“That the House of Representatives strongly supports the following points and urges the Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the United Nations, the European Union, and the Association of South East Asian Nations:
“(1) to work to provide unrestricted access to Laos by international election monitors for upcoming presidential and National Assembly elections;
“2) to work to provide unrestricted access to Laos, including special closed military zones and closed provinces, by international human rights organizations, the United Nations, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and humanitarian aid organizations;
“(3) to work to ensure that opposition political parties and their candidates are allowed to run for public office in multi-party elections without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, economic standing, or political affiliation, and that all adult citizens of Laos, including overseas Laotian citizens, are permitted to vote and run for public office;
“(4) to allow the citizens of Laos to assemble and peacefully protest against the Government of Laos, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, and individual public officials, and to freely organize opposition groups and independent political parties;
“(5) to heed the call by the United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination for the Lao People's Revolutionary Party to halt immediately all acts of violence against the Hmong population and provide them with humanitarian assistance;
“(6) to work to gain the immediate release of those students and their family members arrested and jailed in connection with the 1999 pro-democracy demonstrations, as well as all other political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and those jailed for their religious beliefs or ethnicity; and
“(7) to work to implement the recommendations of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom with respect to promoting religious freedom in Laos.”
