[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 21 (Thursday, February 4, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S673-S674]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  Mr. BURR (for himself and Mr. Tillis) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 362

       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;

[[Page S674]]

       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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