[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1587 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
2d Session
H. R. 1587
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 20, 2004
Received
July 22, 2004
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To promote freedom and democracy in Vietnam.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Vietnam Human
Rights Act of 2004''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
TITLE I--CONDITIONS ON INCREASED NONHUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO THE
GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM
Sec. 101. Bilateral nonhumanitarian assistance.
TITLE II--ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN VIETNAM
Sec. 201. Assistance.
TITLE III--UNITED STATES PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Sec. 301. Radio Free Asia transmissions to Vietnam.
Sec. 302. United states educational and cultural exchange programs with
Vietnam.
TITLE IV--ANNUAL REPORT ON PROGRESS TOWARD FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN
VIETNAM
Sec. 401. Annual report.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a one-party State,
ruled and controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV),
which continues to deny the right of citizens to change their
government. Although in recent years the National Assembly of
Vietnam has played an increasingly active role as a forum for
highlighting local concerns, corruption, and inefficiency, the
National Assembly remains subject to CPV direction. The CPV
maintains control over the selection of candidates in national
and local elections.
(2) The Government of Vietnam permits no public challenge
to the legitimacy of the one-party State. It prohibits
independent political, labor, and social organizations, and it
continues to detain and imprison persons for the peaceful
expression of dissenting religious and political views,
including Pham Hong Son, Tran Dung Tien, Father Nguyen Van Ly,
Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, Nguyen Vu Binh, Pham Que Duong, and Pastor
Nguyen Hong Quang, among others.
(3) The Government of Vietnam continues to commit serious
human rights abuses. In January 2004, the Department of State
reported to Congress that during the previous year the
Government of Vietnam had made ``no progress'' toward releasing
political and religious activists, ending official restrictions
on religious activity, or respecting the rights of indigenous
minorities in the Central and Northern Highlands of Vietnam.
(4)(A) The Government of Vietnam limits freedom of religion
and restricts the operation of religious organizations other
than those approved by the State. While officially sanctioned
religious organizations are able to operate with varying
degrees of autonomy, some of those organizations continue to
face restrictions on selecting, training, and ordaining
sufficient numbers of clergy and in conducting educational and
charitable activities. The Government has previously
confiscated numerous churches, temples, and other properties
belonging to religious organizations, most of which have never
been returned.
(B) Unregistered ethnic minority Protestant congregations
in the Northwest and Central Highlands of Vietnam suffer severe
abuses, which have included forced renunciations of faith, the
closure and destruction of churches, the arrest and harassment
of pastors, and, in a few cases, there have been credible
reports that minority religious leaders have been beaten and
killed.
(C) The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), one of
the largest religious denominations in Vietnam, was declared
illegal in 1981. The Government of Vietnam confiscated its
temples and persecuted its clergy for refusing to join the
state-sponsored Buddhist organizations. For more than 2
decades, the Government has detained and confined senior UBCV
clergy, including the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the
Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, the Venerable Thich Tue Sy, and
others.
(D) The Catholic Church continues to face significant
restrictions on the training and ordination of priests and
bishops, resulting in numbers insufficient to support the
growing Catholic population in Vietnam. Although recent years
have brought a modest easing of government control in some
dioceses, officials in other areas strictly limit the conduct
of religious education classes and charitable activities.
Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, who was convicted in a closed
trial in 2001 after publicly criticizing religious repression
by the Government of Vietnam, remains in prison.
(E) The Government of Vietnam continues to suppress the
activities of other religious adherents, including Cao Dai,
Baha'i, and Hoa Hao who lack official recognition or have
chosen not to affiliate with the State-sanctioned groups,
including through the use of detention and imprisonment.
(5) The Government of Vietnam significantly restricts the
freedoms of speech and the press, particularly with respect to
political and religious speech. Government and Party-related
organizations control all print and electronic media, including
access to the Internet. The Government blocks web sites that it
deems politically or culturally inappropriate, and it jams some
foreign radio stations, including Radio Free Asia. The
Government has detained, convicted, and imprisoned individuals
who have posted or sent democracy-related materials via the
Internet.
(6)(A) Indigenous Montagnards in the Central Highlands of
Vietnam continue to face significant repression. The Government
of Vietnam restricts the practice of Christianity by those
populations, and more than 100 Montagnards have been sentenced
to prison terms of up to 13 years for claiming land rights,
organizing Christian gatherings, or attempting to seek asylum
in Cambodia.
(B) The Government of Vietnam uses the separatist agenda of
a relatively small number of ethnic minority leaders as a
rationale for violating civil and political rights in ethnic
minority regions.
(C) The Government of Vietnam arrested or detained nearly
300 Montagnards during 2003 and since then many hundreds of
Montagnards have gone into hiding, fearing arrest,
interrogation, or physical abuse by government authorities.
(D) During Easter weekend in April 2004, thousands of
Montagnards gathered to protest their treatment by the
Government of Vietnam, including the confiscation of tribal
lands and ongoing restrictions on religious activities.
Credible reports indicate that the protests were met with a
violent response and that many demonstrators were arrested,
injured, or are in hiding, and that others were killed.
(E) Government officials continue to restrict access to the
Central and Northwest Highlands of Vietnam by diplomats,
nongovernmental organizations, journalists, and other
foreigners, making it difficult to verify conditions in those
areas.
(7)(A) United States refugee resettlement programs for
Vietnamese nationals, including the Orderly Departure Program
(ODP), the Resettlement Opportunities for Returning Vietnamese
(ROVR) program, the Priority One (P1) program and the
resettlement of boat people from refugee camps throughout
Southeast Asia, were authorized by law in order to rescue
Vietnamese nationals who have suffered persecution on account
of their wartime associations with the United States, as well
as those who currently have a well-founded fear of persecution
on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion,
or membership in a particular social group.
(B) While those programs have served their purposes well, a
significant number of eligible refugees were unfairly denied or
excluded, in some cases by vindictive or corrupt Vietnamese
officials who controlled access to the programs, and in others
by United States personnel who imposed unduly restrictive
interpretations of program criteria.
(C) The Department of State has agreed to extend the
September 30, 1994, registration deadline for former United
States employees, ``re-education'' survivors, and surviving
spouses of those who did not survive ``re-education'' camps to
sign up for United States refugee programs, as well as to
resume the Vietnamese In-Country Priority One Program in
Vietnam to provide protection to victims of persecution on
account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or
membership in a particular social group who otherwise have no
access to the Orderly Departure Program.
(D) The former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
agreed to resume the processing of former United States
employees under the U11 program, which had been unilaterally
suspended by the United States Government, as well as to review
the applications of Amerasians, children of American servicemen
left behind in Vietnam after the war ended in April 1975, for
resettlement to the United States under the Amerasian
Homecoming Act of 1988.
(8) Congress and people of the United States are united in
their determination that the expansion of relations with
Vietnam, a country whose government engages in serious
violations of fundamental human rights, should not be construed
as approval of or complacency about such practices. The
promotion of freedom and democracy around the world is and must
continue to be a central objective of United States foreign
policy. Congress remains willing and hopeful to recognize
improvement in the future human rights practices of the
Government of Vietnam, which is the motivating purpose behind
this Act.
TITLE I--CONDITIONS ON INCREASED NONHUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO THE
GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM
SEC. 101. BILATERAL NONHUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE.
(a) Assistance.--
(1) In general.--United States nonhumanitarian assistance
may not be provided to the Government of Vietnam in an amount
exceeding the amount so provided for fiscal year 2004--
(A) for fiscal year 2005 unless not later than 30
days after the date of the enactment of this Act the
President determines and certifies to Congress that the
requirements of subparagraphs (A) through (D) of
paragraph (2) have been met during the 12-month period
ending on the date of the certification; and
(B) for each subsequent fiscal year unless the
President determines and certifies to Congress in the
most recent annual report submitted pursuant to section
401 that the requirements of subparagraphs (A) through
(E) of paragraph (2) have been met during the 12-month
period covered by the report.
(2) Requirements.--The requirements of this paragraph are
that--
(A) the Government of Vietnam has made substantial
progress toward releasing all political and religious
prisoners from imprisonment, house arrest, and other
forms of detention;
(B)(i) the Government of Vietnam has made
substantial progress toward respecting the right to
freedom of religion, including the right to participate
in religious activities and institutions without
interference by or involvement of the Government; and
(ii) has made substantial progress toward returning
estates and properties confiscated from the churches;
(C) the Government of Vietnam has made substantial
progress toward allowing Vietnamese nationals free and
open access to United States refugee programs;
(D) the Government of Vietnam has made substantial
progress toward respecting the human rights of members
of ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands and
elsewhere in Vietnam; and
(E)(i) neither any official of the Government of
Vietnam nor any agency or entity wholly or partly owned
by the Government of Vietnam was complicit in a severe
form of trafficking in persons; or
(ii) the Government of Vietnam took all appropriate
steps to end any such complicity and hold such
official, agency, or entity fully accountable for its
conduct.
(b) Exception.--
(1) Continuation of assistance in the national interest.--
Notwithstanding the failure of the Government of Vietnam to
meet the requirements of subsection (a)(2), the President may
waive the application of subsection (a) for any fiscal year if
the President determines that the provision to the Government
of Vietnam of increased United States nonhumanitarian
assistance would promote the purposes of this Act or is
otherwise in the national interest of the United States.
(2) Exercise of waiver authority.--The President may
exercise the authority under paragraph (2) with respect to--
(A) all United States nonhumanitarian assistance to
Vietnam; or
(B) one or more programs, projects, or activities
of such assistance.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Severe form of trafficking in persons.--The term
``severe form of trafficking in persons'' means any activity
described in section 103(8) of the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-386 (114 Stat. 1470); 22
U.S.C. 7102(8)).
(2) United states nonhumanitarian assistance.--The term
``United States nonhumanitarian assistance'' means--
(A) any assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961 (including programs under title IV of chapter 2
of part I of that Act, relating to the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation), other than--
(i) disaster relief assistance, including
any assistance under chapter 9 of part I of
that Act;
(ii) assistance which involves the
provision of food (including monetization of
food) or medicine;
(iii) assistance for refugees; and
(iv) assistance to combat HIV/AIDS,
including any assistance under section 104A of
that Act; and
(B) sales, or financing on any terms, under the
Arms Export Control Act.
TITLE II--ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN VIETNAM
SEC. 201. ASSISTANCE.
(a) In General.--The President is authorized to provide assistance,
through appropriate nongovernmental organizations, for the support of
individuals and organizations to promote democracy and internationally
recognized human rights in Vietnam.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the President to carry out subsection (a) $2,000,000
for each of the fiscal years 2005 and 2006.
TITLE III--UNITED STATES PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
SEC. 301. RADIO FREE ASIA TRANSMISSIONS TO VIETNAM.
(a) Policy of the United States.--It is the policy of the United
States to take such measures as are necessary to overcome the jamming
of Radio Free Asia by the Government of Vietnam, including the active
pursuit of broadcast facilities in close geographic proximity to
Vietnam.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--In addition to such amounts
as are otherwise authorized to be appropriated for the Broadcasting
Board of Governors, there are authorized to be appropriated to carry
out the policy under subsection (a) $9,100,000 for the fiscal year 2005
and $1,100,000 for the fiscal year 2006.
SEC. 302. UNITED STATES EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS WITH
VIETNAM.
It is the policy of the United States that programs of educational
and cultural exchange with Vietnam should actively promote progress
toward freedom and democracy in Vietnam by providing opportunities to
Vietnamese nationals from a wide range of occupations and perspectives
to see freedom and democracy in action and, also, by ensuring that
Vietnamese nationals who have already demonstrated a commitment to
these values are included in such programs.
TITLE IV--ANNUAL REPORT ON PROGRESS TOWARD FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN
VIETNAM
SEC. 401. ANNUAL REPORT.
(a) In General.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the
enactment of this Act and every 12 months thereafter, the Secretary of
State shall submit to the Congress a report on the following:
(1)(A) The determination and certification of the President
that the requirements of section 101(a)(2) have been met, if
applicable.
(B) The determination of the President under section
101(b)(2), if applicable.
(2) Efforts by the United States Government to secure
transmission sites for Radio Free Asia in countries in close
geographical proximity to Vietnam in accordance with section
301.
(3) Efforts to ensure that programs with Vietnam promote
the policy set forth in section 302 and with section 102 of the
Human Rights, Refugee, and Other Foreign Relations Provisions
Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-319) regarding participation in
programs of educational and cultural exchange.
(4) Lists of persons believed to be imprisoned, detained,
or placed under house arrest, tortured, or otherwise persecuted
by the Government of Vietnam due to their pursuit of
internationally recognized human rights. In compiling such
lists, the Secretary shall exercise appropriate discretion,
including concerns regarding the safety and security of, and
benefit to, the persons who may be included on the lists and
their families. In addition, the Secretary shall include a list
of such persons and their families who may qualify for
protection under United States refugee programs.
(5) A description of the development of the rule of law in
Vietnam, including, but not limited to--
(A) progress toward the development of institutions
of democratic governance;
(B) processes by which statutes, regulations,
rules, and other legal acts of the Government of
Vietnam are developed and become binding within
Vietnam;
(C) the extent to which statutes, regulations,
rules, administrative and judicial decisions, and other
legal acts of the Government of Vietnam are published
and are made accessible to the public;
(D) the extent to which administrative and judicial
decisions are supported by statements of reasons that
are based upon written statutes, regulations, rules,
and other legal acts of the Government of Vietnam;
(E) the extent to which individuals are treated
equally under the laws of Vietnam without regard to
citizenship, race, religion, political opinion, or
current or former associations;
(F) the extent to which administrative and judicial
decisions are independent of political pressure or
governmental interference and are reviewed by entities
of appellate jurisdiction; and
(G) the extent to which laws in Vietnam are written
and administered in ways that are consistent with
international human rights standards, including the
requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.
(b) Contacts With Other Organizations.--In preparing the report
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall, as appropriate, consult with
and seek input from nongovernmental organizations, human rights
advocates (including Vietnamese-Americans and human rights advocates in
Vietnam), and the United States Commission on Religious Freedom.
Passed the House of Representatives July 19, 2004.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.