Rep. Loretta Sanchez Statement on President Obama's Human Rights Address in Vietnam

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-46), founder and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam, released the following statement after President Obama's address on human rights in Vietnam:

"President Obama's speech serves as a momentous occasion for the Vietnamese people. In light of Vietnam's tightly state-controlled media, it's a landmark turning point for the Vietnamese people's human rights struggle to be acknowledged by the leader of the free world broadcast on Vietnamese television. I commend President Obama for emphasizing human rights and promoting freedom of speech, assembly and expression, as well as internet freedom. I also commend President Obama for lauding the value of dissent, debate and scrutiny. As a beacon of freedom and democracy throughout the world, America has a responsibility to speak out against these egregious abuses and urge Vietnam to expand internet freedom and other basic rights.

"I'm disappointed that President Obama did not name the human rights activists who were detained and prevented from meeting with the President. However, I appreciate that Secretary Kerry lobbied the Vietnamese government to allow these activists to attend the meeting with President Obama, even though these attempts were unsuccessful. While I appreciate that President Obama's aides have said they will follow up to ensure the freedom of these activists and that they are not subject to punishment, I hope they will keep their word.

"However, the continued detainment and imprisonment of these human rights activists even during President Obama's visit underscores my belief that we have weakened our leverage to incentivize the Vietnamese government to respect human rights and end their egregious and systemic human rights violations. Hopeful rhetoric won't cut it. The Administration may tell the Vietnamese government that extending human rights fuels the economy, yet that assertion rings hollow since the United States has now given the Vietnamese government economic and military benefits by lifting the arms embargo without demanding demonstrated human rights reforms.

"The Vietnamese government has just released political prisoner Father Nguyen Van Ly months before his term was up, but that's not enough. The Vietnamese government must release all political prisoners in order to demonstrate their commitment to improve human rights. I want to call attention to the plight of another prominent activist and political prisoner, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, who began a hunger strike today to mark exactly 7 years of his unjust and continued imprisonment in Vietnam's Nghe An prison. Tran Huynh Duy Thuc is a blogger and human rights defender who insists that he was tortured in detention in order to force him to confess to attempting to overthrow the state. Under Article 79 of the Penal Code, the Vietnamese government sentenced him to 16 years imprisonment as well as 5 years house arrest upon release.

"I support normalized relations with Vietnam, but I am extremely concerned that the Administration has inadvertently given the Vietnamese government a free pass to continue their relentless persecution, harassment, detention and imprisonment of citizens for peacefully expressing their views."

For the past 19 years, Congresswoman Sanchez has been a leading voice in Congress in calling for social justice and religious freedom for the Vietnamese people.

In just the last week:

The House of Representatives passed Rep. Sanchez's amendment expressing a Sense of Congress that increased military relations with Vietnam should be contingent on Vietnam's commitment to implement human rights reforms.
Rep. Sanchez led a letter with 19 bipartisan members of Congress urging President Obama to raise concerns about Vietnam's ongoing human rights violations and to advocate for the release of all Vietnamese prisoners of conscience during the President's trip to Vietnam.
Rep. Sanchez and Rep. Zoe Lofgren sent a letter to President Obama about Vietnam's recent environmental catastrophe involving millions of dead fish washing ashore beginning in early April along the coastline, devastating the economy in coastal cities and presenting a health hazard for the people of Vietnam.

Rep. Sanchez believes the United States must hold the Vietnamese government accountable for its well documented egregious and systemic human rights violations before viable economic relations can be pursued. Rep. Sanchez proudly represents one of the largest Vietnamese populations outside of Vietnam in the world, in Orange County, California.

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