World Forum for Democratization in Asia
Third Biennal Conference
Seoul , 16-18 September 2009Lao Movement for Human Rights
Vanida S. Thephsouvanh
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR) I would like to begin by thanking the WFDA and our generous Korean hosts for organizing this Conference.
The world is deeply moved by striking images brought by the media on events like the crushing of the uprisings in Tibet , Burma and Iran . But when repression is endured daily under a surface of political and social
calm, it has practically no chance of drawing the attention of the international media and the world community.
This silent repression, inflicted upon six million Laotians in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), represents a difficult obstacle for civil-society organizations like the LMHR to have an impact and breakthrough.
In order to help in identifying effective ways and means to assist closed societies towards democracy and open society, this presentation will focus on three points:
* Current situation in Laos
* Difficulties encountered by diaspora organizations like the LMHR
* Proposals on what the WFDA could do to help open the closed society of Laos
I - Current situation in Laos
Laos is a country where hospitality and the natural smiles of the people may detract foreigners from the fact that the Lao People's Democratic Republic has never ceased to violate international standards of human rights.
Laos has been ruled for thirty years by a single party, the Lao communist party, also known as the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. The Lao Constitution forbids the existence of any other political party.
A new law on the media, adopted last year, merely reaffirms the ‘rights' and duties of the national media as a tool of the sole Party.
Although freedoms of expression, protest and association are guaranteed by the Constitution, they do not exist in practice. There is no place for real democracy. No place for any political opposition party. No place for civil
society. No place for human rights defenders.
The Eighth Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party in 2006 and the ensuing legislative elections, did not bring any hope for democratic change. Instead, it re-endorsed the one-party régime.
These elections , held amidst a complete indifference from the democratic nations, aroused deep doubts and indignations among people inside Laos .
Many considered such passivity on the part of the international community as a kind of complicity with the leaders of the Lao PDR who would claim this to be a sign of international acceptance and legitimization of their regime. It emboldened them to seek and receive millions of dollars in aid without any thought towards concrete human rights respect and democratic reforms. These same leaders would build their personal wealth and power in the face of their own anti-corruption law which is never implemented.
After the mass protest by monks and people of Burma, the Prime Minister of Laos, when asked if his government would also order to shoot on pacific protesters, answered : '' I don't think it will be the right path for Laos to have a multi-party system ... The best way for us is to do everything not to let something like
that happen .. ''.
The list of the human rights abuses in Laos is long. Our three most urgent concerns are:
1. The fate of the student protesters
The leaders of the '' Student Movement of 26 October 1999'' who were arrested and jailed for attempting a peaceful march to call for democratic reforms are still in prison. One of them died from torture in prison in 2001. No one has ever been allowed to visit them.
In 2007, the president of the Lao National Assembly declared to the head of a delegation from the European Parliament that these leaders had already been ''released in 2006''. However, the delegation was not authorized to meet them and not a single concrete proof on their release was shown.
The sad reality is that, up to today, their families have been waiting for them for
the last ten years.
2 . The plight of the Lao-Hmong ethnic minority
Disturbing incidents are regularly reported and confirmed by several international medias such as BBC, France 2, the International Tribune, among others.
Estimated to number around 20 000 according to a CERD of UN report in 2003, only some 2000 Lao-Hmongs are left today, hiding in the jungles of Laos. Unable to plant any crop or build permanent dwelling that could be spotted from the air by the army, they are surviving on '' roots and leaves''. This month, again, many, mostly women and children, continued to be killed.
Apart from the ones in hiding, there are also several thousand Lao-Hmongs who fled to Thailand and who will all be sent back to Laos by the end of this year, following agreements between the Lao and Thai governments.
The UNHCR has never been allowed to meet these people. Organizations such as Amnesty International, Forum Asia, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights, Médecins du Monde have all asked that these Lao-Hmongs should not be repatriated to a régime which they have fled and where, once they are returned, their security cannot be verified or safeguarded.
3. Religious persecution
Repression of religious minorities has never ended in Laos , particularly against the Christians.
Harassments, threats, persecutions are endured on a daily basis by Christians in Laos . In villages, Christians must often choose between renunciation of their faith or being jailed, expelled from the village, having their identity card removed, or their land expropriated.
In the cities, civil servants, soldiers or policemen have to hide their Christian religion or are asked to renounce their faith in order to advance in their career.
In May 2009, the USCIRF placed the Lao PDR on the ''Commission Watch List'' due to the nature and extent of violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by the governments''.
II - Difficulties encountered by diaspora organizations like the LMHR
In a totalitarian regime like the Lao PDR, there exist movements among teachers, students, civil servants, ethnic and religious minorities, farmers, and even policemen and soldiers that long for human rights respect, democracy, and a multiparty political system. While they strive for their goals, they constantly struggle to search for ways and means to avoid capture and survive.
Outside the country, our organization tries to be their voice before the donor governments, the European Parliament and other international institutions, by reporting the many human violations in the Lao PDR.
With very limited or no financial resources, we also try to help families of the political prisoners in Laos .
It is a common characteristic of all closed societies that the government tries to establish a barrier between those who leave the country and those who remain inside, an invisible but solid and powerful wall. The aim of this policy is always to create the perception among the population inside that those who left are their enemies and a potential danger to the security of the country.
On the other hand, the easy temptation of the community in exile is to consider those staying in the country as regime's collaborators, forgetting that, inside the country, the great majority of the population are victims, imprisoned by their lack of freedom, including young directors and other officials in the administration.
Thus, to break this wall, an honest and arduous collective effort must be made by the community in exile. The key issue is to devise a strategy that would bridge this psychological and emotional barrier.
Even though Laos is now opened to tourist and foreign investments, our relations with people inside the country remain extremely secretive and dangerous for their security. In a military police régime, suspicion,
misinformation, disinformation, and denouncement are encouraged. Oftentimes, members of the same family work with us without knowing it for many long years.
To fill the gap of objective and reliable information for the people in the country, we send flyers, magazines, and on rare occasions radio broadcasts inside the country on our activities, news of the world, particularly news in Asia, but also news inside Laos that are ignored by the national media. So many times,
people inside have learned about events inside Laos through us.
Transmitting news to the people inside is most important. As more than third of the population cannot read, radio broadcast stands as the most effective means to send news, courage and hope.
II - Proposals on what the WFDA could do or could do more and better to help open the closed society of Laos
Unlike for Burma and Tibet, the Lao people do not have a Nobel Prize winner to make the world know their despairs, their hopes and their yearning to be free.
Didn't Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the courageous Nobel Prize laureate, say : « Please use your liberty to help us secure ours »?
This liberty, this freedom that we enjoy brings unavoidable responsibilities.
It is, in this respect, that we appeal to the WFDA to:
1 – Support individuals and organizations working inside and outside Laos for democratic reforms, in particular in their efforts to promote free multiparty elections, good governance, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, of religion, of assembly and association, under the rule of law and a strong civil society.
2- Mount campaigns to urge the ASEAN Member States and the international institutions to intensify their pressure, economic and financial, on the Lao PDR to release the leaders of the ''Student Movement of 26 October 1999, imprisoned for the last ten years : Thongpaseuth Keuakoun, SengAloun Phengphanh, Bouavanh
Chanmanivong and Keochay.
3- Initiate more opportunities for informing donor countries, multilateral aid agencies such as the World Bank, ADB, UNDP, international institutions such as the UN, the European Union, the Asian governments and Asian regional organizations of the human rights situation in Laos .
4- Put pressure on donor countries, international and regional institutions – World Bank, ADB, UN, UNDP, EU, US, Australia, Japan, South Korea and others– to include a clause on respect of human rights in each aid agreement with the Lao PDR and ensure that the clause is complied with by each party; to stipulate that each aid package to Laos must contribute to the establishment of good governance, leading to concrete democratic reforms and national reconciliation; and to define clear and rigorous criteria for verifying compliance.
5 - Urge the ASEAN Member States to repeal the principle of '' non interference'', to adopt '' the right to intervene'' whenever democracy and human rights are threatened and to institute a Human Rights Court .
6 - Pressure International institutions and ASEAN Member States to initiate urgently the democratization process in the Lao PDR, beginning with free, fair multiparty elections with an Election Observation Mission sponsored and organized by the WFDA.
7- Strengthen ties with democratic countries around the world in order to develop Democracy Caucuses within the UN, international forums and other arenas as defined in the 2000 Warsaw Declaration to speed up the
progress of a worldwide democracy.
Thank you.