NEWS ADVISORY
Committee on International Relations
U.S. House of Representatives
CONTACT: Sam Stratman, (202) 226-7875, February 12, 2002

For IMMEDIATE Release

Persecution of Religious Faithful in China, Vietnam

Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen Schedules Feb. 13 Hearing

with Victims of Human Rights Abuses

BACKGROUND - As President Bush prepares to embark on a tour of Asian countries, there is new evidence of alleged violations of human rights and persecution of religious leaders and practitioners by Chinese authorities. This week, the Committee for the Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China and the Center for Religious Liberty of Freedom House unveiled Chinese government documents that provide chilling evidence of secret orders to persecute a wide-range of religious and spiritual groups inside China.  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also will be issuing this week its 2002 policy recommendations on the People's Republic of China.

WHAT: Hearing: Communist Entrenchment and Religious Persecution in China and Vietnam
Subcommittee on Int'l Operations & Human Rights, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairman
WHEN: 1 p.m., Wednesday, February 13, 2002
WHERE: 2172 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
WITNESSES:. PANEL I:  Michael K. Young , Commissioner, U.S. Commission on Int'l Religious Freedom; PANEL II:  Paul Marshal, Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House; John Ackerly, International Campaign for Tibet; Ningfang Chen, Falun Gong practitioner; Vo Van Ai, Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam; Dan Duy-Tu Hoang, Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee.

What is the Purpose of the hearing?

• The Subcommittee will serve as a conduit for presentation of  new information and evidence derived from testimonials from victims of Chinese torture and persecution, to help ensure a place of prominence for human rights and religious freedom issues in the upcoming discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials. 
• Amnesty International's 2001 survey of Vietnam noted that "religious critics of the government were subjected to surveillance, harassment and denial of basic freedoms, including freedom of expression." In October 2001, Vietnam's government sentenced Roman Catholic priest Rev. Thaddeus Bguyen Van Ly to 15 years in prison for "undermining national unity" and "public slandering" of the Vietnamese Communist Party.   His crime: giving written testimony to the U.S. Congress about religious persecution in Vietnam.
• In August 2001, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom nominated China as one of the "world's worst religious-freedom violators," subject to U.S. action under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
• The hearing will examine the similarities in the internal conditions in China and Vietnam, the status of religious freedom in these countries, and the parallels in U.S. policy toward the two.
• In addition, the hearing will undertake an examination of  the International Religious Freedom Act and the classification of China and Vietnam as  "countries of particular concern."
  

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Sharon Hammersla
Information Resource Manager
Committee on International Relations
www.house.gov/international_relations
(202) 226-5920