Human rights in Laos

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Laos
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The situation of human rights in Laos has often be recognized as a cause for concern.

U.S. State Department reports on human rights around the world declare that most Lao trials in 2003 were little more than pro forma examinations of the accused, with a verdict having already been reached. The State Department indicated that in some instances, police administratively overruled court decisions, at times detaining a defendant exonerated by the court, in violation of the law. Moreover, while Lao law prohibits torture, members of the security forces reportedly subjected prisoners to torture and other abuses. A significant issue in human rights in Laos is the presence of anti-government rebels, mainly of the Hmong ethnic minority, who have reportedly been harshly treated by the Lao government.

The government of Laos states that released two leading dissidents in October 2004 yet international groups, including Amnesty International, report that no independent confirmation can be made that these individuals have, in fact, been released. [1] Amnesty has indicated concerns for their health due to pre-existing conditions not treated during their imprisonment, and reportedly poor conditions at the camps where they were held. They had been convicted in 1992 and sentenced to 14 years. A third dissident sentenced with them died in prison in 1998.

In 2004, a Lao Hmong refugee photographed then smuggled video footage out of Laos, of an alleged incident in which Lao government troops raped and murdered four young Hmong girls and one boy, then mutilated their bodies [2]. He denies claims on the part of the Lao government that the video was a fabrication.