Links to publicly accessible information
During the Vietnam War, the US enlisted the aid of various ethnic enclaves. In Laos, they were mostly (H)mong people, and were referred to as the CIA's "Secret Army." There are still American-allied Hmong tribes which have been hiding in the jungles of Laos since the Vietnam War.
With nowhere to flee, no desire to fight, and almost no defenses, they have been the continuing victims of unimaginable brutality, including rape, mutilation, unjust imprisonment, slavery, torture, and murder. In recent years their numbers have been reduced to the point they can no longer effectively hide defensively in the jungles, foraging for food. Most of these tribes have been wiped out entirely. Most of the survivors are children and young adults, with a handful of rifles and ammunition to defend an entire group from vicious attacks. They hide in the jungles in constant fear.
This low level war has dragged on far too long.
You will find links to publicly available articles, etc. in the following pages.
History: 1961-1975
The CIA's Secret Army
In 1961, CIA officer Bill Lair of Texas sold the promise of Democracy to the mountain tribes of Laos. The CIA recruited, trained, and directed guerrilla forces comprised primarily of the Hmong people against the communist forces. They were America's "Secret Army" and were organized under the highest ranking Hmong in the royal Laos army, General Vang Pao. These allies unequivocally bore the brunt of the war in Laos; their casualties far outnumbered those suffered by Americans, who primarily served as pilots and which rained bombs upon areas given up to the advancing Soviet-backed communist army. Hmong casualties were so devastating that even boys were called to serve as infantry. The war raged on for a decade and while America coaxed the General Vang Pao to continue to fight, the CIA watched its Hmong allies be decimated. The USA quit the war in 1975 but the CIA never provided an adequate evacuation plan for their doomed comrades. The royal Lao family was quickly overthrown by the communist regime and perhaps 300,000 of America's former allies and their families were left behind to hide in the jungles. Shortly after the American withdrawal, the Communist party in Laos vowed to kill every last one of the "American collaborators... to the last root" and for three decades, the Laotian army has hunted the defeated American-allied Hmongs, whom have nowhere to flee and have been unable to reintegrate with mainstream Laotian society.
Image: General Vang Pao in the early 1960s
Shooting at the Moon: The Story of America's Clandestine War in Laos
In Shooting at the Moon, Roger Warner chronicles a covert operation that used Hmong villagers as guerrilla fighters against the North during the Vietnamese War. Thought to be an expendable resource by Central Intelligence Agency strategists, the Hmong died by the thousands fighting the North Vietnamese. Those who survived were abandoned to their fate when the United States pulled out of the war. Warner's history is the moving and tragic story of how America's "secret war" devastated its own allies in Southeast Asia.
Time Magazine: The Cut-Rate War (March 16, 1997)
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/16/reviews/970316.16issacst.html?_r=1...
Time Magazine: The Cut-Rate War (March 16, 1997)
Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992
Jane Hamilton-Merritt, Nobel-nominated scholar and photojournalist, has followed the plight of the Hmong and the war in Indochina since the 1960s. The staunchest of allies, the Hmong sided with the Americans against the North Vietnamese and were foot soldiers in the brutal secret war for Laos. Since the war, abandoned by their American allies, the Hmong have been subjected to a campaign of genocide by the North Vietnamese, including the use of chemical weapons. Tragic Mountains moves from the big picture of international diplomacy and power politics to the small villages and heroic engagements in the Lao jungle. It is a story of courage, brutality, heroism, betrayal, resilience, and hope.
Who is to blame? Laos.
The Laotian army has been carrying on a vicious and relentless campaign of revenge for three long decades. There is an appalling absence of peace talks or even humane treatment of those Hmong who come out of the jungle and do not wish to fight. Those Hmong who try to come out of the jungle are usually killed, imprisoned, and tortured. The soldiers have effectively kept the practically defenseless Hmong trapped in the jungles. These Hmong have been decimated and pose no threat to Laos, but the army seemingly has an endless blood-thirst, a complete disregard for the basic human rights of their old adversaries, and will not let the Hmong surrender. The atrocities of the Laotian army are well documented and beyond question.
The Laotian government must stop its army from this unyielding extermination of these peoples, grant the Hmong in hiding true amnesty and let them become productive and dignified members of Laotian society. By demonstrating Laos' commitment to protecting the inalienable rights of all persons, not only will Laos be regarded as an honorable and civilized nation, but foreign companies and investors will be more likely come to Laos, leading to increased productivity, trade, and tourism.
As the Chinese proverb states, "before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." There is nothing to be gained by this genocide campaign and until you do, you cannot join the world community as an equal or reap the benefits of modernization which only cooperation with other nations can bring.
Hunted Like Animals
Rebecca Sommer's recently released documentary Hunted Like Animals is vivid proof of the atrocities suffered by the Hmong hiding in the jungles of Laos. Interwoven into the film are the testimonies of the refugees in Thailand(2004-2006), and Super 8 footage filmed by the Hmong-in-hiding themselves (2002-2006). The footage from the jungle was smuggled out of the military areas by brave folks from the Fact Finding Commission.
Links to sample video clips here.
Eyewitness accounts by BBC journalist and Hmong Lao in hiding
Click image to view video clip (opens in new window)
The Lost Tribe, Part 1
Part 1
Video from Al Jazeera, with their correspondent Tony Birtley traveling for two days from the town of Phon Savan to reach their jungle hideout -- the first television journalist ever to do so.
History of Hmong Lao-Vietnam War
Click image to view video clip (opens in new window)
Hmong Attacked With Chemical Weapons
Click image to view video clip (opens in new window)
Hmong Hunted and tortured mercilessly
Click image to view video clip (opens in new window)
Hmong refugees say, "We are not rebels"
Click image to view video clip (opens in new window)
Hmong woman's testimony - My life before I escaped
Click image to view video clip (opens in new window)
Hmong women gang-raped by Lao soldiers after coming out of hiding
Click image to view video clip (opens in new window)
Thai Military interview Hmong refugee
Click image to view video clip (opens in new window)
Congressional Research Service Report for Congress -- Laos: Background and U.S. Relations (Nov. 22, 2004)
Congressional Research Service Report for Congress -- Laos: Background and U.S. Relations (Nov. 22, 2004)
Fact Finding Commission's video library
Video evidence of the human rights abuses suffered by the Hmong in the jungles of Laos, collected by the NGO, Fact Finding Commission.
Hmong refugee describes fear of persecution in Laos and Thailand
By Rungrawee C. Pinyorat The Associated Press
Published: August 13, 2007
BAN KHEK NOI, Thailand: It was the fear of persecution that drove Yang Pahua to flee her native Laos - twice.
Yang, 17, is one of 21 girls and five boys whose stories have drawn new attention to the plight of the Hmong, an ethnic minority. Their families first fled Laos in 2004 for an informal refugee settlement in the Thai province of Phetchabun. The youths were sent back to Laos in December 2005.
In June, it emerged that a dozen of them had run away again. They have now made it back to Phetchabun.
The youth share the tragedy of thousands of Hmong who are hiding in the jungles of Laos or living in limbo in Thailand. The Hmong are viewed with suspicion by Laos because they fought in the CIA-backed "secret war" of the 1960s and 1970s against the communists who are now in power. The plight of the Hmong is exacerbated by the fact that some of them are Christian, and the Vientiane government views proselytizing as a challenge to its authority in the country, which is mostly Buddhist.
Yet the Hmong who escape across the border risk a hostile reception in Thailand, which has deported more than 300 of them over the past year. Thai officials have reserved the right to send back all the Laotian Hmong, whom they no longer consider political refugees.
"Now, I am being sought after by both the Lao and Thai governments," Yang said. "I would like to plead for help from humanitarian agencies. I can't continue to live like this."
Read the complete story here:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/13/news/laos.php
Laos' forgotten Hmong
By Kate McGeown
BBC News Online
Little is known about the ethnic Hmong people, and even less about those rumoured to be fighting a low-level war against the Lao Government.
But what seems certain, according to numerous human rights reports, is that many of the Hmong in Laos have a poor standard of living, and often feel marginalised by the authorities.
"There's a kind of fault line which separates the Hmong from the rest of the population," said Sunai Phasuk, a political analyst for human rights group Forum Asia.
"They are treated like traitors by the authorities," he told BBC News Online. "They are blamed for siding with the foreign imperialists."
The problem stems from the Vietnam War, when large numbers of ethnic Hmong sided with the United States army, as the conflict spread from Vietnam into neighbouring Laos and Cambodia.
The Hmong became an integral part of a secret CIA-trained militia that helped dismantle communist supply lines.
But at the end of the war, the US Government stopped its support for the Hmong.
In 1975, the communist Pathet Movement ousted the US-backed Lao royal family, and took control of the country.
Fearing the worst, as many as a third of the Hmong population are thought to have left the country.
Many settled in the United States, while others went to Thailand, Vietnam, France and Australia.
But the 300,000 left in Laos have had to deal with the consequences of backing the losing side.
According to Sunai Phasuk, the Lao Government often accuses the Hmong of being the cause of the country's problems, such as the high levels of deforestation and widespread cultivation of opium.
Many Hmong are also being forced to relocate from their highland homes to areas with poor agricultural potential, he said.
"It's a totally different way of life, and it's difficult for them to adapt," he said.
A spokesman for the human rights group Amnesty International said that Hmong people in detention were often treated unfavourably compared with other prisoners.
"Prison conditions in Laos are really awful, and the Hmong are particularly badly treated," said Amnesty spokesman Daniel Alberman.
Rebel insurgents
But there is increasing evidence that the Hmong are fighting back.
Over the last few decades, there have been persistent rumours of rebel fighters living in remote jungle areas - the kind of reports which the three foreigners now on trial were trying to confirm.
Sunai Phasuk says it is very difficult to get accurate information about the number of rebels in Laos, or the activities they are engaged in.
But last month Andrew Perrin, a journalist from Time Asia magazine, managed to gain access to a remote rebel camp, where he met hundreds of Hmong families.
"What we found really surprised us. There were 800-900 people - far more than we had thought - and we were told there were another 20 similar groups around Laos," he told BBC News Online.
The group he encountered was living in a state of constant siege, with women and children in desperate need of food and medical attention - and constantly on the run from the Lao authorities.
"These people are hunted like wild animals," said Mr Perrin. "It has been going on for nearly 30 years."
"From their hill-top camps, military patrols fire rockets into the jungle. If they spot someone, they shoot."
In public, the Lao Government denies that the Hmong rebels exist.
But diplomatic sources have said that, behind the scenes, the authorities believe the rebels are behind a spate of recent ambush attacks on buses in the region.
Sunai Phasuk said it was not in the government's interest to openly blame the Hmong for the attacks, as it would imply the authorities were no longer in control of the situation.
So, instead, the attacks are blamed on "bandits" or "bad people".
Amnesty's Daniel Alberman rebuffed that explanation.
"You don't kill a load of bus passengers if you're a bandit," he said.
Andrew Perrin said it was impossible to say who was behind the bus attacks.
Eyewitnesses have claimed that those responsible spoke the Hmong language and looked like ethnic Hmong.
But Mr Perrin said the Hmong he met denied being involved in any attacks. He said there was even a possibility that the military itself was behind the ambushes.
The truth of the matter is likely to remain difficult to determine, and the continuing violence could well deter others from investigating further.
Laos, Thailand Crisis: Hmong-American Arrested, Disappear
Laos, Thailand Crisis: Hmong-American Arrested, Disappear
Release Date: 2007-09-03
Original Link: http://presszoom.com/story_140676.html
Source: Center for Public Policy Analysis
At least three U.S. citizens, possibly four, of ethnic Hmong descent have recently disappeared in Laos, at the hands of Laotian security forces, following their recent arrest and imprisonment on unknown charges.
(PressZoom.com) - At least three U.S. citizens of ethnic Hmong descent, possibly four, have recently disappeared in Laos, at the hands of Laotian security forces, following their recent arrest and imprisonment in Vientiane, Laos on unknown charges.
“Multiple, and reliable independent eyes-on-the-ground human sources in Laos as well as immediate family members in the United States have confirmed that three Hmong-American citizens were arrested on August 25 in Laos by Laotian military and security forces while they were apparently sightseeing and seeking business opportunities,” stated Philip Smith, Executive Director for the Center for Public Policy Analysis, in Washington, D.C.
The three Lao-Hmong-American men include: Mr. Hakit Yang, 21; Mr. Conghineng Yang,, 31; and Trillion Yunhaison, 41. All are from St. Paul, Minnesota and the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. A fourth Hmong individual Mr. Pao Vang, of unknown nationality and age, was reportedly acting as tour guide for the group, and was also reportedly arrested and jailed with them.
The Hmong-Americans have no known political or family ties to opposition or dissident factions and had departed the United States for travel to Laos on July 10 from the Twin Cities.
Continued Smith: “Eyewitness and reliable sources, including dissident and opposition sources inside the Lao regime, have reported that these Hmong-American men were transported in Vientiane Laos to Ponthong prison by special Lao military and secret police. The Lao officials forcibly gagged the men and put black hoods over their heads and handcuffed them behind their backs. Their feet were also shackled and they were dragged into the notorious Ponthong Prison on August 25 where many prisoners, including political prisoners, have been tortured, killed or held for lengthy sentences under horrific conditions .
Stated Smith: “Unfortunately, on August 30, eyewitness and reliable sources reported that all of the Hmong-American citizens were taken out of Ponthong Prison by Lao security and military forces who forcefully loaded them on a government truck along with other unknown Hmong and Lao prisoners. Once again, the Hmong -Americans were placed in black hoods and were handcuffed, shackled and gagged. They were then forced under a canvas tarpaulin on the military vehicle for apparent transport to an unknown location with the unknown Hmong and Lao prisoners.”
In 2003, Pastor Naw Karl Moua, a Hmong-American citizen and Lutheran Pastor from St. Paul Minnesota was arrested in Laos along with two European photojournalists and a group of Hmong seeking to document human rights violations and reports of ethnic cleansing in Laos directed against the Hmong people in closed military zones. Pastor Moua was held at Ponthong Prison along with the others reportedly in his group, some of whom are still jailed in Laos by the Communist authorities, including two Hmong guides and translators that are now reportedly moved from Ponthong prison to Sam Khe prison where they are serving long prison terms in harsh conditions.
Details of the arrests and disappearance of the Hmong-Americans, comes at a pivotal time when Laotian officials are holding a major joint meeting at Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai, Thailand from Sept. 2-4 with Thai military officials regarding the fate and status of some 8,000 Lao-Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers . Lao officials have stated that they would like the Hmong refugees repatriated to Laos.
In recent weeks, the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Journalists Without Borders and other humanitarian and human rights organizations have urged the Thai Government not repatriate the Lao-Hmong refugees back to the Communist regime in Laos that they fled.
On August 3, 2007, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and thirteen Members of Congress transmitted a U.S. Congressional letter to the King of Thailand appealing for his help to seek to grant asylum to the 8,000 Lao-Hmong at Ban Huay Nam Khao until they can be resettled in third countries like Australia.
Smith concluded: “Since their brutal transfer out of Ponthong prison, no current information has been received about the whereabouts and condition of the three Hmong-Americans now being detained without formal charges nor their Hmong travel guide. They are presumed to have been transported to another Lao government prison or detention camp outside of the capital for further detention, interrogation or worse. To date the Lao government reportedly refuses to confirm or deny that it has arrested the group Hmong-Americans.”
Recent efforts by the U.S. Embassy in Laos, family members of the three Hmong-Americans, and humanitarian and human rights organizations, appear to have yielded no further information to date.
_____
Center for Public Policy Analysis
2020 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite No.#212
Washington, D.C. 20006 USA
Tele. (202) 543-1444
Fax (202) 207-9871
Washington, D.C.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Contact: Anna Jones or Jade Lee
Tele. (202) 543-1444 Fax (202)207-9871
Laos: Background and U.S. Relations
CRS Report for Congress
Order Code RS20931
Updated November 22, 2004
Thomas Lum
Specialist in Asian Affairs
Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
[ BEGIN EXCERPT ]
The Hmong Minority
Many observers have argued that although societal
discrimination likely persists, the LPDR government does not currently engage in
systematic persecution of the Hmong minority. However, others have attested that the
Lao government has committed atrocities against defiant Hmong communities living in
remote areas. During the Vietnam War, the United States Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) trained and armed an estimated 60,000 Hmong guerillas to fight the Vietcong.
After the Lao communist government took power in 1975, Lao and Vietnamese troops
crushed most of the Hmong army. The Lao government allegedly has carried out a 25-
year war of attrition to eliminate remaining Hmong militias and their communities, who
may total from one thousand to several thousand persons. Several of an estimated 20
rebel groups and their families are said to be surrounded by LPDR troops and facing
starvation.14 This continuing conflict has been a key stumbling block to better U.S.-LPDR
relations. U.S. officials in Laos have been unable to independently verify claims of Lao
People’s Army or Vietnamese troop movements in mountain areas, mass killings, or the
use of biological weapons against the Hmong. Monitoring is difficult, however, because
many highland villages are accessible only by helicopter and travel is restricted by the
central government.
Between 1975 and 1998, nearly 130,000 Hmong refugees were admitted to the
United States.15 In the 1990s, about 29,000 Hmong were repatriated from camps in
Thailand to Laos. Some returning Hmong claimed that they faced discrimination or lack
of economic opportunities, while United Nations human rights observers found that the
former refugees were “successfully reintegrated.”16 An estimated 60,000 Hmong remain
in Thailand; many have integrated into local society. In January 2004, the Bush
Administration announced that the approximately 15,000 Hmong living at the Wat Tham
Krabok temple in central Thailand would be eligible to apply for resettlement in the
United States. Most have arrived in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and California, homes to
large Hmong-American populations.
[ THE COMPLETE DOCUMENT IS VIEWABLE HERE: http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/39907.pdf ]
Laotian Brigadier General on "Solving the Hmong Problem"
"SOLVING THE HMONG PROBLEM"
The Bangkok Post
Friday September 07, 2007
Brig-Gen Buasieng Champaphan, the Lao deputy chief of staff and co-chairman of the Thai-Lao general border sub-committee, talked about Laos' position in solving the problem of Hmong immigrants in Thailand in a meeting with journalists, including ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Hmong support groups in the United States and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have criticised the Thai-Lao plan to repatriate nearly 8,000 Hmong people from Phetchabun's Khao Kho district and another 150 Hmong detained at the Nong Khai immigration centre. Are you concerned about their pressure?
Those outside our country have always caused trouble for us. They attack us and make the repatriation of Hmong back to Laos more difficult. They have accused the process of being inhumane, [and accused Lao authorities of] jailing the returned Hmong or raping the Hmong girls. Those [allegations] are not true. We have received 192 Hmong from Thailand since the middle of this year. Most of them were sent back to their hometowns, except those who do not have farm land to tend who were provided with two hectares of land per family at Ban Pattana Phahak, some 200 kilometres north of the capital [Vientiane]. The Lao government has also educated the ethnic Hmong so that they will not be easily lured by any gangs into crossing the border into Thailand.
International agencies have called for Lao permission to observe the resettlement process to guarantee the rights of the returnees. Will Vientiane reconsider their request, or will the government allow the Hmong at Ban Huay Nam Khao to participate in the resettlement discussion?
Laos and Thailand will proceed with the bilateral plan to repatriate them with no need for third party involvement.
Both the armies and governments have agreed that there should be no intervention from a third party. In the past, Lao did not want to take back these people since they illegally crossed the border and it was up to the Thai government to make any decision. But Thailand has sought cooperation from Laos, and we cannot let our neighbour and friend shoulder the growing problem alone any longer. We therefore agreed to take them back, no matter how many there are. If they are Lao nationals, we will receive them.
What will be the plight of around 150 Hmong at the temporary detention centre in Nong Khai, where half are recognised by the UNHCR as persons of concern?
They are still illegal immigrants. They will be considered refugees only if they come from a country that is still waging a war. But we do not have any war. They just crossed the border of their own will. We did not force them to leave. They just do not love their home and would like to enjoy a flashy life elsewhere. So we do not have to negotiate with them.
Both those in Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai will be repatriated to Laos. Those opposing the plan are [doing so] because they are losing face when returning home. They boasted to their relatives and colleagues that they would be sent to the US, but they couldn't go.
Are you concerned that the post-election Thai government might change policy towards the Hmong?
If the Thai government changes any policy measures or guidelines, it is within its rights. But I believe that whichever parties become the government will have to maintain the good relations and cooperation with Laos and would like to see a peaceful and prosperous Laos. I believe an elected [Thai] government will even be fully legitimate in solving the Hmong problems.
Report on the Hmong Lao, submitted to the UN (May 2006)
Report on the Hmong Lao, submitted to the UN (May 2006)
http://www.earthpeoples.org/new/report-download/REPORT-Hmong-Rebecca_Som...
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Sixth Session: 14-26 May 2007 on Human Rights
On May 22, Vaughn Vang and Cathy Thao read the collective statement announcing on behalf of the Lao Human Rights Council and Earths Peoples.
Joint Statement: Human Rights
Hmong Lao Human Rights Council, United Nations Associate-USA, Society for
Threatened Peoples International, Yachai Wasi, Earth Peoples.
Included into this Permanent Forum was recommendations such as:
-To have a public position on the milatary massacres against the Hmong hiding in
the jungles, and to use the UN's leverage to intervene with relevant UN agencies.
-To focus on PFII 7th session on Indigenous REFUGEES, with special attention on
Indigenous Peoples which are forced to migrate --due to military aggressions by
governments, and special focus on the work of the OHCR.
Included was a letter from a Hmong girl addressed to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
---
Included below is the Original PDF file of the full report and included letter from the young girl.
They hunt us Down like animals: Massacres and grave human rights violations against the Hmong in Laos (Oct 18, 2006)
They hunt us Down like animals: Massacres and grave human rights violations against the Hmong in Laos (Oct 18, 2006)
Time Magazine:Welcome to the Jungle (April 28, 2003)
Welcome to the Jungle
Time Magazine
April 28, 2003
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,447253,00.html
Who is to blame? Thailand.
Some persecuted Hmong whom have attempted it have survived the deadly journey into Thailand, but Thailand violates their basic human rights by incarcerating asylum-seekers as illegal immigrants, denying the United Nations access to them, and preventing their relocation to third countries, like Australia, whom have offered to take them in. Indeed, Thailand has forcibly repatriated refugees in order to maintain favorable relations with its neighbor, despite the fact that it is likely that the refugees will suffer at the hands of the Laotian army. If the persecuted Hmong hiding in the jungles cannot flee Laos and be resettled elsewhere, then there is really nowhere for them to go.
Thailand is in a difficult situation as large numbers of refugees enter Thailand from neighboring countries and they do not wish to open the flood-gates to scores more, which would include, in addition to legitimate asylum-seekers, many persons fleeing their own country simply because they are poor and wish to relocate to a wealthier nation with more opportunities. However, if fair determination procedures are implemented to winnow the truly persecuted from the opportunistic, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is able to observe or facilitate this process in order to certify its fairness (i.e. in accordance with Refworld), then those who do not qualify for refugee status may be repatriated without reprieve from the international community. This would discourage non-asylum-seekers from leaving their homes and making the expensive and arduous journey to Thailand in hopes of being relocated to another country.
Thailand wishes to have favorable relations with neighboring Laos, which is reasonable. Nevertheless, Thailand's desire for goodwill with Laos cannot come at the expense of disregarding the pleas of those in need. Thailand should use its influence to encourage Laos to allow the Hmong in hiding to reintegrate peacefully into Laotian society, thus stopping the stream of Hmong refugees at the source.
'I WANT TO SEE A TOMORROW': Thailand: Hunger Strike of Hmong Refugees Halted
Aug. 21, 2007
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/national/070821-kinchen-nationalhungerstri...
Huntington News Network learned on Sunday evening, Aug. 19, 2007, that northeast of Bangkok, at the immigration detention center in Nong Khai, a group of 149 Hmong Lao refugees -- most of them children and teenagers -- on Sunday, Aug. 19 halted their hunger strike, after strong intervention by the U.N. and concerned countries.
Some of the Hmong refugees were brought Monday morning, Aug. 20 to the hospital, according to reliable sources.
"The refugees are held unnecessarily long imprisoned as illegal migrants after barely escaping from Laos to Thailand," said Kue Xiong, president of the U.S.-based human rights organization Hmong Lao Human Rights Council. “The already traumatized Hmong Lao asylum seekers were arrested by Thai police and are since then held in Thai detention prison as illegal migrants, under terrifying conditions -- since December 8, 2006,” he added.
Thailand has taken the position that the Hmong refugee crisis is caused for economic reasons, and not for fear of persecution.
“The UNHCR has classified all these 149 Hmong in Nong Khai as 'refugees' on the basis that they do face persecution and threats to their lives if returned to Laos,” said human rights advocate Rebecca Sommer, from the Society for Threatened Peoples International. “The traumatized ethnic Hmong refugees escaped to Thailand from a life as internally displaced families, running from Vietnamese and Laotian military attacks while hiding in remote mountainous jungle areas inside of the communist country of Laos.”
In Thai detention jail, the 149 refugees suffered in the overheated, overcrowded cells. “We are so afraid, they want to force us back to Laos. We go hungry here in the Thai prison, have no clean water to drink and everybody is getting sicker and sicker," according to a message of one refugee which was smuggled out of the prison prior to the hunger strike. "We need food and urgent medical help.”
Segregated by gender, the 149 Hmong Lao asylum seekers are held in two overheated, overcrowded cells -- with the only light coming through a tiny, narrow window, sources told HNN.
Thailand has already attempted to forcibly deport this group back to Laos, which sparked an international outcry.
The U.S., the Netherlands, Canada and Australia have offered to resettle them -- a move which was halted by Thailand.
“Four resettlement countries have come forward and said they will accept all these people so there is no reason to keep them locked up for nine months when they can leave Thailand and go start their lives in other countries," said UNHCR spokesperson Kitty McKinsey.
Since 2004, increased military activities in Laos caused the most recent refugee wave of over 8,000 Hmong Lao, many of whom lived hiding in the mountains of Laos -- attacked by military forces with chemical poison, long-range weapons, missiles and rockets.
"These military zones are off-limits for diplomats, politicians or journalists, but over the years various international journalists made it into these areas, and brought shocking eyewitness accounts and evidence of these atrocities," Sommer told HNN. "But Laos denies the genocide against the Hmong Lao hiding in the jungles, despite the evidence."
The 149 detained refugees, and 8,000 Hmong Lao refugees in Thailand’s temporary refugee camp await their forced deportation back to Laos as announced by Thailand “in the next two months,” regardless how many bullet wounds they may carry.
“It is obvious that most of the refugees cannot be sent back- Thailand must stop creating this fear mongering of 'sending them all back' and should instead focus on an accountable mechanisms under which the situation of these refugees will be determined in accordance to international human rights standards,” Said Sommer. “ The global community wants to see such screening mechanisms conducted by Thailand in partnership with the UNHCR, to ensure that human rights standards are taken into account in these decisions.”
“500 of my people surrendered last year, wounded, starving, they decided to come out of the jungle and hope not to be killed,” said one of the detained 149 Hmong refugees. “But all my people disappeared, and go unaccounted for, and I believe that they got all killed. I fled with some of us to Thailand, because we Hmong from the jungle always get tortured and killed, I escaped this persecution to seek asylum. I want to see a tomorrow, I do not want to die.”
The refugees held in Nong Kai in prison cells for the past nine months could already be in their offered new homeland overseas, Sommer told HNN. After the hunger strike ended, thanks to intervention by diplomats and the UN system, the refugees were given sufficient food and two water purifiers were placed in their cells, but their fate remains unclear, she added.
2004/03/31: Visiting the Hmong, America's Forgotten Refugees
http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Asian/world_international/pns_visiti...
Visiting the Hmong, America's Forgotten Refugees
By Pha Lo, Pacific News Service
NAN PROVINCE, Thailand-March 31, 2004
Fifteen thousand Hmong may soon come to the U.S. from a refugee camp in Thailand, where they have lived suspended lives since fighting for the CIA in Laos during the Vietnam War. The writer, whose father fought in the secret war, visits a Hmong family in a small village in Thailand and asks why some Hmong who fought for America get to emigrate, and others do not.
Amnesty International: Hiding in the jungle - Hmong under threat (Mar 23, 2007)
Hiding in the jungle - Hmong under threat (Mar 23, 2007)
Amnesty International
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA260032007?open&of=ENG-LAO
Hmong to be sent back to Laos
Hmong to be sent back to Laos
Bangkok (dpa)
About 8,000 Hmong refugees living in Thailand are to be repatriated within 12 months to Laos, the two countries announced Thursday, despite warnings from human rights groups that the refugees faced persecution back home.
The deal meant that the refugees from the ethnic group that battled communist forces in Laos during the Vietnam War would be returned home, by force if necessary, the government-run Thai News Agency said.
The return of the Hmong - who currently live in a camp in Petchabun province, 290 kilometres north of Bangkok - would be conducted on "humanitarian principles," Thai Lieutenant General Niphat Thonglek said.
His Lao counterpart, General Bunakleang Champapan, said communist-ruled Laos accepted that monitors should ensure the Hmong were fairly treated on their return.
It was not clear, however, whether third-party monitors would be permitted. The two countries have balked in the past at involving other parties to their talks on the refugees, calling it a bilateral issue.
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights group, last month called it shocking that Thailand was even contemplating returning refugees "fleeing from political persecution, rights abuses and fighting."
It accused Thailand of showing "brazen contempt for the most basic principles of refugee law" and argued that the Hmong should be allowed to remain in Thailand until they are resettled in third countries.
The group said it has received reports of abuse and detention of repatriated individuals.
Thailand repatriated 31 Hmong to Laos in May and 163 more in June. Human rights organizations have complained that no outside monitors can find out what has happened to them since.
Bunakleang said he hoped the refugees at Petchabun would return voluntarily, but he added that if they would not, then "force may be necessary."
Officials from Thailand have argued that the Hmong refugees remain a source of bilateral friction and a burden on the host country while Lao authorities have long resisted taking in people they suspect are hostile to its rule.
Refugee experts said Thailand is concerned that the mere presence of the Hmong - even in a camp surrounded by barbed wire - is attracting an endless flow of people leaving Laos for the relative wealth of Thailand. Some of the refugees have been there for decades, but some are recent arrivals.
Thailand stopped the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from screening arrivals for political refugee status in May, allowing Thailand to tag all refugees as "illegal immigrants."
Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said in August that without firm action, the refugees would become a "never-ending problem."
The Petchabun camp is guarded by armed soldiers and served by one relief agency, Doctors Without Borders.
Human Rights Watch complained that although many of the camp's inhabitants are children, the Thai authorities have provided no schooling for them. It was also denied access to the camp in July.
Hmong: Concern over Refugees
Hmong: Concern over Refugees
2007-08-31
A number of organisations, including Amnesty International and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have drawn attention to the dire conditions in which Hmong refugees in Thailand are detained.
Below are extracts from an article published by Marwaan Macan-Markar for the Inter Press Service:
By going on a hunger strike, some 150 ethnic Hmong refugees in Thailand have turned the heat on Bangkok to respect their rights and treat them with compassion.
[…]
‘’They have been locked inside the prison cells since Jan. 30 without seeing the sun. They have been forced to drink dirty water from the bathroom for more than a month and the food is not fit for human consumption,’’ [a Hmong rights activist] added in describing the conditions under which the refugees, among them 80 children, have been kept in an immigration detention centre near the Thai-Laos border.
Bangkok’s treatment of these Hmong, who stopped taking food on Thursday [August 16 2007], has prompted criticism from the [office of the] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). All of the victims have been given refugee status by the U.N. agency and have been assured resettlement in a third country.
Similar concerns have been expressed over another group of nearly 8,000 Hmong refugees kept in a holding centre in Thailand’s north-central province of Petchabun. They have been denied contact with the U.N. refugee agency and are being targeted by Bangkok to be deported back to neighbouring Laos, where the Hmong are a persecuted minority.
‘’This group should also be screened according to international standards to see if they have legitimate reasons to claim refugee status,’’ Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman of the U.N. refugee agency’s Bangkok office, told IPS. ‘’The Thai military has been involved in their registration process. UNHCR has not been involved.’’
‘’We are concerned about them,’’ she added. ‘’They should not be sent back till all of them have been screened.’’
[…]
The pressure on the military-appointed government that runs Thailand is not only limited to the cries of the victims, nor that of humanitarian agencies. In March, the global rights body Amnesty International (AI) drew attention to the plight of the Hmong as refugees in Thailand and as an ethnic community under siege in Laos.
[…]
And the beginning of August saw 13 members of the U.S. Congress write a letter to Thailand’s revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, to help stop further deportation of the Hmong refugees back to the homes they fled in Laos.
The refugees would ‘’face horrific mass starvation and death by the Lao military regime if they return to their homeland,’’ the letter said, echoing sentiments that had been expressed in June by the U.S. State Department. On that occasion, Washington’s foreign affairs arm requested the Thai government ‘’not to deport vulnerable people seeking refugee status without first having a screening process that meets international standards.’’
[…]
The Laotian government has […] displayed […] a hostile approach when Hmong refugees have been deported back, including denying access to the U.N. refugee agency to monitor resettlement efforts. In some cases, the Hmong who were forced back to Laos have ‘’disappeared,’’ say journalists and photographers who have closely followed this story.
[…]
‘’The two countries will not allow the issue of Hmong illegal immigration to undermine our good relations since we have reached a conclusion that these people are not refugees and must be repatriated back to Laos,’’ Yong Chantalansy, Lao government spokesman, told the ‘Bangkok Post’ newspaper this week during a visit to Thailand.
In March, Bangkok and Vientiane signed a bilateral agreement to strengthen ties to find solutions to a range of cross-border issues, including the Hmong ‘’problem.’’ A meeting between the two governments to be held in September is expected to follow through on this agreement, with the fate of the Hmong scheduled for discussion.
Source
Inter Press Service
Human Rights Watch criticises Thai govt over Hmongs
Human Rights Watch criticises Thai govt over Hmongs
The Thai government should not forcibly repatriate thousands of Hmongs currently detained in Thailand to likely persecution in Laos, Human Rights Watch said Friday.
"It is shocking that Thailand is even considering the return of refugees fleeing from political persecution, rights abuses and fighting in Laos," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"The Thai government's threatened return of the Lao Hmong refugees shows a brazen contempt for the most basic principle of refugee law."
The Thai-Lao border committee will meet from September 2-4 to decide the fate of Hmong refugees at a camp in Petchabun province.
Human Rights Watch called for the Thai government to accept offers from other countries to resettle some Hmongs and to allow others to remain in Thailand until their cases can be resolved.
The New York-based organization is particularly concerned because of previous forced repatriations by the Thai government earlier this year. In addition, it was because of the statement on August 16 by the Lao Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy rejecting the idea of independent monitoring of repatriations to Laos, claiming it was a bilateral issue between Thailand and Laos
According to its press release, the organization has received credible reports of abuse and detention of individuals repatriated to Laos from Thailand in the past.
It criticized the Thai government of pressing the UNHCR to stop conducting refugee status determinations in Thailand in May.
"This has put thousands of Hmong asylum seekers in limbo and limited the protection provided by UNHCR. The suspension of refugee status determinations allows the Thai authorities to summarily classify Lao Hmong asylum seekers as illegal migrants," making them subject to arrest, detention and deportation."
Jailed Hmong refugees from Laos may not go on to third countries, says Thai official
Jailed Hmong refugees from Laos may not go on to third countries, says Thai official
2007-08-21 13:50:53 -
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thailand's government said Tuesday that it may not allow a group of ethnic Hmong asylum-seekers from Laos to go to third countries, despite their U.N.-certified status as refugees and offers of resettlement abroad.
Some 149 Hmong recently staged a hunger strike to protest the harsh conditions under which they are being held at the immigration detention center in Nong Khai, 500 kilometers (310 miles) northeast of Bangkok, where they have been held for nine months.
The Hmong say they fear political persecution in Laos. Many Hmong fought on the side of a pro-U.S. Laotian government in the 1960s and 1970s before the communist takeover of their country in 1975.
The 149 Hmong were on the verge of being repatriated to Laos in January when promises from Western countries to take them for resettlement halted the move.
«If they want to return home, we will facilitate it,» Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said at the time. «If they want to go to a third country that agrees to take them, we will let them go.
However, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said Tuesday that the government has not yet decided whether to allow them to go to a third country.
«There are many factors that we have to consider, be they pull factors, humanitarian concerns and relations with neighboring countries,» he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. «Pull factor» is a term describing circumstances that might attract people into leaving their own country, such as the prospect of resettlement in the West.
Tharit was speaking after fresh calls from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and others parties for the 149 to be freed.
«Thailand has shouldered the (refugee) burden for many decades and we can't only think about short-term solutions, and bow to pressure from foreign countries,» he said, adding that the 149 would not be forced back to Laos though it was still unclear what would be done with them.
Thailand asserts that the Hmong are not legitimate refugees, and have violated Thai law by entering the country illegally.
Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the Bangkok office of the U.H. High Commissioner for Refugees, earlier Tuesday strongly urge Thai authorities to release the refugees.
«They haven't committed any crime, they have places to go, and there's no reason to keep them in detention,» she said.
Attention was focused on the refugees last Thursday when they began a hunger strike, since ended. The group includes 90 children. Some babies were born in detention.
According to UNHCR and human rights advocates, the refugees are crammed into two windowless cells and are forbidden to go out. Their sole source of water comes from a bathroom.
Lao Hmong refugees to be repatriated (July 22, 2007)
Sunday July 22, 2007
http://www.bangkokpost.com/220707_News/22Jul2007_news08.php
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:dZNoHO5vVWEJ:www.bangkokpost.com/220...
Lao Hmong refugees to be repatriated
Army says they can no longer stay here
By Post reporters
All Hmong refugees currently living in a make-shift camp in Phetchabun will be deported to Laos as no countries have come forward to offer them resettlement, Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit said yesterday. Gen Boonsrang said some 7,700 Hmong living at the Ban Huay Nam Khao camp in Khao Kho district had little chance of being offered resettlement in a third country and therefore had no choice but to return to Laos.
''None of them are allowed to live in Thailand anymore and Laos is ready to take them back,'' he said.
Officials said it would take them two months to get the personal records in order for all the refugees after which they would be deported to Laos.
Gen Boonsrang dismissed fears from human rights groups that the Hmong will be mistreated by the Laotian authorities if they were to return to Laos.
Third Army commander Jiradet Khotcharat said the deportation of the Hmong was not a matter of concern because they had illegally entered Thailand and therefore had to be sent back.
Many of the Lao Hmong were allies of the US and fought against the communists during the Vietnam War. After the 1975 victory of the communist Pathet Lao, about 300,000 Hmong poured into Thailand, many later resettling in the US and elsewhere.
Lt-Gen Jiradet said the recent relocation of Lao-born Hmong at Ban Huay Nam Khao refugee camp to a new shelter, about two kilometres away, went well.
Security is been heightened at the new camp, and access to the refugees is being very tightly restricted.
The authorities want to ensure no new Hmong refugees sneak into the camp, he said.
A security source said an average of about 12 Hmong babies are born in the camp every month, leading to increasing overcrowding.
Laos, Thailand Crisis: US Congressional Forum To Discuss Lao, Hmong Refugee Plight
Laos, Thailand Crisis: US Congressional Forum To Discuss Lao, Hmong Refugee Plight
Release Date: 2007-08-29
Original Link: http://presszoom.com/story_140477.html
Source: Center for Public Policy Analysis
Laos, Thailand Crisis: US Congressional Forum To Discuss Emergency Plight of Lao and Hmong Refugees, Ethnic Cleansing and Increased Killings by Communist Lao Military Regime
(PressZoom.com) - A special session of the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos will be held in the U.S. Senate, ( Dirksen SOB, U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C. 20510) , from 9:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M. on Thursday, August 30, 2007 to discuss the plight of some 8,000 Lao-Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers facing possible forced repatriation from Ban Huay Nam Khao, and Nong Khai, Thailand back to the Communist regime in Laos that they fled.
Topics will also include discussion of a potential legislative action in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate aimed at punitive U.S. economic and trade sanctions against the Lao regime for its recent political and religious persecution, mass starvation and killing of thousands of innocent and unarmed Lao and Hmong dissidents and opposition group members as documented by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others.
“Clearly, the U.S. Congress—both House and Senate—are moving rapidly and will likely take further action to seek to address the emergency crisis facing the Lao-Hmong refugees and asylum seekers at Ban Huay Nam Khao, Nong Khai and elsewhere in Thailand and Laos,” stated Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C. “The ongoing persecution, mass starvation and killing of unarmed Lao and Hmong civilians and political and religious dissidents by the Lao regime as documented by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Crosswalk, and others has raised serious concerns and the U.S. Congress is likely to move to seek to address these horrific acts of ethnic cleansing, human rights violations and religious persecution,” he continued.
The Forum will also discuss pending new potential legislation in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate seeking to appeal directly to His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand, and General Surayud Chulanont, Prime Minister of Thailand, to intervene to help stop the forced or involuntary repatriation of these 8,000 Lao-Hmong refugees. The pending legislation and forthcoming follow-on U.S. Congressional letters will also likely appeal to, and urge, Thai Supreme Commander Boonsang Niempradit and Lt. Gen. Jiradej Kotcharat, Commander of the Thai Third Regional Army to work with the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and other humanitarian groups to seek to resettle the Lao- Hmong refugees in Australia and other third countries that have agreed to grant them asylum.
Following a recent hunger strike, on August 24, 2007, Amnesty International issued another human rights Urgent Action appeal regarding the dire plight of 149 Lao Hmong refugees detained at Nong Khai Immigration Center and some 8,000 Lao-Hmong refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao, Petchabun Province, Thailand.
Invited speakers and participants will include senior Members of Congress, U.S. Congressional staff, Administration officials, current and retired U.S. Department of Defense, State and Central Intelligence Agency officials, policymakers, non-governmental organizations and Lao and Hmong community leaders.
The event follows the recent release of a U.S. Congressional letter sent to His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, to appeal for his emergency humanitarian help to stop the forced or involuntary repatriation of the 8,000 Lao-Hmong refugees from Thailand to Laos. The August 2007 letter was signed by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) , Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and other Members of Congress. Copies of the U.S. Congressional letter, signed by thirteen Members of Congress, were sent directly by the U.S. Congress to His Excellency Krit Garnjana Goonchorn, Royal Thai Ambassador to the United States, in Washington, D.C. for transmission to His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand.
Invited participants/cosponsors include Members of Congress, the Center for Public Policy Analysis, Amnesty International, UNHCR, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc., Lao Veterans of America, Inc., Lao Human Rights Council, Inc., Lao Students Movement for Democracy and other organizations.
For Immediate Release:
Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007 (For Event on Thursday, August 30, 2007)
Contact: Ms. Anna Jones or Ms. Jade Lee
Tele. (202) 543-1444 Fax (202) 207-9871
Latest News out of Huay Nam Khao Refugee Camp 9/9/07
Hmong Crisis in Huay Nam Khao Refugee Camp
Refugees Resist Repatriation efforts
Thailand (FFC) Since August 25, 2007, the Thai military in Huay Nam Khao has continued to put pressure on the Hmong leaders at the Lao Hmong refugee camp in Huay Nam Khao. The camp is completely fenced with barbed wires and controlled by Thai soldiers. Thai authorities have taken the Hmong leaders one by one to the military headquarter in Huay Nam Khao and pressured them to cooperate to attend the closed door meetings between Thai and Lao officials in Phitsanulok. Six out of the seven Hmong refugee groups in the Huay Nam Khao refugee camp refused to attend, fearing for their life and being forcefully repatriated to the very government they had escaped from. The Thai-Lao border committee held the meetings in Phitsanulok from September 2nd to the 4th. At the meetings, Lao officials handed a propaganda video to their Thai counterparts showing the “wonderful” preparation Laos has done to receive the Hmong. This propaganda video was given to Thai military officials at Huay Nam Khao.
To date, Thai military commanders continue to pressure the estimated 8,000 Hmong refugees in Huay Nam Khao.. From August 25th to September 5th, Thai military have continuously taken the Hmong leaders one by one out to their headquarters, threatening and pressuring them to sign documents of willingness to return to Laos. The refugees in the camp have grown frustrated and angry, and distrust the Thai authorities who have been harsh and pressuring the Hmong refugee leaders. At 12:23 p.m. local time on Thursday, September 6, 2007, Thai authorities took four Hmong leaders out to their headquarter and pressured these leaders to go meet with Lao officials in Phitsanulok.
On Friday, September 7, 2007, Thai authorities started to force the Lao Hmong refugees group by group to watch the Lao PDR’s propaganda video. Thai authorities demanded Group A to go to the military headquarter and watch the video. Thai authorities’ plan was to make the group watch the video and sign a document declaring their willingness to return to Laos. The group refused to see the video and did not sign the document given by Thai authorities. In the morning of September 8, 2007, Thai authorities continued the tactic and rounded up Group B to go watch the video. Group B refused; therefore, under the standing commander of Colonel Manalin, Colonel Somchai, Colonel Bolouan, and Kha Khao police commander, the men led one hundred (100) soldiers into the Lao Hmong refugee camp and arrested seventy-one (71) families (334 people altogether), and they are being forced to repatriate to Laos. Therefore, the refugees gathered up about 4,000 people to form a fence perimeter to prevent the Thai army from taking the 71 families from the fenced Huay Nam Khao area. Being outnumbered, the Thai military withdrew and left the refugees alone..
As of this date (September 9, 2007), the refugee leaders have shared their deep concern about the safety and future for their family members. They do not know what the Thai military will do next but await to response to any actions the Thai military might take to force them to their death, knowing they are at high risk to face persecution upon returning to communist Laos.
MSF Calls on Thailand to Halt Forcible Return of Hmong Refugees to Laos
October 31, 2007
MSF Calls on Thailand to Halt Forcible Return of Hmong Refugees to Laos
Urges Thai Authorities to Take Steps to Guarantee Refugees' Rights
Bangkok/Paris, October 31, 2007 - The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today called on the Thai government to halt all forced repatriation proceedings against the 7,500 ethnic Hmong refugees from Laos who are currently confined to a camp in northern Thailand's Petchabun province. The refugees, who claim to have fled violence and persecution in Laos, are deeply fearful of being returned to their country.
As the only international organization working inside the camp, MSF urges the Thai government to carry out a proper objective screening process controlled by an independent, legitimate third party, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This third party would assess the legitimacy of their fears, verify their claims to refugee status and protection, and assure that any repatriation to Laos is voluntary.
"The Hmong refugees we have been caring for in the Huai Nam Khao camp since 2005 constantly tell us how afraid they are of being sent back to Laos," said Gilles Isard, MSF head of mission in Thailand. "Yet every day, they are threatened with an imminent return to Laos—from where many claim to have fled persecution and violence—with no credible guarantees for their safety upon return. This not only violates international standards on repatriation of refugees, but shows a basic disrespect for the dignity and safety of people who are living in fear."
In May 2007, the Thai and Lao governments signed the Lao-Thai Committee on Border Security agreement, which allows Thailand to send back Lao Hmong asylum seekers upon arrival. In September, the Thai and Lao authorities announced their intention to forcibly repatriate the Hmong refugees before the end of 2008 without any independent screening process. According to international standards, repatriation cannot be forced or imposed on individuals fearing for their lives or safety. Furthermore, any repatriation process must remain linked to international guarantees for safety upon return. Neither of these conditions has been guaranteed for the refugee population in Huai Nam Khao camp.
In the medical consultations conducted by the MSF team, the main need voiced by the Hmong refugees is that of protection. Our patients say they are extremely afraid about the prospect of a forced return to Laos. For some of them, this situation produces intense stress and psychological suffering. Though our team provides psychological support for this population, it cannot respond to the real need the people are voicing; the need to be protected from a forced return. This is why MSF is calling upon Thai authorities to accept the presence of another organization, such as UNHCR, which can better judge and assess the demands made by the Hmong refugees confined to Huai Nam Khao camp and ensure that their rights are protected.
Since July 2005, MSF has assisted the Hmong refugees in the Thai village of Huai Nam Khao in Petchabun province. MSF teams provide medical and relief assistance to the 7,500 refugees, including health care, psychosocial care, food, relief supplies, water, and sanitation. Another MSF team working in Maesot, on the border with Myanmar, treats tuberculosis in an average of 600 Burmese migrant workers and refugees each year. Additionally, MSF teams are treating people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand.
Refugee Council USA article collections
Please go to http://www.rcusa.org/index.php?page=news-articles, to read on different articles concerning the Patriot Acts, Real ID acts and Material supports which prevents refugees getting asylum.
Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) is a coalition of U.S. non-governmental organizations focused on refugee protection. Tp read more about this organization go to http://www.rcusa.org/index.php?page=about-us.
Society for Threatened Peoples International: Letter to Thai Prime Minister; Aug.7, 2007
Thailand's policy on Hmong deportations to Laos
This letter was recently written to the Thailand Prime Minister from (STP) International in concern for the 8000 Laotion Hmong refugees in Thailand.
Full name, title and address of the Thailand Prime Minister is:
Prime Minister
General Surayud Chulanont
Office of the Prime Minister
Government House, Phitsanulok Road
Dusit, Bangkok 10300 Thailand
I urge everyone to write letters concerning the Laotian Hmong to the Prime Minister above. Below is the letter from Society of Threatened Peoples International (STP) from most recently August 7, 2007.
Thailand's Humanitarian Refugee Policies
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118349191319056911.html
Thailand's Humanitarian Refugee Policies
July 4, 2007
We disagree with your characterization of Thailand's policy toward Hmong refugees in the recent editorial, "Thailand and the Hmongs" (Review & Outlook, June 18). During the second Indochina War, more than a million displaced people from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam sought sanctuary in Thailand -- a country with an area about the size of Texas. More than 100,000 displaced people from Myanmar also sought shelter in Thailand for more than a decade. No one, therefore, has the right to accuse Thailand of lacking humanitarianism.
In the case of Laotian Hmongs, the war in Laos -- part of the second Indochina War -- ceased more than three decades ago. Between 2003 and 2004, the U.S. government accepted about 10,000 Laotian Hmongs who had been living in Thailand illegally for decades to the U.S. The U.S. government subsequently declined to accept any more Laotian Hmongs.
However, many Laotian Hmongs continue to enter Thailand illegally, hoping to join their relatives abroad and to be eventually accepted by the U.S. for resettlement. At present, more than 7,000 Laotian Hmongs have crossed illegally into Thailand in the same manner as people have crossed the U.S.-Mexican border illegally.
The Laotian Hmongs who illegally enter into Thailand are subject to the Thai Immigration Act of B.E. 2522 of 1979, without prejudice. The Thai government must implement this law to secure our borders, just like any other government might do. We are now in the process of setting up a screening process for the Laotian Hmongs in Baan Huay Nam Khao.
The Laotian government has reassured Thailand that it is trying to create an environment conducive to the successful reintegration of Laotian Hmongs, and will provide land and housing for those who sold all their property before illegally entering into Thailand. Once the reintegration process is completed, we have been assured that the Laotian government will allow representatives of the Thai government to visit the said reintegrated Laotian Hmongs.
As with most countries that provide shelters for immigrants, Thailand shoulders both the social and security burdens presented by illegal immigration. The Thai government has tried to strike a balance between responding to security sensitivities within and around the country and addressing the needs of different immigrant groups. We take into consideration each group's sensitivities and address their situation based on internationally accepted humanitarian principles.
Pornpong Kanittanon
Director, Press Division
Department of Information
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Bangkok, Thailand
Thailand: All Hmong must go
Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.net/topstories/topstories.php?id=120370
All Hmong must go
By Post reporters
The 7,700 Hmong refugees currently living in a make-shift camp in Phetchabun will be deported to Laos as no countries have come forward to offer them resettlement.
Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit said on Saturday the Hmong living at the Ban Huay Nam Khao camp in Khao Kho district had little chance of being offered resettlement in a third country and therefore had no choice but to return to Laos.
"None of them are allowed to live in Thailand anymore and Laos is ready to take them back," he said.
Officials said it would take them two months to get the personal records in order for all the refugees after which they would be deported to Laos.
Gen Boonsrang dismissed fears from human rights groups that the Hmong will be mistreated by the Laotian authorities if they were to return to Laos.
Third Army commander Jiradet Khotcharat said the deportation of the Hmong was not a matter of concern because they had illegally entered Thailand and therefore had to be sent back.
Many of the Lao Hmong were allies of the US and fought against the communists during the Vietnam War. After the 1975 victory of the communist Pathet Lao, about 300,000 Hmong poured into Thailand, many later resettling in the US and elsewhere.
Lt-Gen Jiradet said the recent relocation of Lao-born Hmong at Ban Huay Nam Khao refugee camp to a new shelter, about two kilometres away, went well.
Security is been heightened at the new camp, and access to the refugees is being very tightly restricted.
The authorities want to ensure no new Hmong refugees sneak into the camp, he said.
A security source said an average of about 12 Hmong babies are born in the camp every month, leading to increasing overcrowding
Thailand: Forcible returns of Lao Hmong must end
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGASA390092007
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: ASA 39/009/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 121
26 June 2007
Thailand: Forcible returns of Lao Hmong must end
Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the unlawful and forcible return from Thailand to Laos of 163 Lao Hmong individuals, who had not been able to claim asylum, on Saturday 9 June 2007. The organization calls on the Thai authorities to immediately halt any returns of asylum seekers who have not yet had access to a fair and satisfactory asylum determination procedure. Amnesty International is particularly concerned that those returned are at risk of torture, arbitrary and indefinite detention and other serious human rights violations in Laos. This serious gap in protection must come to an end.
The group of 163 were reportedly transported in four police trucks at around 6 am across the river Mekong over the Friendship Bridge linking the Thai border town of Nong Khai and the Lao capital Vientiane. The evening before, they had been picked up at police detention facilities in the towns of Khao Kho, Lomsak, Na Chaliang and Tha Phon in the northern Thai province of Phetchabun, where they had been held for varying periods of time.
Official Lao media reported that the group of 163, who were referred to as "victims of human trafficking", had been handed over to Lao authorities in accordance with a bilateral agreement signed on 18 May 2007. Their current whereabouts are not known.
Some of those forcibly returned were recent arrivals from Laos, including a group of 48 people, 30 of whom were children. This group was arrested in a makeshift refugee camp of Huay Nam Khao on 31 May 2007 just after their arrival at the camp. Until they were returned they had been held in police detention in Lomsak, where they had reportedly been forced to sign a document accepting the deportation.
Amnesty International is seriously concerned that this forcible return took place in breach of international human rights law and standards. The organisation believes that individuals among the 163 are at risk of grave human rights violations, including torture and arbitrary and indefinite detention. These concerns are further aggravated by the lack of access to Laos for international human rights monitoring bodies, including NGOs, to monitor the well-being of returnees.
The forcible return on 9 June also highlighted the serious situation of insecurity and uncertain future facing up to 8,000 Lao Hmong at Huay Nam Khao in Thailand, all of whom are at risk of forcible return. UNHCR has not been allowed access to this group to determine their protection needs. The Thai authorities have not introduced any fair and satisfactory procedure to enable individuals to claim asylum. Amnesty International is extremely concerned at the precarious situation in which these asylum seekers find themselves.
Thailand's humanitarian role in providing temporary protection to hundreds of thousands of people who have fled persecution and conflict in neighbouring countries is widely recognized. The recent forcible return, which is the second in less than a month, underscores Amnesty International's growing concerns that the Thai government may be changing its policies towards people who enter Thailand to seek asylum and protection from human rights violations.
The organisation calls on the Thai government to uphold its obligations under international law and halt any plans for the return of any Lao Hmong asylum seekers until a fair and satisfactory procedure has been put in place in order to allow these individuals to exercise their human right to seek and enjoy asylum. In line with international law and standards, those who are granted refugee status must also be provided with protection inside Thailand or allowed to resettle in third countries. Amnesty International reminds Thailand of its obligation under international law not to return any person, regardless of their status, to a situation in which they would face torture or other serious human rights violations.
Background
Under international law states are under an obligation not to forcibly return any person in any manner whatsoever to a country where they risk torture or other serious human rights violations (the principle of non-refoulement). This principle, which is provided for in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and several other international instruments, is widely regarded as a rule of customary international law and is therefore binding on all states, including Thailand, regardless of its treaty obligations. Furthermore, in line with Thailand's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a state party, Thai authorities may not return anyone to a country where they would be subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. See Human Rights Committee, General Comment 20, Article 7 (Forty-fourth session, 1992), UN Doc. HRI\GEN\1\Rev.1 at 30 (1994), para. 9 which states that "In the view of the Committee, States parties must not expose individuals to the danger of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment upon return to another country by way of their extradition, expulsion or refoulement."
The total number of Lao Hmong seeking asylum in Thailand is unclear. Some 8,000 asylum seekers who have fled Laos live in the informal refugee settlement in Huay Nam Khao in Phetchabun province. Much smaller numbers live in other places across the country, notably in the border areas and the greater Bangkok region.
Thailand: Protect Hmong Refugees
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Thailand: Protect Hmong Refugees
More Than 8,000 Lao Hmong at Risk of Forced Repatriation
(New York, August 30, 2007) – The Thai government should not forcibly repatriate thousands of Lao Hmong refugees currently detained in Thailand to likely persecution in Laos, Human Rights Watch said today. The Thai-Lao border committee will meet from September 2-4 to decide the fate of Hmong refugees at a camp in Petchabun province.
“It is shocking that Thailand is even considering the return of refugees fleeing from political persecution, rights abuses and fighting in Laos,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Thai government’s threatened return of the Lao Hmong refugees shows a brazen contempt for the most basic principle of refugee law.”
The Thai government should accept offers from other countries to resettle some Hmong refugees and to allow other refugees to remain in Thailand until their cases can be resolved. Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned because of previous forced repatriations by the Thai government earlier this year, and because of the statement on August 16 by the Lao Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy rejecting the idea of independent monitoring of repatriations to Laos, claiming it was a bilateral issue between Thailand and Laos. Human Rights Watch has received credible reports of abuse and detention of individuals repatriated to Laos from Thailand in the past.
Thailand has a long history of providing sanctuary for Hmong refugees fleeing political persecution. But in May of this year, the government pressured the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to stop conducting refugee status determinations in Thailand. This has put thousands of Hmong asylum seekers in limbo and limited the protection provided by UNHCR. The suspension of refugee status determinations allows the Thai authorities to summarily classify Lao Hmong asylum seekers as “illegal migrants,” making them subject to arrest, detention and deportation.
In May, senior military officers from Thailand and Laos signed the Lao-Thai Committee on Border Security agreement, allowing Thailand to send Lao Hmong asylum seekers back upon arrival. In late May, Thailand repatriated 31 Hmong to Laos. On June 9, 163 Hmong asylum seekers were rounded up and forcibly driven back over the border. No international human rights organizations have access to them.
In early August, Thai Prime Minister Gen. Surayud Chulanont made his government’s position clear when he stated that Lao Hmong asylum seekers could become a “never-ending problem.” On August 6 he said, “If we don’t deal with this problem, we will have to be home to more illegal immigrants. It is a burden in every way for us.”
The majority of Lao Hmong asylum seekers – about 8,000 – have been held since late June in an enclosed camp in Petchabun province surrounded by barbed wire and armed soldiers. At present, outside access is limited to one relief agency, Medicins San Frontieres, which is currently supplying food, water, sanitation, and medical services to the refugees. Residents of the camp have no freedom of movement and must carry identity cards everywhere. They have little to do and very few ways to make a living. The number of children in the camp is rising rapidly; by some estimates children under the age of five make up 25 percent of the total camp population. Despite the prevalence of children, the camp authorities provide them with no educational facilities, and because they cannot leave they have no access to schools in the surrounding villages. Thai authorities are not allowing foreign embassies to interview Hmong refugees in the camp for resettlement. In July, Human Rights Watch attempted to enter this camp and speak with refugees, but was denied access by camp officials.
Hmong are targeted by the Lao authorities because of a decades-long Hmong insurgency. The Lao authorities and security forces have been responsible for torture, arbitrary detentions, sexual violence and extrajudicial killings of ethnic Lao Hmong suspected of involvement in insurgency or other anti-government activities.
In returning refugees to Laos earlier this year and considering the return of more now, Thailand is ignoring one of the most basic principles of international law – the principle of non-refoulement. Non-refoulement means that governments must not send people fleeing persecution back to countries where their lives or liberty would be threatened. While Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, under customary international law the Thai government has an obligation of non-refoulement.
“We urge Prime Minister Surayud to rethink his position,” said Adams. “He risks sullying his reputation and damaging his relationships with the international community to appease a government in Laos that routinely mistreats its own citizens.”
Human Rights Watch also expressed grave concern about a group of 149 UNHCR-recognized Lao Hmong refugees, including 77 children and nine infants, currently detained in the Immigration Detention Center in Nong Khai province. In January, a deportation attempt was aborted after male refugees locked themselves inside a building and threatened to commit suicide. UNHCR and many embassies intervened, convincing the government to back down.
However, the Thai authorities retaliated by making conditions in the detention facility intolerable. Refugees have been crammed into two small cells without natural light. They are held under near-constant lockdown, and told by the Thai authorities they will never be released. Parents have been separated from children. For a period of time, the Thai authorities confiscated all their clothing, mosquito nets and blankets. Refugees are not even allowed to wash their clothes inside their cells. The only source of drinking water is from their bath trough. With no means to boil water, many of the refugees, including young children, have become very sick. On August 16, a group of refugees staged a hunger strike to protest their detention and their conditions.
The United States, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands have offered resettlement places to the 149 Lao Hmong refugees in Nong Khai. But the Thai authorities have refused to allow them to leave.
“The 149 Hmong refugees are apparently victims of Thailand’s policy to use their suffering to discourage more asylum seekers from Laos,” said Adams. “This policy is legally and morally indefensible.”
Related Material
Thailand: Stop Deportation of Hmong Refugees to Laos
Press Release, December 12, 2006
More on human rights in Thailand
Country Page
Documents on Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and Asylum Seekers in Asia
Thematic Page
From: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/30/thaila16778.htm
© Copyright 2003, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA
Thousands of Hmong in Thailand to be screened for repatriation to Laos
Thousands of Hmong in Thailand to be screened for repatriation to Laos
The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
BANGKOK, Thailand: Thai officials plan to screen thousands of ethnic Hmong in northern Thailand to determine which should be repatriated to Laos, Thai and Lao authorities said Tuesday.
Thai military officials who control an informal refugee settlement in the northern province of Phetchabun, located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Laos border, will screen the camp's nearly 8,000 Hmong to decide which should be deported, said Lt. Gen. Nipat Thonglek.
"These people are illegal immigrants and so they have to be deported to Laos," Nipat said.
The Hmong say they will be persecuted if they return to Laos. Many of them fought on the side of a pro-U.S. Laotian government in the 1960s and 1970s before the communist takeover of their country in 1975.
More than 300,000 Laotians, mostly Hmong, fled to Thailand after the takeover. Most were resettled in third countries, particularly the United States, though several thousand were voluntarily repatriated. Several thousand continue to hide out in the jungles of Laos, where they are hunted down by the military.
Thailand, however, claims that many of the 8,000 Hmong are not legitimate refugees, and have violated Thai law by entering the country illegally.
It says those who have entered the country since 2004 will be sent back. Those who arrived prior to that will either be allowed to stay in Thailand or sent to a third country.
Both Thai and Lao officials have rejected any international oversight in the screening process.
"Thailand and Laos have agreed that this is a bilateral issue and we can do it well and transparently," Gen. Nipat said. "We don't need any other agencies to be involved in the process."
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has repeatedly requested to take part in the screening process to verify if the Hmong's fears of persecution are genuine.
"For the credibility of the process, it might be useful to have some outside agencies involved," said Kitty McKinsey, spokeswoman for the U.N. agency.
Yong Chanthalansy, a Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman, dismissed concerns that the Hmong have anything to fear by returning home. To make his point, he said the government would be providing land for up to 500 Hmong who are homeless.
"The Hmong are just making it up to put the government in a bad light so that they could find justification to go to a third country," Yong said.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman declined to comment on reports of the screening program, but acknowledged there were a number of projects aimed at repatriating or resettling ethnic Hmongs living in Thailand.
"We support the process of reconciliation and support the process of people being able to either ultimately return home or find a place to settle elsewhere," said spokesman Tom Casey.
USA Today: Thailand deports 163 Hmong back to Laos (June 9, 2007)
USA Today: Thailand deports 163 Hmong back to Laos (June 9, 2007)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-06-09-thai-hmong_N.htm
Who is to blame? USA.
Anti-terrorist legislation passed after 9-11, such as the Patriot Act and Real ID Act, has had the unintended side-effect of classifying the Hmong, and similar groups such as the Degar, as terrorists, making them ineligible for immigration to the USA. America, these are your old allies -- they had lived relatively peacefully before the Vietnam War and while the USA has done the right thing and brought many of the asylum-seekers to the USA before 9-11, America shouldn't abandon them now.
Indeed, instead of demanding that Laos respect the inalienable human rights of the Hmong, George W. Bush normalized trade with Laos in 2004. American taxpayer money also goes to Laos via development programs. America must set conditions on its economic aid in other nations.
Furthermore, American businesses must have moral standards and invest only in nations which meet them, for the dogma of true lassez-faire capitalism has been refuted; material comforts cannot come at the expense of our dignity, humanity, or environment. The "green money" movement is an example of this, in which American investors and consumers refuse to allow their money go to companies which engage in unacceptable practices. Consumers of developed nations, which live in comfort, have the means and obligation to find out which companies engage in fair and responsible practices and buy only from reputable companies, and to support legislation which requires companies to operate within our moral guidelines. Thankfully, a growing portion of the population would rather pay a few extra bucks for goods which allow them a clear conscience.
Americans need to write to their political representatives and let them know that it is unacceptable for the USA to turn its back on their proven allies, to bring those truly in need to America, and for the United States to use its influence to encourage Laos to allow the Hmong in the jungles to come out of hiding and to live peacefully in Laos. Without American and other third-party observers in Laos to observe a mass surrender, Laos may continue its campaign of revenge while spewing empty promises of peace. America needs to get Laos to agree to a Hmong amnesty plan and send officials there to demand Laos carry-through and does not kill the Hmong who try to come out of the jungles. Moreover, there needs to be severe consequences if Laos again acts in such a dishonorable fashion -- consequences America and other involved nations are prepared to exact, such as severe economic sanctions.
AJR 36
John Lo and Myself (Moua Lo) of Hmong-Asylum.org were pleased to meet California Assemblymember Dave Jones during the drafting stage of Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR) 36, which passed on August 20th, 2007 (the first Assembly session after the recess)!
Assemblymember Dave Jones has created alongside the Hmong community leaders a joint resolution bill to call upon the President and the Congress to take specified measures to defend and protect the human rights of the Hmong population in Laos and Thailand.
We encourage all you that visit this website and friends to advocate on behalf of the resolution by contacting your local state representatives and urging them to support AJR 36! To find out who represents you in the state legislature, you can go to the California State Assembly website (www.assembly.ca.gov) and click on "Find My District".
If you live in Assemblymember Dave Jones' district, this is not necessary, but you can urge State Senator Darrell Steinberg to become a supporter!
Dave Jones has also invited all 140 members of the State Legislature to join them by co-authoring this resolution. They will provide an update on our co-authors at the meeting on August 31st, which we will update you on.
Please visit the Official California Legislative Information website http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ajr_36&sess=CUR&...
to get updates on the resolution's status, history, text, analyses, and votes.
You can download the PDF of the Assembly Joint Resolution here:
AJR 36
Introduced by Assembly Member Jones
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Jones AUGUST 20, 2007 Relative to reported human rights abuses of the Hmong in Laos and Thailand. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 36, as introduced, Jones. Human rights: Hmong population in Laos and Thailand. This measure would call upon the President and the Congress to take specified measures to defend and protect the human rights of the Hmong population in Laos and Thailand. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, Beginning in 1960, Hmong from Laos were recruited by the United States to fight the Lao communist faction, the Pathet Lao, during the Vietnam War, and approximately 40,000 Hmong served as allies to the United States in the war in Laos; and WHEREAS, On December 2, 1975, the Pathet Lao gained control of the Kingdom of Laos and proclaimed the Lao People's Democratic Republic, causing one-third of the Hmong population to leave the country in fear of retribution by the new government; and WHEREAS, Immediately following the events of December 1975, thousands of Hmong fled into isolated, remote jungles to avoid persecution and potential placement in punishment camps; and WHEREAS, There are numerous substantiated reports by the United States Department of State and by various human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, asserting serious and repeated human rights violations in Laos against members of the Hmong minority, including arbitrary arrests and detainments, abuse, torture, rape, summary executions, and killings; and WHEREAS, Today, thousands of Hmong, including those who fought in the war and their descendants, continue to live in hiding in the jungles of Laos under disastrous circumstances, facing frequent military attacks, starvation, and disease, as cited by a 2007 Amnesty International report and as reported to the United Nations Human Rights Council in March of 2007; and WHEREAS, Repeated offers to provide humanitarian assistance to those Hmong who have taken refuge in the jungles are continually disregarded by the government of Laos, according to a 2007 Amnesty International report; and WHEREAS, The government of Laos continues to deflect criticism of its human rights record and to dismiss these reports as a political strategy to discredit the country's image, as stated during sessions
August 20, 2007
Relative to reported human rights abuses of the Hmong in Laos and Thailand.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 36, as introduced, Jones. Human rights: Hmong population in Laos and Thailand.
This measure would call upon the President and the Congress to take specified measures to defend and protect the human rights of the Hmong population in Laos and Thailand.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, Beginning in 1960, Hmong from Laos were recruited by the United States to fight the Lao communist faction, the Pathet Lao, during the Vietnam War, and approximately 40,000 Hmong served as allies to the United States in the war in Laos; and
WHEREAS, On December 2, 1975, the Pathet Lao gained control of the Kingdom of Laos and proclaimed the Lao People's Democratic Republic, causing one-third of the Hmong population to leave the country in fear of retribution by the new government; and
WHEREAS, Immediately following the events of December 1975, thousands of Hmong fled into isolated, remote jungles to avoid persecution and potential placement in punishment camps; and
WHEREAS, There are numerous substantiated reports by the United States Department of State and by various human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, asserting serious and repeated human rights violations in Laos against members of the Hmong minority, including arbitrary arrests and detainments, abuse, torture, rape, summary executions, and killings; and
WHEREAS, Today, thousands of Hmong, including those who fought in the war and their descendants, continue to live in hiding in the jungles of Laos under disastrous circumstances, facing frequent military attacks, starvation, and disease, as cited by a 2007 Amnesty International report and as reported to the United Nations Human Rights Council in March of 2007; and
WHEREAS, Repeated offers to provide humanitarian assistance to those Hmong who have taken refuge in the jungles are continually disregarded by the government of Laos, according to a 2007 Amnesty International report; and
WHEREAS, The government of Laos continues to deflect criticism of its human rights record and to dismiss these reports as a political strategy to discredit the country's image, as stated during sessions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in January 2004 and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in May 2006; and
WHEREAS, Approximately 7,500 Hmong who have fled Laos are now seeking asylum in Thailand despite that government's efforts to withhold refugee status determination, according to the 2006 United States Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Thailand; and
WHEREAS, Hmong refugees in Thailand live in fear of forced deportation back to Laos, despite the risk of serious human rights violations; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature calls on the Congress and the President of the United States to do all of the following:
(a) Take appropriate measures to ensure that Laos fulfills its obligation to respect human rights and to investigate allegations of human rights violations.
(b) Encourage the government of Laos to allow the United Nations to provide humanitarian aid, particularly with regard to food and access to medical care, to the members of the Hmong population who have taken refuge in the jungle.
(c) Strongly encourage the government of Laos to establish a standard, transparent, and internationally recognized process, monitored by an independent third-party, to foster trust in those Hmong who wish to surrender and to resettle in mainstream Lao society.
(d) Hold the United States Department of State accountable for addressing the human rights violations in Laos.
(e) Take steps to ensure that Hmong asylum seekers in Thailand are provided access to a fair determination process by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or other international bodies.
(f) Strongly encourage the Thai government to stop the forced deportation of Hmong back to Laos, while also ensuring regular access to Laos for third-party, international monitoring of those Hmong who have been or may be repatriated; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.
Urgent!!! Material Support Letter!
Please take time to read over this email below and what you can do to help. This really only takes about 10 minutes the most if you want to include your own personal touch to it. Please download the attachment below.
I have already taken time to actually find our senators addresses:
Boxer, Barbara- (D - CA) Class III
112 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-3553 Web Form: boxer.senate.gov/contact
Feinstein, Dianne- (D - CA) Class I
331 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-3841 Web Form: feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactU...
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Forwarded email from Zang Fang from SEARAC:
SEARAC and numerous advocates in DC and around the country continue to
seek a legislative solution to the material support provisions that are
impacting many of our communities. As you may know, thousands of
persecuted refugees in need of protection and resettlement, and
thousands more in the U.S. seeking permanent residency are being denied
due to the unintended consequences of the overly-broad application of
the "material support to terrorist organizations" bar to admissions
contained in the Patriot Act and the REAL ID Act. Many community members
have contacted us asking what they can do to help resolve the issue.
This fall, when congress returns from their August recess, the Senate is
expected to debate and vote on the Foreign Operations Appropriations
bill which contains language that will help address the material support
issue for refugees and asylum seekers, including the Hmong and
Montagnard (the full text of the senate bill can be found at:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp110:FLD010:@1(sr128) ). We
encourage community members to urge their senators to support the
material support language contained in this legislation.
Attached is a *sample letter* that community members may use to send
(fax and email are fastest because it takes about two weeks for mail to
be screened and make it's way) to their senate offices. Please feel free
to add additional information and/or personal stories to your individual
letters. Senate office address, faxes and emails can be found at
www.senate.gov
*In addition, we ask that community members CC us or email us at
helly@searac.org to let us know if you've sent a letter and to what
office so that we can keep a count of the number of letters sent. *
Please feel free to contact Helly at SEARAC if you have additional
questions at 202-667-4690 or helly@searac.org
Please forward to all your colleagues and friends.
Feds Ease Terror Law Limiting Hmong Migration, Residency
FEDS EASE TERROR LAW LIMITING HMONG MIGRATION, RESIDENCY
Publication: Associated Press
Author: FREDERIC J. FROMMER
October 27th, 2007 - The Bush administration has decided to grant a waiver for Hmong who provided "material support" to organizations deemed to be terroristic, easing the plight of some Hmong ensnared by federal immigration law.
This week, the departments of State and Homeland Security announced that the law's provisions will not apply to material support provided to certain Hmong individuals and Hmong groups prior to Dec. 31, 2004.
"This will allow Hmong refugees from Laos who are already resettled in the United States to adjust status and become legal permanent residents," the State Department said in a news release this week. "This exemption will also benefit certain individuals outside the United States who would otherwise be inadmissible for having provided material support to Hmong individuals or groups."
The change does not, however, help Hmong who took up arms. Under provisions of the USA Patriot Act and the Real ID Act, the Hmong who fought alongside Americans in the "secret war" against communists in the 1960s and 1970s in Laos are considered terrorists - disqualifying them from asylum or green cards.
Last month, the Senate passed an amendment by Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., that says the Hmong and other groups that had been ensnared by the anti-terrorism laws are not to be considered terrorists. The amendment was part of a larger bill funding foreign aid and U.S. diplomacy, which faces a veto threat over issues unrelated to the Hmong provision.
"While I am pleased with the State Department's decision to exempt certain Hmong from the terrorist classification, a legislative change is still needed to cover those who took up arms and aided our service members," Coleman said in a statement Friday.
"To that end, I worked with my Senate colleagues to include a provision in the foreign operations appropriations bill which will correct this injustice. I am optimistic that this provision will ultimately become the law of the land."
The Hmong began arriving in large numbers during the 1970s, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and there were about 170,000 in the U.S. as of the 2000 census, with most settled in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin. A later wave of about 15,000 settled in this country in 2005.
"Finally, the U.S. State Department and Bush administration are beginning to move in the right direction on this issue, but only after the Lao-Hmong community and the U.S. Congress have pressed them and protested this terrible injustice," said Philip Smith, Washington director of Lao Veterans of America, a Hmong advocacy group.
Hmong leaders arrested in the USA
One hand of the American government waved away the pleas of Hmong leaders in the US and the other hand struck them down.
In June 2007, Harris Jack Ulrich, General Vang Pao, and a flurry of other defendants, from leading community elders to a paid scribe, were charged by the US government with conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act plus charges related to the alleged intent to purchase assorted arms, from AK-47s to Stinger missiles. The defendants argue they had approached government channels available to them to ask for aid of the hunted Hmong in Laos and that the idea of a democratic coup of communist Laos ("Operation Popcorn") was not their idea and that they never seriously even considered it; it was simply entrapment.
Truly, the overwhelming Hmong majority wants no part in aggressions against Laos, only for this three-decades old catastrophe to end. The general sentiment is, "we'd live in peace with them, if only they'd stop killing us."
Several of the defendants were prominent Hmong-American community leaders with established histories of peacefully lobbying for the Hmong left behind in Laos. Since they are unable to continue this work due to the trial, record numbers of American-born Hmong are asking what they can do to help and are getting involved in the human rights advocacy for their kinsmen.
"The General is the only one who can help those Hmong people." True or not?
An elder Hmong man said to a young Hmong activist, "Do you kids really think you can do anything? The General is the only one who can help those Hmong people!"
What's he thinking?
Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Capital Public Radio (CPR): Hmong in America / "Gilgamesh", August 02, 2007
Capital Public Radio (CPR)
KXJZ: Weekdays 2:00p - 3:00p on KXJZ
Hmong in America / "Gilgamesh"
http://www.capradio.org/programs/insight/default.aspx?showid=3555
(Approximately 20 min.) This radio show shares two stories, the first looks into the recent arrests of the Hmong. Local Hmong community also speaks out about how the feels about the case. The show also explains into the history of the Hmong in Laos and why they came to the US.
The world premiere of the play "Gilgamesh," is part of the second segment.
Guests
* Denny Walsh
Sacramento Bee reporter at U.S. Court House
* Stephen Magagnini
Sacramento Bee staff writer
* Roger Warner
Documentary filmmaker
* Vaming Xiong
Sacramento Lao Family Community/Rally Committee Spokesperson
* Cathy Thao
Founder, Hmong Big Sib Little Sib Program
* Pang Kao Vang
Hmong soldier in the U.S. Secret War in Laos
* Neng Vang
Sacramento Hmong community activist
* Rick Foster
Playwright, "Gilgamesh"
* Jim Anderson
Director, "Gilgamesh"
* Brian Hillebert
Actor, "Gilgamesh"
Show Credits
* Jennifer Plassmeyer, Associate Producer
* Mandy Dawn Kuntz, Associate Producer
* Woomin Seo, Associate Producer
****Thanks to Gaosheng for sending this link in.
The Hmong Road Home
Friday, Aug. 24, 2007
The Hmong Road Home
By Hannah Beech
If the people strolling the streets of Laos' sleepy capital, Vientiane, were worried about a violent overthrow of their government, they weren't showing their alarm. Earlier this summer, U.S. authorities arrested 11 people in California for allegedly plotting to topple one of the world's last Marxist regimes.
Among those charged with conspiracy to kill, kidnap and maim, among other accusations, was General Vang Pao, a member of the Hmong minority whose guerrilla forces had been funded by the CIA during the Vietnam War to fight the Viet Cong-aligned communists of the Pathet Lao. Along with an estimated 200,000 Laotian Hmong, Vang Pao fled to the U.S. after America withdrew from Indochina in 1975 and communist forces took over Laos and Vietnam. Now, the 77-year-old ex-CIA operative, along with nine other Laotian-born Americans and a former U.S. Army ranger who served in Vietnam, is facing potential life imprisonment for purportedly trying to send Stinger missiles and other high-grade weapons to a handful of Hmong guerrillas back home who are fighting to overthrow the government.
As dramatic as the California indictment may sound, no one I met in Vientiane had ever heard of this surreal plot. Of course, it may simply not be the sort of news the nation's secretive leaders are keen to disseminate. The first morning I was in Vientiane, the front page of the Times, the local English-language daily, heralded booming comradely relations with Vietnam, and the donation of some computers by a Scandinavian NGO. Not a single negative news story marred the sunny propaganda spirit of the paper.
Among the sensitive topics studiously avoided by the local media is the plight of the roughly 300,000 Hmong that remain in Laos. Persecuted because of their pro-American, anti-communist stance during the war, many Hmong retreated to remote mountain jungles to avoid further government reprisals. Clashes between government troops and ragtag Hmong forces continue to this day, and refugees have poured into neighboring Thailand. This month, U.S. lawmakers petitioned the Thai King to halt the deportations of 8,000 Hmong living in makeshift settlements along the Thai-Laos border. Many of the refugees claim they are descendants of soldiers who fought for Vang Pao's CIA-funded army, and say they will be forced into labor camps or imprisoned if sent back home.
Meanwhile, Vang Pao and several co-defendants claim, through their lawyers, that the CIA knew all about their recent attempt to send American weapons to Hmong guerrillas in Laos. They allege they had no idea their plot contravened the U.S. Neutrality Act, which criminalizes any action taken on domestic soil against a foreign government with which Washington is at peace.
When Vang Pao was released on bail last month, he was greeted by hundreds of Hmong supporters who continue to revere him as a leader who helped thousands of Hmong-Americans adjust to life in a strange new land. (Many Hmong living in the U.S. are believed to suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome because of their wartime experiences.) To the prosecution team in his case, however, Vang Pao is a terrorist who is intent on arming rebels against a friendly government. And to the people of Laos? The day I left Vientiane, the Times finally did run an item on the Hmong. It was a small ad announcing a sale of Hmong handicrafts at a government-run tourist shop.
"Don't bother," advised a local acquaintance. "Those handicrafts aren't really made by them." That, it appeared, was the only local information I would glean about the Hmong of Laos.
The Tom Sullivan Show on KFBK, "A talk on General Vang Pao and the genocide in Laos"
Provided by Newstalk 1530 KFBK Sacramento
This show raised many important issues concerning the arrest of General Vang Pao, the genocide of Hmong in the jungle of Laos, corrupt governments, and America's ethical obligation to the Hmong people. Callers shared their views with an engaging Tom Sullivan.
Tom Sullivan-06/19/07
12:00- 100's rally in Sacramento in defense of General Vang Pao, held in the Laos coup plot- Sac Bee
segment 1
Tom Sullivan-06/19/07
1:00- Con'tRebecca Sommer. org (given out by caller)- rebeccasommer.org
segment 2
Tom Sullivan-06/19/07
2:00- More on the Hmong situation and General Pao.
segment 3
Tom's Show homepage and schedule
Young Hmong Americans Confront a Dark History
IPS News
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38620
POLITICS: Young Hmong Americans Confront a Dark History
By Ngoc Nguyen
SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 20 (IPS) - The Hmong American community was catapulted into the national spotlight when, on Jun. 4, 11 California residents were arrested for plotting to overthrow the government of Laos.
Among them was 77-year-old Vang Pao, who led a CIA-backed "secret army" of his tribesmen in Laos to aid U.S. soldiers against communist Laotian and Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War.
Vang Pao and his 10 co-conspirators were charged with violating the so-called Neutrality Act by planning an invasion of a country at peace with the United States. Justice Department officials say the men conspired to obtain AK-47 assault rifles, ground-to-air and anti-tank missiles, mines, rockets and other explosives.
A judge has since ordered most of them released on bail, and a pre-trial status conference is scheduled for Jul. 25.
While Pao and his co-conspirators were imprisoned, thousands of Hmong Americans descended upon the courthouse at the state capitol, demanding the release of all the men.
Daniel Xiong, 21, was among the protestors. He worked to organise youth from his hometown of Stockton, California to attend the rallies and even worked with local police to help maintain security at the events. Xiong said the arrests of General Vang Pao and the other men have drawn negative attention to the community.
"One day I woke up and [went to work, and] the boss came up and said, 'your people are terrorists,' and I was like, 'Not us'. I was sad that the name 'terrorists' was now attached to our community," he said.
A 25-year-old Hmong American graduate student in New York City, whose parents attended the rallies in California, said the protests united the Hmong American community, across generations, for the first time, regardless of their support for Vang Pao. For some, the arrests reopened a chapter of history unknown to them and many second generation Hmong Americans.
The student, who declined to give her name, grew up outside of Fresno, California, home to a large Hmong American community. She said she was exposed to the history of her homeland while growing up -- her parents were activists and both her grandfathers had fought on the side of the United States during the "secret wars." For her, the arrests of Vang Pao and his co-conspirators opened old wounds from the war.
"My impression is the revival of betrayal of the U.S. toward the Hmong in Laos," she said. "They did pull out their troops and left the Hmong community to fend for themselves. This led to the human rights abuses in Laos, and at one point, there was a publicly announced genocide after the war when the Laos government hunted down Hmong, that's why so many of them fled."
Escaping retribution at the hands of the Laotian government, many Hmong fled as refugees. Tens of thousands started new lives in neighbouring Thailand. An estimated 250,000 currently reside in the United States, with communities flourishing in California, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
In the 1990s, 29,000 Hmong living in Thailand were repatriated back to Laos. Some Hmong Americans claim the Hmong face discrimination, persecution and violence in Laos, where the Hmong and Iu Mien (Yao) account for less than 10 percent of the population of roughly 6.5 million.
The ambassador of the Laotian People's Democratic Republic (PDR) to the U.S., Phiane Pilakone, has denied ongoing human rights abuses of the Hmong in Laos. But T. Kumar, advocacy director for Asia with Amnesty International, said the Hmong are "in bad shape in terms of human rights abuses."
He said there are about 2,000 Hmong hiding in the Laos jungles, still fighting a low-level war with the Laotian military, using Vietnam War-era weapons. According to Kumar, this group lives under impoverished and dangerous conditions, lacking food and medicine and frequently attacked by military.
"Amnesty International is concerned about two groups of Hmong living in Laos -- one is the scores of people deported back to Laos from Thailand, including women and children, and the group of people still in the jungle, who are still fighting a lost cause," he said. "We don't have access to either group. No one has access -- journalists or international monitors."
For second generation Hmong Americans, the controversy has opened the door to dialogue on their history and the current situation for Lao Hmong.
Daniel Xiong said he recently learned the U.S. military left their Hmong allies behind after the end of the war, but that hasn't changed his mind about joining the U.S. military himself. In response to others labeling his community as "terrorists", Xiong said he wants to volunteer to go to Iraq.
"We [Hmong] don't have a home country, but when we come to United States, it is our home country," he said. "We will join the fight for our home country, because it is fighting for peace and for our country we left behind."
Several years ago, the Hmong American community was split on another issue: normal trade relations between the United States and Laos. The two countries entered into a trade agreement in 2003, but it wasn't official until 2005. Some Hmong Americans opposed normal trade relations, and felt the U.S. should pressure Laos to put an end to human rights abuses.
Others in the community see increased business ties as a path to peace.
Pastor Seng Fo Chao, president of the Iu Mien American National Coalition, was part of a delegation of Laotian Americans who traveled in December 2005 to Laos to forge greater business and personal ties with the country. The pastor also fought alongside the U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War, but his life has since taken a different turn.
Chao belongs to the Iu Mien ethnic group, whose people are spread throughout Laos, China, Thailand and Vietnam.
His group has voted to take a "neutral stance" on the Vang Pao arrests.
"Some of the Iu Mien (Yao) in Lao PDR were deceived and lured into the jungle and fought against the government soldiers of Lao PDR from 1975 to 1987," he said. "Then the last group of Iu Mien laid down their arms and came out from the jungle to join the government of Lao PDR in 1987. Since then, the Iu Mien in Lao PDR has been at peace with the government of Lao PDR and the world."
(END/2007)
Plead to America
America, please bring to the USA the last 10,000+ of the surviving Hmong tribes which allied with the USA during the Vietnam War. For over 30 years they have quietly been attacked by the communist Laos and Vietnamese armed forces. When America pulled out of the Vietnam War (1975), some Hmong (largely officers and their families) were brought to the USA. About 300,000 Hmong American allies were left behind. Many have been murdered, some have fled. Today's best estimates indicate there are only around 2,000 in the jungles of Laos and at least 8,000 in Thai refugee camps. The US did the right thing in few years ago and brought 15,000 refugees to the US. Please don't leave the last 10,000 behind. These people are hunted because of the Vietnam War. Saving them by opening America's doors to their huddled masses is a small courtesy to extend to threatened and desperate allies.
Fact Finding Commission's Plea to Congress on behalf of Hmong refugees
Fact Finding Commission's Plea to Congress on behalf of Hmong refugees
http://www.factfinding.org/Commission_Reports/page72.html
Senate approves amendment aimed to ease plight of Hmong refugees
Senate approves amendment aimed to ease plight of Hmong refugees
The Associated Press
Friday, September 7, 2007
WASHINGTON: The Senate has passed legislation that would ease the impact of anti-terrorism laws on Hmong and other refugees, but it faces an uncertain future.
Under provisions of the USA Patriot Act and the Real ID Act, both passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Hmong who fought alongside Americans in the "secret war" against communists in the 1960s and 1970s in Laos are considered "terrorists." That disqualifies them for asylum or green cards, which denote permanent residency.
Late Thursday night, the Senate approved an amendment by Republican Sens. Norm Coleman and Jon Kyl that says the Hmong and other groups that had been ensnared by the anti-terrori