefs and religions to contravene the law and State policies.

We ask however, do the Vietnamese officials abide by the obligations of their own law? And the answer is NO. They only use their law as a cosmetic to cover up their crimes. If they disobey their own laws, how much more easily will they disobey the international law?

These kinds of actions demonstrate that the communist Vietnamese authorities really hate the Degar people because of their support of the US Armed Forces during the war and because Degar people have adopted the religion that was brought to them by the missionaries from the United States. It also appears they hate the Degar people because we are a different race from the ethnic Vietnamese. The Degar people are the original occupants and rightful inhabitants of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The communist government today intends to exterminate our people and commit ethnic cleansing so that they can take possession of our ancestral lands.

Based upon the hostile actions of the Vietnamese government since 1975, it seems obvious that the Vietnamese communist government has no desire to share our lands or live in peace with indigenous Degar people. They intend to take possession of our lands and commit ethnic cleansing. The communist government believes they can cover up their human rights abuses and manipulate the international community by their lies and lucrative business deals and so they now feel safe carrying out such religious persecution and genocidal practices. There is nothing that we, the Degar people, can do to protect ourselves from the killing and abuse at the hands of the Vietnamese government other than maintain our faith and place our lives into the hands of Almighty God with prayer.

Montagnard Foundation Calls on President Bush

Montagnard Foundation Calls on President Bush to “Remember the Montagnards” at Meeting with Vietnamese PM

Whereas;

- The Montagnard Foundation has respectfully pleaded previously at the White House in June 2007 for the US government to “Remember the Montagnards”
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ee_xR5VCow&feature=related

- The Vietnamese Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung is scheduled to make an official visit to the United States from 23 – 26 June 2008 and meet with US President George W. Bush.

 - The Vietnam War foresaw an estimated 200,000 Degar Montagnard people, one quarter of their population being killed and most of their village societies destroyed - including one half of the adult male Degar population who died fighting as loyal allies with the United States.

- The US International Commission of Religious Freedom stated on 2 May 2008, “In view of the overall deterioration of human rights conditions in Vietnam, which includes continued abuses of religious freedom and related human rights, the Commission continues to find that lifting the CPC designation for Vietnam was premature. We recommend that Vietnam be re-designated as a CPC in 2008.

 - Human Rights Watch has documented over 350 Degar Montagnards who were unjustly imprisoned by Vietnamese authorities for non violent and religious reasons.
See: http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/14/vietna13542.htm

- The Vietnamese government since 1975 has implemented various strategies resulting in the political, ethnic and religious repression against the Degar Montagnard population, namely transmigration policies, large scale deforestation, abuse of family planning, religious persecution, land confiscation, torture and extrajudicial killings.
See: http://www.montagnard-foundation.org/homepage.html

- The Montagnard Foundation continues to receive reports in June 2008 of human rights violations against Degar people by Vietnamese authorities in what can be described as a policy of “arrest, torture, threaten and release” of which the intent is to repress the Degar population.

- That Degar Montagnards have been murdered by security forces including two children as recently as April 2008 see: http://montagnard-foundation.org/Press/?p=65. Other killings include the 30 July 2007 beating to death of Degar Christian Y-Ngo Adrong which the US State Department described as “a credible report of an extrajudicial killing by security forces.
See: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78796.htm.

- That US Congressmen Chris Smith (R- NJ) and Co Chair of the Vietnam Congressional Caucus has introduced the “The Vietnam Human Rights Act” (HR 3096) legislation aimed to promote democracy, religious freedom and human rights reforms in Vietnam which has passed the House of Representatives in September 2007. Mr. President, hereby the Montagnard respectfully calls on you to:

1. “Remember the Degar Montagnards” and honor America’s commitment to former allies by making human rights a priority issue with your discussions with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at your meeting this June 2008.

2. Not to forget or abandon the hundreds of Degar Montagnard Prisoners currently held in Vietnamese prisons and to review how the US State Department categories political and religious prisoners, noting that the UN International Commission of Religious Freedom and NGO Human Rights Watch have concerns how the State Department categories these prisoners. It appears that the United States is consistently ignoring or sidelining the hundreds of Degar Montagnard prisoners currently held in Vietnam’s prisons.

3. Urge the United States Senate to vote in support of the Vietnam Human Rights Act (HR 3096) sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, as various Senators have reportedly blocked this legislation previously from being brought to the Senate Floor.

4. Advise Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung that the Degar Montagnard issue can be addressed through legitimate dialogue and that the Montagnard Foundation desires a peaceful solution to the issue and seeks only human rights, religious freedom and recognition of their indigenous people’s rights as equal citizens of Vietnam.

Ethnic Cleansing: Just A Point Of View?

original source: http://www.democracy-project.com/archives/003819.html

Is Vietnam engaged in ethnic cleansing or genocide? Is the answer a matter of point of view, or a matter of who profits? Is the answer, regardless, any less horrible?

I’ve written many times about various elements of the large-scale, purposeful persecution of the native Montagnards by the Vietnamese government, and of their “cousins” the Hmong in Laos. Today, the Montagnard Foundation has pulled together these various elements into a report, “Vietnam’s Blueprint For Ethnic Cleansing.”

The report is being sent

“to relevant bodies of the international community including”:

• US State Department
• US Commission on International Religious Freedom
• Members of US Senate and House of Representatives
• Amnesty International
• Human Rights Watch
• UN High Commissioner on Human Rights
• UN Special Rapporteurs (Indigenous Peoples, Torture, Racism, Religious, etc)
• European Commission
• ASEAN

In hopes that the blogosphere will also send the message that anyone cares, I’m sending key excerpts to you. First, a brief definitional discussion may be needed to clarify the dimensions of the case.

Genocide is a term reserved for wholesale, purposeful, government-organized, technological extermination of an identified group, and is even reserved for specific types as laid out in Geneva Conventions. There’s justifiable discouragement of excessive use of the term as cheapening the scale and suffering of those subjected to it.

Ethnic cleansing is a term for grayer areas of such horrendous efforts, when the effort is not as whole-encompassing, or there’s lack of global opinion agreement that it rises to genocide.

The UN’s General Assembly may have clarified when ethnic cleansing becomes genocide (Resolution 47/121, regarding Bosnia/Herzegovina):

… It [i.e. ethnic cleansing] can only be a form of genocide within the meaning of the [Genocide] Convention, if it corresponds to or falls within one of the categories of acts prohibited by Article II of the Convention. Neither the intent, as a matter of policy, to render an area “ethnically homogeneous”, nor the operations that may be carried out to implement such policy, can as such be designated as genocide: the intent that characterizes genocide is “to destroy, in whole or in part” a particular group, and deportation or displacement of the members of a group, even if effected by force, is not necessarily equivalent to destruction of that group, nor is such destruction an automatic consequence of the displacement. This is not to say that acts described as ‘ethnic cleansing’ may never constitute genocide, if they are such as to be characterized as, for example, ‘deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’, contrary to Article II, paragraph (c), of the Convention, provided such action is carried out with the necessary specific intent (dolus specialis), that is to say with a view to the destruction of the group, as distinct from its removal from the region. As the ICTY has observed, while ‘there are obvious similarities between a genocidal policy and the policy commonly known as ‘ethnic cleansing’ ‘ (Krsti?, IT-98-33-T, Trial Chamber Judgment, 2 August 2001, para. 562), yet ‘[a] clear distinction must be drawn between physical destruction and mere dissolution of a group. The expulsion of a group or part of a group does not in itself suffice for genocide….[European Court of Human Rights, quoting the International Court of Justice, via WikiPedia]

I think the Montagnard Foundation is hesitant to use the term genocide, to avoid being caught up in definitional arguments, but what you’ll read below certainly seems to be more than “mere” ethnic cleansing relocation of a group. There’s many specifics, footnoted, and photos.

… Examining the evidence collectively, a blueprint of ethnic cleansing emerges as these human rights violations, including official and spontaneous transmigration policies, large scale deforestation, abuse of family planning methods, religious persecution, land confiscation, torture and extrajudicial killing, have been directed against a specific race of indigenous peoples….The evidence of this persecution comes from various authorities namely the US State Department, the United Nations, US International Commission of Religious Freedom and internationally recognized NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International….

KILLINGS, IMPRISONMENT AND TORTURE
Since the year 2000, thousands of Degar Montagnards have been arrested, in what can be described as a policy of “arrest, torture, threaten and release” by Vietnamese security forces of whose intent is to repress the Degar population. Many Degars however are not released, being sentenced to prison terms and others die from torture and abuse for non violent peaceful activities. In recent years the Vietnamese government has intensified surveillance and paramilitary operations in the Central Highlands with the intent to crush both the spread of house Church Christianity and the Degar population from seeking legitimate redress for human rights abuses. Such arrests involved threats and torture, including beatings designed to deliberately cause death from internal injuries, electric shock torture and outright killings of indigenous Degar people for religious and non-violent political human rights activities….

TRANSMIGRATION, FORCED RELOCATIONS & CONFISCATION OF ANCESTRAL LAND
The Hanoi government had long ago commenced the forced confiscation of Degar ancestral land - the lifeblood of its indigenous peoples and over the preceding decades, forcibly relocated Degar villages to areas of poor farmland and limited health services. Reminiscent of Stalin’s purges, these began as 5-year plans (large-scale internal migration policies) which brought thousands of ethnic Vietnamese from the coast and North Vietnam onto traditional Degar lands. This occurred throughout the 80s and 90s and while no longer called 5-year plans, this spontaneous and government sponsored internal migration continues today in 2008 throughout the Central Highlands. Various authorities including the US State Department acknowledged such(see above). This displacement program is sometimes called “Fixed Field, Fixed Residence” (which also makes the Degar Montagnard’s traditional agricultural practices illegal) has effectively condemned the Degar people to a life of poverty. Vietnam through discrimination and corruption has also been unable to provide any reasonable alternatives to its’ indigenous minorities. The US State Department has also reported that, “longstanding societal discrimination against ethnic minorities remained a problem” while UNICEF had reported that ethnic minority children in Vietnam suffer the worst rates of malnutrition and poverty….

DEFORESTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION OF ANCESTRAL LAND
The Vietnamese government has long confiscated lands throughout the Central Highlands and developed the region for private and state run coffee plantations, mining and extensive logging operations. Large scale logging operations owned by the military have illegally cut thousands of cubic meters from forest reserves and today in 2008 Vietnam has stretched these activities to neighboring Laos and Cambodia, where in co-operation with these governments (and military)the region has now become a hub of illegal clear fell logging. Indigenous villages throughout the region have for many years been subject to forced relocations to provide access to such logging companies and government run coffee and rubber plantations. The logging operations inside Vietnam resulted in extensive clear fell deforestation that has destroyed the once great forests of the Central Highlands. In 2001 the former director of Vietnam’s Department of Forestry Development, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Lung, stated, “Due to unchecked timber exploitation, most of our forests have been depleted, with depletion rates reaching well over 60 percent….

The governments of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have also jointly embarked on a massive economic development project in the vast region (triangle area) of their countries and have been reportedly called the “Triangle Project”. The plan was officially adopted in agreements reached between the Prime Ministers of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia at their 3rd summit in 2004 and ratified by the three countries on 28 November 2004. The triangle area encompasses over a hundred thousand square miles in the region bordering these three countries and has already resulted in deforestation and the forced removal of indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands. Reports of land confiscations in Vietnam and Cambodia are common. Endemic levels of corruption exist at every level of government in these three countries and environmental exploitation has negatively affected the indigenous peoples throughout the region. Deforestation is continuing at unprecedented levels in Cambodia and Laos as these countries engage in illegal logging, permitting officials at the highest levels of government to reap massive profits from deforestation. It is reported that the governments of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia all co-operate at various levels in these activities and the NGO Global Witness has directly implicated the Cambodian government in these abuses in a detailed 95 page report titled “Cambodia’s Family
Trees”….

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS
Religious repression of Christianity, particular repression against independent house church Protestantism practiced by many Degar people has long been part of Vietnamese government policy. Officially the policy is called “Plan 184″ and was initially exposed by Freedom House in the late 1990s. This policy included repressing Christianity including forcing Degar people to renounce their Christian faith in official ceremonies, under threat of imprisonment and torture and included actual renunciation ceremonies conducted by authorities who using threats of torture and arrest would force Degar Christians to drink rice wine mixed with animal blood. These barbaric procedures were actually documented by the US State Department and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Human Rights Watch also confirmed such…

While the US State Department withdrew the “Countries of Particular Concern” designation (“CPC”) on Vietnam in 2006, good faith on Vietnam’s part was short lived. (CPC designation is an official category reserved for the worst violators of religious freedom). Upon gaining accession to the WTO and winning Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the US, Vietnam however, re-commenced its repressive ways. The resulting crackdown on house church Christians, dissidents and democracy advocates was described as the worst crackdown in decades by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Subsequently the decision to remove Vietnam from the CPC designation has been seen as premature by the US International Commission of Religious Freedom and Human Rights Watch. Religious persecution continues
throughout the Central Highlands of Vietnam today and the Vietnamese authorities are using the pretext of justifying such repression by claiming they are only responding to political or terrorist activities. In reality the Vietnamese authorities are seeking to control religion and very much opposed to independent house churches or any notion of independent religious denominations.

Protestantism however, is not alone in facing repression as such persecution is also perpetrated against ethnic Vietnamese Buddhists and Degar Catholics in Vietnam. This ongoing religious persecution forms one of the major grievances the Degar Montagnards have against the communist government….

STERILIZATIONS, FINES, COERCION & ABUSE OF FAMILY PLANNING
Abuse of family planning programs in Vietnam have long been reported, however, the extent of the abuse or investigations has not been presented to the public. The Vietnamese government has most certainly embarked on a policy of denial and likely cover up of any such abuses. The endemic corruption in Vietnam however, which permeates throughout the entire Vietnamese government suggests that abuse of family planning, namely coercion, fines, monetary incentives and forcible sterilizations are indeed possible if not likely…. later in 2001 the Montagnard Foundation documented over 1000 cases of Degar Montagnard women who were surgically sterilized by the Vietnamese authorities through force, coercion, bribery, threats of fines or imprisonment….

[O]ver the year 2001 – 2002 the Vietnamese army had assisted medical teams to force entire Montagnard villagers at gunpoint to attend propaganda meetings where they were threatened to get surgically sterilized. Young Degar girls also reported they were forced to receive injections that they were told prevents them from getting pregnant….

In the early 1990s the communist authorities conducted sterilizations using an acid chemical “quinicrine,” in pellet form which when inserted into the uterus, the pellet would dissolve and burns the uterus shut. The British Medical journal ‘Lancet’ reported over 31,000 women being sterilized in Vietnam by this method (see: Lancet, 1993, 342, 24 July at page 213-217). It is unknown whether Vietnam still uses this “acid” today….

CONCLUSION: ETHNIC CLEANSING
The Degar people are experiencing persecution today much as the North and South American Indigenous peoples or Australian Aboriginals suffered under European colonialism. Religious persecution, human rights violations and lands rights abuses continue today in the Central Highlands much as they did over the past decades. For the Degar people, they face a troubled future as Vietnam fiercely resists human rights reforms and fights desperately to retain authoritarian control. The international community further appears unable to stem this tide of persecution and seems more interested in economic relations with Vietnam than demanding they undertake human rights reforms. The Degar people are basically being forced to watch their race, their people, their culture and their future being eliminated and the preceding decades of persecution is nothing less than – ethnic cleansing.