[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 88 (Friday, June 12, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H6665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  VIETNAM MUST RESPECT THE RULE OF LAW

  (Mr. CAO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CAO. Madam Speaker, although we live in the 21st century, many 
people today are still deprived of life, liberty or property without 
due process of law by governments that lack the rule of law. One such 
government is the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
  About 10 years ago, the Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, 
and Social Affairs directly oversaw and operated two state-owned labor 
companies that were involved in the largest human trafficking case ever 
prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice. The case thoroughly 
documented the exploitation and abusive conditions faced by more than 
230 workers at the Daewoosa factory in American Samoa. These victims 
were beaten, starved, sexually harassed and threatened with 
deportation. The High Court of American Samoa subsequently found these 
state-owned labor agencies liable for the atrocities and made them pay 
$3.5 million to the victims. Almost 10 years after the ruling, Vietnam 
still refuses to acknowledge its part in these atrocities and pay.
  Madam Speaker, I ask that the U.S. Congress demand that the 
Vietnamese government pay the damages and respect the rule of law.

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