U.S. drafts act on rights in Vietnam
Vietnam's alleged human-rights abuses may soon come
under closer scrutiny in the United States Congress. An
aide to Republican Christopher Smith of New Jersey
says that the congressman and 28 co-sponsors plan
soon to introduce the Vietnam Human Rights Act,
which bill drafters say will seek to address "egregious
suppression of religious liberty" and "intense persecution
of the Montagnards," Vietnam's highland-dwelling
ethnic minorities. According to a draft of the bill, it
would prohibit nonhumanitarian U.S. assistance to the
government of Vietnam, establish a commission to
monitor human-rights violations, provide $2 million a
year in 2004 and 2005 to groups promoting human
rights and nonviolent democratic change in Vietnam and
authorize $9.1 million next year to overcome Hanoi's
jamming of Radio Free Asia.
A similar bill passed the
House of Representatives in September 2001 by a
margin of 410-1, but it stalled in the Senate. Smith's
aide says the congressman is working on finding a
sponsor for the bill in the Senate. State Department
officials say that the main U.S. nonhumanitarian-aid
project involves $8 million a year over three years to
help Hanoi implement its bilateral trade agreement with
Washington.
The Far Eastern Economic Review - March 20, 2003.
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