CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS
CAUCUS HEARING
TESTIMONY BY USCIRF
COMMISSIONER LEONARD LEO:
HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM:
CURRENT CONDITIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE U.S-VIETNAM HUMAN RIGHTS
DIALOGUE
MAY 14, 2008
Congresswomen Lofgren
and Sanchez, members of the Congressional Vietnam Caucus, thank for convening
this hearing. This is a timely
event. Vietnam's Prime Minister is
scheduled to visit the United States next month; the U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights
Dialogue will be held in Hanoi at the end of this month.
In surveying human
rights conditions in Vietnam, yesterday's Asian Wall Street Journal concluded that "despite the Vietnamese
Communist Party's desire to hold onto power, the regime is susceptible to
international pressure." We think this
is an accurate statement.
A delegation from
the Commission on International Religious Freedom spent two weeks traveling in
Vietnam during October 2007. We met
government officials, religious leaders, civil society representatives, and several
"prisoners of concern" including Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do, Catholic priest
Phan Van Loi, Nguyen Van Dai and Li Thi Cong Nhan.
We heard, from many
of those we met during our trip, that improvements for religious communities
were directly related to U.S. diplomatic engagement and designation of Vietnam
as a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom
Act of 1998.
The original CPC
designation created incentives and a diplomatic framework that led to tangible
progress in some areas. The Vietnamese
government recognized that religious freedom protections were a clear priority
of bilateral relations, on par with economic and security concerns.
The Commission
continues to find that lifting Vietnam's CPC designation in 2006 was premature,
removing an effective diplomatic tool.
The absence of that tool was all the more evident when Vietnam launched
a crackdown on human rights, democracy, free speech, labor, and religious
freedom advocates shortly after the State Department made the decision to lift
the CPC designation.
In fact, since
Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in January 2007, positive religious
freedom trends have not kept pace with other elements of the U.S.-Vietnamese
relationship, and there has been a marked deterioration of human rights
conditions overall in Vietnam.
It is the
Commission's conclusion that religious freedom conditions in Vietnam remain
problematic: improvements for some
religious communities do not extend fully to others; progress in one province
is not realized in another; national laws are not fully implemented at the
local and provincial levels and are sometimes being used to restrict rather
than protect religious freedom; and there continue to be far too many abuses
and restrictions affecting Vietnam's diverse religious communities, including
the imprisonment and detention of individuals for reasons related to their
religious activity or religious freedom advocacy.
This is not to say
that religious freedom conditions have not improved after Vietnam was first
designated as a CPC in 2004. They
have. Closed churches were re-opened,
new laws were issued banning forced renunciations of faith, and the zone of
permissible religious activity expanded, particularly in urban areas.
However, notable
progress occurred alongside persistent abuses, discrimination, and
restrictions.
Independent
religious activity is illegal. Those who
seek to practice outside government-approved religious organizations-such as
the United Buddhist Church of Vietnam, the Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and some
Protestants-face face harassment, property confiscation, and detention.
Growing religious
practice among ethnic minority Buddhists and Protestants is often viewed as a
security threat, requiring officials, in the words of a recently issued
government training manual, "to manage, control and resolutely overcome"
religious growth among ethnic minorities.
There also continue
to be credible reports of forced renunciations of faith, despite bans on such
activity, including the beating death of an ethnic minority Protestant one year
ago.
We continue to be
reminded that religious freedom abuses and restrictions are not simply a
concern of the past. Since the
Commission issued its Annual Report just two weeks ago, which contained a
substantial section on Vietnam, we have continued to receive reports of serious
abuses. These include:
- the disappearance of a Khmer Buddhist monk who refused to
defrock novice monks participating in February 2007 demonstrations against
religious freedom restrictions;
- the detention of some monks and the vandalizing of pagodas
associated with the UBCV, despite Vietnam hosting an international celebration
in Hanoi beginning today; and
- local government officials confiscating the property and
destroying the homes of ethnic minority Protestants in the northwest provinces,
reportedly in an effort to persuade them to renounce their faith and return to
traditional religious practices.
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 recommends that Vietnam be re-designated as a
"Country of Particular Concern" or CPC under the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998.
Unfortunately, the State Department stated
last week that Vietnam would not be re-designated as a CPC. One of the main reasons cited for this
decision was the release, in the words of a State Department spokesman, of "all
individuals the United States had identified as prisoners of concern for
reasons connected to their faith."
The Commission is
convinced, however, that there are scores of religious prisoners of concern,
who have been detained and imprisoned, in part, for their attempts to exercise
their religious freedom or to advocate on behalf of it. They include Nguyen Van Dai and Fr. Nguyen
Van Ly and individuals from the Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, Khmer, and UBCV Buddhists.
In addition, there
are hundreds of Montagnard Protestants, who were imprisoned after 2001 and 2004
demonstrations for land rights and religious freedom. Their continued imprisonment remains an
unresolved religious freedom problem.
These religious
prisoners of concern should be included in any discussion of whether Vietnam
is, to use the language of the International Religious Freedom Act, a "severe
violator of religious freedom."
The U.S.-Vietnamese
relationship continues to grow-but it is too soon to determine whether the
Vietnamese government is fully committed to protecting religious freedom
instead of maintaining control of the country's diverse religious communities.
As I mentioned
earlier, the Commission's Vietnam report is lengthy and detailed and is
available on the Commission's Web site.
The report also includes many recommendations. In my remaining time here, I would like to
quickly highlight recommendations the Commission has made to the U.S.
Congress:
- It is
important for Congress to continue oversight, establish benchmarks, and measure
progress of the U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogues by holding appropriate
hearings on a report the State Department is required to submit to Congress by
law. (Sec. 702 of PL 107-228);
- The
largest part of U.S. Economic Support Funds (ESF) to Vietnam has gone to fund
commercial rule of law and other trade and business promotion activities. The Congress should require that new human
rights programs and economic assistance targeting troubled ethnic minority
regions are funded at the same levels as programs supporting trade and business
development.
- Vietnam
uses national security provisions found in many of its laws to crush dissent
and arrest human rights and democracy advocates. Revision of these problematic laws should be
a priority of U.S. human rights diplomacy.
Congressional leaders should consider organizing an ongoing dialogue
with counterparts in Vietnam's National Assembly on ways to balance national
security and civil liberties in law.
- The U.S.
Congress has an important role to play in setting the scope and agenda for
future U.S.-Vietnamese relations. The
Commission looks forward to working with members of Congress to further share
our perspectives and recommendations for improving religious freedom and
related human rights in Vietnam.
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