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A School Leader's Guide to Improving the Achievement, Assimilation, and Involvement of Montagnard Children (2007)Michael Jazzar and Carl Hamm, International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation 2, no. 1 (2007). Montagnard pupils in the schools of Charlotte, North Carolina: where the families came from, what the children brought with them, and what their schools could do for them. ERIC EJ1066689, via the Internet Archive.
A Study of the Downstream Impacts of the Yali Falls Dam in the Se San River Basin in Ratanakiri Province, Northeast Cambodia (Fisheries Office of Ratanakiri and the NTFP Project, May 29, 2000)The first survey of what Vietnam’s Yali Falls dam did to the people downstream: 59 villages of nine peoples in Ratanakiri, about 20,000 people in 3,500 families, at least 32 drowned, crops, livestock, boats and fish catches lost, and no notice of water releases until April 2000. Lead author Ian G. Baird. Held here for reference.
André Baudrit, Henri Maître, explorateur de l'Indochine sud-centrale 1883–1914 (BSEI, 1936)Baudrit's biographical study of Henri Maître in the Bulletin de la Société des Études Indochinoises, new series XI, no. 3 (1936), including Maître's last report of July 7, 1914. Image scan; public domain text.
Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, tome 15 (Lyon, 1843)The mission journal for 1843, with the letters of Father Miche of January and September 1842: the plan Bishop Cuénot laid for a mission into the mountains west of Bình Định, and the arrest of Miche and Duclos among the Jarai. Scanned copy from the Internet Archive; public domain.
Auguste Pavie, Mission Pavie Indo-Chine 1879-1895: Géographie et voyages, vol. II (Paris: Leroux, 1900)Pavie's own summary of the mission's journeys, including Captain Cupet's 1891 crossing from Kratié to Ban Don, the Kings of Fire and Water and Kon Tum, and his meeting with the Siamese column at Ban Don. Scanned copy from the Internet Archive; public domain.
Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations (OHCHR and UC Berkeley Human Rights Center, 2022)The international guide to collecting and preserving photographs, videos and other material found online as evidence of human rights violations: how to record where and when an item was found, how to keep an unaltered copy, and how to show that it has not been changed since. Published by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley. English text. Internet Archive copy.
Briefing on Central Highlands Land Development Area (Republic of Vietnam, 1958)A briefing by the Republic of Vietnam's Commissariat General for Land Development, 1958: its plans for settling Vietnamese in the Central Highlands, the 22 land development centers of the Banmethuot and Pleiku-Kontum districts, center by center, and its statement that the Crown Domain regime, which had recognized our tenure of the land, was now cancelled. Saigon's own account of what it was doing. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Briefing on Land Development (Republic of Vietnam, 1958)The Commissariat General for Land Development's general briefing on its program, about 1958: purposes, methods, the centers established in 1957 and 1958, and the passage on the Crown Domain regime. Saigon's own account. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Buckingham, Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia 1961-1971 (1982)William A. Buckingham Jr., Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia, 1961-1971 (Office of Air Force History, 1982). The official history of the herbicide program, including the first test north of Kontum in 1961 and the crop-destruction missions in the highlands. US government work, public domain.
C.-E. Bouillevaux, Voyage dans l'Indo-Chine, 1848-1856 (Paris: Victor Palmé, 1858)The missionary who traveled among the highland peoples of northeastern Cambodia in 1851 and reported on the Jarai King of Fire; the book also describes his visit to the ruins of Angkor in 1850. Scanned copy; public domain.
CINCPAC Scientific Advisory Group, A Review of the Herbicide Program in South Vietnam (August 1968)William F. Warren, A Review of the Herbicide Program in South Vietnam, CINCPAC Scientific Advisory Group Working Paper 10-68 (August 1968), declassified. Includes the finding that two-thirds of the 1967 crop-destruction missions fell in II Corps, the Central Highlands and its coast. US government record, public domain.
Compagnie agricole du Darlac (press notices, 1929 and after)Collected press notices on the Compagnie agricole du Darlac, founded in 1929, from entreprises-coloniales.fr. Public domain texts.
Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of Viet Nam (UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR/C/VNM/CO/4, 2025)Adopted July 15, 2025, 15 pages. The Committee remains concerned that Viet Nam does not recognize the Indigenous Peoples in its territory, and names the mandatory so-called post-imprisonment education of Montagnard prisoners. Copy from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Concluding observations on the third periodic report of Viet Nam (UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR/C/VNM/CO/3, August 2019)The United Nations Human Rights Committee’s findings after examining Vietnam under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in March 2019: the Law on Belief and Religion, forced renunciations of faith, the vague national security offences in articles 109, 116, 117 and 331 of the Penal Code, and the non-recognition of indigenous peoples. United Nations document, held here for reference.
Concluding observations on Viet Nam (UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, CERD/C/VNM/CO/10-14, 2012)Adopted March 6, 2012, 7 pages. The Committee names the Degar (Montagnard), invites Viet Nam to consider ratifying ILO Convention No. 169, and raises the confiscation of ancestral lands and restrictions on religious practice. Copy from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Concluding observations on Viet Nam (UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, CERD/C/VNM/CO/15-17, 2023)Adopted December 7, 2023, 11 pages. The Committee names the Montagnards among the Indigenous Peoples whose recognition Viet Nam will not discuss, recommends ratifying ILO Convention No. 169, and addresses the investigation after the Dak Lak attacks of June 11, 2023, the 81 Montagnards convicted under article 113, pressure to renounce religion, boarding schools, and reprisals against two Montagnards stopped on their way to a conference. Copy from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Concluding observations on Viet Nam (UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR/CO/75/VNM, 2002)Adopted July 19, 2002, 6 pages. Paragraph 19 is the first finding of a UN treaty body to name the Degar (Montagnard), citing serious violations of articles 7 and 27 of the Covenant. Copy from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)The Convention adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948, in English and French, as printed in the Assembly's official records. Article II defines genocide; Article IX gives the International Court of Justice jurisdiction over disputes, a clause Viet Nam does not accept. The Republic of Viet-Nam acceded in 1950 and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam in 1981.
Country Operations Plan 2007: Viet Nam (UNHCR, March 2006)UNHCR planning document, 4 pages, describing the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding of January 25, 2005 between Viet Nam, Cambodia and UNHCR and the agency’s access to returnees in the Central Highlands. Copy from UNHCR.
Country Policy and Information Note: Vietnam, Ethnic and religious minority groups (UK Home Office, version 4.0, December 2024)UK Home Office guidance for asylum decisions, 103 pages, with a long section on Montagnards and Dega Protestantism that quotes the UN treaty bodies, Human Rights Watch and others. Crown copyright, Open Government Licence; copy from GOV.UK.
Criminal Code of Vietnam, Law No. 100/2015/QH13 (English translation)An English translation of the Criminal Code of 2015, in force since January 2018, with the national security articles under which our people are charged: 109 (activities against the people’s government), 113 (terrorism), 116 (undermining the unity policy), 117 (propaganda against the state), 118 (disrupting security), 120 and 121 (leaving the country), and 331 (abusing democratic freedoms). Translation as hosted by policinglaw.info; held here for reference.
Cultural Orientation for Vietnamese Montagnard Refugees: A Special Project of IOM Cambodia (2002)Report on the cultural-orientation program run by the International Organization for Migration in Cambodia in 2002 for the Montagnard refugees who had fled the Central Highlands in 2001 and were resettled to the United States. ERIC ED476245.
Cupet, Mission Pavie Indo-Chine 1879-1895, Geographie et voyages III (1900)Captain P. Cupet, "Voyages au Laos et chez les sauvages du sud-est de l'Indo-Chine," in Mission Pavie, Indo-Chine 1879-1895: Geographie et voyages, vol. III (Paris: Leroux, 1900). The 1891 journeys through Ban Don and the Kon Tum mission, with the engraving of Khunjunob. Public domain; Internet Archive scan.
Darrell W. Carr, Civil Defense Forces in Counterinsurgency: An Analysis of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group in Vietnam (CGSC thesis, 2012)Master of Military Art and Science thesis, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, June 2012. A study of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group, the Special Forces program built on highland villages. US government work, public domain; copy from the Internet Archive (DTIC ADA562891).
Dictionnaire bahnar-français (P. X. Dourisboure, Hong Kong, 1889)The first dictionary of any highland language: Pierre Dourisboure’s Bahnar–French dictionary, printed at the press of the Missions Étrangères in Hong Kong in 1889, with his Bahnar alphabet and notes on pronunciation. Dourisboure came to the Bahnar in 1850 and signed the dedication at Nazareth on March 25, 1889, a year before his death. Public domain; scan via the Internet Archive.
Donald S. Bloch, A Review of United States Military Counterinsurgency Activities with Selected Minority Groups in South Vietnam (1967)A study of May 1967 by Donald S. Bloch, with Marshall Andrews, for the Center for Research in Social Systems of the American University, done for the Department of the Army and classified secret until 1981. It reviews the Special Forces’ work with four minorities of South Vietnam, the highland peoples, the Khmer Krom, the Hoa Hao and the Cao Dai, through December 1965, and the three-way relationship between the Saigon government, its American advisers and the minority concerned, with much on FULRO and the revolts of 1964 and 1965. Internet Archive copy of the DTIC release.
Dong Bao Cac Sac Toc Thieu So: Nguon Goc va Phong Tuc (1972)Nguyen Trac Di, The Ethnic Minority Compatriots: Origins and Customs, published by the Ministry for the Development of Ethnic Minorities under Minister Nay Luett, Saigon, 1972. Carries the minister's signature and seal. Public domain; copy from Wikimedia Commons.
Dropping the Montagnard Ball: A Failure to Capitalize (2010)A short essay of 2010 by a US Navy officer, released through the Defense Technical Information Center, arguing that the Americans won the highland peoples’ cooperation through the CIDG program and that the United States and South Vietnam failed to build on it. Internet Archive copy of the DTIC release.
Étienne Aymonier, Les Tchames et leurs religions (Paris: Leroux, 1891)Aymonier's study of the Cham and their religion, with the earliest description of the Raglai "orang glai," the highland keepers of the Cham temples at Phan Rang. Scanned copy from the Internet Archive; public domain.
Examining Ongoing Human Rights Abuses in Vietnam: House hearing of January 24, 2012Hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, US House Committee on Foreign Affairs. We testified on the Montagnard prisoners, on the closing of the UNHCR site in Phnom Penh in February 2011 and on asylum seekers with nowhere to go; Boat People SOS and Human Rights Watch testified too. US government publication, public domain.
First Language First: Community-Based Literacy Programmes for Minority Language Contexts in Asia (UNESCO, 2005)UNESCO Bangkok, papers of the Kunming workshop of May 2004. Includes Kimmo Kosonen's survey of education in local languages in South-East Asia, which finds Vietnamese the main medium of instruction at every level, also in areas where most people speak another language, and a Viet Nam country report written for the Ministry of Education. ERIC ED494431, via the Internet Archive.
Folklife and Fieldwork: An Introduction to Cultural Documentation (American Folklife Center, 2016)Stephen Winick and Peter Bartis, fourth edition, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 2016. A short guide to recording interviews and traditions: consent and release forms, the spoken opening statement, recording formats (WAV at 96 kHz/24 bits), microphones, file naming, Dublin Core metadata and keeping three copies. US government publication; public domain.
Follow-Up Review on Assistance to War Victims in Vietnam (US General Accounting Office, 1972)Report B-133001 of the US General Accounting Office to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, March 27, 1972. It documents the forced relocation of highland villages in 1970-71 ("Gathering the People"), names the relocation sites at Buon Kli B, Buon M'Bre, Buon H'Dok, Plei De Groi, Plei Ia Maih and Plei Doch, records the deaths at Plei De Groi and Buon Kli B, and includes photographs of the sites. US government work, public domain. 100 pages.
General Cao Van Vien, The Final Collapse (Indochina Monographs; US Army Center of Military History, 1983)The last chairman of the South Vietnamese Joint General Staff on the fall of 1975: the attack on Ban Me Thuot on March 10, the decision at Cam Ranh to abandon the highlands, and the retreat of II Corps and the refugees from Pleiku and Kontum down Route 7B to Tuy Hoa. A US government publication, public domain.
Georges Condominas, Introduction au Klei Khan Kdam Yi (BEFEO 47, 1955)"Introduction au Klei Khan Kdam Yi: observations sociologiques sur deux chants épiques rhadés," Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient 47:2 (1955), pp. 555-568, on the Rhade epics of Dam San and Kdam Yi, followed in the same volume by Dominique Antomarchi's Rhade text and French translation of Kdam Yi. Open-access copy from the IRD Horizon repository.
Georges Condominas, Le lithophone préhistorique de Ndut Lieng Krak (BEFEO 45, 1952)Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient 45:2 (1952), pp. 359-392: the discovery on February 2, 1949 of eleven cut stone slabs at the Mnong Gar village of Ndut Lieng Krak in Darlac, ten of them recognized by André Schaeffner at the Musée de l'Homme as a prehistoric lithophone, with measurements and plates. Open-access copy from the University of Pennsylvania archaeology bibliography.
Georges Maspero, Le Royaume de Champa, chapter I (T'oung Pao, 1910)The opening chapter of the standard French history of Champa, on the land and its peoples, including the Cham names for the highlanders (the Randaiy, taken for the Rhade, and the Mada, taken for the Jarai). Public domain.
Gerald C. Hickey, Accommodation and Coalition in South Vietnam (RAND P-4213, 1970)RAND paper P-4213, January 1970. Hickey's account of highland politics from BAJARAKA to the FULRO settlement, including the December 19, 1968 agreement, the seizure of Y Bham Enuol's headquarters and his removal to Phnom Penh, and the February 1, 1969 ceremony at Ban Me Thuot. Copy from the Defense Technical Information Center via the Internet Archive.
Gerald C. Hickey, Perceived Effects of Herbicides Used in the Highlands of South Vietnam (NAS working paper, 1974)Gerald C. Hickey, "Perceived Effects of Herbicides Used in the Highlands of South Vietnam," in The Effects of Herbicides in South Vietnam, Part B: Working Papers (National Academy of Sciences, February 1974). Interviews of November 1972 to early 1973 with Sedang, Halang, Jarai, Rengao, Rhade and Hroy refugees in Kontum, Pleiku and Ban Me Thuot on what the spraying did to their children, animals, fish and crops. From the Alvin L. Young Collection, National Agricultural Library.
Gerald C. Hickey, The Highland People of South Vietnam: Social and Economic Development (RAND RM-5281, 1967)RAND Corporation memorandum RM-5281-ARPA, September 1967, prepared for the Advanced Research Projects Agency. Hickey's survey of highland society, land, education, health and administration, with the history of BAJARAKA and the FULRO demands and a summary of Y Bham Enuol's 1965 history of the highlands. Declassified; copy from the Defense Technical Information Center via the Internet Archive.
Gerald C. Hickey, The Major Ethnic Groups of the South Vietnamese Highlands (RAND RM-4041, 1964)RAND memorandum RM-4041-ARPA, April 1964: the first systematic English survey of the highland peoples, group by group, with swidden farming, kinship, religion and the political situation of 1963. Copy from the Defense Technical Information Center via the Internet Archive.
Gongs in the Night (Laura Irene Smith, 1943)Mrs. Gordon H. Smith (Laura Irene Smith), Gongs in the Night: Reaching the Tribes of French Indo-China (Zondervan, 1943). The Christian and Missionary Alliance mission at Ban Me Thuot in the 1930s, the first Rhade Gospel printings, with photographic plates. Public domain according to the HathiTrust rights database; Internet Archive scan.
Henri Mouhot, Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos, vol. 1 (1864)Henri Mouhot, Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos, during the years 1858, 1859, and 1860, vol. 1 (London: John Murray, 1864). Chapters IX and X describe his three months among the Stieng at Brelum in 1859. Public domain; Internet Archive scan.
Henri Mouhot, Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos, vol. 2 (London: John Murray, 1864)The second volume of Mouhot's travels, with his notes on Cambodia and the earliest printed account in English of the Jarai Kings of Fire and Water (the Hoa-Sa and Thorei-Sa), taken from Father Fontaine of the Kon Tum mission. Scanned copy from the Internet Archive; public domain.
Highlighting Vietnamese Government Human Rights Violations in Advance of the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue: House hearing of April 11, 2013Hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, US House Committee on Foreign Affairs. We testified on the imprisonment of Montagnard Christians, on the house churches taken over between 2001 and 2004, and on asylum seekers who could not get a hearing from UNHCR. US government publication, public domain.
History of the Mountain Scout Program, October 1961 – February 1963 (CIA)A CIA history of the Mountain Scout program, which trained and armed teams of highland men in the Central Highlands from late 1961. It sets out how the Americans saw the highlands at the time: the Viet Cong promise of an autonomous region, the Rhade protests of 1957, and the distrust between the highland peoples and the Saigon government. Declassified in 2022. Internet Archive copy of the CIA reading-room release.
Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture (United Nations, 2004)The United Nations manual on investigating and documenting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Professional Training Series No. 8, revision 1 of 2004: how to interview a survivor, what to record, and why inconsistencies in an account are expected and do not by themselves show that it is untrue. The manual was revised again in 2022. Internet Archive copy.
Jean Boulbet, Découverte d'un troisième lithophone dans la région des Mnong Maa (L'Anthropologie, 1958)Boulbet's report of a third prehistoric lithophone found in the Maa country of the southern highlands, published in L'Anthropologie 62 (1958). From the IRD Horizon open-access repository.
Jean Marquet, Un aventurier du XIXe siecle: Marie Ier, roi des Sedangs (1888-1890), BAVH 1927Jean Marquet, "Un aventurier du XIXe siecle: Marie Ier, roi des Sedangs (1888-1890)," Bulletin des Amis du Vieux Hue XIV (1927). Written from the French colonial archives; prints Father Guerlach's account of the march to Kon Gung, the two protection treaties of April and May 1888, the Constitution of June 3, 1888, and Mayrena's own letter of October 1888. Public domain; Internet Archive scan.
Jean Moura, Le Royaume du Cambodge, vol. 1 (Paris: Leroux, 1883)The French representative at the Cambodian court describes, at pp. 432-436, the yearly gifts the kings of Cambodia sent to the Jarai Kings of Fire and Water, the wax, rice and sesame that came back, and how the exchange lapsed under Norodom. Scanned copy from the Internet Archive; public domain.
Jesse R. Stewart, Controlling the Population: A Study of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CGSC thesis, 2012)Master of Military Art and Science thesis, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, February 2012. US government work, public domain; copy from the Internet Archive (DTIC ADA570577).
Journal officiel, Chambre des députés, 18 mars 1927 (débat sur l'Indochine: Sabatier, Maillot, Darlac)Transcription of the French Chamber of Deputies debate of March 18, 1927, on Indochina, including the exchanges on Léopold Sabatier, the Darlac and the Maillot concession. Public domain text; transcription by entreprises-coloniales.fr.
Kon Tum, 1:250,000 map sheet ND 49-5 (1972)Joint Operations Graphic ND 49-5, Kon Tum, Vietnam, 1:250,000 (US Defense Mapping Agency, 1972), from the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection via Wikimedia Commons. The Kon Tum plateau, the Dak Bla and Poko rivers and the old roads. US government work, public domain.
Lance E. Booth, Gypsies of the Battlefield: The CIDG Program in Vietnam and Its Evolutionary Impact (US Army War College, 1992)A study project of February 1, 1992, by Lieutenant Colonel Lance E. Booth at the US Army War College, 49 pages, on the Civilian Irregular Defense Group program run by the 5th Special Forces Group from 1964 to 1971, in which most of the soldiers were highland men, and on the lessons the Army drew from it. Internet Archive copy of the DTIC release.
Literacy in the Mother Tongue and Second Language Learning (Gudschinsky, 1971)Sarah C. Gudschinsky, Literacy in the Mother Tongue and Second Language Learning, paper for the Conference on Child Language, Chicago, November 1971 (ERIC ED060753). Section 1.4 describes the Highlander Education Program begun in South Vietnam in 1967: a pre-year in the mother tongue, bilingual second grade, Vietnamese from the third. ERIC full text; Internet Archive copy.
Lowland Participation in the Irredentist “Highlands Liberation Movement” in Vietnam, 1955–1975 (William B. Noseworthy, ASEAS, 2013)Article by William B. Noseworthy in ASEAS – Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies 6(1), 2013, 22 pages, on the Cham part in FULRO. It prints in translation FULRO’s proclamation of August 1, 1964 and a declaration of the movement’s aims, from the documents FULRO published for the Conference of Indochinese Peoples in Phnom Penh in 1965. Open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 license; copy from the journal.
Mathieu Guérin, Des casques blancs sur le Plateau des Herbes: la pacification des aborigènes des hautes terres du Sud-Indochinois, 1859-1940 (doctoral thesis, Université Paris 7, 2003)The fullest history of how the French and the Cambodian court took the Mnong country: the Bu La-Bu Gler confederation, Henri Maître's posts, the rising of 1912-1935 under Pa Trang Loeung (N'Trang Lơng), Route 14 and the campaign of 1935, from the colonial archives and Mnong testimony. Open-access copy from the Internet Archive.
Michael Vickery, Champa Revised (Asia Research Institute Working Paper 37, National University of Singapore, 2005)A historian's re-reading of what is known about Champa: whether Lin-yi was Cham at all, how Chamic speakers reached the coast and the highlands, and how the Jarai, Rhade and Raglai languages grew out of Cham. Published as an open-access working paper.
Mission Pavie, Indo-Chine: Atlas (1903)Mission Pavie, Indo-Chine 1879–1895: Atlas (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1903). The French survey maps of Indochina, including the interior plateaus between the Annamite chain and the Mekong. Public domain; Internet Archive scan (Getty Research Institute).
Montagnard Christians in Vietnam: A Case Study in Religious Repression (Human Rights Watch, March 30, 2011)The fullest single account of what was done to our churches in the decade after February 2001: the ban on Dega Protestantism by name in 2005, the renunciation ceremonies of 2001 and 2010, the security units sent to the highlands, and the count of more than 350 sentenced, at least 250 in prison and at least 25 dead in custody. Published by Human Rights Watch (hrw.org); held here for reference.
Montagnard Disenchantment with the Viet Cong in Darlac Province (National Interrogation Center report, March 1968)A two-page report of March 13, 1968, from the National Interrogation Center in Saigon, run jointly by the CIA and the South Vietnamese, based on an interview in Ban Me Thuot. It describes Viet Cong cadres gathering the people of a hamlet in Buon Ho district in December 1967 and the villagers’ turning against them. Declassified 2019. Internet Archive copy of the CIA reading-room release.
National Security Agency, The 1968 Tet Offensive (cryptologic history, 1970; declassified)The NSA's declassified internal history of the Tet Offensive of 1968, with its account of the attacks on Ban Me Thuot, Kontum, Pleiku and Dalat in the highlands. A US government work, public domain; released through intelligence.gov.
New Assault on Rights in Vietnam’s Central Highlands (Human Rights Watch, 2003)Human Rights Watch backgrounder of January 2003, 23 pages, on detentions and sentences after the 2001 protests. Copy from Human Rights Watch.
No Sanctuary: Ongoing Threats to Indigenous Montagnards in Vietnam’s Central Highlands (Human Rights Watch, June 2006)Human Rights Watch’s report on the years after the Easter protests of 2004: the 1,200 highland churches closed after 2001 and the 29 reopened by 2005, the pledges villagers were made to sign, and the asylum seekers returned from Cambodia. Published by Human Rights Watch (hrw.org); held here for reference. This is the full edition, 129 pages, with the appendix listing Central Highland prisoners by name and province as of May 2006.
Oscar Salemink, Beyond Complicity and Naiveté: Contextualizing the Ethnography of Vietnam's Central Highlanders, 1850-1990 (PhD dissertation, University of Amsterdam, 1999)The dissertation later published as The Ethnography of Vietnam's Central Highlanders (2003): the missionaries and explorers, Léopold Sabatier in Darlac, the Python God movement of 1937, and the making of the 'Montagnard' category by colonial and wartime powers. Open-access copy.
P. de Barthélemy, Au pays Moï (Paris: Plon-Nourrit, 1904)A French traveler's account of the highland country and its peoples at the turn of the century, with illustrations. Internet Archive scan of the Google Books copy; public domain.
Paul Nur, Duong Len Xu Thuong: Cac van kien can ban (1970)The basic documents of the Republic of Vietnam's highland policy, collected by Paul Nur, Minister for the Development of Ethnic Minorities. Ministry for the Development of Ethnic Minorities, Saigon, 1970, 284 pages, in Vietnamese and French. Public domain; copy from Wikimedia Commons.
Persecuting “Evil Way” Religion: Abuses against Montagnards in Vietnam (Human Rights Watch, 2015)Human Rights Watch report of June 2015, 33 pages, on the campaign against Dega Protestantism and Ha Mon Catholicism as “evil way” religions. Copy from Human Rights Watch.
Project CHECO: Kontum, Battle for the Central Highlands, 30 March – 10 June 1972 (US Air Force, 1972)The US Air Force’s contemporary history, dated October 27, 1972, of the North Vietnamese offensive against Kontum province from March 30 to June 10, 1972, written by Project CHECO. Large file. Internet Archive copy of the DTIC release.
Project CHECO: The Siege at Plei Me (US Air Force, 1966)The US Air Force’s contemporary history, by Captain Melvin F. Porter for Project CHECO, dated February 24, 1966, of the siege of the Special Forces camp at Plei Me, a Jarai village about 25 miles southwest of Pleiku. The attack began at sunset on October 19, 1965; the camp was held by four companies of highland CIDG soldiers and a twelve-man American team. Internet Archive copy of the DTIC release.
Raleigh Bailey, Montagnards: Their History and Culture (Center for Applied Linguistics, Culture Profile, 2002)The 32-page culture profile written for the 2002 resettlement of Montagnard refugees in North Carolina: history, tribes, language, family, names, education, health and the community in the United States. ERIC ED482750.
Repeat Offender: Vietnam’s persistent trade in illegal timber (Environmental Investigation Agency, May 2017)How about 300,000 cubic meters of logs cut in Ratanakiri, Cambodia, including inside Virachey National Park, were carried into Gia Lai between December 2016 and February 2017 under an import quota issued by the Gia Lai provincial people’s committee for five border crossings in Duc Co and Chu Prong. Published by the Environmental Investigation Agency (eia-international.org); held here for reference.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people to the General Assembly (Rodolfo Stavenhagen, A/62/286, 2007)Report of August 21, 2007, 14 pages, three weeks before the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted. It names the Degar (Montagnard) of Viet Nam. Copy from the Special Rapporteur’s archive at the University of Arizona.
Repression of Montagnards: Conflicts over Land and Religion in Vietnam’s Central Highlands (Human Rights Watch, 2002)Human Rights Watch report of April 2002, 200 pages. The 2001 protests, land confiscation, forced renunciations of faith, the flight to Cambodia, and a history of the highlands from BAJARAKA onward, with appendices of documents. Copy from Human Rights Watch.
Rubber Barons: How Vietnamese Companies and International Financiers Are Driving a Land Grabbing Crisis in Cambodia and Laos (Global Witness, May 13, 2013)The investigation that documented the rubber concessions of Hoang Anh Gia Lai and the Vietnam Rubber Group in Ratanakiri and southern Laos, the spirit forests and burial grounds cleared, and the financing from Deutsche Bank and the International Finance Corporation. Published by Global Witness (globalwitness.org); held here for reference.
Senior Officer Debriefing Reports: Senior Advisors, Phu Yen, Pleiku, Quang Duc and Darlac Provinces (1973)The end-of-tour reports of the American senior advisors to four provinces of Military Region 2, for the period ending February 1973, among them Pleiku, Quang Duc and Darlac: security, the highland population, refugees and the province governments in the last months of the American presence. Partly illegible in the original. Internet Archive copy of the DTIC release.
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Renewed concern for the Montagnard minority (Amnesty International, ASA 41/005/2004)Amnesty International paper of April 2004, 8 pages, written after the Easter Week protests; it names eight people reported killed. Copy from Amnesty International.
Spring Letter to Highlanders, Minister Paul Nur (January 1969)Leaflet 3070, Spring Letter to Highlander cadres and soldiers on the other side of the front line, written by the Ministry for the Development of Ethnic Minorities and printed by JUSPAO, January 1969, in Vietnamese, highland languages and Khmer. Copy from the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
State-Controlled Religion and Religious Freedom in Vietnam (US Commission on International Religious Freedom, September 2024)The US Commission’s study of how the state runs religion through recognized bodies: the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) with 700,000 followers and 2,281 branches, the 32 highland branches given land since 2005, the independent Dega Protestant Church and Evangelical Church of Christ of the Central Highlands, and how our people are forced to join the recognized church. US government work, public domain.
Study into Impact of Yali Falls Dam on Resettled and Downstream Communities (Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, Vietnam National University, for Oxfam America, February 2001)The only published survey of the 6,782 people in 1,375 households moved for the Yali Falls dam in Gia Lai and Kon Tum, two in five of them Kinh and the rest Jarai, Rongao and Bahnar: the houses, the missing farmland, the rice shortages, the uneven compensation, and the floods of 1999 that killed two people at Bi village downstream. Study design advised by the International Rivers Network; held here for reference.
Supplementary Details Concerning the History and Development of the Buon Enao Project (CIA, August 1962)A CIA memorandum of August 28, 1962, to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, forwarding the Saigon station’s papers on the Buon Enao village defense project in Darlac: the village defense manual and guide, a briefing guide for Special Forces medics, a course for village health workers, a letter to Ngo Dinh Nhu, and a report on the project. Declassified 2009. Internet Archive copy of the CIA reading-room release.
The Highlanders of South Vietnam: A Review of Political Developments and Forces (CIA, June 1966)Declassified report by the Vietnamese Affairs Staff of the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence, June 1966, approved for release in 1999 (CIA-RDP80T01719R000300010003-8). The highlands from the French period to 1966: the BAJARAKA movement of 1957-1964, the Buon Enao program and the FULRO risings. A US government work in the public domain. The CIA wrote it about programs it ran.
The Montagnard Problem in South Vietnam (CIA memorandum, June 27, 1966)Two-page CIA memorandum of June 27, 1966, on the highlanders of South Vietnam and FULRO, declassified and released through the CIA reading room (CIA-RDP80T01719R000300010001-0). Public domain.
The Plight of the Montagnards: hearing before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, March 10, 1998The record of the Senate hearing of March 10, 1998, chaired by Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina: the testimony of Y Hin Nie and Rong Nay for our community, the American Legion, the Special Forces Association and other American veterans, and the State Department. A US government publication, public domain (S. Hrg. 105-465).
The South Vietnamese Society (US Army Center of Military History, Indochina Monographs, 1980)Indochina Monograph by Nguyen Duy Hinh and Tran Dinh Tho, two former officers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, written for the US Army Center of Military History, about 180 pages. Its chapter on the ethnic minorities reports FULRO’s manifesto of August 1, 1964 and the return of FULRO leaders in February 1969. US government work, public domain. Copy from the Internet Archive (DTIC).
Thomas L. Ahern Jr., CIA and Rural Pacification in South Vietnam (CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2001)The CIA’s own history of its village programs in South Vietnam, written by Thomas L. Ahern Jr. for the agency’s Center for the Study of Intelligence in 2001 and classified secret; later published as Vietnam Declassified (2009). It has a chapter on the Buon Enao experiment of 1961, in the Rhade village six kilometers from Ban Me Thuot where the CIDG began, and follows the highland programs after it. Large file. Internet Archive copy.
U.S. Army Special Forces 1961–1971 (Kelly, 1973)Col. Francis J. Kelly, U.S. Army Special Forces 1961–1971, Vietnam Studies, CMH Pub 90-23 (Department of the Army, 1973). The CIDG program from Buon Enao in 1961, the strike forces, the A detachments and the mobile strike forces; the rising of September 1964. US government work, public domain; Internet Archive scan.
Underwater: Human Rights Impacts of a China Belt and Road Project in Cambodia (Human Rights Watch, August 10, 2021)Human Rights Watch’s investigation of the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng: nearly 5,000 people displaced, mostly Bunong, Brao, Kuoy, Lao, Jarai, Kreung, Kavet, Tampuan and Kachok, the compensation offered, the families who refused, and the fisheries lost upstream and downstream. Published by Human Rights Watch (hrw.org); held here for reference.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (General Assembly resolution 61/295, 2007)The full text of the Declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007, by 143 votes to 4 with 11 abstentions. Viet Nam voted in favor. Articles 3 and 4 (self-determination and autonomy), 10 (no forcible removal), 26 (lands and resources), 28 (redress) and 32 (consent before projects) are the ones our articles cite most often.
US Army, Area Handbook for South Vietnam, DA Pam 550-55 (1967)The 1967 Army handbook on South Vietnam: geography of the Chaine Annamitique and the Central Highlands, population, and the highland peoples. Public domain. 31 MB.
US Army, Minority Groups in the Republic of Vietnam, Pamphlet 550-105 (1966)Department of the Army Pamphlet No. 550-105, Ethnographic Study Series, 1966: chapters on the Bahnar, Bru, Cua, Halang, Hre, Hroi, Jarai, Jeh, Katu, Koho, Ma, Mnong, Muong, Raglai, Rengao, Rhade, Sedang and Stieng, with their farming, hunting, weaving, music and customs as American officers recorded them. Public domain; copy from the Internet Archive.
US Embassy Saigon, FULRO Activities Outside Darlac Province, November 8, 1974 (cable Saigon 14093)Declassified State Department cable Saigon 14093 of November 8, 1974, reporting FULRO groups of five hundred or more in the highland settlements west and south of Kontum, in contact with Kpa Koi and Y Bham Enuol in Cambodia, and the belief among them that the United States would support them. Released under the State Department systematic review, June 2005; copy from the Internet Archive.
US Embassy Saigon, Mission Weekly, July 18-24, 1974 (cable Saigon 9749)Declassified State Department cable Saigon 9749 of July 24, 1974, section C, "Montagnard dissident claims to FULRO leadership": the document in Rhade with a French translation, apparently signed by Y Bham Enuol, naming Kpa Koi to head FULRO in Vietnam, and Minister Nay Luett's confirmation of the signature. Released under the State Department systematic review, June 2005; copy from the Internet Archive.
US House hearing: Human Rights Concerns in Vietnam (November 6, 2007)Hearing record, Serial 110-117. The record includes USCIRF material on the 2001 and 2004 demonstrations in Gia Lai, Dak Lak and Dak Nong, on Montagnard villages kept under tight control, and on Montagnard Protestants held in prison.
US House hearing: Human Rights in Vietnam (June 20, 2005)Hearing record, Serial 109-76, House International Relations subcommittee chaired by Christopher Smith. Testimony on the Easter 2004 crackdown in the Central Highlands and on forced renunciations of "Dega Christianity"; our own prepared statement is printed in the record.
US House hearing: President's Waiver for Vietnam from the Jackson-Vanik Requirements (July 18, 2002)Hearing record, Serial 107-79. The State Department's Christopher LaFleur describes the flight of more than a thousand Montagnards to Cambodia after the February 2001 protests, Hanoi's attempt to return them, and their resettlement to the United States in 2002.
US House hearing: The Human Rights Dialogue with Vietnam: Is Vietnam Making Significant Progress? (March 29, 2006)Hearing record, Serial 109-174. Witnesses included the State Department's religious-freedom ambassador John Hanford and USCIRF. We testified, and so did H'Pun Mlo, a Montagnard refugee.
US House hearing: The President's Visit to Vietnam: A Missed Opportunity to Advance Human Rights (June 22, 2016)Hearing record, Serial 114-213. Testimony by Pastor Rmah Loan, a Montagnard pastor from Dak Nong, and by Nguyen Dinh Thang of Boat People SOS, who reported that a Montagnard pastor had died in January 2016 of injuries from police torture.
US House hearing: U.S.-Vietnam Trade Relations (Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, June 18, 1998)Hearing record, Serial 105-98. Representative Christopher Smith told the subcommittee that only four of more than 800 Montagnard applicants believed eligible for US refugee programs had been cleared. The record includes written submissions from the Montagnard Dega Association and from us.
US Senate hearing: The United States and Vietnam: Examining the Bilateral Relationship (March 12, 2008)Hearing record, S. Hrg. 110-641. Ambassador Christopher Hill on access to the Central Highlands; Senator Barbara Boxer on the Montagnard Protestants still imprisoned; Human Rights Watch on more than 350 prisoners sentenced since 2001, mostly Montagnard Christians.
Veterans History Project Field Kit (Library of Congress, 2021)The Library of Congress Veterans History Project field kit, September 2021: eligibility, the biographical data and release forms, recording logs, accepted formats, and the list of do's and don'ts. The project accepts interviews only with veterans of the US armed forces, and only in English; the veteran keeps copyright. US government publication; public domain.
Victor Holman, Seminole Negro Indians, Macabebes, and Civilian Irregulars: Models for the Future Employment of Indigenous Forces (CGSC thesis, 1995)Master of Military Art and Science thesis, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, June 1995. Compares three cases of indigenous forces raised by the United States, among them the Civilian Irregular Defense Group of the Central Highlands. US government work, public domain; copy from the Internet Archive (DTIC ADA299732).
Viet Nam: “Renovation” (Doi Moi), the Law and Human Rights in the 1980s (Amnesty International, ASA 41/01/90)Amnesty International report of February 1990, 76 pages, on detention and re-education in the 1980s. It records that most “Montagnard” churches were closed after 1975 and that information about the Montagnard pastors still held “is scarce”. Copy from Amnesty International.
Vietnam chapter, Annual Report 2026 (US Commission on International Religious Freedom, March 2026)Two-page Vietnam chapter recommending designation as a Country of Particular Concern. It records the extradition of Y Quynh Bdap from Thailand and the sentencing of Montagnard Christians under article 116 in 2025. US government work; copy from USCIRF.
Vietnam Country Update (US Commission on International Religious Freedom, December 2025)The Commission’s update on the Law on Belief and Religion, Decree 95, and the harassment of Montagnard Christians in the Central Highlands since the attacks of June 2023, including the sentence of Y Thinh Nie in May 2025 and the arrest of pastor Y Nuen Ayun in October 2025. US government work, public domain.
Vietnam, Criminal Procedure Code 2015 (Law No. 101/2015/QH13), English translationUnofficial English translation of Vietnam's Criminal Procedure Code of November 27, 2015, as held in the ILO NATLEX database. Relevant to detention: art. 74 (defense counsel may be kept out of national-security cases until the investigation ends), art. 116 (the family must be told of an arrest "immediately", unless that would obstruct the investigation), art. 118 (custody limits) and art. 173 (detention for investigation, and the national-security exception).
Vietnam: Repressing Ethnic Minorities and Religious Groups (CIA, December 1983)A CIA Directorate of Intelligence assessment, EA 83-10237, December 1983, 13 pages. It covers Hanoi’s policy toward the highland peoples after 1975: the settlement of tens of thousands of lowland Vietnamese in the highlands, the pressure to abandon highland customs, the FULRO resistance, and the closing of Protestant churches. It gives a figure of 3.5 million tribesmen in the Central Highlands, without a source. Internet Archive copy of the CIA reading-room release.
Vietnam: Torture, Arrests of Montagnard Christians. Cambodia Slams the Door on New Asylum Seekers (Human Rights Watch, 2005)Human Rights Watch briefing paper of January 2005, 25 pages. The arrests of December 2004 in Gia Lai, torture in custody, and Cambodia closing its border. Copy from Human Rights Watch.
Vietnam's Human Capital: Education Success and Future Challenges (World Bank, 2019)Sachiko Kataoka, Le Anh Vinh, Sandhya Kitchlu and Keiko Inoue, World Bank (2019). A national study of Vietnam's schools, with the gaps between Kinh and non-Kinh pupils in Vietnamese, in mathematics and in secondary enrollment. It does not separate out the Central Highlands. World Bank publication, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO.
Watered Down: How do big hydropower companies adhere to social and environmental policies and best practices? (International Rivers, November 2019)A review of the policies of the companies behind large dams in the Mekong region, including the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng, whose compensation plan listed six affected villages while independent studies found more than 250. Published by International Rivers (internationalrivers.org); held here for reference.
William E. Le Gro, Vietnam from Cease-Fire to Capitulation (US Army Center of Military History, 1981)The US Army's official account of the last two years of the war, 1973–1975, including the fall of Ban Me Thuot and the retreat from the highlands down Route 7B in March 1975. CMH Pub 90-29; a US government work, public domain. Internet Archive scan.
World Bank, Analysis of the Impact of Land Tenure Certificates with Both the Names of Wife and Husband in Vietnam (2008)How the 2003 Land Law's rule that land certificates carry both spouses' names was applied: 66 percent of agricultural certificates were still in a man's name alone. Not a Central Highlands study, but the only field evidence on joint titling in Vietnam.
World Bank, Country Social Analysis: Ethnicity and Development in Vietnam (2009)The World Bank's study of ethnicity and development in Vietnam, including its account of how the state's list of 54 ethnic groups was drawn up in 1979 and why local peoples dispute it. Full report.
World Bank, Country Social Analysis: Ethnicity and Development in Vietnam, summary report (2009)Summary of the 2009 Country Social Analysis, with the passage on the 1979 classification of ethnic groups.
World Bank, Drivers of Socio-Economic Development Among Ethnic Minority Groups in Vietnam (2019)World Bank study of six ethnic minority groups, among them the Sedang (Xo Dang) of Kon Tum: schooling, dropout, gender relations, and how Kinh teachers and officials see the highland peoples.
World Bank, Ethnic Minorities Development Plan: Quang Ngai Subproject (Viet Nam Emergency Natural Disaster Reconstruction Project, 2017)A plan prepared under the World Bank's safeguard policy on Indigenous Peoples for a project in Viet Nam. Its glossary treats "Indigenous Peoples" as equivalent to Viet Nam's ethnic minority peoples and lists the Bank's criteria: self-identification, collective attachment to ancestral territories, customary institutions and an indigenous language. It shows that in Bank-financed projects the category Viet Nam rejects at the United Nations is applied to the same peoples.
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