[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 362 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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114th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 362
Recognizing the contributions of the Montagnard indigenous tribespeople
of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to the United States Armed Forces
during the Vietnam War, and condemning the ongoing violation of human
rights by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 4, 2016
Mr. Burr (for himself and Mr. Tillis) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the contributions of the Montagnard indigenous tribespeople
of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to the United States Armed Forces
during the Vietnam War, and condemning the ongoing violation of human
rights by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Whereas the Montagnards are an indigenous tribespeople living in Vietnam's
Central Highlands region;
Whereas the Montagnards were driven into the mountains by invading Vietnamese
and Cambodians in the 9th century;
Whereas French Roman Catholic missionaries converted many of the Montagnards in
the 19th century and American Protestant missionaries subsequently
converted many to various Protestant sects;
Whereas, during the 1960s, the United States Mission in Saigon, the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), and United States Army Special Forces, also
known as the Green Berets, trained the Montagnards in unconventional
warfare;
Whereas an estimated 61,000 Montagnards, out of an estimated population of
1,000,000, fought alongside the United States and the Army of the
Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces against the North Vietnamese Army and
the Viet Cong;
Whereas the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Special Forces, and the
Montagnards cooperated on the Village Defense Program, a forerunner to
the War's Strategic Hamlet Program, and an estimated 43,000 Montagnards
were organized into ``Civilian Irregular Defense Groups'' (CIDGs) to
provide protection for the areas around the CIDGs' operational bases;
Whereas, at its peak, the CIDGs had approximately 50 operational bases, with
each base containing a contingent of two United States Army officers and
ten enlisted men, and an ARVN unit of the same size, and each base
trained 200 to 700 Montagnards, or ``strikers'';
Whereas another 18,000 Montagnards were reportedly enlisted into mobile strike
forces, and various historical accounts describe a strong bond between
the United States Special Forces and the Montagnards, in contrast to
Vietnamese Special Forces and ARVN troops;
Whereas the lives of thousands of members of the United States Armed Forces were
saved as a result of the heroic actions of the Montagnards, who fought
loyally and bravely alongside United States Special Forces in the
Vietnam War;
Whereas, after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975, thousands of
Montagnards fled across the border into Cambodia to escape persecution;
Whereas the Government of the reunified Vietnamese nation, renamed the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam, deeply distrusted the Montagnards who had sided
with the United States and ARVN forces and subjected them to
imprisonment and various forms of discrimination and oppression after
the Vietnam War ended;
Whereas, after the Vietnam War, the United States Government resettled large
numbers of Montagnards, mostly in North Carolina, and an estimated
several thousand Montagnards currently reside in North Carolina, which
is the largest population of Montagnards residing outside of Vietnam;
Whereas the Socialist Republic of Vietnam currently remains a one-party state,
ruled and controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), which
continues to restrict freedom of religion, movement, land and property
rights, and political expression;
Whereas officials of the Government of Vietnam have forced Montagnards to
publicly denounce their religion, arrested and imprisoned Montagnards
who organized public demonstrations, and mistreated Montagnards in
detention;
Whereas some Montagnard Americans have complained that Vietnamese authorities
either have prevented them from visiting Vietnam or have subjected them
to interrogation upon re-entering the country on visits;
Whereas the Department of State's 2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
(``2014 Human Rights Report'') documents that, despite Vietnam's
significant economic growth, some indigenous and ethnic minority
communities benefitted little from improved economic conditions, even
though such communities formed a majority of the population in certain
areas, including the Northwest and Central Highlands and portions of the
Mekong Delta;
Whereas the 2014 Human Rights Report states that, although Vietnamese law
prohibits discrimination against ethnic minorities, such social
discrimination was longstanding and persistent, notably in the Central
Highlands;
Whereas the 2014 Human Rights Report documents that land rights protesters have
reported regular instances of government authorities physically
harassing and intimidating them at land expropriation sites around the
country;
Whereas, in its 2015 Annual Report, the United States Commission on
International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) references the accounts of
Montagnards, including children, fleeing persecution in Vietnam to seek
refugee status in Cambodia, only to suffer harsh conditions while hiding
in the jungles and forcibly returned to Vietnam by Cambodian officials;
Whereas USCIRF reports the Government of Vietnam continues to detain numerous
prisoners of conscience and the number of new church registrations is
exceptionally low when compared to the thousands of congregations that
either choose to remain independent or are denied registration, leaving
them no choice but to operate illegally;
Whereas the Department of State's 2014 International Religious Freedom Report
documents that leaders of unregistered Protestant denominations
continued to report that local authorities in the Central Highlands
discriminated against their followers by threatening to exclude them
from state programs if they did not denounce their faith and that
students who were openly Protestant often suffered discrimination; and
Whereas USCIRF recommends that Vietnam be designated a Country of Particular
Concern (CPC) as ongoing human rights violations ``serve as a cautionary
tale of the potential for backsliding in religious freedoms when
vigilance in monitoring such abuses ceases'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes the contributions of the Montagnards who
fought loyally and bravely with United States Armed Forces
during the Vietnam War and who continue to suffer persecution
in Vietnam as a result of this relationship;
(2) condemns ongoing actions by the Government of Vietnam
to suppress basic human rights and civil liberties for all its
citizens;
(3) calls on the Government of Vietnam to allow human
rights groups access to all regions of the country and to end
restrictions of basic human rights, including the right for
Montagnards to practice their Christian faith freely, the right
to land and property, freedom of movement, the right to retain
ethnic identity and culture, and access to an adequate standard
of living; and
(4) urges the President and Congress to develop policies
that support Montagnards and other marginalized ethnic minority
and indigenous populations in Vietnam and reflect United States
interests and commitment to upholding human rights and
democracy abroad.
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