[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 69 (Tuesday, June 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5573-S5575]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 240--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE WITH RESPECT
TO DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
Mr. THOMAS (for himself, Mr. Grams, and Mr. Smith of Oregon)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations.
S. Res. 240
Whereas in 1975, the Pathet Lao party supplanted the
existing Lao government and the Lao Royal Family, and
established a ``people's democratic republic,'' in violation
of the 1962 Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos and it's
Protocol, as well as the 1973 Vientiane Agreement on Laos;
Whereas since the 1975 overthrow of the existing Lao
government, Laos has been under the sole control of the Lao
People's Democratic Party;
Whereas the present Lao Constitution provides for human
rights protection for the Lao people, the Laos is a signatory
to international agreements on civil and political rights;
and
Whereas Laos has become a member of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, which calls for the creation of open
societies in each of its member states by the year 2020;
Whereas despite that, the State Department's ``Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997'' notes that the
government has only slowly eased restrictions on basic
freedoms and begun codification of implementing legislation
for rights stipulated in the Lao Constitution, and continues
to significantly restrict the freedoms of speech, assembly
and religion; and
Whereas on January 30, 1998, the Lao government arrested
and detained forty-four individuals at a Bible study meeting
in Vientiane and on March 25 sentenced thirteen Christians
from the group to prison terms of three to five years for
``creating division among the people, undermining the
government, and accepting foreign funds to promote
religion;'' Now therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate, That it is the sense of the Senate
that the present government of Laos should--
(1) respect international norms of human rights and
democratic freedoms for the Lao people, and fully honor its
commitments to those norms and freedoms as embodied in its
constitution and international agreements, and in the 1962
Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos and it's Protocol and
the 1973 Vientiane Agreement on Laos;
(2) issue a public statement specifically reaffirming its
commitment to protecting religious freedom;
(3) fully institute a process of democracy, human rights
and openly-contested free and fair elections in Laos, and
ensure specifically the National Assembly elections--
currently scheduled for 2002--are openly contested.
[[Page S5574]]
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, today as the Chairman of the Subcommittee
on East Asian and Pacific Affairs I submit S. Res. 240, a resolution
expressing the sense of the Senate with respect to democracy and human
rights in Laos.
In 1975, the Pathet Lao party supplanted the legitimate Lao
government and the Lao Royal Family, and established a ``people's
democratic republic,'' in violation of the 1962 Declaration on the
Neutrality of Laos and its Protocol, as well as the 1973 Vientiane
Agreement on Laos. Since that time, Laos has been under the sole
control of the communist Lao People's Democratic Party.
Although the present Lao Constitution provides for human rights
protection for the Lao people, is a signatory to international
agreements on civil and political rights, and has become a member of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations--which calls for the
creation of open societies in each of its member states by the year
2020--the State Department's ``Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1997'' notes that the government has only slowly eased
restrictions on basic freedoms and begun codification of implementing
legislation for rights stipulated in the Lao Constitution, and
continues to significantly restrict the freedoms of the press, speech,
and assembly.
Mr. President, would-be opposition political leaders in Laos continue
to be jailed in horrible conditions solely because they espouse
democratic ideals. While Laos recently conducted the country's most
open elections since 1975, that is not to say that the elections came
close to meeting even the minimal norms for what we would consider free
and fair; Laos is still a one-party state and all of the candidates for
election were vetted by the party. And the Hmong and Yao ethnic
minorities continue to face discrimination and, in some cases,
persecution.
In addition, on January 30 of this year, a group of 44 people,
including five foreigners, were arrested at a Bible study meeting in
Vientiane. Charged with creating divisions among the people,
undermining the government and accepting foreign funds to promote
religion, a Laotian court sentenced 13 Christians from the group to
prison on March 25. Eight were sentenced to three-year prison terms,
including five Lao affiliated with Partners in Progress (PIP), a U.S.-
based evangelical humanitarian aid organization. Lao authorities had
prevented the prisoners from meeting with their families until the
sentencing.
Last month the Lao Foreign Ministry accused the group of making
negative comments about the government and interfering in the internal
affairs of the country by insulting the reputation of Lao leaders. A
foreign ministry spokesman added that the three Americans, all PIP
workers, had taken advantage of their non-governmental organization
status to ``promote the worship of Christ'' to Lao nationals.
Mr. President, Laos doesn't receive a lot of attention from the
outside. It is a land-locked, impoverished country of just slightly
over five million people, where only three percent of the land is
arable. Subsistence farming accounts for more than half of the GDP, and
provides more than eighty percent of total employment. It has few
roads, no railroads, and electricity in only a few scattered urban
areas. Needless to say, it is of little strategic or economic interest
to the rest of the world.
But Mr. President, that does not mean that we can or should turn a
blind eye to the human rights situation in that country. We need to
urge Laos to respect international norms of human rights and democratic
freedoms for the Lao people, and fully honor its commitments to those
norms and freedoms as embodied in its constitution and international
agreements. The resolution calls on the Lao government to issue a
public statement specifically reaffirming its commitment to protecting
religious freedom, and to fully institute a process of democracy, human
rights and openly-contested free and fair elections in Laos, and ensure
specifically that the National Assembly elections--currently scheduled
for 2002--are openly contested. I hope they get the message.
Mr. President, before I close I would like to thank my good friend
from Minnesota, Mr. Grams, for cosponsoring--indeed, for inspiring--
this resolution. Senator Grams has significant Lao and Hmong
populations in his state, and has been active in getting their message
heard in Congress; I've attended several meetings, including one with
members of the Lao royal family, which he sponsored. I would also like
to thank my friend the Senator from Oregon, Mr. Smith, for his
cosponsorship; there is a large Hmong population in Portland, and I
know Senator Smith has followed events in Laos closely.
Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senator Thomas as co-
sponsor of S. Res. 240, a resolution which hopefully will focus more
Congressional attention on the situation in Laos. With 50,000 Hmong and
7,000 other ethnic Lao living in Minnesota, I am well aware that the
atrocities being committed in that country and the lack of progress
toward a democratic government are far more serious than press reports
would lead us to believe. It is rare indeed that any of us, even those
of us who serve on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ever hear
anything about Laos. Yet many Lao and Hmong fought with us in the
Vietnam War. In fact, they are still being ``punished'' for their
loyalty to the United States through continued violence against them by
the Lao government. But, the State Department recently responded to an
inquiry I made by saying they do not see evidence of abuses.
We owe the Hmong and other Lao a great debt of gratitude for their
service during the Vietnam War. We owe them our renewed efforts to end
the violence in Laos and to enforce the agreements signed by Communists
in Laos in 1962 and 1973 which committed them to a coalition government
including the Lao Royal Family. As you may know, this government was
overthrown in 1975, and now the country is under sole control of the
Lao People's Democratic Party.
Since there has been so little focus on Laos, Mr. President, there
has been little progress there. While the Lao government approved a
Constitution in 1990 claiming human rights protection, and while Laos
has signed international agreements on civil and political rights and
is a member of ASEAN, the record shows these promises are being
ignored.
Several months ago, the United Lao Movement for Democracy of
Minnesota hosted a staff briefing. The briefing included a videotape
which showed death, violence, and evidence that ``yellow rain'' has
been used against Lao citizens recently--despite comments by the State
Department these atrocities do not exist. We were told during the
briefing that the ``killing fields'' are still going on in the
countryside, mostly against the Hmong. The leaders of the Minnesota
group, Shoua Cha, Xiong Pao Moua, and Cha Vang have been instrumental
in calling these atrocities to our attention and maintaining valuable
contact with the people of Laos. There were many cries on the tape that
war hero General Vang Pao should return to Laos to help stop the
violence.
Mr. President, the Thomas-Grams resolution expresses Senate
opposition to human rights abuses in Laos, including religious
persecution. It calls for free and fair elections and a process toward
democracy.
I would like to call attention to one American, Steve Young, an
expert and activist in Indochinese matters for over 30 years. Steve has
helped us focus on problems in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and I have
always valued his counsel. If Steve, and my many Hmong and Lao
constituents, say there is a serious problem here, I believe them. Mr.
President, I ask unanimous consent that an article by Steve Young
printed in the May 14, 1998 edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune be
printed in the Record.
Mr. President, to those seeking changes in Laos, this resolution
provides hope. I ask that my colleagues give it their support, as an
expression by the Senate of our renewed interest in improving the
situation in Laos. Please join me in co-sponsoring this resolution and
facilitating its passage in the near future.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
In Putting Laos Out of Sight, America Has Abandoned Its Honor
(By Steve Young)
Laos: on the losing side of history, one of only four
remaining Communist states, a
[[Page S5575]]
genuine backwater in international affairs, a little country
with no geopolitical importance, no raw materials, no
seaport, no beautiful beaches, no ski resorts.
Why should I, or anyone else, care a whit about Laos?
The Lao people have no Dalai Lama to win friends and
influence Hollywood; their ancient royal family is also in
exile but commands no attention. Their holy relic, the
Prabang Buddha statue, is rumored to be in Moscow, hidden
away as a now-forgotten and irrelevant trophy of the Cold
War.
Fifty thousand Hmong people from Laos now live in
Minnesota, along with some 7,000 ethnic Lao. But is that any
reason to care about the tiny, faraway homeland of a people
who don't speak English?
Life in Laos is hard, especially for the Hmong, for the
ethnic Khamu people and for the poor. The country's Communist
leadership is awful. There are arbitrary arrests, no economic
development, lousy schools, no free speech. Corruption is
rampant.
The self-centered whims of Communist Party cadres are the
law.
Opium is still a cash crop in Laos, feeding the world's
supply of heroin. Communist officials, it is said, protect
and profit from the vile traffic.
With help from the United States, many Lao and Hmong fought
the Communists until 1973. Then, the United States walked
away to ``give peace a chance,'' as John Lennon demanded.
Today, years later, fighting still goes on. The Hmong in
the hills are still loyal to the cause of the United States
in the Cold War. They don't understand why the Americans went
into a sulk and gave up fighting an evil political movement.
In December and January, and again in March, Communist Lao
forces numbering several battalions attacked Hmong hamlets on
the slopes of the Phu Bia mountain massif. Communist forces
were repulsed. Their wounded filled the military hospital in
the capital city of Vientiane.
In the far south of Laos, the Khamu people have turned
against their former patrons--Lao and Vietnamese Communists.
Young Khamu men have taken to the jungles to fight and put on
their left arms the white elephant patch of the Lao royal
family.
American officials in Vientiane make the best of a tour of
duty in a place that counts for nothing except oppression.
They argue for a form of appeasement, calling it
``constructive engagement.''
Poor little Laos: Back then, its needs were hidden behind
the secrecy of an unpublicized war. The grim fighting, the
terror for innocent villagers, the heroism of the Hmong, the
illegalities of the Vietnamese Communists in invading a
neutral country were out of sight and out of mind for the
experts and gurus whose duty it is to tell our collective
national psyche when, and how, and for whom to emote
compassion.
Today, Laos is equally forgotten and still the victim of
that past war. The bad guys won.
In putting Laos out of sight, America has abandoned its
honor.
Promises were made to the peoples of Laos by the American
government, among others. International agreements were
signed in 1962 by all the great powers, pledging peace,
neutrality, multiparty government. In 1973 the promises were
renewed; yet again treaties were signed. International law
protected the peoples of Laos, so it was said. Henry
Kissinger got a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
In 1975 the Communists broke their agreements, killed the
king, queen, crown prince and many others--all to impose the
justice of a really stupid ideology and, let us not forget,
to gain a little joie de vivre for themselves.
A solution to the continuing troubles in Laos is at hand.
The Communists need only return to the agreements they signed
in 1962 and 1973, restoring coalition government, the
monarchy and human freedoms. Such a Laos would be a buffer
between Thailand and Vietnam, adding to the peaceful
stability of Southeast Asia. Such a Laos would also protect
Vietnam from penetration by China through the mountains
around Dien Bien Phu.
To forget the promises made is willfully to choose
dishonor.
We can mediate successfully in Northern Ireland, we send
troops to watch over ethnic brutality in Bosnia, we mobilize
to crack down on Saddam Hussein's inhumanities. Why can't we
care as well about Laos?
____________________