Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)The United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam share a sensitive history and relationship that has evolved significantly since the 1990s. (2)The total trade volume between the United States and Vietnam neared $10 billion in 2006, and the United States is currently Vietnam’s largest export market. United States exports to Vietnam have risen by over 500 percent from $172 million in 1994 to $988 million in 2006. (3)United States foreign assistance to Vietnam has increased from $1 million in 1991 to over $75 million in fiscal year 2006. (4)Pursuant to Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai’s visit to the United States in June 2005, the United States and Vietnam signed an agreement to implement a bilateral International Military Education Training (IMET) program. (5)On December 20, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law H.R. 6111 (Public Law 109–432), extending nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the products of Vietnam. (6)In January 2007, Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization and committed to abide by international trade rules. (7)In April 2007, the United States modified the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to allow the issuance of licenses for trade in certain non-lethal defense items and services with Vietnam. (8)During the visit of Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet to Washington, DC, in June 2007, which marked the first visit by a Vietnamese head of state to the United States since the end of the Vietnam conflict, the United States and Vietnam signed a trade and investment framework agreement on June 22, 2007. (9)The people of the United States and the people of Vietnam share the desire to foster hope, healing, and mutual prosperity for both countries. (10)Since the enactment of Public Law 109–432, extending normal trade relations treatment to the products of Vietnam, several concerns have drawn the attention of the United States human rights community and the United States Congress, prompting renewed focus on human rights issues in Vietnam which figured prominently in the congressional debate regarding the extension of such normal trade relations treatment. Such concerns include concerns about the arrests of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including Father Nguyen Van Ly, Nguyen Van Dai, and Le Thi Cong Nhan. (11)The potential benefits from enhanced bilateral trade should not supplant legitimate matters of principle involving human rights, the rule of law, and religious freedom. (12)Vietnamese-Americans throughout the United States continue to emphasize the importance of addressing human rights, the rule of law, and religious freedom in the United States–Vietnam bilateral relationship. (13)While the Government of Vietnam has made significant efforts over the past decade to address the concerns of the United States Government regarding United States POW/MIA cases, 2,000 United States service personnel remain unaccounted for in Indochina. (14)The Government of Vietnam has made efforts to improve human rights and religious freedoms, including efforts to conclude a bilateral agreement with the United States under which the Government of Vietnam agreed to take steps to improve religious freedom, grant amnesties to prisoners of conscience, establish a new Ordinance on Religion and issue instructions to prohibit forced renunciation of faith, ease restrictions on the training of clergy, support fact-finding visits to Vietnam by United States officials and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) personnel, improve worker rights, and make progress toward eliminating human trafficking. (15)While the Department of State rescinded the Country of Particular Concern designation applied to Vietnam, human rights concerns remain. (16)While progress on the human rights situation in Vietnam’s Central Highlands has been reported, it remains unclear to what extent such progress has been made. Also, concerns remain regarding the human rights situation prevailing in Vietnam’s Northwest Highlands. (17)Adequate and fair compensation for land seizures, including such seizures affecting ethnic minorities in Vietnam’s Central and Northwest Highlands remain a concern. While Vietnam has no system of private property rights, land use rights can be purchased but are subject to reclaim at any time by the government. (18)A specific mechanism to address Vietnam’s progress on human rights, the rule of law, and religious freedom issues in an in-depth manner, focusing on vulnerabilities and areas of particular concern identified by the most recent annual Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Vietnam, the Trafficking in Persons Report, and the annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, including progress in Vietnam’s Central and Northwest Highlands, would serve as a valuable resource to complement existing United States Government efforts to address these issues and inform future efforts, reinforcing and strengthening the outcome of these efforts.

Establishment of Congressional-Executive Commission on the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

There is established a Congressional-Executive Commission on the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (in this Act referred to as the Commission).

Functions of the Commission

(a)

Monitoring compliance with human rights

The Commission shall monitor the acts of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with particular emphasis on the Montagnard peoples and the Central and Northwest Highlands, which reflect compliance with or violation of human rights, in particular, those contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including, but not limited to, effectively affording— (1)the right to engage in free expression without fear of any prior restraints; (2)the right to peaceful assembly without restrictions, in accordance with international law; (3)religious freedom, including the right to worship free of involvement of and interference by the government; (4)the right to liberty of movement, freedom to choose a residence within Vietnam, freedom from coercion in family planning, and the right to leave from and return to Vietnam; (5)the right of a criminal defendant— (A)to be tried in his or her presence, and to defend himself or herself in person or through legal assistance of his or her own choosing; (B)to be informed, if he or she does not have legal assistance, of the right set forth in subparagraph (A); (C)to have legal assistance assigned to him or her in any case in which the interests of justice so require and without payment by him or her in any such case if he or she does not have sufficient means to pay for it; (D)to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal established by the law; (E)to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law; and (F)to be tried without undue delay; (6)the right to be free from torture and other forms of cruel or unusual punishment; (7)protection of internationally recognized worker rights; (8)freedom from incarceration as punishment for political opposition to the government; (9)freedom from incarceration as punishment for exercising or advocating human rights (including those described in this section); (10)freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile; and (11)the right to fair and public hearings by an independent tribunal for the determination of a citizen’s rights and obligations. (b)

Victims lists

The Commission shall compile and maintain lists of persons believed to be imprisoned, detained, or placed under house arrest, tortured, or otherwise persecuted by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam due to their pursuit of the rights described in subsection (a). In compiling such lists, the Commission 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. (c)

Monitoring development of rule of law

The Commission shall monitor the development of the rule of law in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with particular emphasis on the Montagnard peoples and the Central and Northwest Highlands, including, but not limited to— (1)progress toward the development of institutions of democratic governance; (2)processes by which statutes, regulations, rules, and other legal acts of the Government of Vietnam are developed and become binding within Vietnam; (3)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; (4)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; (5)the extent to which individuals are treated equally under the laws of Vietnam without regard to citizenship; (6)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 (7)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. (d)

Bilateral cooperation

The Commission shall monitor and encourage the development of programs and activities of the United States Government and private organizations with a view toward increasing the interchange of people and ideas between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and expanding cooperation in areas that include, but are not limited to— (1)increasing enforcement of human rights described in subsection (a); and (2)developing the rule of law in Vietnam. (e)

Contacts with nongovernmental organizations

In performing the functions described in subsections (a) through (d), the Commission shall, as appropriate, seek out and maintain contacts with nongovernmental organizations, including receiving reports and updates from such organizations and evaluating such reports. (f)

Annual reports

(1)

In general

The Commission shall issue a report to the President and the Congress not later than 12 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not later than the end of each 12-month period thereafter, setting forth the findings of the Commission during the preceding 12-month period, in carrying out subsections (a) through (c). The Commission’s report may contain recommendations for legislative or executive action. (2)

Coordination

The report required to be issued under paragraph (1) shall be developed in coordination with the findings of the most recent annual Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Vietnam, the Trafficking in Persons Report, and the annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. (g)

Specific information in annual reports

The Commission’s report under subsection (f) shall include specific information as to the nature and implementation of laws or policies concerning the rights set forth in paragraphs (1) through (11) of subsection (a), and as to restrictions applied to or discrimination against persons exercising any of the rights set forth in such paragraphs. (h)

Congressional hearings on annual reports

(1)The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives shall, not later than 30 days after the receipt by the Congress of the report referred to in subsection (f), hold hearings on the contents of the report, including any recommendations contained therein, for the purpose of receiving testimony from Members of Congress, and such appropriate representatives of Federal departments and agencies, and interested persons and groups, as the committee deems advisable, with a view to reporting to the House of Representatives any appropriate legislation in furtherance of such recommendations. If any such legislation is considered by the Committee on Foreign Affairs within 45 days after receipt by the Congress of the report referred to in subsection (f), it shall be reported by the committee not later than 60 days after receipt by the Congress of such report. (2)The provisions of paragraph (1) are enacted by the Congress— (A)as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House of Representatives, and as such are deemed a part of the rules of the House, and they supersede other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and (B)with full recognition of the constitutional right of the House to change the rules (so far as relating to the procedure of the House) at any time, in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of the House. (i)

Supplemental reports

The Commission may submit to the President and the Congress reports that supplement the reports described in subsection (f), as appropriate, in carrying out subsections (a) through (c).

Membership of the Commission

(a)

Selection and appointment of members

The Commission shall be composed of 7 members as follows: (1)Two Members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. One member shall be selected from the majority party and one member shall be selected, after consultation with the minority leader of the House, from the minority party. (2)Two Members of the Senate appointed by the President of the Senate. One member shall be selected, after consultation with the majority leader of the Senate, from the majority party, and one member shall be selected, after consultation with the minority leader of the Senate, from the minority party. (3)One representative of the Department of State, appointed by the President of the United States from among officers and employees of that Department. (4)One representative of the Department of Commerce, appointed by the President of the United States from among officers and employees of that Department. (5)One representative of the Department of Labor, appointed by the President of the United States from among officers and employees of that Department. (b)

Chairman and cochairman

(1)

Designation of chairman

At the beginning of each odd-numbered Congress, the President of the Senate, on the recommendation of the majority leader of the Senate, shall designate one of the members of the Commission from the Senate as Chairman of the Commission. At the beginning of each even-numbered Congress, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall designate one of the members of the Commission from the House as Chairman of the Commission. (2)

Designation of cochairman

At the beginning of each odd-numbered Congress, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall designate one of the members of the Commission from the House as Cochairman of the Commission. At the beginning of each even-numbered Congress, the President of the Senate, on the recommendation of the majority leader of the Senate, shall designate one of the members of the Commission from the Senate as Cochairman of the Commission.

Votes of the Commission

Decisions of the Commission, including adoption of reports and recommendations to the executive branch or to the Congress, shall be made by a majority vote of the members of the Commission present and voting. Two-thirds of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for purposes of conducting business.

Expenditure of appropriations

For each fiscal year for which an appropriation is made to the Commission, the Commission shall issue a report to the Congress on its expenditures under that appropriation.

Testimony of witnesses, production of evidence; issuance of subpoenas; administration of oaths

In carrying out this Act, the Commission may require, by subpoena or otherwise, the attendance and testimony of such witnesses and the production of such books, records, correspondence, memoranda, papers, documents, and electronically recorded data as it considers necessary. Subpoenas may be issued only pursuant to a two-thirds vote of members of the Commission present and voting. Subpoenas may be issued over the signature of the Chairman of the Commission or any member designated by the Chairman, and may be served by any person designated by the Chairman or such member. The Chairman of the Commission, or any member designated by the Chairman, may administer oaths to any witness.

Appropriations for the Commission

(a)

Authorization; disbursements

(1)

Authorization

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Commission for fiscal year 2008, and each fiscal year thereafter, such sums as may be necessary to enable it to carry out its functions. Appropriations to the Commission are authorized to remain available until expended. (2)

Disbursements

Appropriations to the Commission shall be disbursed on vouchers approved— (A)jointly by the Chairman and the Cochairman; or (B)by a majority of the members of the personnel and administration committee established pursuant to section 9. (b)

Foreign travel for official purposes

Foreign travel for official purposes by members and staff of the Commission may be authorized by either the Chairman or the Cochairman.

Staff of the Commission

(a)

Personnel and administration committee

The Commission shall have a personnel and administration committee composed of the Chairman, the Cochairman, the member of the Commission from the minority party of the House of Representatives, and the member of the Commission from the minority party of the Senate. (b)

Committee functions

All decisions pertaining to the appointment, separation, and fixing of pay of personnel of the Commission shall be by a majority vote of the personnel and administration committee, except that— (1)the Chairman shall be entitled to appoint and fix the pay of the staff director; and (2)the Chairman and Cochairman shall each have the authority to appoint, with the approval of the personnel and administration committee, at least two professional staff members who shall be responsible to the Chairman or the Cochairman (as the case may be) who appointed them. Subject to subsection (d), the personnel and administration committee may appoint and fix the pay of such other personnel as it considers desirable. (c)

Staff appointments

All staff appointments shall be made without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive service, and without regard to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates. (d)

Qualifications of professional staff

The personnel and administration committee shall ensure that the professional staff of the Commission consists of persons with expertise in areas including human rights, internationally recognized worker rights, international economics, law (including international law), rule of law and other foreign assistance programming, Vietnamese politics, economy and culture, and, if possible, a working knowledge of the Vietnamese language.

10.

Printing and binding costs

For purposes of costs relating to printing and binding, including the costs of personnel detailed from the Government Printing Office, the Commission shall be deemed to be a committee of the Congress.

11.

Termination

Section 14(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.; relating to the termination of advisory committees) shall not apply to the Commission.