(AFP)
20 July 2004
WASHINGTON - The US House of Representative late Monday voted to freeze all non-humanitarian assistance to Vietnam and provide aid to its dissidents in response to what it described as “a policy of harassment, discrimination, and intimidation” vis-a-vis those who dare to disagree with the country’s government.
By a vote of 323-45, the chamber passed the Viet Nam Human Rights Act that bars the government from increasing non-humanitarian assistance to the southeast Asian nation over this year’s level of about 40 million dollars unless the president certifies that Hanoi is releasing political prisoners and is making steps to improve its overall human rights record.
It also authorized the White House to spend four million dollars in fiscal 2004 and 2005 to provide support for Vietnamese dissidents and groups that “promote internationally recognized human rights.”
More than 10 million dollars are being offered over the same period of time to overcome Vietnamese jamming of Radio Free Asia, a surrogate Congress-financed radio station that beams US programming to the region.
“The government of Viet Nam consistently pursues a policy of harassment, discrimination, and intimidation, and sometimes of imprisonment and other forms of detention, against those who peacefully express dissent from government or party policy,” states the preamble of the legislation. “This policy includes collectively punishing family members of individuals targeted for persecution.”
But the bill also grants the president broad waiver authority that will allow him to overlook its provisions if he deems it necessary to further US national security interests.
“We cannot stand idly by while the human rights situation in Vietnam deteriorates and goes from horrific to even worse,” said Republican Representative Chris Smith, vice chairman of the House Committee on International Relations and sponsor of the measure.
He vowed to do everything in his power to overcome the Senates opposition to the measure.
The bill first passed the House three years ago, but it died in the Senate where, according to Smith, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, the current Democratic presidential candidate, placed a hold on it and prevented it from being brought to the floor.