The rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly remained severely restricted, and the state exercised strict control over media and civil society. Three activists were convicted in a trial concerning their participation in protests in Thailand and comments made on social...

According to sources, three Lao human rights activists, Soukan Chaithad, Somphone Phimmasone and Lodkham Thammavong, were sentenced to between 12 and 20 years’ in prison following a secret trial held in April 2017. Arrested in March 2016, and held incommunicado for over two months, they are...

Three Lao human rights activists have been arrested on 5 and 22 March in circumstances that may constitute enforced disappearances. They remain in incommunicado detention since they appeared on national television on 25 May in a report that confirmed that they had been arrested for threatening...

The failure of the Lao authorities to thoroughly investigate the enforced disappearance of Sombath Somphone has increased fears for his fate and well-being. The 62-year-old Lao civil society leader was abducted at a police post in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, almost one year ago. He needs daily...

Respected member of Lao civil society Sombath Somphone – well known for his work promoting education and sustainable development – was taken away in a truck by unknown persons after being stopped by police in the Lao capital, Vientiane on 15 December 2012. Nobody has seen or heard from him since.

The Thai authorities forcibly returned around 4,500 Lao Hmong, including 158 recognized refugees, to Laos at the end of 2009. The Lao government is refusing to permit UN and other monitors access to them.

The Thai authorities returned 837 Lao Hmong asylum-seekers to Laos on 22 June 2008, claiming that the group were going voluntarily. No independent monitors were present, and it is likely that some of the group were coerced into returning. Some are at risk of torture.

The group of 48 were forcibly returned to Laos in the early hours of 9 June, together with another 115 Lao Hmong asylum-seekers. Their whereabouts in Laos are not known.

The Thai authorities are reportedly preparing to forcibly return a group of 48 Lao Hmong asylum-seekers, including at least 30 children, in breach of international law. The 48 are now held at a police station in the northern province of Phetchabun. On 8 June members of the group telephoned...

On 8 March the Lao authorities publicly claimed to have “found” 21 girls and young women who have been missing since December 2005, but have not revealed their current whereabouts. Six others remain unaccounted for. The 27 have reportedly been held incommunicado in deplorable conditions,...

A group of 53 ethnic Hmong Laotian asylum seekers, including women and children, were forcibly returned from Thailand to Laos on 15 November, and their whereabouts are unclear. Amnesty International believes the group could be in danger of serious human rights violations, including torture,...

Around 80 members of a group of at least 231 ethnic Hmong Laotian refugees are reported to be held in extremely harsh and unsanitary conditions at two detention facilities in Thailand’s Phetchabun province. There are serious concerns for their health.

The group of at least 231 ethnic Hmong Laotian refugees, which has been detained in northern Thailand since June, is at immediate risk of being forcibly returned to Laos. If returned, the refugees could face serious human rights violations, including torture and ill-treatment.