US lawmakers urge Obama to put Vietnam back on religious freedoms blacklist

By Foster Klug

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hwkCjFSQa4EY2nUeDzfoFnIbAOdg

Theodore Van Der Meid, with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, testified Wednesday that U.S-Vietnamese co-operation on economic matters "should not come at the price of human rights abuses, harassment and death."

Van Der Meid said that Vietnam's previous presence on the U.S. religious freedoms blacklist "produced tangible improvements on the ground and did not hinder progress on bilateral issues."