Four words come to my mind when I think of Kay Danes, they are, Strength, Integrity, Justice and Courage. She is an exemplary speaker who heightens the frequency of the human conscience through her presentations. Kay Danes is engaging from the moment she speaks and immediately takes her audience on a journey into the deepest thoughts, feelings and experiences of people, the world over, who have been silenced through fear, injustice and those who have been disempowered by traumatic events.
Kay's experiences as a former political prisoner give her an insight that few have and because of this, Kay is obviously compelled to offer assistance to others in need. It is apparent that human right violations and social injustices affect her profoundly but she speaks with authenticity and conviction whilst at the same time, allows her audience to draw their own conclusions. Kay has a quiet strength, an incorruptible sense of integrity, a profound sense of justice and fearlessness in seeking to build a better world.
Kay's diplomatic efforts have earned her the respect, and the ear of, some of the world's most prominent individuals and government figures. Kay has been invited to speak at US Congressional Forums - not once - but twice. She has put the face on human rights in both Australia and Internationally. The manner Kay presents herself ensures the gentle truth behind her words can be heard - striking at the hearts and consciences of people who could not otherwise be reached. The amount of advancement in human rights Kay has been able to achieve in the 5 years since she gained her freedom from communist Laos has been nothing short of astounding.
Recently, I convened a Community Forum: Transcending Abuse, for which, Kay kindly agreed to be our opening speaker. Within minutes, Kay captured the audiences' attention and held it throughout. She set an exceptionally productive, constructive tone for the entire event. I was not at all surprised, when after the event I was contacted by numerous audience members who were deeply affected by Kay's life-changing, thought-provoking messages, wanting to know more about what they could do in their community to help others. Kay stimulates community spirit and arouses the determination to make the world a better place for all.
I believe Kay Danes is destined to continue to change the world in very positive ways.
Cassandra Steer
President
Redland Family Support Initiative
61 Spoonbill Street
Birkdale Qld 4159 Australia
Email: cteer2202@optusnet.com.au
During 2005 and 2006 I have been in occasional contact with Kay Danes in relation to advocacy issues. In November of 2006 I met with Kay Danes personally and attended a Tertiary institution seminar in Queensland, Australia where Kay was an invited guest speaker. It was clearly evident that Kay Danes' dedication for the deliverance of equitable justice for human rights, as defined by International Law, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs is testimonial to her determination to advocate and personally assist individuals and communities whom are at risk of harm at an international level.
Kay Danes voluntary commitment and dedication extends to advocate for the social justice and humane treatment of Australian citizens and other Internationals that are at risk of, or are incarcerated in foreign prisons and who suffer deprivation of rights and may be subjected to abuse. This voluntary assistance and support provided by Kay Danes extends to the families of those persons held in a foreign prison. Kay Danes (and her husband Kerry) were incarcerated in a Laotian Prison for 1o months in 2000-2001, and suffered abuse and torture. The Danes had not committed any crime. The Australian Government politically intervened in this instance to have the Danes protected and released. I encourage humanitarian sectors and Tertiary institutions to invite Kay Danes as a specialist speaker to increase knowledge of foreign humanitarian processes and to heighten the awareness of humanitarian issues that many people may not know exist. Kay has credibility, integrity and represents the epiphany of human spirit and personal courage that she has earned through personal experience.
Russell. S. Treweek
Dip. Community Welfare Work (Aust)
Advocate for Child Protection.
Kay Danes is testimony to resilience, dedicating a great deal of her life to advocating human rights for people all over the world. This was not how Kay's life used to be, nor how she ever imagined it to be! Her experiences in the Laos jail changed her life forever but in helping others, Kay accepts her vulnerability in reliving her trauma. She has learned that coping with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), can be a daily challenge.
PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape. For those who have experienced such events, such as the torture Kay and her husband endured in Laos, it is not unusual to experience nightmares and flashbacks, anxiety attacks, have difficulty sleeping, and feel detached from reality. This can affect every day life but Kay has risen above all this, and while she still seeks support in coping with the impact of PTSD she has inspired many across the world. Kay has turned what for many would have been a totally debilitating experience, to a reflection of strength and determination to make a difference. She is an example of the power of one, of intelligent advocacy and dogged determination to make change.
Dawn Spinks
Manager
Queensland Safe Communities Support Centre (QSCSC)
www.safecommunitiesqld.org
Co-vice Chair,
Australian Safe Communities Foundation (ASCF)
Email: dawns@qisu.org.au
Many thanks for making yourself available to talk to our staff about some of your unforgettable experiences and of the work that you are now dedicated to for the benefit of all people, particularly those in unfortunate circumstances of oppression and fear. We wish you well and in our own efforts to help the poor in our neighborhood, we feel a certain amount of empathy and concern. Hopefully those in need, be it political, material even spiritual, will feel the helping hand of good people. May your work be a constant challenge as well as a source of great satisfaction.
Brother Brian Cunningham
For and on behalf of our staff
Boystown Family Care (Qld)
NON- GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS
On behalf of the United Laos Action Center (ULAC) whose main goal is to promote freedom, democracy, development and human rights for the people of Laos.
For Laotians all over the free world who are concerned for our less fortunate fellow Laotians at home, Kay Danes is a household word. We speak of her with affection, a sense of gratitude and hope. The sad and frightening story of how Kerry and Kay Danes fell victims to and suffered under the lack of justice and rule of law in the Lao People's Democratic Republic [Lao PDR] is familiar to many of us who care about human rights. It is a story of arbitrary arrest, detention without charge, trial without due process, horrendous prison conditions, brutal inhumane treatment of prisoners and torture, which has, over the last three decades under a one-party dictatorship, grossly violated the human rights of thousands of people, Laotians and foreigners alike. It was a story that had been perennially recorded by foreign government agencies and international human rights organizations without much avail. Overseas Lao organizations had cried out against the human rights situation in Laos ever since we first escaped. But it fell on deaf ears. The interest of the international press in the Danes case did raise public awareness by quite a notch. But it was not until Kay launched herself wholeheartedly to right those wrongs that the human rights situation in the Lao PDR became visible on the radar screen of world policy makers from Canberra to Washington DC. No sooner than she regained freedom, Kay began helping her fellow political prisoners through a the Foreign Prisoner Support Service. Its website contains detailed and timely information on wide-ranging human rights issues and situations in many countries, and is a major link among human rights movements around the world, particularly in the Lao community.
Despite the risk of personal safety and the personal expense of energy, time and money and despite the painful memory of her ordeal, Kay travelled to Washington DC [2002] to help Lao freedom and human rights organizations around the world to establish our Organization, ULAC, as a coordinating center. While there, through the US and international press and media, Kay let the world as well as the US Congress in on the terrible secretive abuses going on in Laos. One year later, Kay travelled across the world to follow up with the US Congress to plead the case for victims of human rights abuses in the Lao PDR. She tirelessly presented the case with the State Department, including the US Ambassador to the Lao PDR, Mr. Douglas Hartwick. She went knocking on doors of members of both the House and Senate. Apart from Kay Danes' tenacious commitment and personal sacrifice, what is so extraordinary about her advocacy is that she is dedicating her energy, efforts and activities totally to other victims, those she has bonded with whom she calls 'kin and friends' as well as those she never met.
In her public statements as well as private conversation, never once did Kay mention anything about her own experience. The words she spoke were often accompanied by tears. They were tears of compassion and tears of urgent concern for others who are languishing in the Lao gulags without any future. Those of us who have come in touch with her, love and admire and think of her most for this. Kay Danes is not a fire-breathing podium-thumping advocate for human rights. She tells it like it is, quietly, and straight from the heart. To her, victims of human rights are not statistics for debate and analysed in public forums, hearings, and the media. To her they are, each and everyone, persons, human beings with dignity, capable of feeling pains and humiliations. They all are her brothers and sisters. For lack of a better phrasing, Kay has put the faces on human rights abuse in the Lao PDR. When visiting the FPSS website, or listening to her public statements, I for one, feel that I am in those victims' place and it is physically and mentally unimaginable. I have little doubt the policy makers of the world feel the same.
For this reason, I and my fellow Laotians both in and out of Laos, firmly believe that Kay Danes is the most effective mover we have as an ally in our long-standing struggle to give back the dignity and fundamental rights of our fellow Laotians.
Dr. Sin Vilay
Executive Director
United Lao Action Centre [ULAC]
Washington DC 2004
We of the Lao Nationalist Reform Party, offer our profound thanks and grateful appreciation to Kay Danes for traveling to the United States, Washington DC, and giving such a moving testimony at the US Congressional Forum for Democracy and Economic Development for Laos, Oct 1, 2002.
Lieutenant Colonel Khambang Sibounheuang
Party Leader Lao Nationalist Reform Party
As we know, Kay Danes has personally experienced unlawful imprisonment in Laos. From her personal experience, and her commitment to help others in similar situations, Kay contributes greatly to the awareness and understanding of people suffering throughout the world, particularly those behind the razor wire and prisons without bars. Kay's message will pierce through even the hardest heart and the soul of her audience.
Dr Pao Saykao (M.B.; B.S.)
Victoria Australia
Our thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our progress possible. And in this spirit we say, simply but sincerely thank you and best wishes. Thank you very much for your kind regards and good wishes for our democratic movement. For us here in the US, we are following up on the new sanctions against the military regime, and other tough measures, such as bringing Burma issue before the UN Security Council. We deeply appreciate your support and solidarity. Thanks a lot.
Best wishes,
Steven H. Moe
National Coalition Group for the Union of Burma - Washington, DC
'Nightmare in Laos' is a personal and disturbing account of the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of Australians Kay and Kerry Danes in Laos in 2001 and 2002.
The couple, managers of a security firm in Laos were accused of stealing sapphires. There was no real evidence to support the charges, and interrogations were carried out without any real basis to presume there would be a 'guilty' verdict if brought to trial. Kay Danes writes about the foul and appalling conditions in the jail inhabited by both Laotian nationals and foreign prisoners. She recounts witnessing the effects of senseless and brutal psychological and physical torture and the complete disregard for human rights. This information is unsettling with its implications of the lack of assistance and justice for foreign prisoners. The desperation of many of the inmates, whose crimes were often minor or manufactured, lends an urgent intensity to the writing.
The fact that there was often no recourse to legal representation for numbers of prisoners is in stark contrast to the support that the Danes were able to muster for their cause. Kay Danes writes of the unwavering resolve of her husband, and of her frustrated but gritty manoeuvring to improve conditions in the jail. All of this occurs during a desperate time, of isolation far from children, family and friends. Kay gives due credit to the efforts of her father, the diplomatic approaches by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Australia and the Herculean task of the senior members of the Australian Embassy in Laos, which eventually brought about their release.
In the conclusion, Danes writes of the promise made to prisoners to work for their rights after she has gained her freedom. She relates some of the successes she has had since that time and of some of the extraordinary reconciliations brought about by her efforts on behalf of foreign prisoners.
Gina Louis
Author and Talent Agent
Australia
