The full House of Representatives tonight passed legislation authored by Congressman Chris Smith, the Vice Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, that will withhold non-humanitarian U.S. Aid dollars from the dictatorial regime until real progress is made with regard to political and religious rights for the Vietnamese People. The bill passed by a vote of 323-45. 

    “The Vietnam Human Rights Act initially cleared the House by an overwhelming 410-1 margin in September of 2001, coinciding with legislation to ratify a Bilateral Trade Agreement with Vietnam. Despite this near unanimous House vote, the Vietnam Human Rights Act was subsequently blocked and never voted on in the Senate. 

    “The message then, as it is today, is that human rights are central – they are at the core of our relationship with governments and the people they purport to represent. The U.S. will not turn a blind eye to the oppression of a people, any people, in any region of the world,” Smith said. 

    HR 1587 will prohibit any increase in U.S. non-humanitarian aid to Vietnam unless Hanoi makes significant progress toward releasing political and religious prisoners and respecting the human rights of ethnic minorities. It also requires certification that no government official or government entity is involved either explicitly or implicitly with the horrific crime of human trafficking.

    “As this bill has languished in the Senate, many thought that the Bilateral Trade Agreement with Vietnam would lead to improved human rights conditions in Vietnam. Unfortunately, this has not been the case, and for many Vietnamese the situation is dramatically worse than it just was three years ago.

    “The Government of Vietnam has scoffed at the Vietnam Human Rights Act and has dismissed charges of human rights abuses pleading the tired mantra of interference in internal affairs and that our struggle is related to the war. Vietnam is a country, not a war, the government protests. Precisely. Today’s debate is about the shameful human rights record of a country, not the war.

    “And of course Vietnam is a country with millions of wonderful people who yearn to breathe free and enjoy the blessing of liberty. Behave like an honorable government. Stop bringing dishonor and shame to your government by abusing your own people and start abiding by International human rights covenants you have signed,” Smith added. 

    The bill authorizes funding to overcome Vietnam’s jamming of Radio Free Asia and expands outreach to non-governmental organizations that work to promote human rights in the country. 

    “The recent State Department’s Human Rights report noted several significant human rights atrocities carried out by the dictatorial regime, including arrests and imprisonment of writers, scientists, religious leaders and others for speaking out against corruption; the killing and beating of Montagnard protesters in the Central Highlands over Easter weekend; forcible closings of churches; and detention of church officials. 

    “My speech today – on this Floor – would easily fetch me a 15 year prison sentence replete with torture if I were a Vietnamese national,” Smith added. 

    He continued: “And in yet another Orwellian move, just this past Monday, Vietnam promulgated an “Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions” which goes into effect on November 15. This new antireligious law will further worsen religious persecution in Vietnam. 

    “Amazingly, it bans the so called ‘abuse of the right to religious freedom to undermine peace, independence, and national unity.’ This new law is the most capricious and arbitrary policy imaginable – designed to snare and incarcerate believers for undermining peace, independence and national unity -- whatever that means. Moreover, if a religious person ‘disseminates information against the laws and the state laws’ in other words, disagrees with anything the Communist Government enacts, such dissemination is a punishable crime.

    “When is enough, enough? Vietnam needs to come out of the dark ages of repression, brutality and abuse and embrace freedom, the rule of law, and respect fro fundamental human rights. The Vietnam Human Rights Act offers a clear framework for improving human rights in Vietnam.”

    Today marks the third time this bill has passed the House. The original version passed the House in September 2001 during the 107^th Congress. It passed a second time last year when it was included in the larger Foreign Operations Authorization bill, which has been stalled in the Senate for more than a year.