[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 170 (Friday, November 21, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP OF UNIFIED 
                       BUDDHIST CHURCH OF VIETNAM

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 19, 2003

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am here today as a staunch 
supporter of freedom of religion. While we have made progress in our 
own country, there are other areas in the world which still persecute 
unjustly. Buddhism has a 2,000-year tradition in Vietnam and the 
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) is an heir to this tradition. 
In 1981, the Government of Vietnam declared the UBCV, one of the 
largest religious denominations in the country, illegal, confiscated 
its temples, and persecuted its clergy for refusing to join the state-
sponsored Buddhist organizations.
  The Government of Vietnam has often imprisoned UBCV clergy and 
subjected them to other forms of persecution; the Patriarch of the 
UBCV, the 85-year-old Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, has been 
detained and restrained for more than 2 decades in isolated areas of 
Vietnam. The Vietnamese Government has held the Most Venerable Thich 
Quang Do, the Executive President of the UBCV and his deputy, the 
Venerable Thich Tue Sy, in various forms of detention since 1977. In 
1978, he was tortured to death in a reeducation camp.
  Many other leading UBCV figures have been detained and harassed. 
Evading tight surveillance, others have fled to Cambodia to escape 
religious repression and harassment.
  Vietnam has acceded to international treaties that prohibit the 
forced repatriation of UNHCR-recognized refugees and that protect the 
right to faith, belief, and practice.
  Vietnam's constitution protects the right of religious belief, yet on 
October 8, 2003, Vietnamese authorities initiated a tense standoff 
following the meeting, where police stopped a vehicle carrying the 
UBCV's new leadership and subsequently detained the eleven passengers. 
According to reports by the United States State Department, the United 
States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the European 
Union, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam systematically limits the 
right of religious organizations to choose their own clergy.
  During the 107th Congress, I along with my colleagues in the House of 
Representatives, passed H.R. 2833, the Vietnam Human Rights Act, on 
September 6, 2001, which noted the persecutions faced by various 
members of the UBCV over the past 25 years. Because of systematic, 
egregious, and ongoing abuses of religious freedom, the United States 
Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the 
President of the United States designate Vietnam as a ``country of 
particular concern'' under the provisions of the International 
Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

  Today, I am pleased to join the House of Representatives in 
congratulating the new leadership of the Unified Buddhist Church of 
Vietnam and urging the Government of Vietnam to respect the right of 
all independent religious organizations to meet, worship, operate, and 
practice their faith in accordance with Vietnam's own constitution and 
international covenants to which Vietnam is a signatory.
  We are joined by our allies in being committed to promoting religious 
freedom in Vietnam, and, in furtherance of this goal, and urge the 
implementation of the recommendations of the United States Commission 
on International Religious Freedom.
  We ask that the United States Embassy in Vietnam to closely monitor 
cases of abuse of religious belief and practice, routinely visit 
detained clergy members, especially those in need of medical care, and 
report to the Congress on specific measures taken to protect and 
promote religious freedom in Vietnam.

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