The Commission's February 2002 fact-finding visit to Vietnam enabled it to assess the presence of particularly severe violations of religious freedom in that country. Since 2001, the religious freedom conditions in Vietnam have deteriorated. Key religious dissidents remain imprisoned or under house arrest, and the government has continued its campaign of forcing religious minorities in the northwestern provinces and the Central Highlands to renounce their faith. The heightened crackdown on religious freedom was reportedly sanctioned at the highest levels of the Vietnamese government, according to documents obtained by human rights nongovernmental organizations.

Religious groups outside Vietnam have indentified approximately 100 religious adherents who remain in prison or under some form of detention, including house arrest. Eighteen Hoa Hao Buddhists are reportedly either in prison or under house arrest. The overseas spokesperson for the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) claims that there are at least 20 UBCV-affiliated monks and lay leaders who are either under house arrest or in re-education camps or prisons. Twenty Hmong Protestants apparently remain in detention. Dozens of Montagnard Christians in the Central Highlands have been detained in relation to the government crackdown in 2001. Finally, there are at least 10 Catholic priests and lay adherents who are still imprisoned. Some religious and human rights groups claim that there may be thousands of religious prisoners in Vietnam who are unaccounted for.

The most prominent prisoners or detainees include the Venerable Thich Quang Do of the UBCV; Mr. Le Quang Liem, a Hao Hao Buddhist leader of the unofficial Hoa Hao Buddhist organization; and Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, who was detained after he submitted testimony to the Commission last year. In January 2003, Fr. Ly's niece and two nephews were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences for providing information about his imprisonment to Vietnamese-American journalists in California. In addition, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the UBCV Supreme Patriarch, has been placed under de facto house arrest without charge for 20 years. In April 2003, the Vietnamese Prime Minister met with the Supreme Patriarch after the latter had undergone medical treatment in Hanoi. Although the UBCV welcomed the meeting, it expressed concern that the government remains unwilling to release the Supreme Patriarch and Venerable Thich Quang Do from house arrest. In most cases, the individuals involved have been charged with crimes not related to religion, including, for example, "slandering the government," "disrupting the unity of the people," and "causing public disorder."

At the same time, Vietnamese government officials continue to arrest and detain individuals for engaging in "illegal religious activities." Unofficial house church Protestants and ethnic minority Protestants are two groups most subject to this type of harassment. In 2001, a Mennonite pastor of an unofficial Protestant fellowship in Ho Chi Minh City and his wife were arrested, detained, and beaten for publicizing government violations of religious liberty and for engaging in "unapproved" religious activities. They have since been released and were able to meet with the Commission delegation in February 2002. Montagnard Protestants in the Central Highlands have been detained or imprisoned for engaging in religious activities that are not permitted by government authorities. Government suppression has, by all accounts, intensified after a February 2001 protest by the Central Highlanders.

In addition to arrests and detentions, government officials in the Central Highlands and in the northwestern provinces, where many Hmong Protestants live, have continued to force ethnic minority Christians to renounce their faith. In many cases, these renunciation campaigns involved forcing the religious adherents to drink the blood of animals and to sign pledges, as well as other forms of harassment, to renounce their beliefs. For example, in August 2002, a Hmong Protestant in Lai Chau province reportedly died after being beaten several times by Vietnamese officials who attempted to force him to renounce his faith. In December 2002, officials in the same province reportedly used noxious gas to attack Hmong Christians during a house church worship service. Persons who were found to have provided religious training and literature to ethnic minorities have in the past been arrested and imprisoned. For example, a pastor of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam in the north (Hanoi) claimed that he had been jailed and fined for the unauthorized photocopying and distribution of Bibles and hymnals to Hmongs in the Hmong language. Because of the persecution they face, approximately 1,000 Montagnard Protestants were granted asylum in the United States in the past year. The government of Vietnam also places restrictions on the practices of Roman Catholics. It imposes limits on the number of candidates permitted to study for the priesthood and the number of qualified men allowed to be ordained. In addition, the government controls the appointment and assignments of Catholic clergy, determines their place of assignment, and limits their activities exclusively to that town or village. The government also plays an active role in the selection of the bishops, vetoing papal appointments of which it disapproves.

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