Key religious freedom developments in September 2026:
- U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Says Việt Nam Keeps Cracking Down on Religious Freedom;
- CSW: Việt Nam’s Penal Code is being misused to suppress religious freedom;
- The Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs rushes to draft a decree implementing the amended Law on Belief and Religion;
- Phú Thọ provincial authorities stop two young people from joining the Church of God the Mother;
- Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation: Foreign governments and international organizations must consult directly with the Khmer Krom.
USCIRF: Việt Nam Continues to Crack Down on Religious Freedom, Especially Independent Faiths.
In September 2026, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said the Vietnamese government takes away its citizens’ religious freedom, especially against independent religious groups, while rewriting its religion law this year.
USCIRF made this assessment in its country update on religious freedom conditions in Việt Nam. The report raises three main issues.
First, the Vietnamese government uses the law to tighten control over religious freedom. Second, authorities continue to arrest and prosecute members of independent religious groups. And third, the government carries out transnational repression against religious activists.
According to USCIRF, although Việt Nam’s Constitution guarantees freedom of belief and religion, the government has used its laws to restrict this right.
In April 2026, the National Assembly passed the amended Law on Belief and Religion. USCIRF warns that the new law bans even more religious activities using such vague language that the authorities can easily misuse the rules to punish almost any group they choose. Examples include infringing on national interests, social order, or morality, or insulting the honor and dignity of others.
The new law empowers local officials to shut down major religious events as well as entire religious organizations.
USCIRF also expressed concern about Decree 109/2026, which gives local Vietnamese authorities the power to suspend lawyers’ practicing certificates.
According to USCIRF, the rule will leave religious minority groups more vulnerable because they will struggle to find lawyers to defend their rights. USCIRF said fewer than 12 lawyers in Việt Nam can currently take on religious freedom cases.
The report also noted some positive points in the amended law, such as access to religious books in prisons and religious freedom for foreigners in Việt Nam. But according to USCIRF, these provisions are not enough to offset a legal framework that restricts religious activity in Việt Nam.
USCIRF is also concerned that the 2025 Cybersecurity Law will further expand the role of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) in suppressing religious activity online.
The law will require religious organizations to notify authorities, register, and seek permission before carrying out religious activities online. The government can also order internet providers to block or remove religious content the state does not want.
USCIRF said independent groups such as Cao Đài, Hòa Hảo Buddhists, Khmer Krom Buddhists, and Protestants in the Central Highlands continue to face threats, harassment, beatings, arrests, and imprisonment.
On transnational repression, USCIRF said that Việt Nam is targeting religious activists and figures abroad.
The report cites the case of Nguyễn Đình Thắng, executive director and president of Boat People SOS (BPSOS). In April 2026, a court in Đắk Lắk Province sentenced Thắng in absentia to 11 years in prison for terrorism, in connection with the June 2023 attacks on government offices in Đắk Lắk.
According to USCIRF, the evidence at his trial was the testimony of Y Quỳnh Bdăp, a Montagnard man extradited from Thailand to Việt Nam in late November 2025. USCIRF said that authorities coerced this testimony.
In another case, the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha reportedly accused monk Thích Minh Tuệ—who is currently staying in Nepal—of being a “fake monk” and unsuccessfully lobbied the Nepali government to cancel his one-year visa.
“In another case, the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha reportedly accused monk Thích Minh Tuệ—who is currently staying in Nepal—of being a ‘fake monk’ and unsuccessfully lobbied the Nepali government to cancel his one-year visa.”
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan body created by the U.S. Congress to monitor religious freedom abroad and make policy recommendations. The U.S. State Department placed Việt Nam on its Special Watch List for religious freedom in late 2022 and again in 2024.
CSW: Việt Nam’s Penal Code is Being Misused to Suppress Religious Freedom.
On Sept. 8, 2026, the nongovernmental organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) accused the Vietnamese government of misusing Articles 116, 117, and 331 of the Penal Code to punish human rights and religious activists.
The accusation came in a CSW briefing on religious freedom in Việt Nam.
Under Việt Nam’s Penal Code, Article 117 covers “making, storing, disseminating, or propagandizing information, materials, or items aimed at opposing the state.” Article 331 covers “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals.” Article 116 addresses the crime of “undermining the national unity policy.”
CSW said that since 2023, the Vietnamese government has used Articles 117 and 331 more and more often, while it regularly applies Article 116 against religious groups and ethnic minorities.
According to CSW, for some registered religious groups, the 2016 Law on Belief and Religion helped clarify which activities are permitted. Some groups have also been granted permission for activities that were previously banned.
In practice, however, the registered groups tend to be large, urban, long-established, and on amicable terms with the authorities. Meanwhile, groups that refuse to register on grounds of conscience or that are denied registration may face harassment, threats, and violence. In some cases, the authorities allegedly hired masked people to force unregistered groups to stop their activities.
CSW cited several cases from 2025 and 2026 to illustrate the problem.
On May 12, police in Đồng Tháp Province arrested four Cao Đài dignitaries and followers, accusing them of sharing information about human rights violations on social media. One of them, Trần Ngọc Sương, was charged under Article 117 and is currently free on bail.
On June 1, police in Gia Lai Province arrested Pastor Siu Yúi and follower Siu Dok, accusing them of using religious teachings to campaign for separatism and independence. Both men were later charged under Article 116 with undermining the national unity policy.
On Aug. 5, a court in Đắk Lắk Province sentenced Pastor Y Nuên Ayun to seven years and six months in prison for undermining the national unity policy.
For the Khmer Krom community, CSW recalled the case of three people, including the Venerable Kim Som Rinh, who were sentenced to three years and six months in prison under Article 331 in November 2025.
The Khmer Krom are an ethnic Khmer community of about 1.3 million people native to Việt Nam’s Mekong Delta; most of them are Theravada Buddhists, who consider themselves Indigenous to the region, though the Vietnamese government recognizes them only as an ethnic minority.
CSW also said Việt Nam has stepped up its transnational repression. A key example is the June 2023 terrorist attack in Đắk Lắk. In this case, the Vietnamese government labeled the U.S.-based Boat People SOS (BPSOS) a terrorist organization.
Nguyễn Đình Thắng, director and president of BPSOS and a U.S. citizen, was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison in April 2026. In the same case, the Vietnamese government had Y Quỳnh B’Đăp extradited from Thailand to serve a prison sentence.
CSW called on Việt Nam to reform Articles 116, 117, and 331 and to release peaceful religious and human rights activists. It also urged the United States to designate Việt Nam a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC).
The Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs Rushes to Draft a Decree Implementing the Amended Law on Belief and Religion
On Sept. 27, 2026, the journal Ethnic and Religious Studies reported that the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs is rushing to draft a decree implementing the amended Law on Belief and Religion.
The National Assembly passed the amended law on April 23, 2026. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.
Vũ Hoài Bắc, head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, stated that the decree must take effect simultaneously with the law to avoid a legal gap. He said there is heavy pressure on the timeline for drafting the decree and submitting it to the government.
In late July 2026, the newspaper Thanh Tra reported that the draft decree put out for public comment had eight chapters and 77 articles, detailing 34 of the law’s articles. Comments focused on belief activities, religious activities online, and new religious phenomena. The government also plans to cut the number of administrative procedures in the religious sector from 60 to 50.
Under the law, a decree must be issued at least 45 days before it takes effect, so the deadline for submitting this decree to the government was set for Oct. 15, 2026.
In Luật Khoa’s assessment, the rushed timeline could affect the quality of the decree implementing the amended Law on Belief and Religion.
Phú Thọ Provincial Authorities Stop Two Young People from Joining the Church of God the Mother
On Sept. 7, 2026, the newspaper Dân Trí reported that police in Vĩnh Thành Commune, Phú Thọ Province, had persuaded two young people in the commune not to join the Church of God the Mother.
The Church of God the Mother, officially the World Mission Society Church of God, is a new religious movement founded in South Korea in 1964 by Ahn Sahng-hong, whose followers worship both him as God the Father and a living South Korean woman, Zahng Gil-jah, as God the Mother.
According to the report, sometime in mid-2026, a stranger befriended the two young people on Facebook and invited them out for drinks in Vĩnh Thành. During the meeting, the person introduced them to the Church of God the Mother, gave them gifts, and invited them to join the group.
After learning of the case, Vĩnh Thành Commune authorities “educated and persuaded” the two not to join the religion. The two then pledged to comply and not take part in any activities that break the rules.
However, the article did not say which law prohibits them from joining the Church of God the Mother.
According to the Vietnamese government, the Church of God the Mother originated in South Korea and has operated in Việt Nam for many years. Vietnamese police regard the church as a heretical and superstitious group, and they often accuse its members of manipulating people psychologically to damage participants’ family relationships.
The line between an organization deemed heretical and a religious group that simply lacks legal recognition remains unclear. As a result, the authorities frequently monitor independent religious groups and try to stop them.
Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation: Foreign Governments and International Organizations Must Consult Directly with the Khmer Krom.
On Sept. 11, 2026, the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) called on foreign governments to consult independent representatives of the Khmer Krom people in the Mekong Delta.
The KKF is an international advocacy group of the Khmer Krom diaspora, based in the United States, that campaigns at the United Nations and elsewhere for the human rights, religious freedom, and recognition of the Khmer Krom as an Indigenous people of the Mekong Delta.
KKF made the call in an article on the website Peoples Represented. Peoples Represented, an online magazine affiliated with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO).
In the article, KKF said the Vietnamese government’s refusal to recognize the Khmer Krom as an Indigenous people has given the state the power to determine who represents the Khmer Krom community on issues of ancestral land, identity, culture, and development.
KKF said that as a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Việt Nam can present its policies to the world, while the Khmer Krom, including their Theravada Buddhist monks, have almost no chance to voice their views in those forums.
Therefore, KKF urged foreign governments to consult independent Khmer Krom representatives before holding human rights dialogues with the Vietnamese government.
It also said that when foreign government representatives visit the Mekong Delta, they should seek to meet Khmer Krom residents and independent Buddhist monks directly, without monitoring by Vietnamese authorities.
The article also recalled that in July 2025, the U.N. Special Procedures sent Việt Nam a letter of inquiry about 17 Khmer Krom people, including activists, human rights defenders, and Theravada Buddhist monks and followers. The U.N. experts suspected that Vietnamese authorities may have arbitrarily detained them.
Thiện Trường wrote this Religion Bulletin in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on October 20, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine owns the copyright for this English translation.
