2 Strike the preamble and the text after the resolving clause and insert the following: Whereas since the 1975 overthrow of the existing Royal Lao Government, Laos has been under the sole control of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party; Whereas the present Lao constitution provides for a wide range of freedoms for the Lao people, including freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion, and Laos is a signatory to international conventions on genocide, racial discrimination, discrimination against women, war crimes, and rights of the child; Whereas since July 1997, Laos has been a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an organization which has set forth a vision for the year 2020 of a membership consisting of "open societies... governed with the consent and greater participation of the people” and “focus(ed) on the welfare and dignity of the human person and the good of the community''; Whereas, despite the Lao constitution and the membership by Laos in ASEAN, the Department of State's Laos Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998 states that the Lao Government's human rights record deteriorated and that the Lao Government restricts freedom of speech, assembly, association, and religion; Whereas Amnesty International reports that serious problems persist in the Lao Government's performance in the area of human rights, including the continued detention of prisoners of conscience in extremely harsh conditions, and that in one case a prisoner of conscience held with 3 out trial since 1996 was chained and locked in wooden stocks for a period of 20 days; Whereas Thongsouk Saysangkhi, a political prisoner sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in November 1992 after a grossly unfair trial, died in February 1998 due to complications of diabetes after having been detained in harsh conditions with no medical facilities; Whereas there are at least 5 identified, long-term political prisoners inside the Lao Government's prison system and the possibility of others whose names are not known; and Whereas there continue to be credible reports that some members of the Lao Government's security forces commit human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention and intimidation: Now, therefore, be it 1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the present Government of Laos 3 should (1) respect internationally recognized norms of human rights and the democratic freedoms of the people of Laos and honor in full its commitments to those norms and freedoms as embodied in its constitution and its participation in international organizations and agreements; (2) issue a public statement specifically reaffirming its commitment to protecting religious freedom and other basic human rights; (3) institute fully a democratic electoral system, with openly contested, free, and fair elections by se 4 1. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 cret ballot, beginning no later than the next National Assembly elections, currently scheduled to be held in 2002; and (4) allow unrestricted access by international human rights monitors, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and Amnesty International, to all prisons and to all regions of the country to investigate alleged abuses of human 9 rights, including those against the Hmong minority. Amend the title so as to read: "Resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to democracy and human rights in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.". OFFERED BY MR. RADANOVICH Add the following to the preamble! Whereas two United States citizens, Mr. Houa Ly, a resident of Appleton, Wisconsin, and Mr. Michael Vang, a resident of Fresno, California, were traveling along the border between Laos and Thailand on April 19, 1999; Whereas according to American eyewitnesses, United States congressional research missions, non-govern- Whereas the Lao Government continues to deny knowl- Whereas congressional missions, including one conducted by the Chairman of the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives, traveled to Southeast Asia during July and August to further investigate this incident and raise the issue at the highest levels of government in the region; Whereas the chief response to this incident by the De-. partment of State and United States Ambassador to Laos Wendy Chamberlain has been to undertake an investigation in cooperation with the regime in Laos-a regime involved with the disappearance of Messrs. Ly and Vang, Whereas the families of Messrs. Ly and Vang have been able to learn very little from the United States Government regarding the whereabouts or current cumstances of their loved ones, and Whereas the Congress will not tolerate any unjustified arrest, abduction, imprisonment, disappearance, or other act of aggression against United States citizens by a foreign government: Now, therefore, be it to add the following paragraphs in the Amend the text after the resolving clause to read as appropriate places: follows: |