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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Human rights have been gaining a measure of respect in
Laos. In
the early years of the LPDR, party authorities arbitrarily
sent
people labeled as social deviants--"prostitutes, addicts,
gamblers,
hippies, thieves, and lost children"--to seminar camps.
Political
opponents associated with the former RLG--perhaps as many
as 30,000
to 50,000--were also confined to these camps.
By the late 1980s, there was a slight liberalization in
the
granting of human rights. Many, although not all, of the
seminar
camps had been closed, and some former inmates were
assigned to
labor and construction units and collective farms near the
camps.
It became easier for a citizen to travel within the
country and
gain permission to cross the Mekong River to Thailand or
travel
abroad. As of April 1994, any Laotian with an
identification card
and foreigners with valid visas were permitted to travel
anywhere
in the country--with specific travel papers--except to a
few,
unspecified, "restricted areas." Restrictions on Buddhist
religious
practices became more relaxed, and even high-level
government
officials routinely attended Buddhist functions. The
number of
Buddhist monks increased, with some 30,000 reported to be
practicing in 1991
(see Buddhism
, ch. 2). The agents of
state
internal security, principally the police and other cadres
of the
Ministry of Interior, seemed less oppressive. In 1991
twenty-five
detainees who had been held at seminar camps since 1975
were
released. The number the government was known to be
holding as of
1993 had diminished to fewer than twelve, all former
officials or
military officers of the RLG. The LPDR claimed that the
remaining
detainees were free to travel in Houaphan Province, where
they are
confined.
Nonetheless, many freedoms remain inaccessible. The
government
controls most large public gatherings, and, except for
religious,
athletic, and communal events, generally organizes them.
Political
demonstrations, protest marches, and other "destabilizing
subversive activities" are expressly banned by the new
penal code.
The constitution guarantees the freedoms of speech and the
press,
but the exercise of these freedoms is subject to a wide
range of
government controls
(see Mass Media
, this ch.).
Data as of July 1994
Human Rights
Human rights have been gaining a measure of respect in
Laos. In
the early years of the LPDR, party authorities arbitrarily
sent
people labeled as social deviants--"prostitutes, addicts,
gamblers,
hippies, thieves, and lost children"--to seminar camps.
Political
opponents associated with the former RLG--perhaps as many
as 30,000
to 50,000--were also confined to these camps.
By the late 1980s, there was a slight liberalization in
the
granting of human rights. Many, although not all, of the
seminar
camps had been closed, and some former inmates were
assigned to
labor and construction units and collective farms near the
camps.
It became easier for a citizen to travel within the
country and
gain permission to cross the Mekong River to Thailand or
travel
abroad. As of April 1994, any Laotian with an
identification card
and foreigners with valid visas were permitted to travel
anywhere
in the country--with specific travel papers--except to a
few,
unspecified, "restricted areas." Restrictions on Buddhist
religious
practices became more relaxed, and even high-level
government
officials routinely attended Buddhist functions. The
number of
Buddhist monks increased, with some 30,000 reported to be
practicing in 1991
(see Buddhism
, ch. 2). The agents of
state
internal security, principally the police and other cadres
of the
Ministry of Interior, seemed less oppressive. In 1991
twenty-five
detainees who had been held at seminar camps since 1975
were
released. The number the government was known to be
holding as of
1993 had diminished to fewer than twelve, all former
officials or
military officers of the RLG. The LPDR claimed that the
remaining
detainees were free to travel in Houaphan Province, where
they are
confined.
Nonetheless, many freedoms remain inaccessible. The
government
controls most large public gatherings, and, except for
religious,
athletic, and communal events, generally organizes them.
Political
demonstrations, protest marches, and other "destabilizing
subversive activities" are expressly banned by the new
penal code.
The constitution guarantees the freedoms of speech and the
press,
but the exercise of these freedoms is subject to a wide
range of
government controls
(see Mass Media
, this ch.).
Data as of July 1994
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