| Survival of former
U.S. allies depends on Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2004 |
By Thomas P. Cadmus
Thousands of Christians
from the remote central highlands of Vietnam gathered in their provincial
capitals for a prayer vigil last Easter weekend. As they knelt, according to
well-documented reports, communist authorities and soldiers in civilian clothes
bludgeoned them with clubs, shovels and nail-affixed boards. The exact number
killed and injured is unknown, withheld by a government that keeps its
human-rights abuses well-veiled to the rest of the world. After the massacre,
access to the highlands by foreign observers was blocked for a two-week period
and, following that, was tightly controlled to only certain villages. Hundreds
were reportedly arrested, tortured and jailed. This was no isolated incident.
Severe religious
persecution is standard practice in Vietnam, and it is escalating. Hundreds of
Christians, Buddhists and followers of other faiths are in jail today, or under
house arrest without charges, for peacefully following beliefs not authorized by
the government. Vietnam requires government registration of churches and
maintains control over their activities - from charity work to ministerial
advancement to the content and publication of religious literature.
Religious freedom abuses
have intensified in Vietnam despite the 2001 passage of a bilateral trade
agreement with the United States and multiple warnings from the U.S. State
Department. On Sept. 15, Secretary of State Colin Powell presented a report
designating Vietnam as a "country of particular concern" under the International
Religious Freedom Act, joining such reviled human-rights performers as North
Korea, Iran, Burma, China, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The report
thoroughly chronicled dozens of government-sanctioned abuses, often violent,
against many faiths, primarily those followed by ethnic minorities in the
central and northwest highlands.
An estimated 400 churches
have been destroyed by the government in Vietnam since 2000. One Catholic
priest, Father Nguyen Van Ly, was arrested in May 2001 and sentenced to 15 years
in prison for "damaging the government's unity policy" by writing a letter
critical of the Vietnamese government to a U.S. human-rights commission. He
remains behind bars, as do at least a confirmed 44 other religious leaders.
The Vietnam government
routinely attempts to force believers of unauthorized religions to recant their
faiths. Some reportedly have been coerced to drink animal blood mixed with
alcohol in staged ceremonies to promote the revival of ancient tribal rituals
that won't compete with atheistic communist doctrine. A new law, set to take
effect Nov. 15, will allow Vietnamese authorities greater freedom to arrest
anyone whose religious practices differ with government wishes, even in their
own homes.
In the crosshairs of
these abuses are some of the most loyal wartime allies America has ever known:
the indigenous Montagnard people. Approximately half of the adult male
Montagnard population was killed in action, fighting alongside U.S. soldiers
during the Vietnam War. After Saigon fell in 1975, most of the Montagnards were
landlocked and unable to escape, left to face a vengeful new regime on their
own. Only a handful made it out. Since then, while the rest of Vietnam has
tripled in population, the number of Montagnards has been culled nearly in half
through a process some watchdog groups call "cultural leveling." Others call it
genocide. Accusations of government-coerced sterilization, property seizure and
harassment are widespread.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam
Human Rights Act of 2004 languishes in the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
The bill would simply
freeze non-humanitarian U.S. aid to Vietnam at 2004 levels, meaning no new
increases in funding until the communist regime proves substantial progress on
human rights and religious freedom. The measure, H.R. 1587, was introduced by
Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., and passed overwhelmingly in the House on July
19. The Senate version was introduced Sept. 9 by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and
was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But without further
action, the measure will die with the end of 108th Congress.
A similar Vietnam
human-rights bill introduced in 2001 passed by a 410-1 landslide in the House,
only to die later in committee. At the time, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., served as
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific
Affairs, and opposed the bill. In a widely publicized 2002 letter, Kerry wrote
that he and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., alike feared "it may hinder rather than
advance the cause of human rights in Vietnam. We are concerned that denying aid
to Vietnam would actually slow human-rights improvements." Smith's bill does not
deny aid. It merely caps non-humanitarian U.S. aid at 2004 levels until Vietnam
proves its human-rights and religious freedom policies are improving.
Since the 2001 version
was denied a vote in the Senate, the number of killings, beatings and arrests of
innocent worshipers in Vietnam is anyone's guess. Reports of abuses, meanwhile,
keep piling up.
It is unconscionable to
fail these prayerful people - so many of whom are allies we left behind in
Vietnam - because some members of the Senate won't so much as give this bill its
day in court. By failing to act, the committee also sends a message to Hanoi,
which covets U.S. aid and trade but, as yet, has been given no good reason to
change its draconian human-rights policies.
All these former allies -
to whom thousands of U.S. veterans owe their lives - want is the freedom to pray
for something better. Their faith rests in us.
Every American who values
freedom of religion, basic human rights and support for former allies in their
time of need must contact their U.S. senators immediately and demand a vote on
the Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2004. To neglect our former allies once again
is, at best, to subject them to communist thought control. At worst, our lack of
action delivers their death sentence. As the world's leading voice of freedom,
democracy and human dignity, America simply must do better. All it takes is a
vote.
Thomas P. Cadmus of
Michigan is the National Commander of 2-7 million-member American Legion, the
nation's largest veterans service organization.
