Copyright 2005 Congressional Quarterly, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
June 20, 2005 Monday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1049 words
COMMITTEE: HOUSE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
SUBCOMMITTEE: AFRICA
HEADLINE: HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM
TESTIMONY-BY: NGUYEN THANG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
AFFILIATION: BOAT PEOPLE S.O.S.
BODY:
Statement of Nguyen Thang Executive Director, Boat People S.O.S.
Committee on House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa,
Global Human Rights and International Operations
June 20, 2005
Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee,
Today marks the first US visit by a Vietnamese prime minister since the
war ended 30 years ago. Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will meet with
President Bush tomorrow to seek US support for Vietnam's accession to
the World Trade Organization. He will attempt to convince the President
that Vietnam is a market economy and therefore should be exempted from
the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. He aims for permanent normal trade relation
status.
At this hearing I would like to remind the Subcommittee of the thousands
of persecuted victims left without protection in Vietnam and in
neighboring countries. After 30 years and much talk about reconciliation
and openness, the Vietnamese government continues to deny basic
freedoms, persecute those who exercise their rights, and severely
restrict the roles and activities of the independent Churches.
The year 1997 witnessed the return of the hard-line communists. There is
less freedom and more persecution in today's Vietnam than ten years ago.
There has been increased use of torture, including physical and
psychiatric torture. More dissidents and religious leaders have been
arrested and detained. April 1997 the government issued Decree No. 31/CP
authorizing administrative detention without charges or trial. I
estimate that hundreds of Vietnamese citizens are currently subjected to
this form of persecution.
With the closure of the Comprehensive Plan of Action in 1996, escape
from Vietnam was also closed. With few exceptions, the only way out of
Vietnam is through the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) which requires
government approval. Many victims of persecution have been blocked
access to ODP, in many different ways.
The Vietnamese government has denied passport even to those who have
been found to be refugees by the United States. Pastor Nguyen Lap Ma of
the Christian Missionary Alliance, who has spent the past 23 years under
house arrest, has not been issued a passport for refugee resettlement
under the US Priority One In- Country Refugee Program. He is among the
many similar cases I have been working on.
Rampant corruption is another barrier to US refugee programs. Thousands
of former US allies and Amerasians--children fathered by US servicemen
during the war--are still in Vietnam because they cannot afford the
thousands of dollars demanded by corrupt officials. For the past four
years Vietnam has not acted on its promise to collaborate with the
United States in re-opening the Humanitarian Operation program for
re-education camp survivors. Many survivors did not survive the long
wait.
I am concerned for the safety of persecuted victims who successfully
escaped to neighboring countries. Many Montagnard refugees have been
deported to Vietnam, which paid thousands of dollars per deportee. In
the case of Bui Van Hue, a Hoa Hao Buddhist, the office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees facilitated his forced
repatriation without considering his refugee claims. He was sentenced to
36 months in prison for having fled to Cambodia.
Vietnam is far from being in compliance with the free and open
emigration requirement of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.
Human trafficking is another area of concern. A major source of
trafficking in persons, Vietnam each year exports tens of thousand men,
women and children to sweatshops and the sex industry in Cambodia,
China, Hong Kong, Ma Cau, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Czech Republic.
Vietnam refuses to pay $3.5 million in damages to 321 victims in the
Daewoosa American Samoa case as ruled by the High Court of American
Samoa. Vietnam has failed to prosecute the Deputy Director of Labour
Export Management at the Department of the Labour, War Invalids and
Social Affairs Ministry, who was behind this trafficking incident. Yet,
the Department of State took Vietnam off the Watch List in this year's
Trafficking in Persons report.
As the Prime Minister Khai's visit offers new opportunities for
cooperation between the two countries, I would like to offer the
following recommendations.
(1) At meetings with Prime Minister Khai over the next few days, the
President and members of Congress should call on him to announce the
re-opening of the Humanitarian Operation program and the issuance of
passports to all individuals of interest to the United States. He should
also be reminded to pay restitution to the Daewoosa American Samoa
victims.
(2) The Department of State should report to Congress the number of ODP
cases without passport, the number of refugees demanded bribes by
government officials, and the amount they had to pay.
(3) The United States should expeditiously process all Priority One
cases, including those under administrative detention.
(4) Congress should extend the Davis Amendment, formerly known as the
McCain Amendment, to admit children of former political prisoners, in
anticipation of the reopening of the Humanitarian Operation program.
(5) The Department of State should initiate a special effort to seek out
Amerasians being excluded from US resettlement program because of
corruption. While not exactly related to Vietnam's current policy, the
following two issues are of humanitarian concern and warrant the
attention of the US Congress.
Some 17,000 Amerasians, resettled under the Amerasians Homecoming Act,
continue to suffer the consequences of past persecution. Denied
education in Communist Vietnam for being children of American citizens,
they are illiterate in their native language. Many of them have
repeatedly failed the US citizenship exam. Last month Congresswoman Zoe
Lofgren introduced the Amerasians Naturalization Act. I call on all
members of Congress to support this legislation as it will bring justice
to these victims of war, persecution, and neglect.
Finally, I call on the Administration to process the 2,000 Vietnamese
former boat people in the Philippines for refugee admission,
expeditiously and generously. This will bring the 30- year Vietnamese
boat people saga to a truly humane and fair closure.