[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20094]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  PUT VIETNAM BACK ON THE CPC LIST NOW

  (Mr. CAO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CAO. Mr. Speaker, how much longer must we tolerate Vietnam's 
outrageous and continuous violations of its people's religious freedom 
and human rights? Just over a week ago, the Vietnamese government 
assaulted, arrested and imprisoned dozens of Catholics in the Diocese 
of Vinh for erecting a temporary place of worship on Tam Toa Parish 
Church that was destroyed during the Vietnam War. If this is not 
sufficiently egregious and reprehensible to draw our attention and 
condemnation, I do not know what is. However, the sad reality is that 
this is just one of the many audacious and concerning violations 
perpetrated by the Vietnamese government since it was removed from the 
list of Countries of Particular Concern in 2006.
  Arrests of religious leaders and political activists, intimidation of 
worshippers, and collusion in labor trafficking have become a common 
practice by the Vietnamese government. We cannot continue to tolerate 
unjust, inhumane and illegal practices. Vietnam must be put back on the 
CPC list, and I urge the State Department to do so expediently.

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