International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos Government of Laos of July 9, 1962, entered into force as an international agreement on the date of signature July 23, 1962. After a brief occupation by the Japanese at the end of World War II, which followed in a declaration of independence by Lao nationalists, the French reoccupied Laos and the rest of French Indochina, which included Vietnam and Cambodia. In the following insurgency, the Indochinese Communist formed the Pathet Lao, a Laotian nationalist movement, ally of the Vietnamese in the struggle against France. After the French defeat, the Geneva Accords of 1954 established Laos sovereignty. In 1960, civil
Congress of Peace in Geneva Congress of Peace in Geneva In 1867, the French pacifist Charles Lemonnier (1806-1891) convened the Congress of Peace in Geneva, known as the "International League of Peace and Liberty". It was ultimately at this conference that it was decided to abolish the sovereignty and international relations of the Holy See, something which Pius IX blamed on secret societies. According to Jasper Ridley, at the 1867 Congress of Geneva, Garibaldi referred to "that pestilential institution which is called the Papacy" and proposed giving "the final blow to the monster". This was a reflection of the bitterness that had been generated by