{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2002-11-22-pt1-PgE2136", "2002-11-22", 107, 2, null, null, "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\"}]", null, "148 Cong. Rec. E2136", "Congressional Record, Volume 148 Issue 152 (Friday, November 22, 2002)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 152 (Friday, November 22, 2002)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Pages E2136-E2137]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\nRECOGNIZING THE LAO STUDENTS MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRACY AND THE URGENT NEED\n                    FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REFORMS IN LAOS\n\n                                 ______\n\n                            HON. ADAM SMITH\n\n                             of washington\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Friday, November 22, 2002\n\n  Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, last month marked the third\nanniversary of the bloody intervention by Lao communist security forces\nagainst peaceful student demonstrators. In October of 1999, the\ncommunist regime in Vientiane sought to crush the Lao Students Movement\nfor Democracy. I was recently honored to join with Laotian-American\nconstituents and survivors of this brutal crackdown to speak at the\nCongressional Forum on Laos, which had a series of special events in\nthe U.S. House of Representatives this year to mark the anniversary of\nthis dark chapter in the history of Laos and the free world.\n  Mr. Speaker, my district is the home to many freedom-loving Lao-\nAmericans as well as the Lao Students Movement for Democracy--whose\nmembers are comprised largely of the survivors of the pro-democracy\nmovement in Laos in 1999. The students escaped the Lao communist regime\nto neighboring Thailand and then were admitted to the United States as\nrefugees after the outpouring of concern by Laotian-Americans in the\nSouth King County area. Sadly, however, many of the Lao pro-democracy\nstudent leaders and their families still remain jailed in Laos and have\ndisappeared into their horrific prison system. Amnesty International\ncontinues to raise concerns about their plight and the systemic torture\nthat exists within the prisons and gulag system of Laos.\n  Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend and thank the leaders of the Lao\ncommunity for their steadfast efforts on behalf of freedom and\ndemocracy in Laos and for the hard work of all those involved in\norganizing the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos sessions held on\nSeptember 17 and October 1st.\n  Mr. Speaker, I remain deeply concerned about the ongoing plight of\nthe Lao students leaders and others who are still jailed in Laos for\ntheir political or religious beliefs, or simply because they are\nmembers of an ethnic minority like the Hmong people. I would urge my\ncolleagues, therefore, to work toward helping to bring freedom, hope\nand human rights to Laos and its suffering people. We should remember\nthose who are still persecuted and jailed in Laos, struggling for basic\nhuman rights and freedoms.\n  Mr. Speaker, I would like to include into the Record the following\nnews article from the Agence France Press (``Lao Exiles Demand Freedom\nfor Imprisoned Comrades,'' July 18, 2002) regarding the Lao Students'\nefforts in Congress in Washington, DC:\n\n       Exiled dissidents have demanded the release of five\n     colleagues who have disappeared\n\n[[Page E2137]]\n\n     into the prison gulag in Laos, following unprecedented anti-\n     Communist protests.\n       The Lao government is holding five of the eleven strong\n     core leadership of the Lao Students for Democracy after it\n     crushed surprise protests in the capital, Vientiane, in\n     October 1999.\n       Six others, two of whom appeared at a U.S. Congressional\n     forum devoted to their cause, on Wednesday, escaped to\n     Thailand, before being granted political asylum by the United\n     States.\n       ``My colleagues are still in jail, they are asking for\n     peace and justice for the Lao people, I would like them to be\n     put on trial as soon as possible,'' said one of the leaders,\n     Aly Chantala.\n       Another dissident leader Nouamkhan Khamphylavong added:\n     ``We still heard nothing about their fate since they were\n     arrested.''\n       Rights group Amnesty International has accused the ruling\n     Lao People's Revoluntionary Party of denying that the arrests\n     even took place and of holding prisoners in cruel and\n     degrading conditions.\n       Campaigners say the five student leaders were arrested,\n     tortured an incarcerated by the Lao government in violation\n     of the country's one year limit on detention without trial.\n       They want the United States and world financial bodies to\n     withhold financial aid and make trade benefits for Laos\n     conditional on improvements in its human rights record and\n     the granting of political rights.\n       Some business groups and sectors of the U.S. administration\n     have, however, being pushing for Laos to be granted normal\n     trade relations with the United States, arguing that economic\n     opening will trigger an easing of the political situation.\n       Wednesday's event in a Congressional building was part of\n     an ongoing campaign to block the aspirations of the pro Laos-\n     trade lobby.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2002-11-22-pt1-PgE2136"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7865249644964933, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}