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[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 117 (Thursday, August 2, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5989-S5990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

 SENATE RESOLUTION 541--CONDEMNING THE GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM FOR HUMAN 
                           RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

  Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Boozman, and Mr. Durbin) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 541

       Whereas Vietnam is an authoritarian state ruled by the 
     Communist Party of Vietnam, which continues to deny the right 
     of the people of Vietnam to participate in free and fair 
     elections;
       Whereas, according to the 2012 annual report of the United 
     States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 
     ``Vietnam's overall human rights record remains poor, and has 
     deteriorated since Vietnam was removed from the CPC 
     [countries of particular concern] list and joined the World 
     Trade Organization in 2007.'';
       Whereas, according to the Department of State's most recent 
     Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, published on May 
     24, 2012 (in this resolution, the ``DOS Human Rights 
     Report''), the most significant human rights issues in 
     Vietnam ``were severe government restrictions on citizens' 
     political rights, particularly their right to change their 
     government; increased measures to limit citizens' civil 
     liberties; and corruption in the judicial system and 
     police'';
       Whereas, according to the DOS Human Rights Report, the 
     Government of Vietnam ``reportedly held more than 100 
     political detainees at year's end, although some 
     international observers claimed there were more. . . 
     Diplomatic sources reported the existence of four reeducation 
     centers in the country holding approximately 4,000 
     prisoners'';
       Whereas, according to the DOS Human Rights Report, 
     Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security ``maintains a system of 
     household registration and block wardens to monitor the 
     population,'' while ``credible reports suggested that local 
     police used `contract thugs' and `citizen brigades' to harass 
     and beat political activists and others, including religious 
     worshippers, perceived as undesirable or a threat to public 
     security'';
       Whereas, on April 8, 2006, the pro-democracy movement Bloc 
     8406 was founded in Vietnam, and it has since attracted 
     thousands of supporters calling for respect for basic human 
     rights, the establishment of a multiparty political system, 
     and guarantees of freedom of religion and political 
     association;
       Whereas, according to the DOS Human Rights Report, the 
     Government of Vietnam ``continued to restrict public debate 
     and criticism severely. No public challenge to the legitimacy 
     of the one-party state was permitted,'' and ``the government 
     continued to crack down on the small, opposition political 
     groups established in 2006, and group members faced arrests 
     and arbitrary detentions'';

[[Page S5990]]

       Whereas, according to the DOS Human Rights Report, 
     ``[t]here continued to be credible reports that authorities 
     pressured defense lawyers not to take as clients any 
     religious or democracy activists facing trial. Human rights 
     lawyers were restricted, harassed, arrested, disbarred, and 
     in some cases detained for representing political 
     activists,'' while ``given their previous convictions, 
     lawyers Le Tran Luat, Le Thi Cong Nhan, and Le Quoc Quan were 
     not permitted to practice law'';
       Whereas, on April 4, 2011, the Hanoi People's Court 
     sentenced attorney Cu Huy Ha Vu to seven years in prison for 
     defending victims of land confiscation and abuse of power, 
     including the Catholic villagers of Con Dau who refused to 
     sell or vacate land, including a 135-year-old religious 
     burial site, and in August and November 2011, Vu's appeals 
     were unsuccessful;
       Whereas, although the constitution of Vietnam provides for 
     freedom of religion, Vietnamese law requires official 
     recognition or registration for religious groups, which has 
     been used to monitor and restrict the operations of religious 
     organizations;
       Whereas the 2012 Annual Report of the United States 
     Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) lists 
     Vietnam as one of the ``world's worst religious freedom 
     violators,'' recommending that the Secretary of State name 
     Vietnam a ``country of particular concern'' with respect to 
     religious freedom, noting that ``the Government of Vietnam 
     continues to control all religious communities, restrict and 
     penalize independent religious practice severely, and repress 
     individuals and groups viewed as challenging its authority'' 
     and that ``individuals continue to be imprisoned or detained 
     for reasons relating to their religious activity or religious 
     freedom advocacy'' while ``independent religious activity 
     remains illegal'';
       Whereas, according to the USCIRF report, between April 2011 
     and February 2012, ``as many as 27 individuals were arrested 
     or disappeared in Vietnam for their religious affiliations, 
     religious activities, or peaceful protest of religious 
     freedom restrictions, among them Hoa Hao Buddhists, 
     Catholics, Protestants, and Falun Gong practitioners'';
       Whereas hundreds of Montagnard Protestants arrested after 
     2001 and 2004 demonstrations for religious freedom and land 
     rights remain in detention in Vietnam's Central Highlands, 
     while, according to Human Rights Watch, in 2010, as many as 
     70 additional people were detained in the Central Highlands 
     for conducting ``illegal'' religious services;
       Whereas the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam is the 
     country's largest religious organization, yet according to 
     the USCIRF, it ``has faced decades of harassment and 
     repression for seeking independent status and for appealing 
     to the government to respect religious freedom and related 
     human rights'';
       Whereas, in July 2011, Father Nguyen Van Ly, who has been 
     imprisoned numerous times for his religious freedom and human 
     rights advocacy, but had been granted medical parole in March 
     2010 after suffering several strokes in prison that left him 
     partially paralyzed, was returned to prison to serve the 
     remainder of his eight-year sentence;
       Whereas on January 6, 2011, Christian Marchant, a United 
     States diplomat at the United States Embassy in Hanoi, was 
     beaten by Vietnamese police when he went to visit Father Ly, 
     who was then under house arrest;
       Whereas, according to the USCIRF report, over a dozen 
     religious leaders are being held under long-term house arrest 
     orders, including Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) 
     leader Thich Quang Do and other UBCV leaders, Catholic Father 
     Phan Van Loi, Hoa Hao leader Le Quang Liem, Protestants 
     Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, and Mennonite Leader 
     Nguyen Thi Hong;
       Whereas Reporters Without Borders' 2011-2012 Press Freedom 
     Index ranks Vietnam last in Southeast Asia with regard to 
     freedom of the press, and 172 out of 179 countries overall;
       Whereas, in September 2007, Vietnamese bloggers established 
     the Club of Free Journalists to promote freedom of expression 
     and independent journalism and were quickly faced with 
     harassment, intimidation, and detention by authorities in 
     Vietnam, beginning with the arrest of Nguyen Van Hai in April 
     2008;
       Whereas, on October 30, 2010, while in Hanoi, Vietnam, 
     Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, ``[T]he United 
     States remains concerned about the arrest and conviction of 
     people for peaceful dissent, the attacks on religious groups, 
     the curbs on Internet freedom, including of bloggers. Vietnam 
     has so much potential, and we believe that political reform 
     and respect for human rights are an essential part of 
     realizing that potential.'';
       Whereas, on November 10, 2011, Secretary of State Clinton 
     stated, ``We support not only open economies but open 
     societies . . . we have made it clear to Vietnam that if we 
     are to develop a strategic partnership, as both nations 
     desire, Vietnam must do more to respect and protect its 
     citizens' rights''; and
       Whereas, on February 2, 2012, Assistant Secretary of State 
     Kurt M. Campbell stated that ``for the United States and 
     Vietnam to go to the next level it will require some 
     significant steps on the part of Vietnam to address . . . 
     human rights concerns . . . but also more systematic 
     challenges associated with freedom of expression, freedom of 
     organization,'' explaining that ``progress in these areas 
     will be essential to have the appropriate level of support in 
     the United States that will sustain a deeper engagement 
     between our two countries'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to 
     democracy, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law, 
     including the universal rights of freedom of assembly, 
     freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of 
     association;
       (2) strongly condemns the ongoing and egregious human 
     rights violations committed by the Government of Vietnam 
     against the Vietnamese people;
       (3) urges the President, Secretary of State, and all other 
     appropriate United States Government officials to ensure that 
     relations between the United States and Vietnam continue to 
     include robust discussion on the troubling human rights 
     record of the Government of Vietnam;
       (4) encourages the Secretary of State to place Vietnam on 
     the list of ``Countries of Particular Concern'' with regard 
     to religious freedom pursuant to section 402(b) of the 
     International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 
     6442(b)) in order to highlight abuses of religious freedom in 
     Vietnam and encourage improvement in the respect for human 
     rights in Vietnam; and
       (5) urges the President, Secretary of State, and other 
     world leaders to publicly support the human rights of the 
     people of Vietnam and to call on the President of Vietnam 
     to--
       (A) release all political and religious prisoners, 
     including all those imprisoned or detained on account of 
     their advocacy for democracy, religious freedom, and other 
     human rights;
       (B) revise or repeal ordinances and decrees that limit 
     freedom of expression, assembly, association, or religion; 
     and
       (C) implement all necessary legal and political reforms to 
     protect these rights.

                          ____________________
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