[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23544]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


RECOGNIZING THE LAO STUDENTS MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRACY AND THE URGENT NEED 
                    FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REFORMS IN LAOS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ADAM SMITH

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 22, 2002

  Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, last month marked the third 
anniversary of the bloody intervention by Lao communist security forces 
against peaceful student demonstrators. In October of 1999, the 
communist regime in Vientiane sought to crush the Lao Students Movement 
for Democracy. I was recently honored to join with Laotian-American 
constituents and survivors of this brutal crackdown to speak at the 
Congressional Forum on Laos, which had a series of special events in 
the U.S. House of Representatives this year to mark the anniversary of 
this dark chapter in the history of Laos and the free world.
  Mr. Speaker, my district is the home to many freedom-loving Lao-
Americans as well as the Lao Students Movement for Democracy--whose 
members are comprised largely of the survivors of the pro-democracy 
movement in Laos in 1999. The students escaped the Lao communist regime 
to neighboring Thailand and then were admitted to the United States as 
refugees after the outpouring of concern by Laotian-Americans in the 
South King County area. Sadly, however, many of the Lao pro-democracy 
student leaders and their families still remain jailed in Laos and have 
disappeared into their horrific prison system. Amnesty International 
continues to raise concerns about their plight and the systemic torture 
that exists within the prisons and gulag system of Laos.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend and thank the leaders of the Lao 
community for their steadfast efforts on behalf of freedom and 
democracy in Laos and for the hard work of all those involved in 
organizing the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos sessions held on 
September 17 and October 1st.
  Mr. Speaker, I remain deeply concerned about the ongoing plight of 
the Lao students leaders and others who are still jailed in Laos for 
their political or religious beliefs, or simply because they are 
members of an ethnic minority like the Hmong people. I would urge my 
colleagues, therefore, to work toward helping to bring freedom, hope 
and human rights to Laos and its suffering people. We should remember 
those who are still persecuted and jailed in Laos, struggling for basic 
human rights and freedoms.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to include into the Record the following 
news article from the Agence France Press (``Lao Exiles Demand Freedom 
for Imprisoned Comrades,'' July 18, 2002) regarding the Lao Students' 
efforts in Congress in Washington, DC:

       Exiled dissidents have demanded the release of five 
     colleagues who have disappeared into the prison gulag in 
     Laos, following unprecedented anti-Communist protests.
       The Lao government is holding five of the eleven strong 
     core leadership of the Lao Students for Democracy after it 
     crushed surprise protests in the capital, Vientiane, in 
     October 1999.
       Six others, two of whom appeared at a U.S. Congressional 
     forum devoted to their cause, on Wednesday, escaped to 
     Thailand, before being granted political asylum by the United 
     States.
       ``My colleagues are still in jail, they are asking for 
     peace and justice for the Lao people, I would like them to be 
     put on trial as soon as possible,'' said one of the leaders, 
     Aly Chantala.
       Another dissident leader Nouamkhan Khamphylavong added: 
     ``We still heard nothing about their fate since they were 
     arrested.''
       Rights group Amnesty International has accused the ruling 
     Lao People's Revolutionary Party of denying that the arrests 
     even took place and of holding prisoners in cruel and 
     degrading conditions.
       Campaigners say the five student leaders were arrested, 
     tortured an incarcerated by the Lao government in violation 
     of the country's one year limit on detention without trial.
       They want the United States and world financial bodies to 
     withhold financial aid and make trade benefits for Laos 
     conditional on improvements in its human rights record and 
     the granting of political rights.
       Some business groups and sectors of the U.S. administration 
     have, however, been pushing for Laos to be granted normal 
     trade relations with the United States, arguing that economic 
     opening will trigger an easing of the political situation.
       Wednesday's event in a Congressional building was part of 
     an ongoing campaign to block the aspirations of the pro Laos-
     trade lobby.

     

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