The annual U.S State Department's Human Rights report says the Lao Government's human rights record remained poor in 2004, and it continued to commit serious abuses. Members of the security forces abused detainees, especially those suspected of insurgent or anti-government activity.
The Lao Goverment also continued to deny the existence of an ongoing insurgency, comprised mostly of ethnic Hmong, the remnant of the "Secret Army" that fought against the Communist Pathet Lao during the Indochina War.
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