Click to expand Image Shui-Meng Ng holds a picture of her husband, Sombath Somphone, the forcibly disappeared Lao activist, following a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand, December 12, 2018. © 2018 ROMEO GACAD/AFP via Getty Images (Sydney) – Australian officials should press the Lao government to take concrete steps to improve its human rights record, Human Rights Watch said today. The 9th Australia-Laos Human Rights Dialogue is scheduled for Vientiane on November 18, 2025.In an October submission to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Human Rights Watch urged Australian officials to forcefully raise the Lao government’s attacks on critics and cross-border abuses, known as transnational repression, during the dialogue.“The Lao government has a track record of arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings of its critics,” said Daniela Gavshon, Australia director at Human Rights Watch. “Australia should use the Human Rights Dialogue as an opportunity to press the Lao authorities to fully investigate and appropriately prosecute those responsible for serious abuses.”The Lao government denies allegations that it has abducted activists, critics, and political dissidents. But December is the 13-year anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Sombath Somphone, a Lao civil society leader whose case exemplifies the country’s impunity for the grave rights violations against its critics.Over the past decade, the Lao government has engaged in apparent quid pro quo agreements with neighboring countries, including Thailand and China, to forcibly return exiled dissidents. These so-called “swap mart” arrangements are aimed at deterring critics and dissidents. Such efforts by governments to silence dissent outside of their territorial jurisdiction have become known as “transnational repression.” Swap mart victims have included both dissidents from neighboring countries who fled to Laos and Lao dissidents who fled to Thailand.Australian officials should urge the Lao government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which it signed in 2008. Lao officials should immediately disclose the whereabouts or situation of those forcibly disappeared and end any policy or practice in conjunction with neighboring governments, including Thailand, that facilitates transnational repression.“The upcoming Australia-Laos dialogue is an important reminder that bilateral relations are contingent on respect for human rights and the rule of law,” Gavshon said. “Australia should focus on the Lao government’s attacks on its critics and the need to resolve enforced disappearances, end transnational repression, and set clear benchmarks for progress on human rights.”