•
Kerry and Kay Danes are an Australian husband and wife who were controversially arrested and subjected to physical violence on December 23, 2000 by authorities in Laos. The Danes were detained without charge in a detention centre in Vientiane, Laos, for six months until formal charges were laid on June 13, 2001. According to the Australian Foreign Ministry, the Danes were wrongly accused by the Pathet Lao officials in Laos of embezzlement, destruction of evidence and violation of Laotian tax regulations. On June 28, 2001, the Danes were taken to the Laotian Municipal Court in Vientiane where they faced trial by a judge and prosecutor appointed by communist officials. The already typed judgment was delivered within 25 minutes. Found guilty, they were sentenced to seven years imprisonment and ordered to pay compensation, which led to the intervention of the Australian Government. On November 6, 2001 the Danes were pardoned by the President of Laos. After their ordeal, Kay Danes became a human rights advocate and in 2012 was named as an Australian of the Year state finalist. Following their release, Kay Danes was invited to speak at the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos in Washington, D.C., in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Library of Congress, where she testified in 2002 and on numerous occasions on Capitol Hill regarding human rights violations in Laos and the plight of political prisoners and foreign prisoners held by the communist government of Laos. Danes was appointed an Honorary Advisor to the Executive Office of the Prime Minister representing the Royal Lao Government in Exile. She was a driving force behind the establishment of the United Lao Action Centre in Washington DC – to give a voice to those seeking to uphold the rights of victims of human rights abuses and victims of injustice. Kay Danes lobbied at several US Congressional Forums for greater consideration to new foreign investors embarking on new business ventures in Laos, to avoid some of the pitfalls of working in such a challenging environment. One of the many highlights of her advocacy was to engage the US Government, in particular, President George Bush's direct representative, in a debate on the Normalised Trade Relations Agreement between the US and Laos, insisting on greater protections for foreigners investing in Laos, prior to its implementation. The NTR agreement was effectively delayed until such assurances could be given. • In recent years the RLGE has demanded that
Vietnamese troops withdraw their forces from Laos. They have also requested confirmation of this withdrawal, and that
United Nations peace-keeping troops should be mandated to enter Laos in order to ensure a smooth transition. • August 10, 2004 Lowell, Massachusetts, US became the first city in the world to officially recognize the
flag of the Kingdom of Laos as the flag of Lowell's Laotian-American community. • From February 6 to 8, 2006 Khamphoui Sisavatdy was invited to Washington, D.C., for meetings and discussions with U.S. government officials. • The Royal Lao Government in Exile condemns national elections in Laos as a "charade." Chairman Sisavatdy has called for a move to a more liberal democracy system with multiple political parties. • On October 13, 2011, Australian politician
Chris Hayes expressed support in the
Australian House of Representatives for the Royal Lao Government in Exile. • In 2014 the RLGE established the Association of the Envoys Extraordinary of the Royal Lao Government in Exile Worldwide, which serves as the RLGE's premier diplomatic institution, under the auspices of the Transparency Register of the
European Parliament and the
European Commission and with the support of the
Council of the European Union. • The Royal Lao Government in Exile claims to have about 900
anti-Communist fighters populating the border region of Laos,
Thailand and
Cambodia. This has not, however, been confirmed by any independent sources. ==See also==