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This has been ongoing in Vietnam for decades.From WikipediaRacism in Vietnam has been mainly directed by the majority and dominant ethnic Vietnamese Kinh against ethnic minorities such as Degars (Montagnards), Chams and the Khmer Krom.ContentsChamsThe Cham in Vietnam are only recognized as a minority, and not as an indigenous people by the Vietnamese government despite being indigenous to central and southern Vietnam. Both Hindu and Muslim Chams have experienced religious and ethnic persecution and restrictions on their faith under the current Vietnamese government, with the Vietnamese state confiscating Cham property and forbidding Cham from observing their religious beliefs. Hindu temples were turned into tourist sites against the wishes of the Cham Hindus. In 2010 and 2013 several incidents occurred in Thành Tín and Phươc Nhơn villages where Cham were murdered by Vietnamese.HighlandersThe Kinh Vietnamese dominated government media propagate negative stereotypes of the highlander ethnic minorities, labeling them as "ignorant", "illiterate", "backward" and claim that they are impoverished and underdeveloped because of their own lack of economic and agricultural skills. The ethnic Kinh settlers in the highlands have negative stereotypes and views of the highlanders with barely any intermarriage and little interaction since they deliberately choose to live in different villages with other ethnic Kinh. The Vietnamese government has promoted the ethnic Kinh migration to the highlands as bringing "development" to the highlanders.MontagnardsMontagnards are made up of many different tribes that are indigenous to the Central Highlands of Vietnam. In the past, Montagnards were referred to as "mọi" (savages), by the Vietnamese. Vietnamese textbooks used to describe Montagnards as people with long tails and excessive body hair. Nowadays, the non-offensive term "người Thượng" (highlanders), is used instead.In 1956, President Ngô Dinh Diêm launched programs to resettle ethnic Kinh Vietnameseand northern ethnic minorities into the central highlands. These programs also sought to assimilate the Montagnards into mainstream Vietnamese society. This was the beginning of the struggle between ethnic Kinh and Montagnards. After the Vietnam war, the government further encouraged the ethnic Kinh to resettle in the highlands to cultivate coffee after the demand for coffee in the world boomed. Approximately 1,000,000 ethnic Kinh were forcibly resettled to the central highlands. This resettlement caused conflict between the ethnic Kinh and Montagnards because the Montagnards believed the ethnic Kinh were encroaching on their land. This conflict lead to resentment from the Montagnards which lead to some deadly protests against the ethnic Kinh.Montagnards have faced religious persecution from the communist Vietnamese government since the end of the Vietnam war. The Vietnamese government has a list of government-approved religious organizations and requires that all religious groups register with the government. Any religious groups that are considered to be going against national interests are repressed and shut down. The Vietnamese government claim the independent Montagnard religious groups use religion to incite unrest. They use this to justify their capture, detainment, and interrogation of Montagnard political activists, leaders, and shut down of unregistered Montagnard churches. Followers of unregistered churches and religious activists have also been harassed, arrested, imprisoned, or placed under house arrest by authorities.In 2001 and 2004, there were major protests from thousands of Montagnards. They protested against the repression and religious persecution from the Vietnamese government and demanded their land back. In 2001, there was a Montagnard independence movement facilitated by MFI members. These protests lead to deaths and mass imprisonments.FromPersecuting “Evil Way” ReligionSummaryEvery time the police summoned me to the commune police station, they beat me and denied me food. I was placed in a small room with hands tied and an interrogator beat me. I was kept in that position overnight, too.–Montagnard asylum seeker from Gia Lai province, February 2015Using many methods of propaganda and mobilization, in coordination with the participation of the entire political system and the leadership and guidance from provincial leaders, the objects who once made errors have voluntarily committed to completely renounce the evil way religion. In the near future, the district will ask for provincial permission to summarize and announce that the evil way religion has been eliminated.Chairman Nguyen Truong, People’s Committee of Dak Po district, Bao Gia Lai newspaper, October 21, 2014Government-controlled Vietnamese media and Human Rights Watch interviews with members of ethnic minorities who have fled the Central Highlands of Vietnam reveal ongoing government religious and political persecution there. Highland people accused of religious “evil ways” and politically “autonomous thoughts” have been subjected to intimidation, arbitrary arrests, and mistreatment in custody. These violations of fundamental rights are part of a larger pattern of religious persecution in Vietnam in which the authorities monitor, harass, and sometimes violently crack down on religious groups that operate outside official government-registered and government-controlled religious institutions.Legal mechanisms for Vietnamese government control over religion were increased in January 2013 when the government promulgated Decree 92, which prohibits “manipulation of freedom of belief and religion” to “conduct propaganda against the state” or “undermine … national unity.” It includes onerous requirements for official permission to practice religious beliefs and vague prohibitions on religious expression, making it easier for the authorities to selectively repress any religious activities they desire.This persecution is driving Christians from Montagnard ethnic minorities to seek asylum in neighboring Cambodia and in Thailand. Vietnamese authorities have responded by preventing people from leaving Vietnam and pressuring Cambodian authorities to prevent border crossings and deny those who do cross the right to seek asylum.Members of the Jarai and other Montagnard ethnic minorities from Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces explained to Human Rights Watch how during 2014 and early 2015 they were detained by commune or district police and other authorities for questioning about their religious or political activities and possible plans to flee Vietnam. Detention periods lasted from a few hours to several months.They told Human Rights Watch of being kept under constant surveillance by the authorities and instructed not to believe in forms of Christianity not approved by the government, to reject notions of ethnic minority political autonomy, and to give up hopes of gaining refuge abroad. Some alleged that police beat or slapped them during interrogation.In one case an elderly Montagnard in poor health as a result of earlier ill-treatment during years in a Vietnamese prison died in the Gia Lai jungle while trying to make his way to Cambodia.The current persecution is being carried out against what Vietnamese authorities call “objects” (doi tuong) of security force suspicions. These include those who subscribe to beliefs the Vietnamese government maintains are “set up by the reactionaries” to oppose Communist Party rule and achieve other “dark purposes,” such as to “abuse the freedom of belief to sow division among the national great unity.”Official media reports describe the security forces as taking action against minority “peaceful evolution” activists protesting against shortcomings in Communist Party policies related to “national minorities,” including allegations that the authorities are violating their human rights. The Vietnamese authorities deny these violations are occurring and characterize them as a fabricated excuse. for committing the crime of illegally leaving Vietnam for Cambodia.Official Vietnamese media makes it clear that such government actions are part of a high-level policy to eliminate “evil way” (ta dao) religions, such as the De Ga Protestantism and Ha Mon Catholicism practiced by some ethnic Montagnards, which the government has deemed fall outside the belief systems considered “pure.” Their beliefs and faith practices are suppressed on the grounds that they are not religions at all, but simply “evil ways.”Gia Lai provincial television has reported that local officials have organized “many waves of search and hunt” actions against unofficial religious activities in order to “deal seriously with their leaders and core members.” The authorities concede that one of the main reasons that highland Christian minorities are seeking asylum abroad is their hope of making their way to a place where they can “freely practice” their religion.The government’s actions violate its obligations under international human rights treaties to which Vietnam is a party, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The ICCPR upholds the right to freedom of religion and belief; the right to freedom of expression and opinion; the right not to be subject to torture or other ill-treatment; and the right of everyone to leave any country, including their own, among other rights.In addition, Cambodia, as a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol (the “Refugee Convention”), is bound not to return a refugee or asylum seeker to any country where their life or freedom is at risk.The ethnic and religious persecution documented in this report is a continuation of past persecution in the Central Highlands. Previous reports, including by Human Rights Watch, have documented violations of the human rights of evangelical Christians belonging to independent house churches, supporters of nonviolent demands for independence or autonomy, and people objecting to the transfer of land and forests traditionally used by highlanders to support themselves to the control of lowland ethnic Vietnamese (kinh) businesses and settlers. There is also a history of attempts by members of minority groups to leave Vietnam in order to seek asylum in Cambodia or elsewhere.The authorities have asserted that advocacy by some De Ga Protestants of the notion of a “De Ga Country” (Nha nuoc De ga) was a cover for the resurrection of the armed separatist insurgency of the Front Uni de Lutte des Races Opprimées (United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races, or FULRO) launched in the 1960s. However, even an official history of the Vietnamese security forces and another security force publication have declared that FULRO ceased to exist in 1992, since which time violent change has been replaced by “peaceful evolution.” The history also acknowledges that problems arising since 1992 have resulted in part from the Vietnamese authorities’ own “shortcomings” in dealing with the rapid expansion of market economics in the Central Highlands, causing “powerful changes” in the social structure there, with “uneven effects on the residents of the area.” Recent media reports present no evidence that any armed or other violent activities have taken place and continue to describe only “peaceful evolution” activities.