[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 66 (Monday, May 13, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S4959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        VIETNAM HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, this past Saturday was Vietnam Human 
Rights Day, and I join in urging all Members of the Senate to express 
their support for it. Six years ago, on May 11, 1990, one of Vietnam's 
foremost human rights advocates, Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, published the 
Manifesto of the Non-Violent Movement for Human Rights in Vietnam. 
Vietnam Human Rights Day marks that historic occasion. The manifesto 
calls on the Vietnamese Government to respect basic human rights, 
establish a multiparty system of government, and allow free and fair 
elections.
  Tragically, Dr. Que's appeal led to his arrest and imprisonment in 
1990. He was sentenced to 20 years of hard labor, and he has spent the 
past 2 years in solitary confinement.
  Last November, Dr. Que and Prof. Doan Viet Hoat, a leading Vietnamese 
dissident who has also been imprisoned, were recipients of the Robert 
F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. At that time, I called on the Vietnamese 
Government to release Dr. Que and Professor Hoat and all political 
prisoners in Vietnam. Today, 6 months later, Dr. Que and Professor Hoat 
and other political prisoners remain in prison, and their plight and 
the future of human rights in Vietnam remain bleak.
  I take this opportunity on Vietnam Human Rights Day to call on the 
Government of Vietnam to respect fundamental human rights and release 
their political prisoners. The people of Vietnam have waited too long 
for these basic changes to take place.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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