*EPF312 07/25/01
International Relations Committee Passes Resolution on Vietnam's Montagnards
(Panel passes H. Con. Res. 178 by voice vote) (350)
By Steve La Rocque
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington - The House International Relations Committee on July 25 passed by voice vote a resolution that criticizes the Hanoi regime's treatment of the Montagnards, an ethnic minority living in the mountainous border regions of Vietnam.

House Concurrent Resolution 178 (H. Con. Res. 178), which was introduced into the House of Representatives on June 28, urges Vietnam's communist government to allow freedom of religious belief and practice to all Montagnards; to return all traditional Montagnard lands that have been confiscated or encroached upon; to allow nongovernmental and international humanitarian organizations to deliver humanitarian assistance directly to Montagnards in their villages; to open up all parts of the Central Highlands to journalists and other observers; to withdraw its security forces from Cambodia; and to stop hunting for Montagnard refugees fleeing Vietnam.

H. Con. Res. 178 also calls upon the State Department to tell the Hanoi regime that "continued mistreatment of Montagnards and efforts to seek forcible repatriation of refugees and asylum seekers from Cambodia represent a grave threat to the normalization process between the Governments of the United States and Vietnam and a serious obstacle to any prospects for the future provision of U.S. assistance to that Government."

Among those backing the proposed resolution are: Representative Henry Hyde (Republican of Illinois), the chairman of the House International Relations Committee; Representative Frank Wolf (Republican of Virginia), the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus; and Representative Dana Rohrabacher (Republican of California), who introduced legislation to deny the President's waiver request of Jackson-Vanik provisions for Vietnam.

Vietnam's trade status with the United States will come under legislative scrutiny on July 26, when the House Ways and Means Committee takes up House Joint Resolution 51 which would approve the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment to products from Vietnam.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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