Fortenberry Calls on President to Address Vietnamese Human Rights

Press Release

Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) delivered a letter to the White House calling on President Obama to press Vietnam to address its troubling human rights record. Fortenberry made the following statement:

"The ongoing and unacceptable assault on human rights in Vietnam must be addressed as a priority in our bilateral relationship. I have called upon President Obama to raise concerns about that nation's troubling record of human rights violations in his meeting today with the Secretary General of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

"As the United States considers new trade and security partnerships with Vietnam, the Vietnamese government continues to oppress its citizens, especially those who maintain a commitment to freedom and democracy. Religious and political dissidents, as well as indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities, are unjustly imprisoned. Churches and other religious institutions are oppressed, the growth of civil society is restricted, and human trafficking is an ongoing horror. Hundreds of thousands of forced laborers struggle to survive in appalling conditions. Additional expansion of our trade and security relationship must be based on significant and lasting improvements in Vietnam's human rights practices."

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