I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 156 
To impose sanctions on individuals who are complicit in human rights abuses 
committed against nationals of Vietnam or their family members, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 5, 2011 
Mr. ROYCE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, 
Ways and Means, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To impose sanctions on individuals who are complicit in 
human rights abuses committed against nationals of 
Vietnam or their family members, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vietnam Human 
Rights Sanctions Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) Vietnam remains a one-party state, ruled 
and controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam, 
which continues to deny the right of citizens to 
change their government. 
(2) Although in recent years the National As-
sembly of Vietnam has on occasion played a role as 
a forum for highlighting local concerns, corruption, 
and inefficiency, the National Assembly remains sub-
ject to the direction of the Communist Party of Viet-
nam and that party maintains control over the selec-
tion of candidates in national and local elections. 
(3) The Government of Vietnam forbids public 
challenge to the legitimacy of the one-party state, re-
stricts freedoms of opinion, the press, assembly, and 
association, and tightly limits access to the Internet 
and telecommunication. Cyberattacks originating 
from Vietnam-based servers have disabled dissident 
websites and the Government of Vietnam introduced 
new restrictions on public internet shops while con-
tinuing to restrict access to numerous overseas and 
domestic blogs, news sites, and other websites per-
ceived to carry content critical of the Government of 
Vietnam. 
(4) The Government of Vietnam continues to 
detain, imprison, place under house arrest, convict, 
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and otherwise restrict individuals for the peaceful 
expression of dissenting political or religious views, 
including democracy and human rights activists, 
independent trade union leaders, non-state-sanc-
tioned publishers, journalists, bloggers, members of 
ethnic minorities, and unsanctioned religious groups. 
(5) The Government of Vietnam has also failed 
to improve labor rights, continues to harass, arrest, 
and imprison workers rights activists, including 
Doan Huy Chuong, Do Thi Minh Hanh, and 
Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung, and restricts the right 
to organize independently. 
(6) The Government of Vietnam continues to 
limit freedom of religion, pressure all religious 
groups to come under the control of government- 
and party-controlled management boards, and re-
strict the operation of independent religious organi-
zations, including the Unified Buddhist Church of 
Vietnam and members of unsanctioned Mennonite, 
Cao Dai, Theravada Buddhist, and Hoa Hao Bud-
dhist religious groups and independent Protestant 
house churches, primarily in the central and north-
ern highlands. Religious leaders who do not conform 
to the Government’s demands are often harassed, 
arrested, imprisoned, or put under house arrest. 
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Government of Vietnam has halted most religious re-
forms since the Department of State lifted the 
‘‘country of particular concern’’ for religious freedom 
violations designation for Vietnam in November 
2006. 
(9) Unregistered ethnic minority Protestant 
congregations suffer severe abuses because of actions 
by the Government of Vietnam, which have included 
forced renunciations of faith, pressure to join gov-
ernment-recognized religious groups, arrest and har-
assment, the withholding of social programs pro-
vided for the general population, destruction of 
churches and pagodas, confiscation and destruction 
of property, and subjection to severe beatings. 
(10) During peaceful Catholic prayer vigils call-
ing for the return of government-confiscated church 
properties during 2008 at the Thai Ha Church in 
Ha Noi, protestors were dispersed after being har-
assed, some were detained, and some of the church 
property was destroyed. Similar incidents happened 
at Bau Sen, Loan Ly, and Tam Toa parishes in cen-
tral Vietnam and more recently at Dong Chiem par-
ish in Hanoi, where religious statues and a crucifix 
were destroyed and parishioners and clergies were 
physically harmed, and at Con Dau parish, where 
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police forcibly dispersed a Catholic funeral ceremony 
in May 2010 to a cemetery located on disputed land. 
Afterwards, police and members of the civilian de-
fense forces arrested and interrogated dozens of Con 
Dau parishioners, with one parishioner dying from 
injuries sustained during a beating in July 2010 by 
civilian defense forces and two women suffered mis-
carriages resulted from police tortures. Catholics 
continue to face some restrictions on selection of 
clergy, the establishment of seminaries and seminary 
candidates, and restrictions on individual cases of 
travel and church registration. Dissident clerics such 
as Father Phan Van Loi and Father Nguyen Van 
Ly are currently under house arrest. 
(11) The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam 
suffers persecution as the Government of Vietnam 
continues to restrict contacts and movement of sen-
ior clergy for refusing to join the state-sponsored 
Buddhist organizations, the Government restricts ex-
pression and assembly, and the Government con-
tinues to harass and threaten monks, nuns, and 
youth leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church of 
Vietnam. The Supreme Patriarch of Unified Bud-
dhist Church of Vietnam, Thich Quang Do, is cur-
rently under house arrest. 
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(12) The Bat Nha Buddhists monastery in 
Lam Dong province was attacked by government 
thugs in October 2009. About 400 monks and nuns 
were physically abused and forcibly evicted from the 
monastery. 
(13) The Government of Vietnam continues to 
suppress the activities of other religious adherents, 
including Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Mennonites, and 
Montagnard Christians belonging to churches that 
lack official recognition or have chosen not to affil-
iate with the state-sanctioned groups, including 
through the use of detention and imprisonment. 
(14) Ethnic minority Hmong in the Northwest 
Highlands of Vietnam also suffer restrictions, 
abuses, and persecution by the Government of Viet-
nam, and although the Government is now allowing 
some Hmong Protestants to organize and conduct 
religious activity, some government officials continue 
to deny or ignore additional applications for reg-
istration. 
(15) The Government of Vietnam controls all 
print and electronic media, including access to the 
Internet, jams the signals of some foreign radio sta-
tions, including Radio Free Asia, and has detained 
and imprisoned individuals who have posted, pub-
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lished, sent, or otherwise distributed democracy-re-
lated materials. 
(16) People arrested in Vietnam because of 
their political or religious affiliations and activities 
and charged with vaguely defined national security 
crimes are not accorded due process of law. During 
the pre-trial investigatory phase of their detention, 
religious and political prisoners are often held in-
communicado without access to legal counsel and 
family members. They are routinely tortured during 
interrogation to force them to confess to crimes they 
did not commit or to falsely denounce others. Their 
trials are usually closed to international press and 
diplomats and members of the public. 
(17) Vietnam continues to be a source country 
for the commercial sexual exploitation and forced 
labor of women and girls and for men and women 
legally entering into international labor contracts 
who subsequently face conditions of debt bondage or 
forced labor, and is a destination country for child 
trafficking and continues to have internal human 
trafficking. 
(18) Congress has passed numerous resolutions 
condemning human rights violations in Vietnam, in-
dicating that although there has been an expansion 
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of relations with the Government of Vietnam, it 
should not be construed as approval of the ongoing 
and serious violations of fundamental human rights 
in Vietnam, particularly those enshrined in the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 
of which Vietnam is a signatory. 
(19) Enhancement of relations between the 
United States and Vietnam has provided an oppor-
tunity for a human rights dialogue, but is unlikely 
to lead to future progress on human rights issues in 
Vietnam unless the United States makes clear that 
such progress is an essential prerequisite for further 
enhancements in the bilateral relationship. 
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS ON CERTAIN INDIVID-
UALS 
WHO 
ARE 
COMPLICIT 
IN 
HUMAN 
RIGHTS ABUSES COMMITTED AGAINST NA-
TIONALS OF VIETNAM OR THEIR FAMILY 
MEMBERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 
(d), the President shall impose sanctions described in sub-
section (c) with respect to each individual on the list re-
quired by subsection (b). 
(b) LIST OF INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE COMPLICIT IN 
CERTAIN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional com-
mittees a list of individuals who are nationals of 
Vietnam that the President determines are complicit 
in human rights abuses committed against nationals 
of Vietnam or their family members, regardless of 
whether such abuses occurred in Vietnam. 
(2) UPDATES
OF
LIST.—The President shall 
submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
an updated list under paragraph (1) as new infor-
mation becomes available and not less frequently 
than annually. 
(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The list required 
by paragraph (1) shall be made available to the pub-
lic and posted on the websites of the Department of 
the Treasury and the Department of State. 
(4) CONSIDERATION
OF
DATA
FROM
OTHER 
COUNTRIES
AND
NONGOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZA-
TIONS.—In preparing the list required by paragraph 
(1), the President shall consider data already ob-
tained by other countries and nongovernmental orga-
nizations, including organizations in Vietnam, that 
monitor the human rights abuses of the Government 
of Vietnam. 
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(c) SANCTIONS
DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de-
scribed in this subsection are the following: 
(1) PROHIBITION ON ENTRY AND ADMISSION TO 
THE UNITED STATES.—An individual whose name 
appears on the list required by subsection (b)(1) 
may not— 
(A) be admitted to, enter, or transit 
through the United States; 
(B) receive any lawful immigration status 
in the United States under the immigration 
laws, including any relief under the Convention 
Against Torture; or 
(C) file any application or petition to ob-
tain such admission, entry, or status. 
(2) FINANCIAL
SANCTIONS.—The President 
shall impose sanctions authorized pursuant to sec-
tion 203 of the International Emergency Economic 
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) with respect to an in-
dividual whose name appears on the list required by 
subsection (b)(1), including blocking of the property 
of, and restricting or prohibiting financial trans-
actions and the exportation and importation of prop-
erty by, the individual. 
(d) EXCEPTIONS TO COMPLY WITH INTERNATIONAL 
AGREEMENTS.—The President may, by regulation, au-
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thorize exceptions to the imposition of sanctions under this 
section to permit the United States to comply with the 
Agreement between the United Nations and the United 
States of America regarding the Headquarters of the 
United Nations, signed June 26, 1947, and entered into 
force November 21, 1947, and other applicable inter-
national agreements. 
(e) TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—The provisions of 
this section shall cease to have force and effect on the date 
on which the President determines and certifies to the ap-
propriate congressional committees that the Government 
of Vietnam has— 
(1) unconditionally released all political pris-
oners; 
(2) ceased its practices of violence, unlawful de-
tention, torture, and abuse of citizens of Vietnam 
while engaging in peaceful political activity; and 
(3) conducted a transparent investigation into 
the killings, arrest, and abuse of peaceful political 
activists in Vietnam and prosecuted those respon-
sible. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
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(A) the Committee on Finance, the Com-
mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af-
fairs, and the Committee on Foreign Relations 
of the Senate; and 
(B) the Committee on Ways and Means, 
the Committee on Financial Services, and the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
Representatives. 
(2) CONVENTION
AGAINST
TORTURE.—The 
term ‘‘Convention Against Torture’’ means the 
United Nations Convention Against Torture and 
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment, done at New York on December 10, 
1984. 
(3) 
IMMIGRATION
LAWS; 
NATIONAL.—The 
terms ‘‘immigration laws’’ and ‘‘national’’ have the 
meanings given those terms in section 101 of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101). 
Æ 
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