"Laotian-American Symposium" held in Congress. In the first such event of its kind ever held in Congress, Laotian-Americans from around the US gathered in Washington on May 22-24 calling for open dialogue on US-Laos relations and supporting normal trade relations between the two countries. Symposium coordinator Sary Tatpaporn described the event's goal as "to explore opportunities to heal the wounds and to build better understanding, relationships and partnership between the Laotian people and the American people for the 21st century."
At a May 23 briefing hosted by Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Betty McCollum (D-MN), US Ambassador to Laos Douglas Hartwick said, "I believe strongly that it is in the vital interests of the United States to have a relationship with Laos that enables us to influence the pace and direction of change…Slowly and tentatively, we can see a country struggling to correct its problems. It is in America's interest to encourage this effort."
The full text of statements by Amb. Hartwick, Symposium participants, and the ensuing discussion will soon be available online at http://www.laotianlink.com. The Symposium was co-sponsored by six non-governmental organizations, including FRD.
Trade Promotion Authority passes Senate. By a bipartisan majority of 66-30, the Senate passed the "fast-track" trade bill (H.R. 3009) on May 23 with the addition of Trade Adjustment Assistance programs for workers who lose their jobs to international competition. President Bush termed the vote "an important signal to our trading partners that we are committed to free and open trade." The bill now goes to a conference committee, likely followed by a second House vote. However, passage of TPA in both houses now opens the door for additional trade legislation in the remaining months of the 2001-2 Congressional session.
Vietnam joins chorus of protest against farm bill. With less commitment to the principles of "free and open trade," President Bush also signed a protectionist farm bill (H.R. 2646) on May 13. Among the miscellaneous provisions of the bill is language making the labeling ban on Vietnamese basa catfish a permanent US law. Vietnam's trade minister, Vu Khoan, asked the US to "cancel" the regulation in a May 17 letter complaining of "barriers to the two countries' trading exchange" created by the bill. In Hanoi, deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to the US, Le Van Bang, told US Ambassador Raymond Burghardt that the catfish provision "is not in keeping with the spirit of the BTA" ratified by the US and Vietnam last year.
Vietnamese trade ministry delegation visits US. In an attempt to resolve the catfish dispute, among other objectives, a Vietnamese trade delegation led by Deputy Minister Luong Van Tu met with American counterparts in Washington from May 19-21 and New York on May 22. According to the Vietnam News Agency, this was the first official trade delegation since the Bilateral Trade Agreement came into effect in December. Other topics of discussion for the delegation included intellectual property rights, business visas, and textiles. Vietnamese press reported that the US agreed not to apply quotas to Vietnamese garment and textile exports during an unspecified "transitional period" of BTA implementation.
Policy brief on textiles and labor rights available. In a new Foreign Policy in Focus report, "Linking Textiles to Labor Standards: Prospects for Cambodia and Vietnam," FRD Washington representative Andrew Wells-Dang examines the politics and economics of the groundbreaking 1999 US-Cambodian textile agreement, its effect on labor conditions, and negotiations on a similar agreement with Vietnam. The report is online at http://www.fpif.org/papers/txt-labor.html.
II. Human Rights
Stockholm conference on "Environmental Consequences of the Vietnam War." From July 26-28, international donors, NGOs and Vietnamese officials will gather in Sweden for discussions concerning "the long-term environmental consequences of the Vietnam War in terms of their interrelated effects on ecosystems, public health and economic activity in the region." For more information, see www.nnn.se/vietnam/environ.htm or contact conference coordinator Al Burke at editor@nnn.se.
Amnesty International issues annual report on human rights. Amnesty's annual report, released on May 28, focuses on violations of human rights linked to the global campaign against terrorism. It also includes useful two-page summaries of human rights conditions in all countries of the world, with an emphasis on compliance with international norms and treaties, prisoners of conscience and the use of the death penalty. For a list of Asia-Pacific country summaries, see http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2002.nsf/asa?OpenView.
The Cambodian report notes that Cambodia has abolished the death penalty, ratified a UN protocol on women's rights, and granted a royal audience to an August 2001 Amnesty delegation. However, Amnesty criticizes Cambodia's alleged failure to protect Vietnamese ethnic minority asylum seekers, delays in the Khmer Rouge tribunal process, and political violence. The less balanced report on Vietnam cites "renewed repression" and a "prevailing climate of political infighting and public dissent," a strange formulation in light of Vietnam's consensus-based political system. Amnesty erroneously terms normal trade relations with the US "trade privileges" and claims that Vietnam implemented "new regulations limiting the use of the Internet" in 2001, perhaps unaware of the thousands of Internet cafes operating freely in Saigon, Hanoi and other cities.
Cambodia moved from "Tier II" to "Tier III" on State Department trafficking list. The State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons released its 2002 report on June 5. The report classifies countries judged to have significant trafficking problems into three tiers based on the government's perceived level of compliance with the "minimum standards" set out in 2002 legislation. Countries in Tier III, or noncompliance, face mandatory sanctions on non-trade, non-humanitarian assistance beginning with next year's report. For the full report, see http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2002/.
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand have all been classified as Tier II countries in past years' reports. In the 2002 report, however, the State Department found that Cambodia's "efforts disappointingly lagged over the last year…The Government of Cambodia does not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so." The Cambodian government responded with disappointment, with Prime Minister Hun Sen telling the Cabinet that the problem "is not completely our fault."
In contrast, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand are judged to be making "significant efforts" through public awareness campaigns, development programs, and partnering with NGOs, among other areas. Given that the report also cites Cambodian participation in exactly these activities, it is not clear on what basis Cambodia's status was downgraded. A May 29 Washington Post editorial favoring "naming and shaming offending countries" called for harsh action against India, Cambodia and Thailand, in particular. Of these three, only Cambodia was moved from Tier II to Tier III. Unrealistic and politically-motivated conditions on foreign assistance, similar to those that would come into effect in 2003 under the trafficking act, already apply to Cambodia in US law.
Vietnam greets Bob Kerrey's "crimes" with calls for reconciliation. In a new memoir, former US senator Bob Kerrey offered a different version of the alleged 1969 massacre at Thanh Phong village (Ben Tre province) than he gave when the story became public last year. According to the Associated Press, Kerrey now admits that he was aware women and children had gathered in the village before his Navy team began shooting. In a response, Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs termed Kerrey's actions "crimes," but added: "In our view, what Mr. Kerrey and those Americans who were involved in the Vietnam War should do is to take action to make concrete and practical contributions to healing the war wounds in Vietnam which they themselves caused."
Commission on Religious Freedom comments on Vietnam, Laos. In its May 2002 annual report, the quasi-independent US Commission on International Religious Freedom (http://www.uscirf.org) tones down its criticism of Vietnam and Laos, despite noting continued religious freedom issues in both countries and emphasizing its support for the "Vietnam Human Rights Act" (HR 2833). Unlike in previous years, the Commission has not issued any special reports on Vietnam or Laos, and no longer calls for either country to be added to the State Department's list of "countries of particular concern," although Vietnam is still cited for "grave violations." While having hosted a USCIRF delegation in February led by Commissioner Firuz Kazemzadeh, the Vietnamese government continues to criticize the Commission as well, claiming that it "brutally interferes into [other countries'] internal
affairs."
Ethnic minority refugees arrive in US. The first groups of refugees from Vietnam's Central Highlands who fled across the Cambodian border last year have begun to arrive in the US. Under a March resettlement agreement, the US accepted 900 migrants and their families. The first group of 50 arrived in North Carolina on June 4, where the vast majority of highlanders is expected to follow with the encouragement of local advocates.
III. Foreign Assistance
Debate continues over Nam Theun II dam. With the World Bank in the process of making a decision on financing the controversial Nam Theun II dam project in Laos, both supporters and opponents of the scheme have been making their cases in Washington. The Congressional Human Rights Caucus (http://www.house.gov/lantos/caucus/caucuswebpage.htm) held a hearing on May 22 to discuss social and environmental effects of the proposed dam. In connection with the Laotian-American Symposium the following day, Tony Culley-Foster of the Nam Theun Consortium, Prof. Lee Talbot of George Mason University, and Aviva Imhof of the International Rivers Network spoke in a lunchtime discussion about economic development and the environment. Statements from both the caucus and the symposium will be posted online at www.laotianlink.com.
Consultative Group to meet in Phnom Penh. The annual meeting of international donors to Cambodia will begin the week of June 17 in Phnom Penh. With foreign assistance crucial to Cambodia's economy and development plans, the government is seeking $1.45 billion in aid over the next three years. Donors will consider whether to link aid to human rights issues, legal reform and the national elections scheduled for July or August 2003. Non-governmental organizations typically issue their own statement about Cambodia's development needs during the Consultative Group meeting.
US Department of Labor sponsors disability project in Vietnam. The Vietnamese-American NGO, Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH), is the latest partner in a bilateral aid program funded by the US Labor Department with the support of the corresponding Vietnamese ministry. Under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2000, DoL is funding six projects in Vietnam ranging from industrial relations, HIV-AIDS prevention, and elimination of child labor. The most recent project, begun on May 19, seeks to establish a legal and policy framework for employment of people with disabilities.
IV. Diplomacy
UN official visits Cambodia, continues Khmer Rouge tribunal discussions. The UN Special Representative on Human Rights in Cambodia, Peter Leuprecht, traveled to Phnom Penh for a week of consultations beginning on June 3 and said he was "not yet giving up hope" for UN participation in a Khmer Rouge tribunal. Leuprecht, who virtually alone among UN officials expressed regret at the Secretary General's February decision to pull out of tribunal negotiations with the Cambodian government, said that he was willing to consider a fully Cambodian tribunal with the participation of foreign judges as "a second-best option." He added, however, that "A purely domestic trial would probably not have the necessary credibility, mainly because of the state in which the judiciary is in this country."
In May, both Prime Minister Hun Sen and National Assembly speaker Prince Ranariddh called for the UN to return to the table. Hun Sen questioned out loud whether the UN might be playing "political tricks to protect the Khmer Rouge." Despite Leuprecht's visit, tribunal specialist Craig Etcheson doubts that the UN will ever return to talks and characterizes international action as "a delicate diplomatic minuet aiming to grope toward Plan B" in which Leuprecht plays little role.
Charles Ray nominated as next ambassador to Cambodia. Following the departure of Kent Wiedemann, who will complete his three-year term in July, President Bush has nominated career Foreign Service officer Charles Ray to serve as the next US Ambassador to Cambodia. Ray is a Vietnam veteran and former consul general in Ho Chi Minh City (1998-2001) and Shenyang, China.
Laos cited for cooperation on terrorism. A State Department report on "Patterns of Global Terrorism" (http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2001/), released on May 21, notes that "East Asian nations were universal in their condemnation of the attacks, with most providing substantial direct support to the war on terrorism and making significant progress in building indigenous counterterrorism capabilities." Regarding Laos, the report notes cooperation in searching for and freezing "terrorist assets" and concluded that "Public and Government commentary on the US-led war on terrorism has been overwhelmingly supportive."
Neither Cambodia nor Vietnam drew specific mention in the report. The only terrorist incident connected with the Indochina countries cited by the State Department in 2001 was the June 19 attempted bombing at the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok. An extremist overseas Vietnamese group was reported to be behind this attack.