[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 395 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 395

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

                            October 4, 2023

     Mr. Tillis (for himself and Mr. Budd) 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 denominations;
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 or belief, 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 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 
        (in this resolution referred to as the ``2022 Human Rights Report'') 
        documents that not all members of ethnic minorities were able to engage 
        in decisions affecting their lands, cultures, and traditions, even 
        though ethnic minority group members constituted a sizeable percentage 
        of the population in certain areas, including the Northwest, the Central 
        Highlands, and portions of the Mekong Delta;
Whereas the 2022 Human Rights Report states that although Vietnamese law 
        prohibits violence and discrimination against ethnic minorities, such 
        social discrimination was longstanding and persistent, including in the 
        Central Highlands;
Whereas the 2022 Human Rights Report documents that Vietnamese authorities 
        monitored, harassed, and intimidated members of certain ethnic minority 
        groups, particularly ethnoreligious minorities in the Central and 
        Northwest Highland;
Whereas the 2022 Human Rights Report documents that Vietnamese authorities used 
        national security laws to impose lengthy prison sentences on members of 
        ethnic minorities for their connections to overseas organizations the 
        government claimed espoused separatist aims;
Whereas the 2022 Human Rights Report documents that land expropriation and 
        preferential government treatment for nonindigenous residents in these 
        areas was common, despite the government previously allocating land to 
        ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands;
Whereas the Department of State's 2022 International Religious Freedom Report 
        documents that Montagnard Christians reported being summoned, arrested, 
        and fined by police in Dak Lak Province related to inquiries about 
        legally registering their religious group, commemorating International 
        Religious Freedom Day in 2021, and communication with international 
        diplomatic missions and religious freedom nongovernmental organizations;
Whereas the Department of State's 2022 International Religious Freedom Report 
        documents accounts from a Montagnard Christian in Gia Lai Province that 
        during the year, he was interrogated by police, detained, and beaten 
        multiple times while authorities repeatedly demanded that he renounce 
        affiliation with his church, including an incident in which police 
        burned his Bible and other religious materials, placed the embers on his 
        face, and hung him from the ceiling and beat him with a stick for hours;
Whereas the Department of State's 2022 International Religious Freedom Report 
        documents that police prevented Montagnard Christians from gathering 
        during important religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas or 
        forced them to take down their decorations for Christmas;
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 
        references in its 2023 Annual Report many reports of local authorities 
        harassing members of unregistered Montagnard Protestant groups, 
        disrupting and banning their peaceful religious activities, 
        interrogating and threatening them with imprisonment, imposing heavy 
        fines, and coercing them to denounce and leave their denominations and 
        instead join state-controlled Protestant organizations;
Whereas the 2023 USCIRF Report documents many reports of local authorities 
        harassing members of unregistered Montagnard Protestant groups, 
        disrupting and banning their peaceful religious activities, 
        interrogating and threatening them with imprisonment, imposing heavy 
        fines, and coercing them to denounce and leave their denominations and 
        instead join state-controlled Protestant organizations;
Whereas the 2019 USCIRF Report documents that one-quarter of prisoners of 
        conscience were minority religious groups, including Montagnard 
        Christians;
Whereas the 2019 USCIRF Report estimates that 10,000 individuals in the Central 
        Highlands are refused ID cards, household registration, and birth 
        certificates by local authorities in retaliation for refusing to 
        renounce their faith;
Whereas USCIRF has recommended every year since 2002 that Vietnam be designated 
        a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious 
        Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-292) due to ``systematic, ongoing, 
        egregious violations of religious freedom''; and
Whereas, on November 30, 2022, in accordance with the International Religious 
        Freedom Act of 1998, the Secretary of State placed Vietnam on the 
        Special Watch List (SWL) for having engaged in or tolerated ``severe 
        violations of religious freedom'': 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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