[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2784 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                 S. 2784

              To promote freedom and democracy in Vietnam.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 9, 2004

Mr. Brownback (for himself, Mrs. Dole, and Mr. Sessions) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                           Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
              To promote freedom and democracy in Vietnam.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Vietnam Human 
Rights Act of 2004''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
  TITLE I--CONDITIONS ON INCREASED NONHUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO THE 
                         GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM

Sec. 101. Bilateral nonhumanitarian assistance.
 TITLE II--ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN VIETNAM

Sec. 201. Assistance.
               TITLE III--UNITED STATES PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Sec. 301. Radio Free Asia transmissions to Vietnam.
Sec. 302. United States educational and cultural exchange programs with 
                            Vietnam.
                 TITLE IV--UNITED STATES REFUGEE POLICY

Sec. 401. Refugee resettlement for nationals of Vietnam.
  TITLE V--ANNUAL REPORT ON PROGRESS TOWARD FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN 
                                VIETNAM

Sec. 501. Annual report.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a one-party State, 
        ruled and controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), 
        which continues to deny the right of citizens to change their 
        government. Although in recent years the National Assembly of 
        Vietnam has played an increasingly active role as a forum for 
        highlighting local concerns, corruption, and inefficiency, the 
        National Assembly remains subject to CPV direction. The CPV 
        maintains control over the selection of candidates in national 
        and local elections.
            (2) The Government of Vietnam permits no public challenge 
        to the legitimacy of the one-party State. It prohibits 
        independent political, labor, and social organizations and 
        continues to detain and imprison persons for the peaceful 
        expression of dissenting religious and political views, 
        including Pham Hong Son, Tran Dung Tien, Father Nguyen Van Ly, 
        Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, Nguyen Vu Binh, Pham Que Duong, and Pastor 
        Nguyen Hong Quang, among others.
            (3) The Government of Vietnam continues to commit serious 
        human rights abuses. In January 2004, the Department of State 
        reported to Congress that, during the previous year, the 
        Government of Vietnam had made ``no progress'' toward releasing 
        political and religious activists, ending official restrictions 
        on religious activity, or respecting the rights of indigenous 
        minorities in the Central and Northern Highlands of Vietnam.
            (4) The Government of Vietnam limits freedom of religion 
        and restricts the operation of religious organizations other 
        than those approved by the State. While officially sanctioned 
        religious organizations are able to operate with varying 
        degrees of autonomy, some of those organizations continue to 
        face restrictions on selecting, training, and ordaining 
        sufficient numbers of clergy and in conducting educational and 
        charitable activities. The Government has previously 
        confiscated numerous churches, temples, and other properties 
        belonging to religious organizations, most of which have never 
        been returned.
            (5) Unregistered ethnic minority Protestant congregations 
        in the Northwest and Central Highlands of Vietnam suffer severe 
        abuses, which have included forced renunciations of faith, the 
        closure and destruction of churches, the arrest and harassment 
        of pastors, and, in a few cases, there have been credible 
        reports that minority religious leaders have been beaten and 
        killed.
            (6) The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), one of 
        the largest religious denominations in Vietnam, was declared 
        illegal in 1981. The Government of Vietnam confiscated its 
        temples and persecuted its clergy for refusing to join the 
        state-sponsored Buddhist organizations. For more than 2 
        decades, the Government has detained and confined senior UBCV 
        clergy, including the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the 
        Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, the Venerable Thich Tue Sy, and 
        others.
            (7) The Catholic Church in Vietnam continues to face 
        significant restrictions on the training and ordination of 
        priests and bishops, resulting in an insufficient number of 
        priests and bishops to support the growing Catholic population 
        in Vietnam. Although recent years have brought a modest easing 
        of government control in some dioceses, officials in other 
        areas strictly limit the conduct of religious education classes 
        and charitable activities. Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, who 
        was convicted in a closed trial in 2001 after publicly 
        criticizing religious repression by the Government of Vietnam, 
        remains in prison.
            (8) The Government of Vietnam continues to suppress the 
        activities of other religious believers, including Cao Dai, 
        Baha'i, and Hoa Hao who lack official recognition or have 
        chosen not to affiliate with the State-sanctioned groups, 
        including through the use of detention and imprisonment.
            (9) The Government of Vietnam significantly restricts the 
        freedoms of speech and the press, particularly with respect to 
        political and religious speech. Government and Communist Party-
        related organizations control all print and electronic media, 
        including access to the Internet. The Government blocks web 
        sites that it deems politically or culturally inappropriate, 
        and it jams some foreign radio stations, including Radio Free 
        Asia. The Government has detained, convicted, and imprisoned 
        individuals who have posted or sent democracy related materials 
        via the Internet.
            (10) Indigenous Montagnards in the Central Highlands of 
        Vietnam continue to face significant repression. The Government 
        of Vietnam restricts the practice of Christianity by those 
        populations, and more than 100 Montagnards have been sentenced 
        to prison terms of up to 13 years for claiming land rights, 
        organizing Christian gatherings, or attempting to seek asylum 
        in Cambodia.
            (11) The Government of Vietnam uses the separatist agenda 
        of a relatively small number of ethnic minority leaders as a 
        rationale for violating civil and political rights in ethnic 
        minority regions.
            (12) The Government of Vietnam arrested or detained nearly 
        300 Montagnards during 2003 and, since then, many hundreds of 
        Montagnards have gone into hiding, fearing arrest, 
        interrogation, or physical abuse by government authorities.
            (13) During Easter weekend in April 2004, thousands of 
        Montagnards gathered to protest their treatment by the 
        Government of Vietnam, including the confiscation of tribal 
        lands and ongoing restrictions on religious activities. 
        Credible reports indicate that the protests were met with a 
        violent response and that many demonstrators were arrested, 
        injured, or are in hiding, and that others were killed.
            (14) Government officials continue to restrict access to 
        the Central and Northwest Highlands of Vietnam by diplomats, 
        nongovernmental organizations, journalists, and other 
        foreigners, making it difficult to verify conditions in those 
        areas.
            (15) United States refugee resettlement programs for 
        Vietnamese nationals, including the Orderly Departure Program 
        (ODP), the Resettlement Opportunities for Returning Vietnamese 
        (ROVR) program, the Priority One (P1) program and the 
        resettlement of boat people from refugee camps throughout 
        Southeast Asia, were authorized by law in order to rescue 
        Vietnamese nationals who have suffered persecution on account 
        of their wartime associations with the United States, as well 
        as those who currently have a well-founded fear of persecution 
        on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, 
        or membership in a particular social group.
            (16) While these refugee resettlement programs have served 
        their purposes well, a significant number of eligible refugees 
        have been unfairly denied or excluded, in some cases by 
        vindictive or corrupt Government of Vietnam officials who 
        controlled access to the programs, and in other cases by United 
        States personnel who imposed unduly restrictive interpretations 
        of program criteria.
            (17) The Department of State has agreed to extend the 
        September 30, 1994, registration deadline for former United 
        States employees, ``re-education'' survivors, and surviving 
        spouses of those who did not survive ``re-education'' camps to 
        sign up for United States refugee programs, as well as to 
        resume the Vietnamese In-Country Priority One Program in 
        Vietnam to provide protection to victims of persecution on 
        account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or 
        membership in a particular social group who otherwise have no 
        access to the Orderly Departure Program.
            (18) The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the 
        Department of Homeland Security has agreed to resume the 
        processing of former United States employees under the U11 
        program, which had been unilaterally suspended by the United 
        States Government, as well as to review the applications of 
        Amerasians, children of American servicemen left behind in 
        Vietnam after the war ended in April 1975, for resettlement to 
        the United States under the Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1988.
            (19) Congress and the people of the United States are 
        united in their determination that the expansion of relations 
        with Vietnam should not be construed as approval of or 
        complacency about the serious violations of fundamental human 
        rights engaged in by the Government of Vietnam. The promotion 
        of freedom and democracy around the world is and must continue 
        to be a central objective of United States foreign policy. 
        Congress remains hopeful about, and willing to recognize 
        improvement in, the future human rights practices of the 
        Government of Vietnam, which is the motivating purpose behind 
        this Act.

  TITLE I--CONDITIONS ON INCREASED NONHUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO THE 
                         GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM

SEC. 101. BILATERAL NONHUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Assistance.--
            (1) In general.--United States nonhumanitarian assistance 
        may not be provided to the Government of Vietnam in an amount 
        exceeding the amount so provided for fiscal year 2004--
                    (A) for fiscal year 2005, unless not later than 30 
                days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
                President determines and certifies to Congress that the 
                requirements of subparagraphs (A) through (D) of 
                paragraph (2) have been met during the 12-month period 
                ending on the date of the certification; and
                    (B) for each subsequent fiscal year unless the 
                President determines and certifies to Congress in the 
                most recent annual report submitted pursuant to section 
                501 that the requirements of subparagraphs (A) through 
                (E) of paragraph (2) have been met during the 12-month 
                period covered by the report.
            (2) Requirements.--The requirements of this paragraph are 
        that--
                    (A) the Government of Vietnam has made substantial 
                progress toward releasing all political and religious 
                prisoners from imprisonment, house arrest, and other 
                forms of detention;
                    (B) the Government of Vietnam has made substantial 
                progress toward--
                            (i) respecting the right to freedom of 
                        religion, including the right to participate in 
                        religious activities and institutions without 
                        interference by or involvement of the 
                        Government; and
                            (ii) returning estates and properties 
                        confiscated from the churches;
                    (C) the Government of Vietnam has made substantial 
                progress toward allowing Vietnamese nationals free and 
                open access to United States refugee programs;
                    (D) the Government of Vietnam has made substantial 
                progress toward respecting the human rights of members 
                of ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands and 
                elsewhere in Vietnam; and
                    (E) neither any official of the Government of 
                Vietnam nor any agency or entity wholly or partly owned 
                by the Government of Vietnam was complicit in a severe 
                form of trafficking in persons, unless the Government 
                of Vietnam took all appropriate steps to end any such 
                complicity and hold such official, agency, or entity 
                fully accountable for its conduct.
    (b) Exception.--
            (1) Continuation of assistance in the national interest.--
        Notwithstanding the failure of the Government of Vietnam to 
        meet the requirements of subsection (a)(2), the President may 
        waive the application of subsection (a) for any fiscal year if 
        the President determines that the provision to the Government 
        of Vietnam of increased United States nonhumanitarian 
        assistance would promote the purposes of this Act or is 
        otherwise in the national interest of the United States.
            (2) Exercise of waiver authority.--The President may 
        exercise the authority under paragraph (1) with respect to--
                    (A) all United States nonhumanitarian assistance to 
                Vietnam; or
                    (B) one or more programs, projects, or activities 
                of such assistance.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Severe form of trafficking in persons.--The term 
        ``severe form of trafficking in persons'' means any activity 
        described in section 103(8) of the Trafficking Victims 
        Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(8)).
            (2) United states nonhumanitarian assistance.--The term 
        ``United States nonhumanitarian assistance'' means--
                    (A) any assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act 
                of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), including programs 
                under title IV of chapter 2 of part I of that Act (22 
                U.S.C. 2169 et seq.), relating to the Overseas Private 
                Investment Corporation), other than--
                            (i) disaster relief assistance, including 
                        any assistance under chapter 9 of part I of 
                        that Act (22 U.S.C. 2292 et seq.);
                            (ii) assistance which involves the 
                        provision of food (including monetization of 
                        food) or medicine; and
                            (iii) assistance for refugees; and
                    (B) sales, or financing on any terms, under the 
                Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.).

 TITLE II--ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN VIETNAM

SEC. 201. ASSISTANCE.

    (a) In General.--The President is authorized to provide assistance, 
through appropriate nongovernmental organizations, for the support of 
individuals and organizations to promote democracy and internationally 
recognized human rights in Vietnam.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the President to carry out subsection (a) $2,000,000 
for each of the fiscal years 2005 and 2006.

               TITLE III--UNITED STATES PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

SEC. 301. RADIO FREE ASIA TRANSMISSIONS TO VIETNAM.

    (a) Policy of the United States.--It is the policy of the United 
States to take such measures as are necessary to overcome the jamming 
of Radio Free Asia by the Government of Vietnam, including securing the 
use of broadcast facilities in close geographic proximity to Vietnam.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--In addition to such amounts 
as are otherwise authorized to be appropriated for the Broadcasting 
Board of Governors, there are authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out the policy under subsection (a) $9,100,000 for the fiscal year 2005 
and $1,100,000 for the fiscal year 2006.

SEC. 302. UNITED STATES EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS WITH 
              VIETNAM.

    It is the policy of the United States that programs of educational 
and cultural exchange with Vietnam should actively promote progress 
toward freedom and democracy in Vietnam by--
            (1) providing opportunities to Vietnamese nationals from a 
        wide range of occupations and perspectives to witness freedom 
        and democracy in action; and
            (2) ensuring that Vietnamese nationals who have already 
        demonstrated a commitment to these values are included in such 
        programs.

                 TITLE IV--UNITED STATES REFUGEE POLICY

SEC. 401. REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT FOR NATIONALS OF VIETNAM.

    (a) Policy of the United States.--It is the policy of the United 
States to offer refugee resettlement to nationals of Vietnam, including 
members of the Montagnard ethnic minority groups--
            (1) who were eligible for the Orderly Departure Program 
        (ODP), Resettlement Opportunities for Vietnamese Returnees 
        (ROVR), or any other United States refugee program; and
            (2) who--
                    (A) were deemed ineligible due to administrative 
                error; or
                    (B) were unable or failed to apply for such 
                programs in compliance with deadlines imposed by the 
                Department of State for reasons beyond the control of 
                such individuals, including insufficient or 
                contradictory information or the inability to pay 
                bribes demanded by officials of the Government of 
                Vietnam.
    (b) Authorized Activity.--Of the amounts authorized to be 
appropriated to the Department of State for Migration and Refugee 
Assistance for each of the fiscal years 2005, 2006, and 2007, such sums 
as may be necessary are authorized to be made available for the 
protection (including resettlement in appropriate cases) of Vietnamese 
refugees and asylum seekers, including Montagnards in Cambodia.

  TITLE V--ANNUAL REPORT ON PROGRESS TOWARD FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN 
                                VIETNAM

SEC. 501. ANNUAL REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and every 12 months thereafter, the Secretary of 
State shall submit to the Congress a report on the following:
            (1) The determination and certification of the President 
        that the requirements of subparagraphs (A) through (D) of 
        section 101(a)(2) have been met, if applicable.
            (2) The determination of the President under section 
        101(b), if applicable.
            (3) Efforts by the United States Government to secure 
        transmission sites for Radio Free Asia in countries in close 
        geographical proximity to Vietnam in accordance with section 
        301.
            (4) Efforts to ensure that programs with Vietnam promote 
        the policy set forth in section 302 and section 102 of the 
        Human Rights, Refugee, and Other Foreign Relations Provisions 
        Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 2452 note) with respect to participation 
        in programs of educational and cultural exchange.
            (5) Steps taken to carry out the policy under section 
        401(a).
            (6) Lists of persons believed to be imprisoned, detained, 
        or placed under house arrest, tortured, or otherwise persecuted 
        by the Government of Vietnam due to their pursuit of 
        internationally recognized human rights. In compiling such 
        lists, the Secretary shall exercise appropriate discretion, 
        including concerns regarding the safety and security of, and 
        benefit to, the persons who may be included on the lists and 
        their families. In addition, the Secretary shall include a list 
        of such persons and their families who may qualify for 
        protection under United States refugee programs.
            (7) A description of the development of the rule of law in 
        Vietnam, including, but not limited to--
                    (A) progress toward the development of institutions 
                of democratic governance;
                    (B) processes by which statutes, regulations, 
                rules, and other legal acts of the Government of 
                Vietnam are developed and become binding within 
                Vietnam;
                    (C) the extent to which statutes, regulations, 
                rules, administrative and judicial decisions, and other 
                legal acts of the Government of Vietnam are published 
                and are made accessible to the public;
                    (D) the extent to which administrative and judicial 
                decisions are supported by statements of reasons that 
                are based upon written statutes, regulations, rules, 
                and other legal acts of the Government of Vietnam;
                    (E) the extent to which individuals are treated 
                equally under the laws of Vietnam without regard to 
                citizenship, race, religion, political opinion, or 
                current or former associations;
                    (F) the extent to which administrative and judicial 
                decisions are independent of political pressure or 
                governmental interference and are reviewed by entities 
                of appellate jurisdiction; and
                    (G) the extent to which laws in Vietnam are written 
                and administered in ways that are consistent with 
                international human rights standards, including the 
                requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and 
                Political Rights.
    (b) Contacts With Other Organizations.--In preparing the report 
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall, as appropriate, consult with 
and seek input from nongovernmental organizations, human rights 
advocates (including Vietnamese-Americans and human rights advocates in 
Vietnam), and the United States Commission on International Religious 
Freedom.