VZCZCXRO5457
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHVN #0579/01 3011030
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271030Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2271
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2333

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 VIENTIANE 000579 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS (EMERY) 
DEPT FOR DRL (ADAMSON, BIRDSALL, ORONA) 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KIRF PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI LA VM
SUBJECT: LAOS TO HOST REGIONAL RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE; NGO, DRL VISITS 
PUSH RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED: PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Parallel visits by the Department's first 
Ambassador for Religious Freedom and a key DRL staff member helped 
promote the issue of religious freedom in Laos this past week.  AMB 
(ret.) Robert Seiple brought an invitation from an NGO now headed by 
his son for Laos to host an international conference on religion in 
2009; the NGO, the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE), is also 
proposing much-needed training on religion at the local level.  The 
Seiple visit and the invitation were warmly received by Lao leaders. 
 DRL's Clarissa Adamson, a specialist on the annual International 
Religious Freedom Report, heard from key religious leaders how 
important training for both local officials and local religious 
leaders remains six years after the Lao Prime Minister issued a 
decree on religion in Laos.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) COMMENT:  Laos lacks capacity in many areas: one is the 
ability to communicate new government policies from Vientiane to the 
provinces, districts, and local levels.  The right to religious 
belief was clearly annunciated in the Prime Minister's 2002 Decree 
No. 92 on Religion which also contains prohibitions against the use 
of enticement or force to make people leave their religion.  Six 
years later, however, a senior central government official admits 
that 1 in 3 provincial officials still is not familiar with the 
decree - while a religious leader estimates that in reality fewer 
than 1 in 6 provincial officials clearly understands the decree and 
the protected rights announced therein. 
 
¶3. (SBU) COMMENT continued: Having the Lao Government interested in 
hosting a major international symposium helps highlight throughout 
the Lao system the issue of religion, a positive result of IGE's 
invitation.  Assuming the conference goes forward, that message will 
be repeated during the coming year - and may help decrease local 
problems involving religious freedom.  Equally or possibly even more 
important is IGE's longer-term interest in working with the Lao 
Government on training programs in upcountry Laos for provincial, 
district, and local religious affairs and police officials, as well 
as for local religious leaders, to better understand Decree 92 - 
including the fact that attempts by local officials to force 
Christians to renounce their religion are illegal.  End comment. 
 
AMB Seiple Visits 
----------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Former U.S. Ambassador-At-Large for Religious Freedom (from 
1998-2000) Robert Seiple visited Laos October 18-21.  He was 
accompanied by his son, Dr. Chris Seiple, President of the Institute 
for Global Engagement, an NGO based in the Washington D.C. area that 
promotes religious freedom, and IGE staff specialist Ms. Hien Vu who 
has been working with IGE's Vietnam program.  AMB Seiple, the former 
IGE President, has visited Laos more than ten times since 1989 and 
is well-known to senior Government of Laos (GOL) officials.  His 
main goals for the visit were to introduce his son as IGE President 
to GOL officials and to win GOL agreement to host IGE's third annual 
International Conference on "Religion and the Rule of Law" in 2009. 
He also raised two cases of religious intolerance which had 
reportedly occurred in July. 
 
IGE's Regional Conferences 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) IGE has partnered with local organizations to host previous 
conferences in Vietnam in November 2007 and in China in June 2008. 
These conferences bring together government officials from Asia 
responsible for religious and legal issues, regional religious 
leaders, and a range of international scholars to discuss the legal 
bases for religious practices throughout the world.  This more 
academic approach to religious issues has been successful in 
achieving progress toward more religious freedom without being 
confrontational.  For the June 2008 China conference, the GOL sent 
senior officials representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), 
the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP), and the Lao Front for 
National Construction (LFNC) - the mass organization under the LPRP 
responsible for religious and ethnic affairs. 
 
¶6. (U) While in Vientiane, AMB Seiple met with key Government of 
Laos (GOL) officials including Deputy Prime Minster and Standing 
Member of Government Somsavat Lengsavat; LFNC Vice President Tong 
Yeu Tho; Ambassador Khouanta Phalivong, Director General of MFA's 
Europe-Americas Department; and senior officials of the LPRP's Mass 
Organization Department and the Ministry of Public Security, as well 
as Members of the Lao National Assembly.  All concerned appeared 
positive about GOL agreement to host the IGE conference, and DPM 
Somsavat gave his personal support.  IGE's invitation for Laos to 
host the conference was highlighted in the government-controlled 
media's coverage of the Seiple-Somsavat meeting, a positive sign. 
 
 
VIENTIANE 00000579  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶7. (U) Although a formal GOL response is still pending, the Lao 
Prime Minister's Office informed the Lao National Academy of Social 
Sciences (LNASS) that it would act as IGE's partner for the 
conference.  During their meeting with LNASS President Dr. Sileua 
Bounkham, the IGE team members appeared to gain positive 
consideration for holding the conference in October 2009.  When Dr. 
Sileua pointed out that LNASS, organized less than two years ago to 
bring together eight different GOL think-tanks, lacks resources, Dr. 
Seiple assured him of IGE's full support to ensure the success of 
the conference. 
 
Post-Conference Local Seminars 
------------------------------ 
 
¶8. (U) During the IGE visit, AMB Seiple and Dr. Seiple briefed GOL 
interlocutors on the agreement IGE has achieved in Vietnam to hold 
training seminars on religion in the montagnard-populated Central 
Highlands region of Vietnam that will bring together local officials 
and religious leaders.  In conjunction with holding the regional 
conference in Laos or after the conference is concluded, IGE also 
proposed working with the LFNC to hold a series of training seminars 
within Laos.  These would bring together provincial, district, and 
local LFNC officials as well as police and religious leaders to 
discuss the GOL's policy toward religion as set out in the 2002 
Prime Minister's Decree No. 92 on Religion. 
 
Religious Cases 
--------------- 
 
¶9. (U) As he has done during past trips to Laos, AMB Seiple raised 
high-profile cases of religious intolerance during his meetings with 
the Lao leadership.  One involved three people including a pastor 
reportedly incarcerated since an incident in July in Boukham Village 
in Ad-Sapangthong District of Savannaket Province.  The same report 
stated that 55 Christians were forced to relocate from Boukham 
Village as a result of the incident.  Another report involved 
Christians in Huay An Village in Jomphet District of Luang Prabang 
Province reportedly being forced in July produce their Bibles and 
hymn books which were subsequently burned by the local police, 
apparently as an attempt to force them to deny their faith. 
 
¶10. (SBU) AMB Seiple emphasized not only that these cases appeared 
to violate the Lao Constitution as well as Prime Minister Decree 92 
on Religion but also the damage caused to the reputation of Laos 
when cases like these are circulated on the Internet.  Senior Lao 
leaders promised to look into both cases. 
 
¶11. (SBU) During his meeting with AMB Seiple, the Deputy Director 
General for External Affairs at the Ministry of Public Security 
(MOPS) attempted to defend the actions of local authorities in the 
Savannakhet case, arguing the pastor involved had moved to Boukham 
Village in 2005 but had never changed his household registration as 
required by regulation. The Public Security official had no 
information about the Luang Prabang case.  (Comment:  The MOPS 
meeting was notable for the DDG's level of preparation and 
willingness to engage in discussion of the Savannakhet incident, 
although he did blame the incident on the Christian pastor.  End 
Comment.) 
 
¶12. (SBU) NOTE: A Lao religious leader told EmbOff on the margins of 
the AMB Seiple visit and repeated to DRL Ms. Adamson that the three 
people involved in the Boukham Village case had recently been 
released from incarceration.  The religious leader also said the 
Luang Prabang situation had been resolved, without going into 
specifics; apparently none of the Christians in Luang Prabang wound 
up recanting his/her faith.  End Note. 
 
Local Media Cover Religious Freedom Address 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) AMB Seiple and Dr. Seiple also addressed more than 70 Lao 
officials from a broad range of ministries and organizations and 
religious representatives on "The Right and Freedom to Believe in 
Religion" at the Lao Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA).  IFA 
provides training for all Lao diplomats and MFA officials, in 
addition to foreign affairs department staff from the provinces. 
The Seiple addresses received favorable local radio and newspaper 
coverage. 
 
DRL Also Discusses Religious Issues 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) Ms. Clarissa Adamson, a specialist representing the Bureau 
of Democracy, Rights, and Labor (DRL), visited Vientiane October 
20-23.  Ms. Adamson helps edit the annual International Religious 
Freedom (IRF) Report on Laos.  In addition to meeting with senior 
MFA and LFNC officials in parallel with those visited by the IGE 
 
VIENTIANE 00000579  003 OF 003 
 
 
delegation, Ms. Adamson met with religious leaders from the 
Adventists, Lao Evangelical Church, Catholic Church, and Baha'i 
group.  In general, all of the religious representatives noted 
significantly improved conditions for religious worship in Laos 
despite continuing problems at the local level in various locations. 
 
 
¶15. (SBU) The recurrent theme presented to Ms. Adamson by the 
religious leaders was the need for the GOL to do more to train 
officials on the provincial, district, and local levels in the 
rights and responsibilities contained in the 2002 Prime Minister's 
Decree 2002 on Religion.  A senior LFNC official had admitted to Ms. 
Adamson that the process of educating officials has gone slowly; he 
estimated that only 65% of provincial officials, 30% of district 
officials, and relatively few local officials have become familiar 
with this new decree during the past six years.  One of the 
religious leaders, in contrast, estimated only 15% of provincial 
officials are really familiar with Decree 92. 
 
HUSO