[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 427 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                     November 19, 2003.
Whereas Buddhism has a 2,000-year tradition in Vietnam and the Unified Buddhist 
        Church of Vietnam (UBCV) is an heir to this tradition;
Whereas the Government of Vietnam in 1981 declared the UBCV, one of the largest 
        religious denominations in the country, illegal, confiscated its 
        temples, and persecuted its clergy for refusing to join the state-
        sponsored Buddhist organizations;
Whereas the Government of Vietnam has often imprisoned UBCV clergy and subjected 
        them to other forms of persecution; the Patriarch of the UBCV, the 85-
        year-old Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, has been detained and 
        restrained for more than 2 decades in isolated areas of Vietnam;
Whereas the Vietnamese Government has held the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, 
        the Executive President of the UBCV and his deputy, the Venerable Thich 
        Tue Sy, in various forms of detention since 1977;
Whereas the Very Venerable Thich Thien Minh, Supreme Counselor of the UBCV, was 
        tortured to death in a reeducation camp in 1978;
Whereas many other leading UBCV figures, including Thich Thien Hanh, Thich Phuoc 
        An, Thich Dong Tho, Thich Vien Dinh, Thich Thai Hoa, Thich Nguyen Ly, 
        Thich Thanh Huyen, Thich Khong Tanh, Thich Phuoc Vien, Thich Hai Tang, 
        Thich Dong Tho, Thich Nguyen Vuong, Thich Chi Mau, Thich Chi Thang, and 
        Thich Thanh Quang have been detained, harassed, and under tight 
        surveillance;
Whereas several members of the UBCV have fled to Cambodia to escape religious 
        repression and harassment;
Whereas Pham Van Tuong, formerly known as Thich Tri Luc, disappeared from 
        Cambodia in July 2002 after being given refugee status by the United 
        Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and has since been 
        discovered to be in custody in Vietnam, where he is reportedly charged 
        with the vague crime of ``fleeing abroad or defecting overseas with the 
        intent to oppose the people's administration,'' which carries a possible 
        sentence of life imprisonment;
Whereas Vietnam has acceded to international covenants and treaties that 
        prohibit the forced repatriation of UNHCR-recognized refugees;
Whereas Vietnam has acceded to international covenants and treaties that protect 
        the right to faith, belief, and practice;
Whereas Vietnam's constitution protects the right of religious belief;
Whereas in a show of religious tolerance, the Vietnamese Government in April 
        2003 allowed the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the Fourth Supreme 
        Patriarch of the UBCV, to receive urgent medical care in Hanoi;
Whereas at that time, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai met with Venerable 
        Thich Huyen Quang and assured him that his and Venerable Thich Quang 
        Do's detention were mistakes by local officials and that he hoped they 
        would extend Buddhist forgiveness toward past actions of the government;
Whereas in June 2003, the Vietnamese Government ended the detention order 
        against Venerable Thich Quang Do, the Executive President of the UBCV;
Whereas in September and October 2003, the UBCV held a meeting in Nguyen Thieu 
        Pagoda in Binh Dinh province to discuss church affairs, choose a new 
        leadership which had been vacant for a decade, and verify Vietnamese 
        Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's promise of a new era of understanding and 
        respect;
Whereas Vietnamese authorities attempted to disrupt these gatherings by 
        restricting the travel of monks from other provinces and then 
        intimidating those attending;
Whereas on October 8, 2003, Vietnamese authorities initiated a tense standoff 
        following the meeting, where police stopped a vehicle carrying the 
        UBCV's new leadership and subsequently detained the eleven passengers;
Whereas Venerables Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do were taken to their 
        respective pagodas where they have been effectively isolated and 
        detained; four senior monks, the Venerable Thich Tue Sy, Thich Thanh 
        Huyen, Thich Nguyen Ly, and the UBCV Supreme Patriarch's personal 
        assistant, Venerable Thich Dong Tho, were immediately sentenced to 24 
        months of administrative detainment by written orders of the Ho Chi Minh 
        City People's Committee, and three others, the Venerables Thich Thien 
        Hanh, Thich Thai Hoa, and Thich Nguyen Vuong to 24 months administrative 
        detainment by ``oral'' orders from various local authorities, in protest 
        of which the Venerable Thich Thien Hanh initiated a hunger strike on 
        October 19, 2003;
Whereas according to reports by the United States State Department, the United 
        States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the European 
        Union, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam systematically limits the right 
        of religious organizations to choose their own clergy;
Whereas according to these same reports, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam uses 
        house arrest and long prison sentences to punish individuals for 
        practicing their faith, as evidenced also by the jail sentences handed 
        down to Father Nguyen Van Ly, his three relatives, Montagnard and Hmong 
        Protestants, Cao Dai, and Hoa Hao Buddhists;
Whereas during the 107th Congress the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2833, 
        the Vietnam Human Rights Act, on September 6, 2001, which noted the 
        persecutions faced by various members of the UBCV over the past 25 
        years; and
Whereas because of systematic, egregious, and ongoing abuses of religious 
        freedom, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 
        recommended that the President of the United States designate Vietnam as 
        a ``country of particular concern'' under the provisions of the 
        International Religious Freedom Act of 1998: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) congratulates the new leadership of the Unified Buddhist Church 
        of Vietnam;
            (2) urges the Government of Vietnam to respect the right of all 
        independent religious organizations to meet, worship, operate, and 
        practice their faith in accordance with Vietnam's own constitution and 
        international covenants to which Vietnam is a signatory;
            (3) urges the Government of Vietnam to restore freedom to all 
        Vietnamese citizens imprisoned or under house arrest for practicing 
        their faith or for advocating freedom of religion, especially the Most 
        Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and the Very Venerable Thich Quang Do;
            (4) is committed to promoting religious freedom in Vietnam, and, in 
        furtherance of this goal, urges the implementation of the 
        recommendations of the United States Commission on International 
        Religious Freedom; and
            (5) urges the United States Embassy in Vietnam to closely monitor 
        cases of abuse of religious belief and practice, routinely visit 
        detained clergy members, especially those in need of medical care, and 
        report to the Congress on specific measures taken to protect and promote 
        religious freedom in Vietnam.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.