H. Res. 427
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
November 19, 2003.
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, one of the largest religious denominations in the
country, illegal, confiscated its temples, and persecuted
its clergy for refusing to join the state-sponsored Bud-
dhist organizations;
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 and
restrained for more than 2 decades in isolated areas of
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;
•HRES 427 EH
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 Pham Van Tuong, formerly known as Thich Tri
Luc, disappeared from Cambodia in July 2002 after
being given refugee status by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and has since
been discovered to be in custody in Vietnam, where he is
reportedly charged with the vague crime of ‘‘fleeing
abroad or defecting overseas with the intent to oppose
the people’s administration,’’ which carries a 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;
•HRES 427 EH
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;
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
•HRES 427 EH
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;
Whereas according to these same reports, the Socialist Re-
public of Vietnam uses house arrest and long prison sen-
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, Montagnard and
Hmong Protestants, Cao Dai, and Hoa Hao Buddhists;
Whereas during the 107th Congress the House of Represent-
atives passed H.R. 2833, the Vietnam Human Rights
Act, on September 6, 2001, which noted the persecutions
faced by various members of the UBCV over the past 25
years; 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 Unified
Buddhist Church of Vietnam;
•HRES 427 EH
(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 cov-
enants to which Vietnam is a signatory;
(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 Venerable Thich Quang Do;
(4) is committed to promoting religious freedom in
Vietnam, and, in furtherance of this goal, urges the im-
plementation of the recommendations of the United
States Commission on International Religious Freedom;
and
(5) urges the United States Embassy in Vietnam to
closely monitor cases of abuse of religious belief and
practice, routinely visit detained clergy members, espe-
cially those in need of medical care, and report to the
Congress on specific measures taken to protect and pro-
mote religious freedom in Vietnam.
Attest:
Clerk.