[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 395 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 395
Recognizing the contributions of the Montagnard indigenous tribespeople
of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to the United States Armed Forces
during the Vietnam War, and condemning the ongoing violation of human
rights by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 4, 2023
Mr. Tillis (for himself and Mr. Budd) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the contributions of the Montagnard indigenous tribespeople
of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to the United States Armed Forces
during the Vietnam War, and condemning the ongoing violation of human
rights by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Whereas the Montagnards are an indigenous tribespeople living in Vietnam's
Central Highlands region;
Whereas the Montagnards were driven into the mountains by invading Vietnamese
and Cambodians in the 9th century;
Whereas French Roman Catholic missionaries converted many of the Montagnards in
the 19th century and American Protestant missionaries subsequently
converted many to various Protestant denominations;
Whereas, during the 1960s, the United States Mission in Saigon, the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), and United States Army Special Forces, also
known as the Green Berets, trained the Montagnards in unconventional
warfare;
Whereas an estimated 61,000 Montagnards, out of an estimated population of
1,000,000, fought alongside the United States and the Army of the
Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces against the North Vietnamese Army and
the Viet Cong;
Whereas the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Special Forces, and the
Montagnards cooperated on the Village Defense Program, a forerunner to
the War's Strategic Hamlet Program, and an estimated 43,000 Montagnards
were organized into ``Civilian Irregular Defense Groups'' (CIDGs) to
provide protection for the areas around the CIDGs' operational bases;
Whereas, at its peak, the CIDGs had approximately 50 operational bases, with
each base containing a contingent of two United States Army officers and
ten enlisted men, and an ARVN unit of the same size, and each base
trained 200 to 700 Montagnards, or ``strikers'';
Whereas another 18,000 Montagnards were reportedly enlisted into mobile strike
forces, and various historical accounts describe a strong bond between
the United States Special Forces and the Montagnards, in contrast to
Vietnamese Special Forces and ARVN troops;
Whereas the lives of thousands of members of the United States Armed Forces were
saved as a result of the heroic actions of the Montagnards, who fought
loyally and bravely alongside United States Special Forces in the
Vietnam War;
Whereas, after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975, thousands of
Montagnards fled across the border into Cambodia to escape persecution;
Whereas the government of the reunified Vietnamese nation, renamed the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam, deeply distrusted the Montagnards who had sided
with the United States and ARVN forces and subjected them to
imprisonment and various forms of discrimination and oppression after
the Vietnam War ended;
Whereas, after the Vietnam War, the United States Government resettled large
numbers of Montagnards, mostly in North Carolina, and an estimated
several thousand Montagnards currently reside in North Carolina, which
is the largest population of Montagnards residing outside of Vietnam;
Whereas the Socialist Republic of Vietnam currently remains a one-party state,
ruled and controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), which
continues to restrict freedom of religion or belief, movement, land and
property rights, and political expression;
Whereas officials of the Government of Vietnam have forced Montagnards to
publicly denounce their religion, arrested and imprisoned Montagnards
who organized public demonstrations, and mistreated Montagnards in
detention;
Whereas some Montagnard Americans have complained that Vietnamese authorities
either have prevented them from visiting Vietnam or have subjected them
to interrogation upon re-entering the country on visits;
Whereas the Department of State's 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
(in this resolution referred to as the ``2022 Human Rights Report'')
documents that not all members of ethnic minorities were able to engage
in decisions affecting their lands, cultures, and traditions, even
though ethnic minority group members constituted a sizeable percentage
of the population in certain areas, including the Northwest, the Central
Highlands, and portions of the Mekong Delta;
Whereas the 2022 Human Rights Report states that although Vietnamese law
prohibits violence and discrimination against ethnic minorities, such
social discrimination was longstanding and persistent, including in the
Central Highlands;
Whereas the 2022 Human Rights Report documents that Vietnamese authorities
monitored, harassed, and intimidated members of certain ethnic minority
groups, particularly ethnoreligious minorities in the Central and
Northwest Highland;
Whereas the 2022 Human Rights Report documents that Vietnamese authorities used
national security laws to impose lengthy prison sentences on members of
ethnic minorities for their connections to overseas organizations the
government claimed espoused separatist aims;
Whereas the 2022 Human Rights Report documents that land expropriation and
preferential government treatment for nonindigenous residents in these
areas was common, despite the government previously allocating land to
ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands;
Whereas the Department of State's 2022 International Religious Freedom Report
documents that Montagnard Christians reported being summoned, arrested,
and fined by police in Dak Lak Province related to inquiries about
legally registering their religious group, commemorating International
Religious Freedom Day in 2021, and communication with international
diplomatic missions and religious freedom nongovernmental organizations;
Whereas the Department of State's 2022 International Religious Freedom Report
documents accounts from a Montagnard Christian in Gia Lai Province that
during the year, he was interrogated by police, detained, and beaten
multiple times while authorities repeatedly demanded that he renounce
affiliation with his church, including an incident in which police
burned his Bible and other religious materials, placed the embers on his
face, and hung him from the ceiling and beat him with a stick for hours;
Whereas the Department of State's 2022 International Religious Freedom Report
documents that police prevented Montagnard Christians from gathering
during important religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas or
forced them to take down their decorations for Christmas;
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
references in its 2023 Annual Report many reports of local authorities
harassing members of unregistered Montagnard Protestant groups,
disrupting and banning their peaceful religious activities,
interrogating and threatening them with imprisonment, imposing heavy
fines, and coercing them to denounce and leave their denominations and
instead join state-controlled Protestant organizations;
Whereas the 2023 USCIRF Report documents many reports of local authorities
harassing members of unregistered Montagnard Protestant groups,
disrupting and banning their peaceful religious activities,
interrogating and threatening them with imprisonment, imposing heavy
fines, and coercing them to denounce and leave their denominations and
instead join state-controlled Protestant organizations;
Whereas the 2019 USCIRF Report documents that one-quarter of prisoners of
conscience were minority religious groups, including Montagnard
Christians;
Whereas the 2019 USCIRF Report estimates that 10,000 individuals in the Central
Highlands are refused ID cards, household registration, and birth
certificates by local authorities in retaliation for refusing to
renounce their faith;
Whereas USCIRF has recommended every year since 2002 that Vietnam be designated
a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-292) due to ``systematic, ongoing,
egregious violations of religious freedom''; and
Whereas, on November 30, 2022, in accordance with the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998, the Secretary of State placed Vietnam on the
Special Watch List (SWL) for having engaged in or tolerated ``severe
violations of religious freedom'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes the contributions of the Montagnards who
fought loyally and bravely with United States Armed Forces
during the Vietnam War and who continue to suffer persecution
in Vietnam as a result of this relationship;
(2) condemns ongoing actions by the Government of Vietnam
to suppress basic human rights and civil liberties for all its
citizens;
(3) calls on the Government of Vietnam to allow human
rights groups access to all regions of the country and to end
restrictions of basic human rights, including the right for
Montagnards to practice their Christian faith freely, the right
to land and property, freedom of movement, the right to retain
ethnic identity and culture, and access to an adequate standard
of living; and
(4) urges the President and Congress to develop policies
that support Montagnards and other marginalized ethnic minority
and indigenous populations in Vietnam and reflect United States
interests and commitment to upholding human rights and
democracy abroad.
<all>