U.S. Considers Removing Vietnam from Religious Oppressors List
The United States is considering removing Vietnam this year from a list of countries accused of severe religious freedom violation.
The United States is considering removing Vietnam this year from a list of countries accused of severe religious freedom violation, said the U.S. ambassador to the socialist republic.
According to Michael W. Marine, Vietnam is making steady progress on human and religious rights which could lead the U.S. administration to drop the Southeast Asian country from the list of Country of Particular Concern (CPC), reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday.
"We are exploring conditions under which CPC could be lifted," Marine said at a media briefing. "I think that's a possibility for this year if certain things were to happen, but a decision hasn't been made."
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Marine informed reporters that Vietnam had freed some prisoners held for their religious beliefs and allowed some banned churches to reopen.
"I see nothing that would lead us to say that we're going backwards," said Marine, who recently visited the Central Highlands, home to Christian ethnic minorities. "We're seeing more progress, not less."
Earlier this month, however, the U.S. State Department released its annual human rights report describing Vietnam as an authoritarian state with “unsatisfactory” human rights record including police abuses, media controls and unfair trial.
And in November, the Center for Religious Freedom of Washington, D.C.-based Freedom House – the nation’s oldest human rights group – released photographs of Christian Hmongs who were beaten with electric batons by Vietnamese police forcing them to renounce their faith.
The Southeast Asian country was included in the list of “countries of particular concern” (CPC) although the U.S. State Department noted that Vietnam had begun to ease religious restrictions in May.
In his report, Marine acknowledged that dropping Vietnam from the CPC list may help some Congress members to support granting the country Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status this summer.
PNTR status is essential for Vietnam to join the World Trade Organization this year.
"Obviously the timing could coincide or be close to each other, so one decision to lift CPC would have some impact on Congress," said Marine, according to AFP.
But he added: "First and foremost it's going to be decided on the quality of the package for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization."
