The leaders of forty or so organizations of the Lao Diaspora co-signed a letter addressed to the US secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on the 22nd of July 2005, a week prior to the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting to be held on the 28th and the 29th of July in Vientiane. The Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR) co-signed this letter, in which the representatives of the Diaspora brought Washington’s attention on the sufferings of the Lao people and on the freedom and human rights violations committed within the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR).

The signatories of the letter called on the American delegation to address with the LPDR leaders, without any leniency, the tragic situation of the ethnic minorities, notably that of the thousands of Lao-Hmong men, women, and children, targets of a murderous repression that has been led for thirty years by the people’s army in the Xaysomboun and Bolikhamsay jungles.

They further called on the American delegation to raise on that occasion the issue of the extremely serious violations of the Lao people’s fundamental rights, that of the violent repression campaign led against Christians, and that of the fate of hundreds of political prisoners or prisoners of conscience still held in the regime’s prisons, notably the fate of the leaders of the "26th of October 1999 Movement".

Furthermore, the LMHR takes note of Mrs. Condoleezza RICE’s decision not to go to Vientiane, sending the Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. ZOELLICK instead.

To justify her absence, Mrs. RICE spoke of a "schedule problem", and observers mentioned the "Burmese issue" or "existing tensions with China". However, one cannot help but wonder as to whether Washington intended to mark, with this spectacular move, its discontent with the totalitarian regime of the LPDR, which remains one of the last communist bastion, boasting of being a "very close ally" of the Burmese military junta. Mrs. RICE, the first US Secretary of State not to attend an ARF meeting since 1982, is indeed well known for her constant support of freedom and democracy throughout the world and her aversion for dictatorships.

To some members of the Lao Diaspora, Mrs. RICE's decision not to go to Vientiane in person will cast a shadow upon this annual meeting, which the LPDR intended to use to show itself in a good light on the international scene. This absence is also perceived by many as an American disavowal of the Lao Unique Party.

On that occasion, the LMHR solemnly calls on to the ASEAN State Members –particularly to its Founding Members: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines—and on to the 14 other ARF Members, inviting them to take firm and urgent action with the Lao authorities in order to put an end to the inhuman repression led against the Lao-Hmong people, and so that reforms may be undertaken without further delay in the view of restoring justice, good governance, freedom, democracy, and national reconciliation in Laos.

Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR)
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