Renegotiation of Cambodian textile agreement. The United States and Cambodia announced on January 7 that they had reached agreement on a three-year extension of the Bilateral Textile Agreement governing garment and shoe import quotas to the US. Quotas will be increased 15% over previous levels, with a majority of the increase coming as an incentive for improvements in labor conditions. Both the US and International Labor Organization found in late 2001 that working conditions in Cambodia’s booming garment sector are in "substantial compliance" with international standards. The final quota increase result reflects a compromise between US and Cambodian negotiating positions.

Cambodia exported an estimated $1 billion in apparel and textiles to the US in 2001. The textile agreement, first negotiated in 1999, includes unprecedented linkages between quota levels and Cambodia’s progress towards full recognition of core labor rights.

Plans for textile agreement with Vietnam. Following completion of the US-Vietnam trade agreement, the next item on the bilateral trade agenda is a textile accord. Tariffs on Vietnamese textiles, garments and shoes are now lowered along with all other imports, but are still covered by quotas under the Multi-Fiber Agreement (MFA) until its expiration in 2005.

As the textile agreement negotiations are concluded, issues of labor and environmental standards will likely come into the forefront, along with the possible extension of terms similar to the Cambodian agreement. With the perceived success of the Cambodian terms, Congressional leaders such as Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) have indicated their support for the concept. An AFL-CIO official who is knowledgeable about the region concurs, presuming the concept can be accepted by the Vietnamese, since the system would use "positive incentives" rather than sanctions to promote greater labor freedom in Vietnam.

Resolution on Laos introduced in House. A resolution "expressing the sense of Congress regarding democratic reform and the protection of human rights in Laos" (H.Con.Res. 318) was introduced on February 7 by Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), with the co-sponsorship of Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Mark Green (R-WI) and Patrick Kennedy (D-RI). The measure, which is not worded particularly strongly, calls on the Lao government to respect the rights of its citizens to vote and demonstrate in advance of the National Assembly elections scheduled for February 24, and demands "unrestricted access by international human rights and election monitors."

Religious Freedom Commission receives permission for Vietnam, Lao visits. The semi-official US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has been granted long-awaited permission to conduct a "fact-finding mission" to Vietnam, according to Commission staff. An invitation to Laos was formalized last fall, but the Commission delayed the visit until Vietnam followed suit. Exposure to realities in both countries, however brief or superficial, may lead USCIRF to soften its often harsh political rhetoric in previous reports.

The visit will include at least one of the nine bipartisan commissioners and may take place as soon as March. Exact plans are still underway; the Commission welcomes suggestions for meetings and activities in Vietnam and Laos. Please send any specific ideas to washington@ffrd.org or directly to the commission at jtai@uscirf.org.

Sanchez calls for Nobel Prize for Vietnamese dissidents. Maverick Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) announced on January 24 that she is circulating a Dear Colleague letter in the House supporting the nominations of two Vietnamese religious dissidents for the Nobel Peace Prize. The two figures, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do and Catholic Fr. Nguyen Van Ly, are currently under house arrest and in prison, respectively. Sanchez represents Orange County and its large Vietnamese American community. She caused a stir by leaving President Clinton’s Vietnam delegation in November 2000 to meet secretly with Quang Do. Vietnam considers both men to be linked with international forces hostile to the government.

Human Rights Watch criticizes Vietnam’s policies. In a January report, Human Rights Watch concluded that Vietnam’s human rights record "took several major steps backwards" in 2001, particularly in the areas of ethnic minority and religious rights. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Hanoi called HRW’s statements "groundless and untruthful."

Repatriation Accord On January 21, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agreed on a repatriation plan with the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments for hundreds of ethnic highlanders who have fled across the border since unrest in February 2001. In a joint letter, HRW and Amnesty International expressed concern that UNHCR, while allowed to visit returnees in Vietnam, would not have unlimited freedom of motion there. HRW plans to release a full report on the Central Highlands in late March. Other observers believe the agreement provides necessary safeguards and that is needed to prevent a new Hong Kong type magnet for illegal migration.

Attempts to apply "terrorist" label to Vietnam. The conservative Washington Times published two recent op-ed commentaries regarding human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam, one by an advisor to a "Montagnard" organization in North Carolina, the second by nationally-syndicated columnist Nat Hentoff. Claiming repression of unregistered religious groups and ethnic minority demonstrators, both authors equated Vietnamese actions with "communist terrorism" and "state terrorism" respectively. (Much of Hentoff’s information was quoted from a January 7 Christianity Today article that, however, made no mention of terrorism.) Seen together, the commentaries suggest a coordinated effort by opponents of US-Vietnam relations to link Vietnam to the ongoing war on terrorism and "axis of evil"—a view that is supported by an official at the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington.

While Vietnam has continued to harass and, in some cases, imprison those it holds responsible for unrest in the Central Highlands and other regions, there is no evidence of any action that approaches "terrorism," by any definition. (The label might be more accurately applied to US-based groups that illegally fund acts of violence in Southeast Asia, such as the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, Lao Veterans of America, or "Government of Free Vietnam.")

Congressional hearing on religious freedom in China and Vietnam. In a hastily scheduled February 13 hearing, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chair of the International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee sought to expose what she views as "Communist entrenchment and religious persecution" in advance of President Bush’s trip to China, Japan and Korea. (Ros-Lehtinen is a Cuban-American who represents Little Havana in Miami and is known for her very hard line against any moderation of US policy towards the Cuban government.)

Michael Young, the chief commissioner of the USCIRF, focused his testimony primarily on China. While claiming that "religious freedom conditions in Vietnam have deteriorated" and praising the "Viet Nam Human Rights Act" passed by the House last fall that provoked strong Vietnamese and NGO opposition, he did not call for any further sanctions against Vietnam.

Witnesses Vo Van Ai, an overseas spokesperson of the Unified Buddhist Church (UBCV), and Dan Duy-Tu Hoang of the Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee were less circumspect in their remarks. Ai offered a one-sided and accusatory picture of religion in Vietnam, centered on the UBCV as "a major target of religious persecution," and repeating charges of "terrorism of totalitarian regimes against their own people." (In reality, the UBCV represents only a small fraction of Vietnam’s 50 million Buddhists; most of its following is overseas.) Hoang claimed that "the government monopolizes all religious activity in Vietnam." As is unfortunately usual in such hearings, no dissenting voices were invited to testify.

US responses to Cambodian commune elections. Cambodia’s first-ever commune elections, held on February 3, resulted in a strong victory for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). US observers, including Human Rights Watch and the International Republican Institute (IRI), agreed that election day itself went smoothly, but expressed concern about a climate of violence and intimidation that preceded the elections. IRI’s President George Folsom told a press conference in Phnom Penh that despite these problems, this election was an improvement over national elections in 1993 and 1998.

FRD Executive Director John McAuliff was in Cambodia during the elections along with Deputy Director Susan Hammond. McAuliff returned to a fishing village where he observed the 1998 election and noted that there was much less tension this time. He gave the election high marks as another important step forward in the ability of political groups to work together that were bitter enemies in the civil war of the 1980’s which flared up again in 1997.

On February 11, the Fund for Reconciliation and Development organized an off-the-record briefing on the Cambodian elections in Washington, co-sponsored by Johns Hopkins University-SAIS and the Asia Society. Presenters included representatives from the Royal Embassy of Cambodia, US State Department, IRI, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and FRD.

Protests against UN withdrawal from Khmer Rouge tribunal. The February 7 decision by the United Nations Legal Affairs Department to end its involvement in preparations for a trial of surviving Khmer Rouge leaders was met with shock and disappointment in Washington. US Ambassador Kent Wiedemann said he saw "no real basis" for the decision: "they could have discussed [more] with the Cambodians." Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen also called for the UN to reconsider.

UN Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Hans Corell, who has spearheaded the UN’s involvement, responded that "the organization cannot be bound by a national law," in this case Cambodia’s tribunal law passed in August 2001. Tribunal specialist Craig Etcheson notes that the gaps between the UN and Cambodia have been growing for some time and that US support for the trial had grown more muted since the Bush Administration gained power.

US Ambassador to Laos visits Washington. In his first trip to the US since becoming Ambassador to Laos in July 2001, Douglas Hartwick met with Administration, Congress, business and NGO contacts in Washington from February 5-14. At an Asia Society lecture on February 12, Hartwick expressed his support for improved US-Lao ties: "Our present relationship does not reflect all the common interests our countries have." In what he later termed his "embassy motto," he defined his role as "looking to create opportunities for American interests...building the future as we take account of the past."

Among the policy areas where the ambassador believes greater cooperation is possible are counter-narcotics, recovery of MIA remains, UXO removal, and trade status. "The US needs to do a lot more" on building a relationship of trust, he explained, in spite of the Lao government’s perceived shortcomings. The bilateral trade agreement is "desperately needed…When Congressmen say they won’t have trade until we find [missing Hmong resistance fighters] Ly and Vang, I think that’s wrong-headed. It’s an anomaly from the past that can’t continue."

Amb. Hartwick also plans to reach out to the Lao- and Hmong-American communities, which have "too long been dominated by one single voice." With 500,000 Lao and Hmong in the US compared with 5 million people in Laos, he emphasized that Americans of Lao descent have a particular role to play in building relations and opening the Lao economy and society.

Admiral Blair visits Vietnam. Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (CINCPAC), visited Hanoi on February 1-2 to discuss expanded military relations with Washington. According to news reports, Blair said that US-Vietnamese military cooperation was "moving in a positive direction" over the past year, with cooperation on recovery of MIA remains, demining, and counterterrorism efforts. He also expressed interest in US naval visits to Cam Ranh Bay, the facility in south-central Vietnam that has been leased by Russia for the past 20 years.

Agent Orange conference to be held in Hanoi. The United States-Vietnam Scientific Conference on Human Health and Environmental Effects of Agent Orange/Dioxins will be held in Hanoi from March 3-6. The conference, the first of its kind in Vietnam, is part of an ongoing cooperative research program between the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the Vietnamese Committee 33 under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MoSTE). Participants will include both government and non-governmental representatives from both countries. Efforts are underway to invite Cambodian and Lao experts as well.

For more conference information, see www.niehs.nih.gov/external/usvcrp/conf2002/backgoal.htm.

Adoption controversies in Cambodia and Vietnam. Following allegations of fraud and baby selling in the adoption of orphans, Immigration and Naturalization Services Commissioner James Ziglar announced the immediate suspension of all adoption petitions in Cambodia and Vietnam beginning on December 21, 2001. In the case of Cambodia, all immigrant visa processing has been transferred indefinitely to Bangkok. According to the INS, the Vietnamese suspension is temporary pending review; a team of INS officials traveled to Vietnam in late January to examine the procedures for orphan petitions. A BBC report on January 9 indicated that Vietnam planned to amend its adoption laws in response to the dispute.

In the meantime, eight American families in Vietnam and seven in Cambodia are currently being held in limbo by the INS as they have completed legal adoption procedures for their children under local law but are being denied visas for their children to enter the US. A nonprofit organization that facilitates adoptions, International Mission of Hope, has come under criticism from officials in both Vietnam and the US.

INS operations in Vietnam and Cambodia have been riddled with allegations of fraud and corruption in the past, particularly during the Amerasian repatriation program of the early 1990’s. Before taking up his post in Hanoi, US Ambassador to Vietnam Raymond Burghardt agreed to investigate complaints of immigration abuses there. According to the State Department, adoption of infants from Vietnam has increased from two in 1995 to more than 600 in 2001.