Democratic Voice of Vietnam

March 13, 2019, at the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, CEO and President of BPSOS, called on the UN Special Rapporteur on the Numerous Issues to intervene for the Hmong and the Central Highlands to become “stateless” because of their Christianity faith. Below is an English enounce

Mr. President, Mr. Special Rapporteur,

I would like to call your attention to the dire conditions faced by ethnic and religious minorities in Viet Nam. We have documented at least 2,000 households, totaling about 10,000 individuals, of Hmong and Montagnards being denied the most basic rights of citizens because of their Christian faith. This could be just the tip of an enormous iceberg to be discovered.

The Hmong population forms an indigenous minority in the Northwestern Mountainous Region of Vietnam. Hmong Christians have been ordered to renounce their faith and those who resisted were evicted from their villages. Thousands of them migrated to other provinces, where they formed new communities in uninhabited areas, usually at the edge of the jungle. Local governments do not register them as legal residents.

Without household registration, they cannot apply for citizenship ID cards; married couples are not issued marriage certificates; children are not issued birth certificates — those lucky enough to get birth certificates do not have their father’s name listed and are considered fatherless. Most of these children are not admitted into school.

Without citizenship ID cards, these Hmong and Montagnard Christians cannot get employment, apply for a business license, open a bank account, or even use the public library. They do not have access to public benefits, social welfare, public healthcare… In brief, they are not treated as citizens in their own country. We consider them “stateless.”

Montagnards are indigenous peoples living in the Central Highlands. Thousands of Montagnard Christians face a similar situation.

I respectfully ask that the Special Rapporteur works with other UN mandates to ensure that the Government of Vietnam promptly, effectively and fairly resolves the stateless status of these Hmong and Montagnard Christians and to immediately end its policy of forced renunciation of faith.

Thank you.