Representative Derek Tran Raises Alarm on Human Rights Abuses in Vietnam

Washington, D.C. - In a letter to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Dzung, U.S. Representative Derek Tran (CA-45) once again expressed grave concern about the Vietnamese government's consistent violation of human rights. Credible evidence has shown that the Vietnamese government has engaged in arbitrary killings, torture, arrests, restrictions on free expression, including arresting journalists, restrictions on religious freedom, and restrictions on workers' freedom of association.

Read the full letter HERE.

"I urge the Vietnamese government to honor its commitments under international law, not merely in word but in practice. I also strongly encourage open and candid discussions on human rights, which is essential to foster greater stability and progress. U.S.-Vietnam bilateral relationships will be stronger, more reliable, and more productive when the Vietnamese government fully respects the rights and dignities of its own citizens," wrote Representative Tran.

As the son of Vietnamese refugees and the first Vietnamese American elected to represent the world's largest Vietnamese diaspora in Congress, Representative Tran is committed to holding the Vietnamese government accountable for human rights abuses. In an April 2026 letter to General Secretary Tô Lâm, Representative Tran demanded to visit prisoners of conscience imprisoned by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to monitor their well-being. Tran introduced a congressional resolution to formally mark April 30, 2026 as the 51st anniversary of Black April. In April 2025, Congressman Tran held a roundtable with Vietnamese human rights activists and former prisoners of conscience to uplift their firsthand accounts of the oppression they faced at the hands of the Vietnamese government. Tran, a vocal advocate for advancing human rights in Vietnam, co-led H.R. 3122, the bipartisan Vietnam Human Rights Act, to hold Vietnamese communist officials accountable for human rights abuses and establish human rights and fair-trade priorities for U.S.-Vietnam relations. Representative Tran serves as the official sponsor of Le Huu Minh Tuan, a Vietnamese journalist who was wrongfully imprisoned by the communist government, through the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission's Defending Freedoms Project and continues to fight for the release of prisoners of conscience around the world.

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