Expressing Sense of House Regarding Need for Freedom and Democratic Reform in Laos

EXPRESSING SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING NEED FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRATIC REFORM IN LAOS -- (House of Representatives - May 05, 2004)

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Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from California for yielding me this time and for his leadership on this issue, and I thank my colleague from Indiana for offering this resolution of which I am a proud cosponsor.
Mr. Speaker, I hope the body tomorrow when it comes up for consideration will adopt this resolution. This is a very serious matter in regard to some of the practices and the abuses I feel that are currently taking place in Laos. The resolution is very simple, expressing the sense of the House regarding the urgent need for freedom and democratic reform and international monitoring of elections, human rights and religious liberty in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

The United States owes a debt of gratitude to the Hmong veterans and their families who served as loyal and dedicated allies during the so-called secret war in southeast Asia and the Vietnam conflict, a war that many Hmong members participated in on the side of U.S. soldiers in the jungles of southeast Asia. Between 20,000 and 30,000 Hmong lost their lives during this time and more than 100,000 Hmong were forced to either flee or live in refugee camps after the U.S. pullout in southeast Asia. Through their sacrifices, many American lives were saved, and our Nation must remain committed to recognizing their service.

Today, approximately 170,000 Hmong currently reside in the United States, including 35,000 in my home State of Wisconsin. Many of these Hmong Americans have family members still in Laos facing constant allegations of harassment, imprisonment, even kidnapping and killing of ethnic Hmong by Lao authorities. These have been brought to my attention, and these allegations have been raised in many different forums. Due to modern technology, many of these reports are coming out of Laos almost simultaneously when they are occurring through the advent of cell phones documenting the abuse and some of the atrocities being committed there.

I believe it is time for this Congress and the administration to support international observance teams to go into Laos to observe firsthand the conditions that are occurring there. We need the support from our administration and from the Congress, I think, to put pressure on the government there to accept these international teams of observers. The Lao Government has one of the most egregious human rights records in the world. The State Department's own country report on human rights practices in Laos makes clear the lack of respect for human rights demonstrated by the Lao Government.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, there are many Hmong families still in Wisconsin and throughout the country who are very concerned in regards to the conditions of their own families or relatives or friends who are still in Laos. They come to Washington from time to time. These are a proud people, many of whom have now achieved their U.S. citizenship. They are productive members of our society. Their children are in our schools, growing up to get an American education and be productive citizens in the country. But their ties back to Laos still remain very strong, and it runs very deep. I think this body, this United States Congress, owes it to them, our friends and allies and in many instances our neighbors and citizens in our own community, to take these allegations seriously, to increase the pressure on the Lao Government to allow inspections, to allow the investigation to go forward within that country so we can document and definitively determine what the situation is inside that border. I encourage my colleagues to support the resolution. I thank my colleagues for bringing it forward this evening.

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