Congressman _____________
US House of Representatives
Washington DC. 20515 

Dear Congressman/Congresswoman: 

Recently, Vietnamese government has significantly stepped up its campaign to crackdown on religious freedom; the followings are some of these: 

- Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, President of the Unified Vietnamese Buddhist Church (UVBC), has been put under home detention at Nghia Hanh in Quang Ngai province for 19 years now. 

- Venerable Thich Quang Do, Rector of Hoa Dao Institute of the UVBC has been put under home detention at Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon since June 1st, 2001. 

- Reverend Nguyen Van Ly, an outspoken priest of An Truyen parish in Hue, has been arrested by 600 security agents since May 17th, 2001 without further information of his whereabouts. 

- Mr. Le Quang Liem, President of the Vietnamese Buddhist Hoa Hao Church, has also been under home detention since March 26th, 2001. Mr. Ha Hai, Secretary General of the Vietnamese Buddhist Hoa Hoa Church has been sentenced to five years in prison since October 2000. 

- Reverend Phan Van Loi has been under home detention. Reverend Nguyen Huu Giai has been under strict police surveillance. These two Catholic priests have been supporting Father Nguyen Van Ly. Three nephews of Father Ly were also jailed. 

- Several elected members of the European Parliaments such as Mr. Lars Rise and Mr. Oliver Dupuis who attempted to meet with these above religious leaders were also detained and evicted. 

- Many montagnards were detained or in asylum after protesting against ethnic discrimination and religious persecution. 

There are still many more religious leaders and worshippers who have been in prisons or under home detention and police harassment. 

All these victims are targets of the Vietnamese Communist authorities because of their fights to demand religious freedom for Vietnam. 

Unconditional ratification of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with Vietnam at this time will certainly send the wrong message to the Vietnamese leadership: They can suppress religious freedom and persecute political dissidents with impunity. 

The United States Congress should not approve the BTA unless it first enacts comprehensive human rights legislation for Vietnam, to make clear to Hanoi that congressional ratification of the Agreement does not constitute a seal of approval on the regime's egregious human rights record. This human rights legislation should also ensure that the benefits of free trade would go to the majority of Vietnamese citizens, and not exclusively to the minority of Communist cadres, and will promote democracy for the Vietnamese people rather than consolidate the Communist's monopoly of power. Your colleague in the House, Congressman Christopher Smith, did introduce legislation HR-2368, the Vietnam Human Rights Act, serves to promote the development of freedom and democracy in Vietnam to that effect. This bill was approved by The House International Relations Committee on August 1st, 2001. 

We call on you to support this legislation by voting for it during mark-ups and when it goes to the floor. Sincerely, 

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