108TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1587
AN ACT
To promote freedom and democracy in Vietnam.
108TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1587
AN ACT
To promote freedom and democracy in Vietnam.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2004’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
TITLE I—CONDITIONS ON INCREASED NONHUMANITARIAN
ASSISTANCE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM
Sec. 101. Bilateral nonhumanitarian assistance.
TITLE II—ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS AND
DEMOCRACY IN VIETNAM
Sec. 201. Assistance.
TITLE III—UNITED STATES PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Sec. 301. Radio Free Asia transmissions to Vietnam.
Sec. 302. United states educational and cultural exchange programs with Viet-
nam.
TITLE IV—ANNUAL REPORT ON PROGRESS TOWARD FREEDOM
AND DEMOCRACY IN VIETNAM
Sec. 401. Annual report.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a one-
party State, ruled and controlled by the Communist
Party of Vietnam (CPV), which continues to deny
the right of citizens to change their government. Al-
though in recent years the National Assembly of
Vietnam has played an increasingly active role as a
forum for highlighting local concerns, corruption,
and inefficiency, the National Assembly remains sub-
ject to CPV direction. The CPV maintains control
over the selection of candidates in national and local
elections.
(2) The Government of Vietnam permits no
public challenge to the legitimacy of the one-party
State. It prohibits independent political, labor, and
social organizations, and it continues to detain and
imprison persons for the peaceful expression of dis-
senting religious and political views, including Pham
Hong Son, Tran Dung Tien, Father Nguyen Van
Ly, Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, Nguyen Vu Binh, Pham
Que Duong, and Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang,
among others.
(3) The Government of Vietnam continues to
commit serious human rights abuses. In January
2004, the Department of State reported to Congress
that during the previous year the Government of
Vietnam had made ‘‘no progress’’ toward releasing
political and religious activists, ending official re-
strictions on religious activity, or respecting the
rights of indigenous minorities in the Central and
Northern Highlands of Vietnam.
(4)(A) The Government of Vietnam limits free-
dom of religion and restricts the operation of reli-
gious organizations other than those approved by the
State. While officially sanctioned religious organiza-
tions are able to operate with varying degrees of au-
tonomy, some of those organizations continue to face
restrictions on selecting, training, and ordaining suf-
ficient numbers of clergy and in conducting edu-
cational and charitable activities. The Government
has previously confiscated numerous churches, tem-
ples, and other properties belonging to religious or-
ganizations, most of which have never been returned.
(B) Unregistered ethnic minority Protestant
congregations in the Northwest and Central High-
lands of Vietnam suffer severe abuses, which have
included forced renunciations of faith, the closure
and destruction of churches, the arrest and harass-
ment of pastors, and, in a few cases, there have been
credible reports that minority religious leaders have
been beaten and killed.
(C) The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
(UBCV), one of the largest religious denominations
in Vietnam, was declared illegal in 1981. The Gov-
ernment of Vietnam confiscated its temples and per-
secuted its clergy for refusing to join the state-spon-
sored Buddhist organizations. For more than 2 dec-
ades, the Government has detained and confined
senior UBCV clergy, including the Most Venerable
Thich Huyen Quang, the Most Venerable Thich
Quang Do, the Venerable Thich Tue Sy, and others.
(D) The Catholic Church continues to face sig-
nificant restrictions on the training and ordination
of priests and bishops, resulting in numbers insuffi-
cient to support the growing Catholic population in
Vietnam. Although recent years have brought a
modest easing of government control in some dio-
ceses, officials in other areas strictly limit the con-
duct of religious education classes and charitable ac-
tivities. Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, who was
convicted in a closed trial in 2001 after publicly
criticizing religious repression by the Government of
Vietnam, remains in prison.
(E) The Government of Vietnam continues to
suppress the activities of other religious adherents,
including Cao Dai, Baha’i, and Hoa Hao who lack
official recognition or have chosen not to affiliate
with the State-sanctioned groups, including through
the use of detention and imprisonment.
(5) The Government of Vietnam significantly
restricts the freedoms of speech and the press, par-
ticularly with respect to political and religious
speech. Government and Party-related organizations
control all print and electronic media, including ac-
cess to the Internet. The Government blocks web
sites that it deems politically or culturally inappro-
priate, and it jams some foreign radio stations, in-
cluding Radio Free Asia. The Government has de-
tained, convicted, and imprisoned individuals who
have posted or sent democracy-related materials via
the Internet.
(6)(A) Indigenous Montagnards in the Central
Highlands of Vietnam continue to face significant
repression. The Government of Vietnam restricts the
practice of Christianity by those populations, and
more than 100 Montagnards have been sentenced to
prison terms of up to 13 years for claiming land
rights, organizing Christian gatherings, or attempt-
ing to seek asylum in Cambodia.
(B) The Government of Vietnam uses the sepa-
ratist agenda of a relatively small number of ethnic
minority leaders as a rationale for violating civil and
political rights in ethnic minority regions.
(C) The Government of Vietnam arrested or de-
tained nearly 300 Montagnards during 2003 and
since then many hundreds of Montagnards have
gone into hiding, fearing arrest, interrogation, or
physical abuse by government authorities.
(D) During Easter weekend in April 2004,
thousands of Montagnards gathered to protest their
treatment by the Government of Vietnam, including
the confiscation of tribal lands and ongoing restric-
tions on religious activities. Credible reports indicate
that the protests were met with a violent response
and that many demonstrators were arrested, injured,
or are in hiding, and that others were killed.
(E) Government officials continue to restrict ac-
cess to the Central and Northwest Highlands of
Vietnam by diplomats, nongovernmental organiza-
tions, journalists, and other foreigners, making it
difficult to verify conditions in those areas.
(7)(A) United States refugee resettlement pro-
grams for Vietnamese nationals, including the Or-
derly Departure Program (ODP), the Resettlement
Opportunities for Returning Vietnamese (ROVR)
program, the Priority One (P1) program and the re-
settlement of boat people from refugee camps
throughout Southeast Asia, were authorized by law
in order to rescue Vietnamese nationals who have
suffered persecution on account of their wartime as-
sociations with the United States, as well as those
who currently have a well-founded fear of persecu-
tion on account of race, religion, nationality, political
opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
(B) While those programs have served their
purposes well, a significant number of eligible refu-
gees were unfairly denied or excluded, in some cases
by vindictive or corrupt Vietnamese officials who
controlled access to the programs, and in others by
United States personnel who imposed unduly restric-
tive interpretations of program criteria.
(C) The Department of State has agreed to ex-
tend the September 30, 1994, registration deadline
for former United States employees, ‘‘re-education’’
survivors, and surviving spouses of those who did
not survive ‘‘re-education’’ camps to sign up for
United States refugee programs, as well as to re-
sume the Vietnamese In-Country Priority One Pro-
gram in Vietnam to provide protection to victims of
persecution on account of race, religion, nationality,
political opinion, or membership in a particular so-
cial group who otherwise have no access to the Or-
derly Departure Program.
(D) The former U.S. Immigration and Natu-
ralization Service agreed to resume the processing of
former United States employees under the U11 pro-
gram, which had been unilaterally suspended by the
United States Government, as well as to review the
applications of Amerasians, children of American
servicemen left behind in Vietnam after the war
ended in April 1975, for resettlement to the United
States under the Amerasian Homecoming Act of
1988.
(8) Congress and people of the United States
are united in their determination that the expansion
of relations with Vietnam, a country whose govern-
ment engages in serious violations of fundamental
human rights, should not be construed as approval
of or complacency about such practices. The pro-
motion of freedom and democracy around the world
is and must continue to be a central objective of
United States foreign policy. Congress remains will-
ing and hopeful to recognize improvement in the fu-
ture human rights practices of the Government of
Vietnam, which is the motivating purpose behind
this Act.
TITLE 
I—CONDITIONS 
ON 
IN-
CREASED 
NONHUMANI-
TARIAN ASSISTANCE TO THE
GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM
SEC. 101. BILATERAL NONHUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE.
(a) ASSISTANCE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—United States nonhumani-
tarian assistance may not be provided to the Govern-
ment of Vietnam in an amount exceeding the
amount so provided for fiscal year 2004—
(A) for fiscal year 2005 unless not later
than 30 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act the President determines and certifies
to Congress that the requirements of subpara-
graphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (2) have
been met during the 12-month period ending on
the date of the certification; and
(B) for each subsequent fiscal year unless
the President determines and certifies to Con-
gress in the most recent annual report sub-
mitted pursuant to section 401 that the re-
quirements of subparagraphs (A) through (E)
of paragraph (2) have been met during the 12-
month period covered by the report.
(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements of this
paragraph are that—
(A) the Government of Vietnam has made
substantial progress toward releasing all polit-
ical and religious prisoners from imprisonment,
house arrest, and other forms of detention;
(B)(i) the Government of Vietnam has
made substantial progress toward respecting
the right to freedom of religion, including the
right to participate in religious activities and in-
stitutions without interference by or involve-
ment of the Government; and
(ii) has made substantial progress toward
returning estates and properties confiscated
from the churches;
(C) the Government of Vietnam has made
substantial progress toward allowing Viet-
namese nationals free and open access to
United States refugee programs;
(D) the Government of Vietnam has made
substantial progress toward respecting the
human rights of members of ethnic minority
groups in the Central Highlands and elsewhere
in Vietnam; and
(E)(i) neither any official of the Govern-
ment of Vietnam nor any agency or entity whol-
ly or partly owned by the Government of Viet-
nam was complicit in a severe form of traf-
ficking in persons; or
(ii) the Government of Vietnam took all
appropriate steps to end any such complicity
and hold such official, agency, or entity fully
accountable for its conduct.
(b) EXCEPTION.—
(1) CONTINUATION OF ASSISTANCE IN THE NA-
TIONAL INTEREST.—Notwithstanding the failure of
the Government of Vietnam to meet the require-
ments of subsection (a)(2), the President may waive
the application of subsection (a) for any fiscal year
if the President determines that the provision to the
Government of Vietnam of increased United States
nonhumanitarian assistance would promote the pur-
poses of this Act or is otherwise in the national in-
terest of the United States.
(2) EXERCISE
OF
WAIVER
AUTHORITY.—The
President may exercise the authority under para-
graph (2) with respect to—
(A) all United States nonhumanitarian as-
sistance to Vietnam; or
(B) one or more programs, projects, or ac-
tivities of such assistance.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
(1) SEVERE FORM OF TRAFFICKING IN PER-
SONS.—The term ‘‘severe form of trafficking in per-
sons’’ means any activity described in section 103(8)
of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
(Public Law 106–386 (114 Stat. 1470); 22 U.S.C.
7102(8)).
(2) UNITED
STATES
NONHUMANITARIAN
AS-
SISTANCE.—The term ‘‘United States nonhumani-
tarian assistance’’ means—
(A) any assistance under the Foreign As-
sistance Act of 1961 (including programs under
title IV of chapter 2 of part I of that Act, relat-
ing to the Overseas Private Investment Cor-
poration), other than—
(i) disaster relief assistance, including
any assistance under chapter 9 of part I of
that Act;
(ii) assistance which involves the pro-
vision of food (including monetization of
food) or medicine;
(iii) assistance for refugees; and
(iv) assistance to combat HIV/AIDS,
including any assistance under section
104A of that Act; and
(B) sales, or financing on any terms, under
the Arms Export Control Act.
TITLE II—ASSISTANCE TO SUP-
PORT HUMAN RIGHTS AND
DEMOCRACY IN VIETNAM
SEC. 201. ASSISTANCE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized to
provide assistance, through appropriate nongovernmental
organizations, for the support of individuals and organiza-
tions to promote democracy and internationally recognized
human rights in Vietnam.
(b) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to the President to carry
out subsection (a) $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years
2005 and 2006.
TITLE III—UNITED STATES
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
SEC. 301. RADIO FREE ASIA TRANSMISSIONS TO VIETNAM.
(a) POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES.—It is the pol-
icy of the United States to take such measures as are nec-
essary to overcome the jamming of Radio Free Asia by
the Government of Vietnam, including the active pursuit
of broadcast facilities in close geographic proximity to
Vietnam.
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi-
tion to such amounts as are otherwise authorized to be
appropriated for the Broadcasting Board of Governors,
there are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the
policy under subsection (a) $9,100,000 for the fiscal year
2005 and $1,100,000 for the fiscal year 2006.
SEC. 302. UNITED STATES EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL
EXCHANGE PROGRAMS WITH VIETNAM.
It is the policy of the United States that programs
of educational and cultural exchange with Vietnam should
actively promote progress toward freedom and democracy
in Vietnam by providing opportunities to Vietnamese na-
tionals from a wide range of occupations and perspectives
to see freedom and democracy in action and, also, by en-
suring that Vietnamese nationals who have already dem-
onstrated a commitment to these values are included in
such programs.
TITLE IV—ANNUAL REPORT ON
PROGRESS 
TOWARD 
FREE-
DOM 
AND 
DEMOCRACY 
IN
VIETNAM
SEC. 401. ANNUAL REPORT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the
date of the enactment of this Act and every 12 months
thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Con-
gress a report on the following:
(1)(A) The determination and certification of
the President that the requirements of section
101(a)(2) have been met, if applicable.
(B) The determination of the President under
section 101(b)(2), if applicable.
(2) Efforts by the United States Government to
secure transmission sites for Radio Free Asia in
countries in close geographical proximity to Vietnam
in accordance with section 301.
(3) Efforts to ensure that programs with Viet-
nam promote the policy set forth in section 302 and
with section 102 of the Human Rights, Refugee, and
Other Foreign Relations Provisions Act of 1996
(Public Law 104–319) regarding participation in
programs of educational and cultural exchange.
(4) Lists of persons believed to be imprisoned,
detained, or placed under house arrest, tortured, or
otherwise persecuted by the Government of Vietnam
due to their pursuit of internationally recognized
human rights. In compiling such lists, the Secretary
shall exercise appropriate discretion, including con-
cerns regarding the safety and security of, and ben-
efit to, the persons who may be included on the lists
and their families. In addition, the Secretary shall
include a list of such persons and their families who
may qualify for protection under United States ref-
ugee programs.
(5) A description of the development of the rule
of law in Vietnam, including, but not limited to—
(A) progress toward the development of in-
stitutions of democratic governance;
(B) processes by which statutes, regula-
tions, rules, and other legal acts of the Govern-
ment of Vietnam are developed and become
binding within Vietnam;
(C) the extent to which statutes, regula-
tions, rules, administrative and judicial deci-
sions, and other legal acts of the Government of
Vietnam are published and are made accessible
to the public;
(D) the extent to which administrative and
judicial decisions are supported by statements
of reasons that are based upon written statutes,
regulations, rules, and other legal acts of the
Government of Vietnam;
(E) the extent to which individuals are
treated equally under the laws of Vietnam with-
out regard to citizenship, race, religion, political
opinion, or current or former associations;
(F) the extent to which administrative and
judicial decisions are independent of political
pressure or governmental interference and are
reviewed by entities of appellate jurisdiction;
and
(G) the extent to which laws in Vietnam
are written and administered in ways that are
consistent with international human rights
standards, including the requirements of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.
(b) CONTACTS WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.—In
preparing the report under subsection (a), the Secretary
shall, as appropriate, consult with and seek input from
nongovernmental organizations, human rights advocates
(including Vietnamese-Americans and human rights advo-
cates in Vietnam), and the United States Commission on
Religious Freedom.
Passed the House of Representatives July 19, 2004.
Attest:
Clerk.