Text: House Resolution Urges Vietnam to Respect Rights
(H. Con. Res. 295 cites Hanoi's human rights violations)The House Committee on International Relations passed by voice vote April 13 a resolution calling on Vietnam to release all prisoners of conscience and set a time for free and fair elections in that country.
House Concurrent Resolution 295, introduced by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (Republican of California) March 29, will now go to the House floor for debate and a vote.
The resolution, which also urges Hanoi to repeal all laws restricting freedom of expression, had six co-sponsors, both Democrats and Republicans.
On the Democratic side were Representatives Tom Lantos and Loretta Sanchez of California.
Republicans included Representatives Edward Royce of California, Thomas Davis of Virginia, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, as well as Representative Doug Bereuter of Nebraska, who is chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
Hanoi, the resolution says, "continues to violate the liberties and civil rights of its own citizens through arbitrary arrests, detentions without trial, and the censorship of peaceful expressions of political and religious beliefs."
Following is the text of House Concurrent Resolution 295 from the Congressional Record:
(begin text)
Relating to continuing human rights violations and political oppression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 25 years after the fall of South Vietnam to Communist forces.
(Introduced in the House)
HCON 295 IH
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 295
Relating to continuing human rights violations and political oppression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 25 years after the fall of South Vietnam to Communist forces.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 29, 2000
Mr. ROHRABACHER (for himself, Mr. ROYCE, and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Relating to continuing human rights violations and political oppression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 25 years after the fall of South Vietnam to Communist forces.
Whereas 25 years after the Vietnam War ended, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a one-party state ruled and controlled by the Vietnamese Communist Party;
Whereas the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam continues to violate the liberties and civil rights of its own citizens through arbitrary arrests, detentions without trial, and the censorship of peaceful expressions of political and religious beliefs;
Whereas the Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999 notes that the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam `continued to repress basic political and some religious freedoms and to commit numerous abuses';
Whereas the Socialist Republic of Vietnam still retains Article 4 in its Constitution that ensures the supremacy of the Vietnamese Communist Party as the only political party in the country while continuing to enforce an extra-legal administrative decree to detain or place under house arrest any dissidents or civilians for up to two years, without trial, under the pretext of `endangering national security';
Whereas the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is one of the most repressive and poorest countries in the world, with an average per capita income of $330, despite the Vietnamese Communist party's claims of political and economic reforms, or `Doi Moi', since 1986, and the subsequent lifting of the trade embargo and the provision of economic assistance and credits by the United States since 1995;
Whereas, according to the Department of State and international human rights organizations, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam continues to restrict unregistered religious activities and persecutes its citizens on the basis of their religious affiliation through arbitrary arrests and detention, harassment, physical abuse, censorship, and the denial of the rights of free association and religious worship;
Whereas the Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 1999 on Vietnam estimates that `there are from 30 to 50 religious prisoners' but `the number is difficult to verify with any precision because of the secrecy surrounding the arrest, detention, and release process';
Whereas the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam continues to prevent human rights organizations from unfettered and open investigations of allegations of state-sponsored oppression of the right to worship by its citizens, and has prevented the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Abdelfattah Amor, from meeting with various religious leaders during his visit to Vietnam in October 1998;
Whereas the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam systematically violates the tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in contravention to its standing as a signatory to those agreements and as a member nation of the United Nations;
Whereas April 30, 2000, marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to Communist forces of North Vietnam; and
Whereas it is in the interest of the United States to promote political, religious, and economic freedom throughout the world: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Congress--
(1) requests the President to restate and make clear to the leadership of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam--
(A) the firm commitment of the American people to political, religious, and economic freedom for the citizens of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; and
(B) the United States fully expects equal protection under law with all Vietnamese citizens, regardless of religious belief, political philosophy, or socio-political association;
(2) urges the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam--
(A) to implement provisions called for under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 relating to conditions in Vietnam;
(B) to release all religious, political prisoners, and prisoners of conscience, and immediately ceases the harassment, detention, physical abuse, and imprisonment of Vietnamese citizens who have exercised their legitimate rights to freedom of belief, expression, and association;
(C) to abolish article 4 of the Vietnamese Constitution and repeal any and all regulations, codes, and decrees prohibiting citizens rights to free expression, freedom of association, freedom of the press, and religious worship; and
(D) to formally commit to a framework and a set timetable for open and fair elections that will facilitate the ability of Vietnamese citizens to peacefully choose their own local and national leaders, free from fear and intimidation; and
(3) commends the Vietnamese-American community for initiating an international memorial to American and South Vietnamese soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom during the Vietnam War, which is under development and will be located in Westminster, California. (end text)
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