[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 218 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 218

  Calling on the Secretary of State to list the Socialist Republic of 
    Vietnam as a ``Country of Particular Concern'' with respect to 
                           religious freedom.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 16, 2013

  Mr. Royce (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Connolly, Mr. 
Pitts, Ms. Lofgren, and Mr. Schiff) submitted the following resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Calling on the Secretary of State to list the Socialist Republic of 
    Vietnam as a ``Country of Particular Concern'' with respect to 
                           religious freedom.

Whereas the Secretary of State, under the International Religious Freedom Act of 
        1998 (IRFA), its amendment in 1999, and authority delegated by the 
        President, designates nations found guilty of ``particularly severe 
        violations of religious freedom as `Countries of Particular Concern''' 
        (CPC);
Whereas on September 15, 2004, the Secretary of State designated the Socialist 
        Republic of Vietnam as a CPC;
Whereas to avoid possible sanctions or other ``commensurate actions'' 
        recommended by section 405 (a) or (b) of IRFA, in May 2005 the United 
        States and Vietnam reached a binding agreement consistent with section 
        405(c) of IRFA;
Whereas, although the terms of the binding agreement have never been fully 
        publicized, the United States Commission on International Religious 
        Freedom (USCIRF) 2006 Annual Report stated that the United States agreed 
        to lift the CPC designation if the Government of Vietnam fully 
        implemented legislation on religious freedom and rendered previous 
        contradictory regulations obsolete, instructed local authorities 
        strictly and completely to adhere to the new legislation to ensure 
        compliance, facilitated the process by which religious congregations are 
        able to open houses of worship, and gave special consideration to 
        prisoners and cases of concern raised by the United States during the 
        granting of prisoner amnesties;
Whereas in November 2006, the Secretary of State announced that the CPC 
        designation was lifted with respect to Vietnam;
Whereas in explaining the lifting of the designation, Department of State 
        officials have stated that ``the Government of Vietnam has made 
        significant improvements towards advancing religious freedom'' and that 
        ``major progress has been achieved on all points of concern that led to 
        Vietnam's initial designation'';
Whereas the criteria for designating countries as a CPC, as set forth in section 
        3(11) of IRFA, are for ``systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations 
        of religious freedom including violations, such as torture or cruel, 
        inhuman, or degrading treatment of punishment, prolonged detention 
        without charges, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction 
        or clandestine detention of those persons, and other flagrant denial of 
        the right of life, liberty, or the security of persons'';
Whereas, according to USCIRF, the CPC designation, when used in the past, 
        brought about ``some overall improvements'' and ``prisoner releases'' 
        without hindering ``progress on other United States-Vietnam interests'';
Whereas, according to the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices for 2012, ``Vietnamese who exercise their right to freedom of 
        religion continued to be subject to harassment, differing 
        interpretations and applications of the law, and inconsistent legal 
        protection . . .'' and ``local police continued to use contract thugs 
        and citizen brigades to harass and beat political activists and others, 
        including religious worshiper'';
Whereas, according to USCIRF's 2013 Annual Report, Vietnam continues to warrant 
        a CPC designation because of ``systematic, ongoing and egregious 
        violations of religious freedom'' and the Vietnamese Government 
        continues to ``view with suspicion the growth of Protestantism among 
        ethnic minority'' Hmong and Montagnards and has taken direct action to 
        harass and arrest those meeting in independent religious groups and to 
        pressure new converts to Protestantism to renounce their faith;
Whereas, according to Human Rights Watch, Vietnam ``restricts religious freedom 
        through legislation, registration requirements, and harassing and 
        intimidating unsanctioned religious groups, including independent 
        Protestant home churches, and individuals and congregations of Hoa Hao 
        Buddhists, Cao Dai, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, and Falun 
        Gong'';
Whereas, according to nongovernmental organizations, hundreds of Montagnard 
        Protestants remain in prison, arrested after 2001 and 2004 
        demonstrations for land rights and religious freedom in the Central 
        Highlands;
Whereas, according to one human rights group, a ``religious police'' unit 
        continues to carry out a campaign to capture and transform ``reactionary 
        operatives'' and ``Dega Protestants'', resulting in beatings, 
        detentions, deaths in custody, forced renunciations of faith, and 
        disappearances of Montagnards Protestants gathering in independent 
        congregations;
Whereas on March 26, 2012, the People's Court of Gia Lai city sentenced Pastor 
        Nguyen Cong Chinh, the leader of the Christian Congregation of the 
        Vietnamese Lutheran Church, to 11 years in prison; a higher court in 
        July 2012 upheld the heavy sentence; and the police continue to harass 
        his wife and children, and on April 12, 2013, the police of Binh Duong 
        Province detained his wife after a prison visit, stripped her naked, and 
        beat her;
Whereas on March 17, 2013, police in Dak Nong province arrested 2 brothers, both 
        Hmong Protestants, without charges and tortured one Hoang Van Ngai, a 
        deacon at a Hmong house church to death;
Whereas, according to USCIRF's 2013 Annual Report, Vietnamese ``officials 
        continued to target Catholic communities, including with destruction of 
        properties, detentions, and arrests . . . used force against Catholic 
        clergy engaged in religious activities, and continued to restrict, 
        harass, and detain members of the Redemptorist Order'' for their 
        religious freedom advocacy;
Whereas the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), the Hoa Hao Buddhists, 
        and the Cao Dai groups continue to face unwarranted abuses because of 
        their attempts to organize independently of the Vietnamese Government, 
        including the detention and imprisonment of individual members and 
        widespread discrimination against these religious communities;
Whereas the UBCV, Vietnam's largest religious organization, continues to face 
        severe restrictions including the continued ``pagoda detention'' of 
        Supreme Patriarch Thich Quang Do and on its youth and charitable work, 
        conducting religious ceremonies, and in police harassment of lay people 
        attending recognized UBCV pagodas;
Whereas, according to USCIRF's 2013 Annual Report, over 600 Hmong Protestant 
        churches are refused legal recognition or affiliation, leaving them 
        illegal and subject to harassment, detentions, and property 
        destructions, and a government handbook on religion instructs government 
        officials to control existing religious practice and ``overcome the 
        extraordinary growth of Protestantism'';
Whereas in May 2011 the police in Dien Bien Province brutally cracked down on 
        thousands of Hmong Protestants who gathered near Muong Nhe Village 
        reportedly to conduct various types of religious activities--the 
        crackdown reportedly caused several deaths and scores of arrests, though 
        no independent investigation has been allowed; and
Whereas USCIRF, prominent nongovernmental organizations, and representative 
        associations of Vietnamese-American, Montagnard-American, and Khmer-
        American organizations continue to call for the redesignation of Vietnam 
        as a CPC: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) strongly encourages the Department of State to place 
        Vietnam on the list of ``Countries of Particular Concern'' for 
        particularly severe violations of religious freedom;
            (2) strongly condemns the ongoing and egregious violations 
        of religious freedom in Vietnam, including the detention of 
        religious leaders and the long-term imprisonment of individuals 
        engaged in peaceful advocacy;
            (3) calls on Vietnam to lift restrictions on religious 
        freedom, cease all expropriations of church properties, and 
        implement necessary legal and political reforms to protect 
        religious freedom; and
            (4) urges the Department of State to demonstrate clearly 
        that the expansion of bilateral ties will depend on 
        improvements in religious freedom and related rights.
                                 <all>