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)
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 402) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the urgent need for freedom, democratic reform, and international monitoring of elections, human rights and religious liberty in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
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Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller).
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I have just returned from several days of meetings in Vientiane and Luang Prabang not only with our own very able Ambassador Doug Hartwick but his excellent embassy staff and also with Lao Government officials and many private citizens, Americans and others, who are living and working in Laos. There is a more complex and changing pictures than the wording of this resolution portrays.
Our discussions covered a wide range of topics, including the government's deficiencies in addressing human rights and political transparency issues as detailed in H. Res. 402, and I was very clear in my conversations with the Lao leaders about the urgency of meeting international standards particularly with respect to the Hmong and other indigenous people who have been the subject of ill treatment and repression.
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I share the concerns of the authors of this resolution that Laos, like many other countries in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, should make substantial improvements in the openness of their political and judicial processes and comply with internationally recognized human, religious, and labor rights and promote economic reforms that will raise the standard of living of its citizens through improved investment and trade.
This resolution addresses those issues, and I do not think that many would argue with the historical record. My concern, however, is that the resolution fails to take into account the many significant developments of the U.S.-Lao relationship as well as the internal changes that are not only noteworthy, but address some of the issues raised in this resolution. We are involved in major efforts, and we are getting major cooperation in antidrug efforts in Laos through the cooperation of the Lao government aimed at reducing opium and amphetamine trade that reaches from Southeast Asia to the streets of the American cities.
Our people report a strong cooperation in this effort with the Lao authorities. In the areas of POW/MIA, hundreds of Americans from the Vietnam era are still missing in Laos, and we are sending forensic teams to Laos several times a year to locate and repatriate the remains of those service people. Again, according to our government, we are receiving strong cooperation from the Lao government, but this resolution has been silent on that important effort.
Certainly the issue of human rights and the Hmong population, as well as other minorities, is a particularly sensitive subject in the Lao-American community in the United States, and I imagine that is the issue pushing this resolution to the forefront at this time. This resolution fails, however, to note that for a variety of reasons, some having to do with international pressure and some having to do with internal economics and politics, the Lao government has been urging Hmong and other dissidents to come out of the mountains where they have been hidden for many decades. The government has pledged to assist in the relocation and settlement of these groups, and I would note that Secretary of State Powell has told the Lao government the United States would like to offer assistance in these efforts.
While there is reason aplenty for hesitation given the fate of others throughout the world who have acquiesced in "resettlement" campaigns, the reports I received while in Laos, across the board, testified to the positive response of the refugees. Moreover, there were few, if any, reports of abusive or unhelpful treatment by the government. There is no mention of that in this resolution.
The concerns that this resolution raise about conditions in Laos are justified, and we should be clear that virtually identical situations exist in far too many countries. I would also like to make it very clear that the Lao government fully cooperate with the opinion of the international community that has long been concerned with the treatment of minority groups within their country and make sure they, in fact, are open to allowing our ambassador to travel to the areas in question where people are engaged in coming out, the Hmongs and others, to make sure that the resettlement issues are occurring, that these people are being treated properly, and that there is no action taken against them.
So I would hope that the Lao government would be more open to the request of Secretary Powell, of our ambassador, of the international community. But again, I would state for those who have been there, for the international community, the international press, the suggestion is that this resettlement is going very fairly well, given the tensions that have existed for over so many years.
So I appreciate this resolution coming forward. I would hope that it would have given a little bit more recognition to those areas that we are getting cooperation, and that we will continue to work on opening this relationship with the Lao people, and clearly the support of the normal trade relations that we may have an opportunity to vote on later would go a long way in terms of improving the economy and some of the human rights issues within the Nation of Laos.
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Mr. Speaker, I have just returned from several days of meetings in Vientiane and Luang Prabang with not only our own very able ambassador, Douglas Hartwick and his excellent embassy staff, but also with Lao government officials and other private citizens-American and others-who are living and working in Laos. There is a more complex and changing picture than the wording of this resolution portrays.
Our discussions covered a wide range of topics, including that government's deficiencies in addressing human rights and political transparency issues that are detailed in H. Res. 402, and I was very clear in my conversations with Lao leaders about the urgency of meeting international standards particularly with respect to Hmong and other indigenous groups that have been the subject of ill-treatment and repression. I share the concerns of the authors of this resolution that Laos, like many other countries in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, should make substantial improvements in the openness of their political and judicial processes, comply with internationally recognized human, religious and labor rights, and promote the economic reforms that will raise the standard of living of their citizens through improved investment and trade.
This resolution addresses those issues, and I do not think many would argue with the historical record. My concern, however, is that this resolution fails to take into account very significant developments in the U.S.-Lao relationship, as well as internal changes that are not only noteworthy, but that address some of the issues raised in the resolution.
This is a delicate state in U.S.-Lao relations. We are deeply involved with that government in a range of initiatives that are critical to our own national security. I met with several U.S. personnel, for example, involved in major anti-drug efforts in cooperation with the Lao government aimed at reducing the opium and amphetamine trade that reaches from Southeast Asia to the streets of American cities. Our people reported strong cooperation from the Lao authorities and progress in turning Lao citizens against the drug trade, but this resolution ignores this cooperation.
We are also deeply involved in POW-MIA efforts in Laos, as was documented last week in the New York Times. Hundreds of Americans from the Vietnam War era are still missing in Laos, and we are sending forensic recovery teams to Laos several times a year to locate and repatriate the remains of servicemen. Again according to our government, we are receiving strong cooperation of the Lao government, but this resolution is silent on this important initiative.
Certainly the issue of human rights and the Hmong population, as well as other minorities, is a particularly sensitive subject in the Lao-American community in the United States, and I imagine that is the issue pushing this resolution to the forefront at this time. The resolution fails, however, to note that for a variety of reasons-some having to do with international pressure and some having to do with internal economics and politics-the Lao government has been urging Hmong and other dissidents to come out of the mountains where some have hidden for several decades. The government has pledged to assist in the relocation and settlement of these groups, and I would note that Secretary of State Powell has told the Lao government that the United States would like to offer its assistance in these efforts. While there is reason aplenty for hesitation given the fate of others throughout the world who have acquiesced in "resettlement" campaigns, the reports I received in Laos, across the board, testified to the positive response of the refugees; moreover, there were few if any reports of abusive or unhelpful treatment by the government. But there is no mention of that cooperation in this resolution.
It is also important that the House understand that there have been some very serious incidents of violence and threats of violence with the Lao-American community in recent weeks, including assaults on those peacefully demonstrating in support of expanded trade with Laos, arson, and threats of assassination on certain radio stations. Members of the House should be helping to defuse this situation, not adding to the ill-feelings. So it is very important that what we say and do regarding Laos and the Lao community not be misunderstood or mis-stated.
The concerns that this resolution raises about conditions in Laos are justified, but we should be clear that virtually identical statements could be made about many other countries in the region or elsewhere in the world, including those with which we have very extensive economic and political relations. We want improvements and we should continue our efforts both bilaterally and through the U.N. and N.G.O.s to build a free and open society in Laos. One important step would be for more Members of Congress to visit the country and deliver the same message I did; yet only one other Member of the House has been to Laos in the last 5 years, I am told.
One important way for us to improve our relationship and encourage the kinds of reforms we would like to see in Laos is to grant Normal Trade Relations to that country. Laos is one of only three countries in the world with which we do not have NTR, and the only country with which we have full diplomatic relations lacking that status. Laos is far too small and poor to have an impact on the U.S. economy or jobs, but granting NTR will have a significant impact on the economy in that impoverished nation, allowing it to participate in the kind of positive economic improvements that have begun to transform Vietnam and Cambodia. Now that this resolution has been brought to the floor, I would hope that NTR for Laos would similarly be scheduled for House consideration.
I have many Lao-Americans in my own district, and I have had a close working relationship with them for a number of years. Most are refugees themselves from the repression of the post-war Lao government. They have built families, businesses, social and political organizations, and productive and cooperative lives in the United States. And together with many other Lao-Americans, they have begun to re-engage in a relationship with the country of their birth.
Members of the USA-Lao NTR Coalition, including the Lao-American Exchange Institute, the Laotian-American National Coalition and the Laotian-American Chamber of Commerce visited Laos last year and produced the important "Citizen Initiative Report." I would like to recognize in particular Mr. Sary Tatpaporn, the Coalition's coordinator and vice president of the Laotian-American Chamber of Commerce, along with Dr. Richard Chansombat of the Lao-American Exchange, who authored the report on the trip detailing their meetings with government and private leaders. Many of these Lao-American leaders have reversed past opposition and now are urging the passage of NTR so that the economy of their former country can grow and more of their former countrymen can share in the prosperity that investment, trade and modernization can bring.
Our relationship with Laos is long and complex, and it is changing for the better. We should be encouraging the positive steps Laos is taking on a wide range of issues, and we should be expanding our cooperation with that country as we have with other nations whose domestic policies we continue to question. We also need to recognize that some of the suspicion and distrust within the Lao leadership is due to continuing threats against that government from opposition elements within the United States, as was acknowledged during the recently held conference of Lao-American leaders at the State Department.
At the same time, the Lao government must fully cooperate with the opinion of the international community that has long been concerned with the treatment of minority groups within the country, and wish to ensure that current resettlement effort comport with internationally recognized standards. As I have noted, our own Secretary of State has offered assistance in the resettlement efforts, and our Ambassador has requested permission for his staff to visit the areas where resettlement is occurring to assure that these citizens are being treated fairly. International relief agencies also are interested in monitoring the efforts. I would hope that the Lao government would fully cooperate with these initiatives and allow for independent observation of resettlement activities. That government should understand that a well-conducted, independently verified resettlement effort will dramatically affect the perception of Laos in the world community.
Consideration of this resolution today should mark the beginning of a renewed interest and engagement in Laos by the House, not a one-time venting of opinion that ignores positive developments that are taking place and jeopardizes a longer agenda we should continue to pursue, including passage of NTR later this year. I look forward to working constructively with my colleagues towards a closer relationship with Laos which will encourage the kinds of reforms we all hope will be implemented in that nation.
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