[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13886]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
discuss human rights in Vietnam and the Vietnamese Prime Minister 
Nguyen Tan Dung's visit to the United States.
  I understand that, when President Bush and Prime Minister Dung met, 
they discussed the importance of promoting human rights in Vietnam and 
that Prime Minister Dung told President Bush that the Vietnamese 
Government has made efforts and is committed to further promoting and 
improving human rights in Vietnam.
  Now, as a long-time advocate of human rights in Vietnam and as a 
representative of one of the largest Vietnamese-American communities, 
we know that human rights in Vietnam have only been getting worse. The 
Government of Vietnam has continued to harass, arrest and to sentence 
peaceful democracy advocates to prison--oh, and by the way, also United 
States citizens of Vietnamese descent.
  If there is any evidence of Prime Minister Dung's claim that human 
rights in Vietnam are improving, I urge him to show it to this 
Congress, but I doubt that he is telling the truth.

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