[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1051 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1051

 To impose sanctions on individuals who are complicit in human rights 
abuses committed against nationals of Vietnam or their family members, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 24, 2011

 Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Mr. Burr) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To impose sanctions on individuals who are complicit in human rights 
abuses committed against nationals of Vietnam or their family members, 
                        and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Vietnam Human Rights Sanctions 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The relationship between the United States and the 
        Socialist Republic of Vietnam has grown substantially since the 
        end of the trade embargo in 1994, with annual trade between the 
        countries reaching more than $18,000,000,000 in 2010.
            (2) However, the transition by the Government of Vietnam 
        toward greater economic activity and trade has not been matched 
        by greater political freedom or substantial improvements in 
        basic human rights for the people of Vietnam.
            (3) Vietnam remains an authoritarian state ruled by the 
        Communist Party of Vietnam, which continues to deny the right 
        of the people of Vietnam to participate in free and fair 
        elections.
            (4) In 2006, Congress agreed to Vietnam becoming an 
        official member of the World Trade Organization, amid 
        assurances by the Government of Vietnam that it was steadily 
        improving its human rights record and would continue to do so.
            (5) According to the 2011 annual report of the United 
        States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 
        ``Vietnam's overall human rights record remains poor, and has 
        deteriorated since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization 
        in 2007.''.
            (6) On October 30, 2010, while in Hanoi, Vietnam, Secretary 
        of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, ``[T]he United States 
        remains concerned about the arrest and conviction of people for 
        peaceful dissent, the attacks on religious groups, the curbs on 
        Internet freedom, including of bloggers. Vietnam has so much 
        potential, and we believe that political reform and respect for 
        human rights are an essential part of realizing that 
        potential.''.
            (7) On March 31, 2011, the Assistant Secretary of State of 
        the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt M. Campbell, 
        testified before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of 
        the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives, saying, ``[W]e remain deeply concerned about 
        the lack of progress in the human rights front. We continue to 
        make it very clear to the Vietnamese government that political 
        freedoms are not a source of instability but of strength.''.
            (8) According to the 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices of the Department of State, in 2010, the Government 
        of Vietnam ``increased its suppression of dissent, arresting at 
        least 25 political activists'' and ``political opposition 
        movements were prohibited''. Although there are no precise 
        estimates of the number of political prisoners held at the end 
        of 2010, the Government of Vietnam reportedly held more than 
        100, with international observers claiming there were more.
            (9) The Country Reports of the Department of State also 
        state that the Government of Vietnam has ``increased measures 
        to limit citizens' privacy rights and freedom of the press, 
        speech, assembly, movement, and association'' and that 
        ``Internet freedom was further restricted as the government 
        orchestrated attacks against critical Web sites and spied on 
        dissident bloggers''.
            (10) Furthermore, the Country Reports of the Department of 
        State state, with respect to Vietnam, ``Credible reports 
        suggested that local police used `contract thugs' and `citizen 
        brigades' to harass and beat political activists and others, 
        including religious worshippers, perceived as `undesirable' or 
        a `threat' to public security.''.
            (11) In May 2010, Vietnamese police in Thanh Hoa province 
        shot and killed 2 people, including a 12-year-old child, for 
        participating in a land-rights protest against a state-owned 
        enterprise.
            (12) The Country Reports of the Department of State also 
        maintain, with respect to Vietnam, that arbitrary detentions, 
        particularly of political activists, remain a problem, and that 
        authorities of Vietnam increasingly charge political dissidents 
        with violating article 79 of Vietnam's penal code, which 
        penalizes ``attempting to overthrow the state'', due to alleged 
        memberships in political parties other than the Communist Party 
        of Vietnam. That charge carries a potential death penalty.
            (13) On October 29, 2010, United States citizen Le Kin was 
        arrested in Ho Chi Minh City for ``alleged involvement with 
        overseas political organizations critical of the government'', 
        an article 79 violation.
            (14) In November 2010, Vietnamese attorney Cu Huy Ha Vu was 
        arrested for posting articles on the Internet and giving 
        interviews with foreign media that were critical of Prime 
        Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
            (15) On January 5, 2011, Christian Marchant, a United 
        States diplomat at the United States Embassy in Hanoi, was 
        harassed and beaten by the Vietnamese police when he went to 
        visit Catholic priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a Vietnamese 
        dissident under house arrest on charges of undermining the 
        Government of Vietnam.
            (16) According to the Department of State, international 
        nongovernmental organizations estimate that several hundred 
        Montagnard demonstrators who were connected with the Central 
        Highlands anti-government protests in 2004 remained in prison 
        in Vietnam as of December 2010.
            (17) The Country Reports of the Department of State also 
        state that, in Vietnam, ``[h]ousehold registration and block 
        warden systems existed for the surveillance of all citizens'' 
        and that authorities of the Government of Vietnam have--
                    (A) opened and censored mail of targeted persons;
                    (B) forcibly entered homes of prominent dissidents 
                to remove personal computers and cell phones;
                    (C) monitored telephone conversations, email, text 
                messages, and fax transmissions;
                    (D) cut telephone lines and interrupted cell phone 
                and Internet service for a number of political 
                activists and their families; and
                    (E) forbidden direct access to the Internet through 
                foreign Internet service providers and monitored 
                Internet activities.
            (18) On March 30, 2010, Google affirmed that malware 
        implanted in Vietnamese-language keyboard software was being 
        used to spy on dissidents in Vietnam and launch ``denial-of-
        service attacks'' against blogs containing political dissent.
            (19) In 2004, the Department of State designated Vietnam as 
        a country of particular concern with respect to religious 
        freedom pursuant to section 402(b) of the International 
        Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)) as a result 
        of reports of increased harassment of ethnic minority 
        Protestants and Buddhists. However, on November 13, 2006, the 
        Department of State announced that the designation of Vietnam 
        as a country of particular concern with respect to religious 
        freedom had been lifted due to ``many positive steps'' taken by 
        the Government of Vietnam.
            (20) According to the 2010 Country Reports of the 
        Department of State, many unrecognized Protestant churches in 
        Vietnam reported difficulties, such as services being broken up 
        by police, pressure on followers to abandon their faith, and 
        repeated and extended detention and physical abuse of church 
        members and leaders.
            (21) The 2011 annual report of the United States Commission 
        on International Religious Freedom recommends to the Department 
        of State that Vietnam should be designated as a country of 
        particular concern with respect to religious freedom due to 
        ``severe religious freedom abuses''.
            (22) The Commission's report highlights serious violations 
        of religious freedom in Vietnam, including--
                    (A) imprisonment and detention of individuals for 
                religious activity or religious freedom advocacy;
                    (B) laws prohibiting independent religious 
                activity;
                    (C) vague legal protections for government-approved 
                religious organizations that are subject to arbitrary 
                and discriminatory interpretations;
                    (D) specific discrimination against the Unified 
                Buddhist Church of Vietnam, independent Hoa Hao, Cao 
                Dai, and Protestant groups, and some ethnic minority 
                Protestants and Buddhists;
                    (E) property disputes between the Government of 
                Vietnam and the Catholic Church in Hanoi that have led 
                to detentions, threats, harassment, and violence 
                against peaceful prayer vigils and religious leaders;
                    (F) detention of dozens of ethnic minority 
                Protestants for ``independent'' religious activity; and
                    (G) harassment of monks and nuns associated with 
                Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and forcible 
                disbandment of his order.

SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS ON CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE 
              COMPLICIT IN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES COMMITTED AGAINST 
              NATIONALS OF VIETNAM OR THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Admitted; alien; immigration laws; national; spouse.--
        The terms ``admitted'', ``alien'', ``immigration laws'', 
        ``national'', and ``spouse'' have the meanings given those 
        terms in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1101).
            (2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Finance, the Committee on 
                Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Committee 
                on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee 
                on Financial Services, and the Committee on Foreign 
                Affairs of the House of Representatives.
            (3) Convention against torture.--The term ``Convention 
        against Torture'' means the United Nations Convention against 
        Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or 
        Punishment, done at New York on December 10, 1984.
            (4) United states person.--The term ``United States 
        person'' means--
                    (A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully 
                admitted for permanent residence to the United States; 
                or
                    (B) an entity organized under the laws of the 
                United States or of any jurisdiction within the United 
                States, including a foreign branch of such an entity.
    (b) Imposition of Sanctions.--Except as provided in subsections (e) 
and (f), the President shall impose the sanctions described in 
subsection (d) with respect to each individual on the list required by 
subsection (c).
    (c) List of Individuals Who Are Complicit in Certain Human Rights 
Abuses.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a list of individuals who 
        are nationals of Vietnam that the President determines are 
        complicit in human rights abuses committed against nationals of 
        Vietnam or their family members, regardless of whether such 
        abuses occurred in Vietnam.
            (2) Updates of list.--The President shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees an updated list under 
        paragraph (1) as new information becomes available and not less 
        frequently than annually.
            (3) Public availability.--The list required by paragraph 
        (1) shall be made available to the public and posted on the 
        websites of the Department of the Treasury and the Department 
        of State.
            (4) Consideration of data from other countries and 
        nongovernmental organizations.--In preparing the list required 
        by paragraph (1), the President shall consider data already 
        obtained by other countries and nongovernmental organizations, 
        including organizations in Vietnam, that monitor the human 
        rights abuses of the Government of Vietnam.
    (d) Sanctions.--
            (1) Prohibition on entry and admission to the united 
        states.--An individual on the list required by subsection 
        (c)(1) may not--
                    (A) be admitted to, enter, or transit through the 
                United States;
                    (B) receive any lawful immigration status in the 
                United States under the immigration laws, including any 
                relief under the Convention Against Torture; or
                    (C) file any application or petition to obtain such 
                admission, entry, or status.
            (2) Financial sanctions.--The President shall freeze and 
        prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in 
        property of an individual on the list required by subsection 
        (c)(1) if such property and interests in property are in the 
        United States, come within the United States, or are or come 
        within the possession or control of a United States person.
    (e) Exceptions To Comply With International Agreements.--The 
President may, by regulation, authorize exceptions to the imposition of 
sanctions under this section to permit the United States to comply with 
the Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of 
America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed June 
26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, and other 
applicable international agreements.
    (f) Waiver.--The President may waive the requirement to impose or 
maintain sanctions with respect to an individual under subsection (b) 
or the requirement to include an individual on the list required by 
subsection (c)(1) if the President--
            (1) determines that such a waiver is in the national 
        interest of the United States; and
            (2) submits to the appropriate congressional committees a 
        report describing the reasons for the determination.
    (g) Termination of Sanctions.--The provisions of this section shall 
terminate on the date on which the President determines and certifies 
to the appropriate congressional committees that the Government of 
Vietnam has--
            (1) unconditionally released all political prisoners;
            (2) ceased its practices of violence, unlawful detention, 
        torture, and abuse of nationals of Vietnam while those 
        nationals are engaging in peaceful political activity; and
            (3) conducted a transparent investigation into the 
        killings, arrest, and abuse of peaceful political activists in 
        Vietnam and prosecuted those responsible.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON DESIGNATION OF VIETNAM AS A COUNTRY OF 
              PARTICULAR CONCERN WITH RESPECT TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the relationship between the United States and Vietnam 
        cannot progress while the record of the Government of Vietnam 
        with respect to human rights and the rule of law continues to 
        deteriorate;
            (2) the designation of Vietnam as a country of particular 
        concern with respect to religious freedom pursuant to section 
        402(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 
        U.S.C. 6442(b)) would be a powerful and effective tool in 
        highlighting abuses of religious freedom in Vietnam and in 
        encouraging improvement in the respect for human rights in 
        Vietnam; and
            (3) the Secretary of State should, in accordance with the 
        recommendation of the United States Commission on International 
        Religious Freedom, designate Vietnam as a country of particular 
        concern with respect to religious freedom.
                                 <all>