Marking 40 years since the fall of Saigon, Congressman Smith today introduced the Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2015 along with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors that includes Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (CA-39), Representatives Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48), Loretta Sanchez (CA-46), Alan Lowenthal, (CA-47) and Gerald Connolly (VA-11). The bill, H.R. 2140, which passed the House overwhelmingly five previous times only to get stalled in Senate each time, would make concrete and tangible human rights improvements a prerequisite for any increase in non-humanitarian U.S. financial assistance to Vietnam.
“It is important to pass the bill quickly because this year the administration has promised Vietnam lucrative trade benefits as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and new security cooperation, benefits not deserved because of the government’s atrocious human rights record,” said Smith, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that covers human rights. “The American people should not have to subsidize torture or underwrite the jailing of journalists, religious leaders, labor activists, or advocates of democracy or Internet freedom. This bill restores the right priorities to U.S. policy toward Vietnam.”
The Vietnam Human Rights Act would not prevent funding for certain types of humanitarian assistance, food aid, efforts to clean up Agent Orange and unexploded ordinances, programs to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, and combating human trafficking.
“The Communist Party is not Vietnam’s future; that future lies with the Vietnamese people desperately seeking greater rights, liberty, and the rule of law. U.S. policy must reflect this fact or we risk losing a rising generation of young people in Vietnam who seek our freedoms more than our trade,” said Smith. “Passage of this bill will send an unmistakable message to the Government of Vietnam that human rights improvements are fundamental to better relations, critically linked to our mutual economic and security interests, and cannot be ignored or bargained away.”
Smith added, marking the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, “Today is an auspicious anniversary marking the end of the Vietnam War and beginning of the vibrant Vietnamese-American community in the United States. They have added so much to the American fabric. I honor their contribution to this great nation.”
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