U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) – Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Global Human Rights, Africa and International Operations – stressed that Vietnam’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) must be linked with an improvement in its sub par human rights record. Smith returned from Vietnam this morning after leading a human rights mission during which he met with government officials, religious leaders and the relatives of political prisoners to discuss religious freedom, human rights and trafficking. Smith also met with Vietnamese and US military officials from the Joint Personnel Accounting Command (JPAC) to discuss ongoing problems in the unresolved MIA cases from the Vietnam War. 

    “Simply put, Vietnam must show systematic reforms in its human rights policies before it should be considered for admission into the World Trade Organization,” said Smith, who has championed global human rights and religious freedoms since being elected to Congress. “My colleagues and I intend to be vocal in the belief that basic human rights in Vietnam and that country’s admission into the World Trade Organization are linked.”

    Smith’s committee examined human rights and religious freedom abuses in Vietnam during a hearing in June. Additionally, Smith is the author of the Vietnam Human Rights Act, legislation designed to promote human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam that has passed the House on three separate occasions but has stalled in the Senate. 

    “In June my hearing confirmed that advancements in trade relations with the US have done little to improve the deplorable human rights conditions in Vietnam, particularly in the areas of free speech and religious freedom,” said Smith. “People continue to be imprisoned in Vietnam simply because they disagree with the Vietnamese government’s draconian restrictions on fundamental human rights and basic liberties.” 

    For the second year, Vietnam was designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) in the US State Department’s 2005 International Religious Freedom Report. Smith, who held a hearing earlier in November on the State Department report, has met with nearly 60 Vietnamese citizens and religious leaders during his trip in an effort to determine whether Vietnam is abiding by a signed “binding agreement” with the US to improve its observation of religious liberty.

    “Vietnam’s CPC designation by the State Department reminds people of the actual situation in that country,” Smith said. “Vietnamese people, especially political and religious dissidents, are still unable to move and travel freely. We must never turn a blind eye to human rights violations when constructing international policy and conducting diplomacy, and I intend to stress the commitment of the US Congress and people to that principle.” 

    Smith met with JPAC and Vietnamese government officials in order to continue work toward obtaining a thorough accounting of the remaining American MIAs from the conflict in Vietnam. Smith has been actively engaged in this issue since 1984, when he first visited Vietnam as a member of Congress to discuss this issue. Despite the passing of 30 years since the return of American troops from Vietnam, 1,400 remain unaccounted for.