Excerpts: Representative Wolf Backs Vietnam Human Rights Act
(HR 2833 calls for "substantial progress" in human rights)The co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus urged support for a bill that its sponsor says would help promote democracy in Vietnam.
Representative Frank Wolf (Republican of Virginia) in a September 6 speech to the House asked whether it was too much to ask the Hanoi regime to make "substantial progress" in meeting basic human rights standards such as the release of political prisoners and an end to religious persecution.
He called on fellow lawmakers to back HR 2833, saying he hoped it would send a "strong message" to Hanoi's communist rulers. The bill passed in a 410-1 vote.
In his speech, Wolf explained that H.R. 2833 also tries to address the issue of "the complicity of the Vietnamese government in severe forms of trafficking in human beings."
Wolf cited a June hearing of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on the trafficking of women and children for sexual purposes.
"One of the expert witnesses showed covertly filmed negotiations of girls as young as 7 and 8 years old being sold into sex markets in Vietnam," Wolf told fellow lawmakers.
"So as Members come pouring in down here to talk about the opportunities for trade in Vietnam, think in terms of these young girls, 7 and 8 years old," he admonished.
"Governments who tolerate or participate in this type of cruel and inhumane behavior should never qualify, should never qualify for foreign aid or expect to enjoy Normal Trade Relations with the United States," the Virginia Republican said.
Following is are excerpts from the September 6 speech of Representative Frank Wolf from the Congressional Record:
(begin excerpts)
Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2833, the Vietnam Human Rights Act, and I encourage my colleagues, as did the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. SMITH) and the gentleman from California (Mr. LANTOS), to vote for passage of this very important legislation. I want to applaud the gentleman from New Jersey, my good friend, for his hard work and devotion and dedication in bringing this legislation to the floor, and the gentleman from California (Mr. LANTOS) for his efforts on not only this, but on frankly all of the major important human rights issues that we have had before the Congress. I also applaud the bipartisan group of colleagues who have cosponsored this piece of legislation.
I would say to the government, is it too much to ask that the government of Vietnam be required to make ``substantial progress'' toward the releasing of political prisoners, ending religious persecution, increasing respect for the rights of ethnic minorities, and eliminating their participation in the trafficking of human beings before they receive any further increases in government-to-government, nonhumanitarian assistance from the United States? These steps should be at a minimum, the minimum actions taken by any Nation who is serious about establishing normal relations with the United States.
Madam Speaker, H.R. 2833 requires that the President of the United States certify that the government of Vietnam make substantial improvements in the area of human rights. Those of us who have held hearings and listened to the heartbreaking testimonies of witness after witness who have endured the persecution from Hanoi policies know that these substantial improvements are long overdue. Witnesses attest that many groups of people in Vietnam have suffered unending persecution since the war ended in 1975, and the persecution has continued.
Regarding religious persecution, no faith, no faith is untouched by Hanoi's persecution. In January, 42 colleagues in the House sent a letter to Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai expressing concern for the lack of religious freedom and continued persecution of religious leaders in Vietnam. Catholic bishops, Buddhist monks, leaders of Christian house churches and Muslims have all endured nonstop persecution by the Communist government in Vietnam since 1975.
Earlier this year, prominent leaders of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, UBCV, the 83-year-old patriarch, Thich Huyen Quang, and Thich Quang Do, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, were detained and placed under house arrest for what the government described as ``as a number of wrongful acts they have recently committed.'' This action was followed by the detaining of Catholic Father Nguyen Van Ly and a stepped up offense against the Montagnard people of the Central Highlands in Vietnam, as the gentleman from California was talking about.
Many of the Montagnard are people who fought alongside American troops years ago and are now victims of imprisonment, torture, and death for speaking out against the Communist government abuses. Christians in Vietnam have had their property confiscated and their leaders imprisoned and tortured for simply trying to worship their God. It should be clear that imprisonment, torture, and killing of innocent citizens, based on their religious beliefs by any country, will always stand in the way of normal relations with the United States.
Madam Speaker, H.R. 2833 also tries to address the issue of the complicity of the Vietnamese government in severe forms of trafficking in human beings. In June of this year, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus chaired by the gentleman from California (Mr. LANTOS), held a hearing on the trafficking of women and children into sex markets around the world. One of the expert witnesses showed covertly filmed negotiations of girls as young as 7 and 8 years old being sold into sex markets in Vietnam, 7 and 8 years old. So as Members come pouring in down here to talk about the opportunities for trade in Vietnam, think in terms of these young girls, 7 and 8 years old. Governments who tolerate or participate in this type of cruel and inhumane behavior should never qualify, should never qualify for foreign aid or expect to enjoy Normal Trade Relations with the United States.
It is my hope that the passage of the Vietnam Human Rights Act will send a strong message to the government in Hanoi that continued abuses of its citizens will not lead to an expansion of trade, increases in aid, or normal relations with the United States or the rest of the Free World. I encourage my colleagues to protect the innocent in Vietnam by voting for H.R. 2833. I am sure the gentleman from New Jersey and the gentleman from California will ask for a roll call vote on this, I would assume. But hopefully, hopefully there will be no negative votes against this so that the message goes into Hanoi of the United States Congress and the people of the United States Congress, and so that the people in Hanoi and the people in Vietnam who will wake up tomorrow and find out that the Congress has passed this legislation, take hope because of the overwhelming vote.
So again, in closing, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. SMITH) and the gentleman from California (Mr. LANTOS). I hope this bill passes with 435 votes or, if there is somebody missing, 434 to nothing, because if we really want to open up the gulags of Vietnam and allow the Catholic priests and the bishops and the monks and the Montagnard people to be heard, and stop the sexual trading that has gone on in the past, the passage of this bill will really do it.
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