On the recordDecember 15, 2010
Did CPC designation help mitigate religious persecution prior to being lifted? It appears so. The U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom notes that Hanoi released prisoners, it expanded some legal protections for nationally recognized groups, and prohibited the policy of forced renunciations, at least in some cases, and expanded the zone of toleration. Congress, the President, and all of us who espouse fundamental human rights ought to be outraged at Vietnam's turn for the worse. We should stand with the oppressed, and not the oppressors. President Obama should redesignate Vietnam a Country of Particular Concern for its egregious violations of human rights. CPC, independently prescribed by statute, the International Religious Freedom Act, has in the past and can again be a very, very useful tool in promoting religious liberty.
