Item 6: UPR Adoption, Vietnam 

Organisation: Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) 

Speaker: Mr Ellis Heasley 

Thank you, Mr. President, 

CSW welcomes Vietnam’s participation in the UPR process.  

We welcome Vietnam’s acceptance of the recomm 

endation from Italy to ‘remove obstacles to the freedom of religion or belief and address any acts of discrimination and violence against ethnic and religious minority groups’.1 

In order to fully implement this recommendation, the government of Vietnam must act swiftly to end its targeted repression of the predominantly Christian Montagnard ethnic group. 

The government has significantly increased its harassment and intimidation of this community since the June 2023 attack on provincial Communist Party offices in Dak Lak that left nine dead. 

CSW is deeply concerned at the lack of due process in the court hearings of over 100 Montagnards who were convicted on various terrorism-related charges in January 2024. 

We also condemn the sentencing of Montagnard Christian Nay Y Blang to four-and-a-half years in prison on charges of ‘secession and incitement’. Mr Blang was not given access to legal representation, and his only ‘crime’ was holding prayer meetings in his home. 

The government of Vietnam has also endangered the lives of human rights defenders by naming them and sharing their addresses on state media, and its designation of the Montagnard Stand for Justice (MSFJ) as a terrorist group is completely unfounded. 

We are particularly concerned by the ongoing case of Vietnamese activist Y Quynh ‘Matthew’ B’dap, founder of MSFJ, who is currently facing extradition from Thailand at the request of the Vietnamese government. B’dap will serve a 10-year prison sentence for terrorism if he is returned to Vietnam. 

We call on the government to cease its harassment of the Montagnard community and of other religious and ethnic minorities inside and outside of Vietnam. 

We regret Vietnam’s decision to reject multiple recommendations which called for the revision or repeal of Articles 117 and 331 of the Penal Code.2  Article 331 gives the Vietnamese government tacit permission to arrest and charge any dissenting voices they please and is often used to target key religious leaders.  

We urge Vietnam to reconsider its position and revise all regulations and legislation pertaining to religion to ensure they align with international standards as set out in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), in consultation with religious communities and legal experts. Doing so would remove another obstacle to the right to FoRB in the country.  

Thank you.