[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 163 (Wednesday, October 4, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4952-S4953]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 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

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

                              S. Res. 395

       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

[[Page S4953]]

     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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