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Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security has added refugee aid organization Boat People SOS to its list of terrorist groups, saying it had carried out “anti-Vietnam activities,” which the U.S.-based group denied.
“BPSOS operates under the guise of ‘refugee relief’ but in fact, it uses this activity to connect with and assist organizations and individuals in carrying out anti-Vietnam activities, including a number of individuals participating in the organization ‘Montagnards [Stand] for Justice – MSFJ’ – the organization that carried out the terrorist attack on June 11, 2023 in Dak Lak,” the ministry said on its Facebook page on Friday.
BPSOS was set up in the 1980s to help so-called boat people flee Vietnam by sea. It now helps victims of religious persecution and human trafficking in Vietnam, it says on its website.
BPSOS Executive Director Nguyen Dinh Thang said the terrorist designation was meant to intimidate those who dare speak out on repression and the accusation damaged the Vietnamese government’s reputation..
“The international community knows very well who has cooperated with the Boat People SOS committee for the past several decades, including the U.S. government, more than 40 countries in the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, and the human rights institutions of the United Nations,” he told Radio Free Asia.
On Feb. 4 and 5, BPSOS helped organize the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington. More than 1,000 international delegates attended, including more than 40 parliamentarians. However, three religious representatives from Vietnam who were invited to the conference were stopped at the airport in Vietnam and told they couldn’t leave for security reasons.
“This will not go unnoticed by the U.S. government. Vietnam is already on thin ice concerning its treatment of religious people. This may be all it takes to put them back as a Country of Particular Concern,” said Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for religious freedom according to a news release from the Global Christian Solidarity Organization.
According to BPSOS, by putting it and MSFJ on the terrorist list, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security was hoping to frighten those who speak out to the international community to denounce religious repression in Vietnam.
“They expected that people in the country would not dare to contact us or provide information about violations for us to transfer to the international community,” Nguyen Dinh Thang told RFA.
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On March 6, 2024, the ministry listed MSFJ and individuals associated with the minority rights group as terrorists, accusing them of organizing a June 2023 attack on two government headquarters in Dak Lak in which nine people were killed. The group denied the accusation.
Vietnam is trying to extradite MSFJ co-founder Y Quynh Bdap from Thailand to serve a 10-year sentence for terrorism in connection with the attack. He has denied the allegations and plans to lodge an appeal in Thailand.
Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.