hearing transcript (pdf - 690 kb) - House Foreign Affairs Committee ...

38
And on Vietnam, you might want to speak to Father Ly. As you
know so well, he offered up testimony to the Commission last year,
and for that found himself under house detention after spending
more than a decade in prison for his religious beliefs.
My hope is that Vietnam will be designated as a country of particular
concern, because it has not made improvements for the average
person who is a believer. We need to be careful of deceptive
efforts that are often put forward by governments as evidence of
doing something, when it turns out that very little is done in reality,
when new laws, policies need to be implemented as well.
And I note in the report, the government continued to restrict,
significantly, the publicly organized activities of religious groups,
and yet later it says there were some improvements. So I think
there has been a deterioration in some areas, particularly the
Montagnards, who have experienced enhanced repression in the
last several months.
That is an opening. Perhaps you might respond to some of those.
Ms. GAER. Well, thank you, Congressman, and the members of
the Commission greatly appreciate your interest, support, and kind
words about our own work.
If I might comment on Uzbekistan, the Commission did not recommend
it for CPC status. But the Commission has studied
Uzbekistan very carefully, and we have issued a report this year,
which I think you will agree has some very strong, and I think
hopeful recommendations; that is, hopeful if they were followed.
It was a judgment call, as these things are, as to whether or not
the conditions in the country merited CPC status. We had no
doubt, I might tell you, that the practice of torture is widespread,
consistent, and egregious, and it is conducted by law enforcement
officials, leading one to believe that this is sanctioned at the highest
levels.
The question that remained before commissioners has been
whether or not, in fact, this was religious-based or based on religious
underpinnings, or whether there were political and other factors
that led to it, including issues related to terrorism and destabilization.
We appreciate, though, the ongoing work of the Commission that
you chair, the CSCE. We have an invitation from Uzbekistan to
travel to the country, and we are looking further into these matters.
On the issue of Vietnam, the Commission did reach the conclusion,
following such a visit to the country that in fact, the situation
has grown worse. As you know, that the situation of Father Ly has
not improved. He is still imprisoned, and the attitude toward religion
by public officials has worsened. There is a campaign in
progress to limit and restrict that.
So we did not find things better, and certainly this extends in
many different directions, whether it is the Montagnards, the unregistered
church, or the Buddhists as well.
Finally, on the issue of India which you raised, I believe our
Commission held the first hearing on this subject. We have been
all around town raising this question, and asking for heightened
attention to it.
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