For the complete text of Commissioner Leo's remakrs, please go to:

http://www.uscirf.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2209&Itemid=122 

 

WASHINGTON- Commission Leonard Leo of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom joined Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Ed Royce (R-CA), Dan Lungren (R-CA), and Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) in a press conference sponsored by the bipartisan House Vietnam Caucus regarding the demonstrated complicity of Vietnam in various human rights violations, particularly against its minority communities.

 

In advance of the expected visit of Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the United States, the bipartisan House Vietnam Caucus, along with several Vietnamese community leaders, held press conference highlighting the horrific human rights abuses and the urgent "need to reform" in Vietnam.  The Members called upon President Bush to make human rights a focal point of his agenda in his upcoming meetings with the Vietnamese Prime Minister. 

 

Commissioner Leonard A. Leo addressed concerns regarding the freedom of religion in Vietnam that prompted the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to recommend that Vietnam be re-designated a "country of particular concern," or CPC, in its 2008 Annual Report.  "This press conference is well-timed, just a few days ahead of the visit of the Vietnamese Prime Minister to Washington, and sends an important signal to the Vietnamese government that human rights abuses in Vietnam are of deep concern to both the U.S. government and the citizens of the United States," said Commissioner Leo.

 

"In view of the ongoing and serious problems faced by many of Vietnam's religious communities, the uneven pace of reforms meant to improve the situation, the continued detention of religious prisoners of concern, and what can only be seen as a deteriorating human rights situation overall, the Commission again last month in the release of our Annual Report recommended that Vietnam be re-designated as a CPC under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998," said Commissioner Leo.