IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 427
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the coura-
geous leadership of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and the 
urgent need for religious freedom and related human rights in the Social-
ist Republic of Vietnam. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 30, 2003
Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California (for herself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, 
Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, and Mr. ROYCE) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Inter-
national Relations 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing the courageous leadership of the Unified Buddhist 
Church of Vietnam and the urgent need for religious 
freedom and related human rights in the Socialist Repub-
lic of Vietnam.
Whereas Buddhism has a 2,000-year tradition in Vietnam 
and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) is 
an heir to this tradition; 
Whereas the Government of Vietnam in 1981 declared the 
UBCV, the largest religious denomination in the country, 
illegal, confiscated its temples, and persecuted its clergy
•HRES 427 IH 
for refusing to join the state-sponsored Buddhist organi-
zations; 
Whereas the Government of Vietnam has often imprisoned 
UBCV clergy and subjected them to other forms of perse-
cution; the Patriarch of the UBCV, the 85-year-old Most 
Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, has been detained for 21 
years in a decrepit temple in an isolated area of central 
Vietnam; 
Whereas the Vietnamese Government has held the Most Ven-
erable Thich Quang Do, the Executive President of the 
UBCV and his deputy, the Venerable Thich Tue Sy, in 
various forms of detention since 1977; 
Whereas the Very Venerable Thich Thien Minh, Supreme 
Counselor of the UBCV, was tortured to death in a re-
education camp in 1978; 
Whereas many other leading UBCV figures, including Thich 
Thien Hanh, Thich Phuoc An, Thich Dong Tho, Thich 
Vien Dinh, Thich Thai Hoa, Thich Nguyen Ly, Thich 
Thanh Huyen, Thich Khong Tanh, Thich Phuoc Vien, 
Thich Hai Tang, Thich Dong Tho, Thich Nguyen Vuong, 
Thich Chi Mau, Thich Chi Thang, and Thich Thanh 
Quang have been detained, harassed, and under tight 
surveillance; 
Whereas several members of the UBCV have fled to Cam-
bodia to escape religious repression and harassment; 
Whereas Thich Tri Luc was kidnapped in Cambodia by Viet-
namese authorities after being given refugee status by 
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR), forcibly repatriated, and held incommunicado 
for a year, and now stands charged with the vague crime 
of ‘‘fleeing abroad or defecting overseas with the intent
•HRES 427 IH 
to oppose the people’s administration’’ that carries the 
possible sentence of life imprisonment; 
Whereas Vietnam has acceded to international covenants and 
treaties that prohibit the forced repatriation of UNHCR-
recognized refugees; 
Whereas Vietnam has acceded to international covenants and 
treaties that protect the right to faith, belief, and prac-
tice; 
Whereas Vietnam’s constitution protects the right of religious 
belief; 
Whereas in a show of religious tolerance, the Vietnamese 
Government in April 2003 allowed the Most Venerable 
Thich Huyen Quang, the Fourth Supreme Patriarch of 
the UBCV, to receive urgent medical care in Hanoi; 
Whereas at that time, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van 
Khai met with Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and as-
sured him that his and Venerable Thich Quang Do’s de-
tention were mistakes by local officials and that he hoped 
they would extend Buddhist forgiveness toward past ac-
tions of the government; 
Whereas in June 2003, the Vietnamese Government ended 
the detention order against Venerable Thich Quang Do, 
the Executive President of the UBCV; 
Whereas in September and October 2003, the UBCV held a 
meeting in Nguyen Thieu Pagoda in Binh Dinh province 
to discuss church affairs, choose a new leadership which 
had been vacant for a decade, and verify Vietnamese 
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai’s promise of a new era 
of understanding and respect;
•HRES 427 IH 
Whereas Vietnamese authorities attempted to disrupt these 
gatherings by restricting the travel of monks from other 
provinces and then intimidating those attending; 
Whereas on October 8, 2003, Vietnamese authorities initiated 
a tense standoff following the meeting, where police 
stopped a vehicle carrying the UBCV’s new leadership 
and subsequently detained the eleven passengers; 
Whereas Venerables Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang 
Do were taken to their respective pagodas where they 
have been effectively isolated and detained; four senior 
monks, the Venerable Thich Tue Sy, Thich Thanh 
Huyen, Thich Nguyen Ly, and the UBCV Supreme Pa-
triarch’s personal assistant, Venerable Thich Dong Tho, 
were immediately sentenced to 24 months of administra-
tive detainment by written orders of the Ho Chi Minh 
City 
People’s 
Committee, 
and 
three 
others, 
the 
Venerables Thich Thien Hanh, Thich Thai Hoa, and 
Thich Nguyen Vuong to 24 months administrative de-
tainment by ‘‘oral’’ orders from various local authorities, 
in protest of which the Venerable Thich Thien Hanh ini-
tiated a hunger strike on October 19, 2003; 
Whereas according to reports by the United States State De-
partment, the United States Commission on International 
Religious Freedom, and the European Union, the Social-
ist Republic of Vietnam systematically limits the right of 
religious organizations to choose their own clergy; prior 
to the UBCV incidents, authorities tried to restrict the 
Vatican’s appointment of Archbishop Pham Minh Man to 
the position of Cardinal, but subsequently changed their 
position due to external pressure; 
Whereas according to these same reports, the Socialist Re-
public of Vietnam uses house arrest and long prison sen-
•HRES 427 IH 
tences to punish individuals for practicing their faith, as 
evidenced also by the jail sentences handed down to Fa-
ther Nguyen Van Ly, his three relatives, Christian 
Montagnards, and Hoa Hao Buddhists; and 
Whereas because of systematic, egregious, and ongoing 
abuses of religious freedom, the United States Commis-
sion on International Religious Freedom recommended 
that the President of the United States designate Viet-
nam as a ‘‘country of particular concern’’ under the pro-
visions of the International Religious Freedom Act of 
1998: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) congratulates the new leadership of the Uni-
fied Buddhist Church of Vietnam; 
(2) urges the Government of Vietnam to respect 
the right of all independent religious organizations 
to meet, worship, operate, and practice their faith in 
accordance with Vietnam’s own constitution and 
international covenants to which Vietnam is a signa-
tory; 
(3) urges the Government of Vietnam to restore 
freedom to all Vietnamese citizens imprisoned or 
under house arrest for practicing their faith or for 
advocating freedom of religion, especially the Most 
Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and the Very Vener-
able Thich Quang Do; 
(4) is committed to promoting religious freedom 
in Vietnam, and, in furtherance of this goal, urges