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Washington, DC – Representative Zoe Lofgren
(D-San Jose) has called on Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice to list Vietnam as
one of the State Department’s Countries of
Particular Concern (CPC). In a letter to
Secretary Rice, Rep. Lofgren outlined her
concern that Vietnam ’s record on religious
freedom, free speech, and other basic human
rights has only worsened since receiving
Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR)
status with the United States .
The
complete text of the letter is below:
The
Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary
Department of State
2201 C
Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear
Madam Secretary,
I
strongly urge you to reconsider placing
Vietnam on the State Department’s Countries
of Particular Concern (CPC) list for its
severe violations of religious freedom, free
speech, and other basic human rights.
As you
are aware, in 2004, Vietnam was first added
to the annual CPC designation because of
government repression towards many religious
believers. The campaigns to force people to
renounce their faith, the detainment of
dozens of religious prisoners, and the
harassment as well as physical mistreatment
of some believers amounted to inexcusable
human rights violations. In their efforts to
gain Permanent Normal Trade Relations with
the U.S. in 2006, Vietnam embarked on a
disingenuous public relations campaign to
cleanse its image as a human rights
violator. Consequently, Ambassador-at-Large
for International Religious Freedom John V.
Hanford III kept Vietnam off the CPC list
and announced that the Government of Vietnam
had made significant improvements towards
advancing religious freedom.
I think
it is obvious that the conditions of
religious freedom in Vietnam have not
improved but have worsened severely.
Ambassador Hanford III cites in his November
13, 2006 briefing that Catholics now have
the freedom in Vietnam to train and ordain
new priests to serve their congregations.
However, recent incidents demonstrate
otherwise. For example, the Vietnamese
government removed Father Nguyen Van Ly from
his parish and sentenced him to 8 years in
prison for allegedly conducting propaganda
activities to harm the security of the
state. Further,
Vietnam continues to assert the right to
approve of bishops' nominations before they
are announced by the Vatican .
The
Ambassador also mentioned that Vietnam has
laws against forced renunciations and that
reports of this disturbing practice are now
very isolated. This is simply untrue, as
the government
continues to harass, arrest, and impose
restrictions on organized religious
followers such as Catholics and Buddhists,
and to view minority religious groups with
broad suspicion. The reasons
Ambassador Hanford III presented for not
re-designating Vietnam as a Country of
Particular Concern have all been
contradicted by these recent events.
Father
Nguyen Van Ly is the highest profile
dissident currently in prison, but many
other human rights and religious freedom
proponents have been imprisoned in Vietnam
and subjected to government harassment. For
example, Vietnamese police, on March 6,
2007, arrested a pair of human-rights
lawyers, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong
Nhan, for organizing training sessions for
political activists in the capital. There
are hundreds of other dissidents whom have
been imprisoned simply for expressing speech
and attempting the practice of their faith
freely and openly.
I
appreciate that you brought up human rights
concerns with Vietnamese Deputy Prime
Minister Vu Khoan and Vietnamese Foreign
Minister Pham Gia Khiem during their March
2007 visit to the United States . However,
I believe this is not sufficient. The
recent actions by Vietnam should be a
warning sign that the government will only
continue to deny basic human rights and
religious freedoms to its people. The United
States of America has a long and honorable
tradition of advocating for religious
freedom and human rights throughout the
world, especially with our trading
partners. Exceptions should not be made for
Vietnam . In light of these and other human
rights violations by Vietnam , I urge you to
re-designate Vietnam as a Country of
Particular Concern.
Sincerely,
Zoe
Lofgren
Member
of Congress
# # #
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren is serving her
seventh term in Congress representing most
of the City of San Jose and Santa Clara
County . She serves as Chair of the House
Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration,
Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and
International Law. She also Chairs the House
Administration Subcommittee on Elections and
serves on the House Homeland Security
Committee. Congresswoman Lofgren is Chair
of the California Democratic Congressional
Delegation consisting of 34 Democratic
members of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California . |
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