congressional_record: CREC-2002-11-22-pt1-PgE2136
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-2002-11-22-pt1-PgE2136 | 2002-11-22 | 107 | 2 | RECOGNIZING THE LAO STUDENTS MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRACY AND THE URGENT NEED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REFORMS IN LAOS | HOUSE | EXTENSIONS | RECOGNIZING | E2136 | E2137 | [{"name": "Adam Smith", "role": "speaking"}] | 148 Cong. Rec. E2136 | Congressional Record, Volume 148 Issue 152 (Friday, November 22, 2002) [Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 152 (Friday, November 22, 2002)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E2136-E2137] From the Congressional Record Online through the 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 [[Page E2137]] 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 Revoluntionary 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, being 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. ____________________ |