David Thomas: “today as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs I submit S. Res. 240, a resolution…”

“today as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs I submit S. Res. 240, a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate with respect to democracy and human rights in Laos. In 1975, the Pathet Lao party supplanted the legitimate Lao government and the Lao Royal Family, and established a ``people's democratic republic,'' in violation of the 1962 Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos and its Protocol, as well as the 1973 Vientiane Agreement on Laos. Since that time, Laos has been under the sole control of the communist Lao People's Democratic Party. Although the present Lao Constitution provides for human rights protection for the Lao people, is a signatory to international agreements on civil and political rights, and has become a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations--which calls for the creation of open societies in each of its member states by the year 2020--the State Department's ``Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997'' notes that the government has only slowly eased restrictions on basic freedoms and begun codification of implementing legislation for rights stipulated in the Lao Constitution, and continues to significantly restrict the freedoms of the press, speech, and assembly. Mr. President, would-be opposition political leaders in Laos continue to be jailed in horrible conditions solely because they espouse democratic ideals.”