[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 427 Engrossed in House (EH)]
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
November 19, 2003.
Whereas Buddhism has a 2,000-year tradition in Vietnam and the Unified Buddhist
Church of Vietnam (UBCV) is an heir to this tradition;
Whereas the Government of Vietnam in 1981 declared the UBCV, one of the largest
religious denominations in the country, illegal, confiscated its
temples, and persecuted its clergy for refusing to join the state-
sponsored Buddhist organizations;
Whereas the Government of Vietnam has often imprisoned UBCV clergy and subjected
them to other forms of persecution; the Patriarch of the UBCV, the 85-
year-old Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, has been detained and
restrained for more than 2 decades in isolated areas of Vietnam;
Whereas the Vietnamese Government has held the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do,
the Executive President of the UBCV and his deputy, the Venerable Thich
Tue Sy, in various forms of detention since 1977;
Whereas the Very Venerable Thich Thien Minh, Supreme Counselor of the UBCV, was
tortured to death in a reeducation camp in 1978;
Whereas many other leading UBCV figures, including Thich Thien Hanh, Thich Phuoc
An, Thich Dong Tho, Thich Vien Dinh, Thich Thai Hoa, Thich Nguyen Ly,
Thich Thanh Huyen, Thich Khong Tanh, Thich Phuoc Vien, Thich Hai Tang,
Thich Dong Tho, Thich Nguyen Vuong, Thich Chi Mau, Thich Chi Thang, and
Thich Thanh Quang have been detained, harassed, and under tight
surveillance;
Whereas several members of the UBCV have fled to Cambodia to escape religious
repression and harassment;
Whereas Pham Van Tuong, formerly known as Thich Tri Luc, disappeared from
Cambodia in July 2002 after being given refugee status by the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and has since been
discovered to be in custody in Vietnam, where he is reportedly charged
with the vague crime of ``fleeing abroad or defecting overseas with the
intent to oppose the people's administration,'' which carries a possible
sentence of life imprisonment;
Whereas Vietnam has acceded to international covenants and treaties that
prohibit the forced repatriation of UNHCR-recognized refugees;
Whereas Vietnam has acceded to international covenants and treaties that protect
the right to faith, belief, and practice;
Whereas Vietnam's constitution protects the right of religious belief;
Whereas in a show of religious tolerance, the Vietnamese Government in April
2003 allowed the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the Fourth Supreme
Patriarch of the UBCV, to receive urgent medical care in Hanoi;
Whereas at that time, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai met with Venerable
Thich Huyen Quang and assured him that his and Venerable Thich Quang
Do's detention were mistakes by local officials and that he hoped they
would extend Buddhist forgiveness toward past actions of the government;
Whereas in June 2003, the Vietnamese Government ended the detention order
against Venerable Thich Quang Do, the Executive President of the UBCV;
Whereas in September and October 2003, the UBCV held a meeting in Nguyen Thieu
Pagoda in Binh Dinh province to discuss church affairs, choose a new
leadership which had been vacant for a decade, and verify Vietnamese
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's promise of a new era of understanding and
respect;
Whereas Vietnamese authorities attempted to disrupt these gatherings by
restricting the travel of monks from other provinces and then
intimidating those attending;
Whereas on October 8, 2003, Vietnamese authorities initiated a tense standoff
following the meeting, where police stopped a vehicle carrying the
UBCV's new leadership and subsequently detained the eleven passengers;
Whereas Venerables Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do were taken to their
respective pagodas where they have been effectively isolated and
detained; four senior monks, the Venerable Thich Tue Sy, Thich Thanh
Huyen, Thich Nguyen Ly, and the UBCV Supreme Patriarch's personal
assistant, Venerable Thich Dong Tho, were immediately sentenced to 24
months of administrative detainment by written orders of the Ho Chi Minh
City People's Committee, and three others, the Venerables Thich Thien
Hanh, Thich Thai Hoa, and Thich Nguyen Vuong to 24 months administrative
detainment by ``oral'' orders from various local authorities, in protest
of which the Venerable Thich Thien Hanh initiated a hunger strike on
October 19, 2003;
Whereas according to reports by the United States State Department, the United
States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the European
Union, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam systematically limits the right
of religious organizations to choose their own clergy;
Whereas according to these same reports, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam uses
house arrest and long prison sentences to punish individuals for
practicing their faith, as evidenced also by the jail sentences handed
down to Father Nguyen Van Ly, his three relatives, Montagnard and Hmong
Protestants, Cao Dai, and Hoa Hao Buddhists;
Whereas during the 107th Congress the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2833,
the Vietnam Human Rights Act, on September 6, 2001, which noted the
persecutions faced by various members of the UBCV over the past 25
years; and
Whereas because of systematic, egregious, and ongoing abuses of religious
freedom, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
recommended that the President of the United States designate Vietnam as
a ``country of particular concern'' under the provisions of the
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) congratulates the new leadership of the Unified Buddhist Church
of Vietnam;
(2) urges the Government of Vietnam to respect the right of all
independent religious organizations to meet, worship, operate, and
practice their faith in accordance with Vietnam's own constitution and
international covenants to which Vietnam is a signatory;
(3) urges the Government of Vietnam to restore freedom to all
Vietnamese citizens imprisoned or under house arrest for practicing
their faith or for advocating freedom of religion, especially the Most
Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and the Very Venerable Thich Quang Do;
(4) is committed to promoting religious freedom in Vietnam, and, in
furtherance of this goal, urges the implementation of the
recommendations of the United States Commission on International
Religious Freedom; and
(5) urges the United States Embassy in Vietnam to closely monitor
cases of abuse of religious belief and practice, routinely visit
detained clergy members, especially those in need of medical care, and
report to the Congress on specific measures taken to protect and promote
religious freedom in Vietnam.
Attest:
Clerk.