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| 09/03/2004 | MLDH | |
VIOLENCE AND DAILY THREATS AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN THE PROVINCE OF ATTAPEU |
LAOS |  | |
| Christians in several villages of the dictrict of Sanamsay, province of Attapeu ( South), are undergoing an endless fear, are targets of violent acts and frightening threats from the local authorities, according to reliable informations recently received by the Lao Movement for Human Rights ( LMHR). Thus, far from weakening as claimed the leaders of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic ( LPDR), anti-Christian repressions are definitely well persisting and even seem to intensify since the beginning of 2004 in these villages where the inhabitants often belong to the ethnic minority. In their desperate calls addressed to the Lao Evangelical Church in Vientiane, between February 3rd and 19th , 2004, Christians in the villages of Ban Donthapad and Ban Donsua ( district of Sanamsay ) stated that disconcerting facts are happening to them, aiming to force them to renounce their religion : repeated death threats, attempts to motor accidents, confiscation of their rice fields and their cattle, confinement, threats of banishment from the village, threats of destroying their home by the fire, for | example. Some letters indicated that during a meeting on 19 February 2004 at Ban Donthapad to which were summoned every Christians of the area, high local authorities of the régime announced their will to ‘’totally eradicate Christianity’’ in Sanamsay district, in terms particularly alarming : ‘’ On March 4th, 2004, Mr Thong-Luang, a teacher, was arrested by the authorities at his home in the village of Donphai, district of Sanamsay , province of Attapeu, because of his insistence to hold on to his faith. Mr Thong-Luang was previously arrested in a Christmas prayer meeting in Donphai village on 28 December 2003 and released on 9 January 2004. The LMHR condemns these repeated violations of the fundamental rights of the Lao citizens and expresses its deepest indignation to these unacceptable facts. The LMHR solemnly asks the LPDR leaders to end immediately all repressions against religious and ethnic minorities, and to allow free access to the representatives of independant international organizations in the province of Attapeu to investigate the situation of the | Christians. The LMHR denounces, once more, the hypocrisy and the double language of the LPDR leaders who keep on denying human rights abuses in Laos whereas these violations, made public by different press releases of the LMHR, were listed and denounced by the annual Report on Human Rights Practices by the US State Department published on 25 February 2004. The LMHR urges the LPDR leaders to take appropriated measures to cease this campaign of repression, both at national and local level. The Lao Movement for Human Rights calls on donators countries and organizations, particularly the European Union and its member States, the United Nations, the United States, Japan and the international financial Institutions, inviting them to accentuate their pressure, including economic, on the Lao totalitarian régime, so that freedom of belief andf human rights are fully respected in Laos. Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l’Homme ( MLDH) Lao Movement for Human Rights ( LMHR) 9, rue Bazard - 77200 Torcy, FRANCE Téléphone-Fax : 33 (0) 1 60 06 57 06 - e-mail : mldh@chello.fr |
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