Chairman Smith on the hearing: “The Vietnamese Communist government severely restricts religious freedom and the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recently recommended that Vietnam be redesignated by the State Department as a ‘Country of Particular Concern,’ the annual blacklist of countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea and Egypt that torture and jail religious believers and severely restrict religious practice. When the Vietnamese Prime Minister visits the U.S. later this month, the Trump administration has an opportunity to assert that the American people will not subsidize the harsh repression of religious groups, democracy advocates, bloggers and journalists.”

Opening Statements

Chairman Royce’s opening statement

Witnesses

Quan Q. Nguyen, M.D.
Chairman
Rallying for Democracy
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Nguyen Dinh Thang, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Boat People SOS
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Mr. T. Kumar
Director of International Advocacy
Amnesty International
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

____________________________

Hearing transcript (PDF)