Rights Groups Call on Thai, Lao Leaders to Halt Dam

A group of Cambodian NGOs sent a letter to the prime ministers of Thailand and Laos on Friday calling on them to stop the construction of a controversial dam on the Mekong River and respect the 1995 Mekong Agreement. "We would like to urgently call on the Thai and Lao governments to immediately halt all construction work at the proposed Xayaburi Dam site in Northern Lao PDR and wait for the result from the agreed upon Mekong River Commission study on the trans-boundary impacts of the Mekong Mainstream dams," said the letter. ... Construction activities contravene the 1995 agreement, which states that all four countries must must agree to any mainstream Mekong dam.