Editing Lao People's Armed Forces (section)

==History==
{{main|Military history of Laos}}

Until 1975, the [[Royal Lao Armed Forces]] were the armed forces of the [[Kingdom of Laos]].
[[File:09.05.2025 - Cerimônia de celebração dos 80 anos do Dia da Vitóriana Segunda Guerra Mundial (54507325941).jpg|thumb|left|Lao People's Armed Forces on Red Square in [[Moscow]] during the [[2025 Moscow Victory Day Parade|Victory Day parade]] on 9 May 2025]]
Serving one of the world's least developed countries, the Lao People's Armed Forces (LPAF) is small, poorly funded, and ineffectively resourced. Its mission focus is border and internal security, primarily in internal suppression of Laotian dissident and opposition groups.<ref name="cia.gov"/>

This includes the suppression of the 1999 Lao Students Movement of Democracy demonstrations in [[Vientiane]], and in countering ethnic Hmong insurgent groups and other groups of Laotian and [[Hmong people]] opposing the [[One-party state|one-party]] [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] [[Lao People's Revolutionary Party|LPRP]] [[Government of Laos|government]] and the [[Laos-Vietnam relations|support it receives]] from the [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam]].<ref name="cia.gov"/>

Together with the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the government, the Lao People's Army (LPA) is the third pillar of state machinery, and as such is expected to suppress political and civil unrest and similar national emergencies faced by the government in Vientiane. The LPA also has reportedly upgraded skills to respond to avian influenza outbreaks. At present, there is no major perceived external threat to the state and the LPA maintains very strong ties with the neighbouring Vietnamese military (2008).<ref name="cia.gov"/>

According to some journalists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), humanitarian and human rights organisations, the Lao People's Army has repeatedly engaged in egregious [[Human rights in Laos|human rights]] violations and the practice of corruption in Laos.<ref name="auto3">Amnesty International, (23 March 2007), "Lao People's Democratic Republic: Hiding in the jungle – Hmong under threat"  {{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA26/003/2007 |title=Lao People's Democratic Republic: Hiding in the jungle - Hmong under threat &#124; Amnesty International |access-date=2016-12-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141208112022/http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA26/003/2007 |archive-date=8 December 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name="auto4">The Centre for Public Policy Analysis, CPPA, Washington, D.C. (1 August 2013), http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org</ref>
The LPAF and its military intelligence play a major role in the arrest, imprisonment and torture of foreign prisoners in Vientiane's notorious [[Phonthong Prison]] and the communist Lao [[gulag]] system where Australians [[Kerry and Kay Danes]] were imprisoned and where civic activist [[Sombath Somphone]] may be imprisoned following his arrest in December 2012.<ref>Scoop Independent News, Auckland, New Zealand, (19 March 2013) "Laos Officials Criticized for Obstructing Investigation" http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1303/S00169/laos-officials-criticized-for-obstructing-investigation.htm ([https://web.archive.org/web/20230410083111/https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1303/S00169/laos-officials-criticized-for-obstructing-investigation.htm Archive])</ref>

In 2013, attacks by the Lao People's Army against the [[Hmong people]] intensified, with soldiers killing four unarmed Hmong school teachers in addition to engaging in other human rights abuses according to the Lao Human Rights Council, the Centre for Public Policy Analysis and others.<ref>Businesswire, businesswire.com (4 March 2013) "Laos: Attacks Intensify Against Lao, Hmong People" http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130304006755/en/Laos-Attacks-Intensify-Lao-Hmong-People ([https://web.archive.org/web/20230410100739/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130304006755/en/Laos-Attacks-Intensify-Lao-Hmong-People Archive])</ref>