Encourages the Department of State to place Vietnam on the list of "Countries of Particular Concern" for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
Condemns the ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom in Vietnam, including the detention of religious leaders and the long-term imprisonment of individuals engaged in peaceful advocacy.
Calls on Vietnam to lift restrictions on religious freedom, cease all expropriations of church properties, and implement necessary legal and political reforms to protect religious freedom.
Urges the State Department to demonstrate clearly that the expansion of bilateral ties will depend on improvements in religious freedom and related rights.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 218 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 218
Calling on the Secretary of State to list the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam as a ``Country of Particular Concern'' with respect to
religious freedom.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 16, 2013
Mr. Royce (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Connolly, Mr.
Pitts, Ms. Lofgren, and Mr. Schiff) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling on the Secretary of State to list the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam as a ``Country of Particular Concern'' with respect to
religious freedom.
Whereas the Secretary of State, under the International Religious Freedom Act of
1998 (IRFA), its amendment in 1999, and authority delegated by the
President, designates nations found guilty of ``particularly severe
violations of religious freedom as `Countries of Particular Concern'''
(CPC);
Whereas on September 15, 2004, the Secretary of State designated the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam as a CPC;
Whereas to avoid possible sanctions or other ``commensurate actions''
recommended by section 405 (a) or (b) of IRFA, in May 2005 the United
States and Vietnam reached a binding agreement consistent with section
405(c) of IRFA;
Whereas, although the terms of the binding agreement have never been fully
publicized, the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom (USCIRF) 2006 Annual Report stated that the United States agreed
to lift the CPC designation if the Government of Vietnam fully
implemented legislation on religious freedom and rendered previous
contradictory regulations obsolete, instructed local authorities
strictly and completely to adhere to the new legislation to ensure
compliance, facilitated the process by which religious congregations are
able to open houses of worship, and gave special consideration to
prisoners and cases of concern raised by the United States during the
granting of prisoner amnesties;
Whereas in November 2006, the Secretary of State announced that the CPC
designation was lifted with respect to Vietnam;
Whereas in explaining the lifting of the designation, Department of State
officials have stated that ``the Government of Vietnam has made
significant improvements towards advancing religious freedom'' and that
``major progress has been achieved on all points of concern that led to
Vietnam's initial designation'';
Whereas the criteria for designating countries as a CPC, as set forth in section
3(11) of IRFA, are for ``systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations
of religious freedom including violations, such as torture or cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment of punishment, prolonged detention
without charges, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction
or clandestine detention of those persons, and other flagrant denial of
the right of life, liberty, or the security of persons'';
Whereas, according to USCIRF, the CPC designation, when used in the past,
brought about ``some overall improvements'' and ``prisoner releases''
without hindering ``progress on other United States-Vietnam interests'';
Whereas, according to the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 2012, ``Vietnamese who exercise their right to freedom of
religion continued to be subject to harassment, differing
interpretations and applications of the law, and inconsistent legal
protection . . .'' and ``local police continued to use contract thugs
and citizen brigades to harass and beat political activists and others,
including religious worshiper'';
Whereas, according to USCIRF's 2013 Annual Report, Vietnam continues to warrant
a CPC designation because of ``systematic, ongoing and egregious
violations of religious freedom'' and the Vietnamese Government
continues to ``view with suspicion the growth of Protestantism among
ethnic minority'' Hmong and Montagnards and has taken direct action to
harass and arrest those meeting in independent religious groups and to
pressure new converts to Protestantism to renounce their faith;
Whereas, according to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam ``restricts religious freedom
through legislation, registration requirements, and harassing and
intimidating unsanctioned religious groups, including independent
Protestant home churches, and individuals and congregations of Hoa Hao
Buddhists, Cao Dai, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, and Falun
Gong'';
Whereas, according to nongovernmental organizations, hundreds of Montagnard
Protestants remain in prison, arrested after 2001 and 2004
demonstrations for land rights and religious freedom in the Central
Highlands;
Whereas, according to one human rights group, a ``religious police'' unit
continues to carry out a campaign to capture and transform ``reactionary
operatives'' and ``Dega Protestants'', resulting in beatings,
detentions, deaths in custody, forced renunciations of faith, and
disappearances of Montagnards Protestants gathering in independent
congregations;
Whereas on March 26, 2012, the People's Court of Gia Lai city sentenced Pastor
Nguyen Cong Chinh, the leader of the Christian Congregation of the
Vietnamese Lutheran Church, to 11 years in prison; a higher court in
July 2012 upheld the heavy sentence; and the police continue to harass
his wife and children, and on April 12, 2013, the police of Binh Duong
Province detained his wife after a prison visit, stripped her naked, and
beat her;
Whereas on March 17, 2013, police in Dak Nong province arrested 2 brothers, both
Hmong Protestants, without charges and tortured one Hoang Van Ngai, a
deacon at a Hmong house church to death;
Whereas, according to USCIRF's 2013 Annual Report, Vietnamese ``officials
continued to target Catholic communities, including with destruction of
properties, detentions, and arrests . . . used force against Catholic
clergy engaged in religious activities, and continued to restrict,
harass, and detain members of the Redemptorist Order'' for their
religious freedom advocacy;
Whereas the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), the Hoa Hao Buddhists,
and the Cao Dai groups continue to face unwarranted abuses because of
their attempts to organize independently of the Vietnamese Government,
including the detention and imprisonment of individual members and
widespread discrimination against these religious communities;
Whereas the UBCV, Vietnam's largest religious organization, continues to face
severe restrictions including the continued ``pagoda detention'' of
Supreme Patriarch Thich Quang Do and on its youth and charitable work,
conducting religious ceremonies, and in police harassment of lay people
attending recognized UBCV pagodas;
Whereas, according to USCIRF's 2013 Annual Report, over 600 Hmong Protestant
churches are refused legal recognition or affiliation, leaving them
illegal and subject to harassment, detentions, and property
destructions, and a government handbook on religion instructs government
officials to control existing religious practice and ``overcome the
extraordinary growth of Protestantism'';
Whereas in May 2011 the police in Dien Bien Province brutally cracked down on
thousands of Hmong Protestants who gathered near Muong Nhe Village
reportedly to conduct various types of religious activities--the
crackdown reportedly caused several deaths and scores of arrests, though
no independent investigation has been allowed; and
Whereas USCIRF, prominent nongovernmental organizations, and representative
associations of Vietnamese-American, Montagnard-American, and Khmer-
American organizations continue to call for the redesignation of Vietnam
as a CPC: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) strongly encourages the Department of State to place
Vietnam on the list of ``Countries of Particular Concern'' for
particularly severe violations of religious freedom;
(2) strongly condemns the ongoing and egregious violations
of religious freedom in Vietnam, including the detention of
religious leaders and the long-term imprisonment of individuals
engaged in peaceful advocacy;
(3) calls on Vietnam to lift restrictions on religious
freedom, cease all expropriations of church properties, and
implement necessary legal and political reforms to protect
religious freedom; and
(4) urges the Department of State to demonstrate clearly
that the expansion of bilateral ties will depend on
improvements in religious freedom and related rights.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line