FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2007

Contact:
John Carlson, Senior Advisor, Democratic Party of Vietnam XXI

(Former Assistant Press Secretary to President Nixon and

Deputy Press Secretary to President Ford)

jcarlvdp@hotmail.com

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Ngai, a prominent physician in San Jose, California, and a key member of the Democratic Party of Vietnam XXI, was delighted to learn today that his tireless efforts to have Vietnam placed back on the list of those countries abusing human rights and religious freedom is paying off.   After monthly trips to Washington, D.C. over the past year to meet with top officials at the State Department and leaders of the U.S. House and Senate, along with major national and international research organizations, Dr. Nguyen learned today that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended that Vietnam be put back on the U.S. government list of countries accused of denying citizens the freedom to practice their religion.  For more than a year, Dr. Nguyen urged the U.S. government not to be deceived by a disingenuous public relations campaign by Vietnam to gain PNTR status and acceptance into the WTO.  In anticipation of President Bush attending the APEC meetings in Hanoi on November 18 & 19, 2006, there is no doubt that the government of Vietnam was on their best behavior.  Vietnam was rewarded by being removed from the CPC list and approved for Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) in December, 2006, which led to their entry into the World Trade Organization in January, 2007.  This afforded Vietnam improved trade relations with numerous countries, including the U.S.  According to Dr. Nguyen, “In essence, the government of Vietnam received everything they wanted by the end of January, 2007 and is now reverting to their former methods of repression and abuse.”

Dr. Nguyen is now urging Secretary of State Rice to place Vietnam back on the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) since the country has engaged in or tolerated systematic and egregious violations of the universal right to freedom of religion or belief.

 
Press Release by the USCIRF (partial only):

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today announced its 2007 recommendations to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on “countries of particular concern,” or CPCs. The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) requires that the United States designate as CPCs those countries whose governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic and egregious violations of the universal right to freedom of religion or belief.

The Commission’s recommendations for CPC designation for 2007 are: Burma, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

A portion of the Commission’s letter to U.S. Secretary of State Rice says:

            Vietnam: Still Deserving CPC Designation

Vietnam was removed from the State Department’s CPC list in November 2006, on the eve of President Bush’s visit to Hanoi for the Asian Pacific Economic Conference. The Commission expressed its disappointment that the CPC designation was lifted, citing continued arrests and detentions of individuals in part because of their religious activities and continued severe religious freedom restrictions targeting some ethnic minority Protestants and Buddhists, Vietnamese Mennonites, Hoa Hao Buddhists, and monks and nuns associated with the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV). The Commission recognized positive religious freedom developments in Vietnam, as the government released prominent religious prisoners, introduced some legal reforms, facilitated the legal recognition of religious communities, and, except for isolated cases, ended large scale forced renunciations of faith. However, the Commission stated that these improvements were insufficient to warrant lifting the CPC designation because it was too soon to determine if the legal protections would be permanent and whether such progress would last beyond Vietnam’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Lifting the designation also potentially removed a positive diplomatic tool that proved an effective incentive to bilateral engagement on religious freedom, and related human rights.

Since the CPC designation was lifted and Vietnam joined the WTO, positive religious freedom trends have, for the most part, stalled, and Vietnam has initiated a severe crackdown on human rights defenders and advocates for the freedoms of speech, association and assembly, including many religious leaders who previously were the leading advocates for religious freedom in that country. Given the recent deterioration of human rights conditions in Vietnam and because of continued abuses of and restrictions on religious freedom, the Commission continues to believe that the lifting of the CPC designation was premature. We recommend that Vietnam be re-designated as a CPC in 2007.