Hmong-Asylum.org's mission is to raise public awareness of the American-allied Hmong tribes hiding in the jungles of Laos or which have fled to Thailand and are in danger of being repatriated. We campaign (a) get the USA to grant political asylum to the Hmong whom are persecuted by the communist Laos army, and (b) to ask Laos to allow third-party personnel to observe and actively facilitate the process of Hmong coming out of the jungle and integrating with mainstream Laotian society in a fair and dignified way.
After the US withdrew from the Vietnam War, many of the "Secret Army" were not evacuated to the USA by the CIA and hid in the jungles when the communist army quickly overran Laos. At that time, the new communist regime vowed to exterminate the American allies "to the last root" and have been steadfast in their campaign of revenge for over three decades. Captured Hmong are often viciously tortured, raped, imprisoned, enslaved, or murdered by the Laotian army or police. The population of the Hmong in hiding has been reduced from an estimated 100,000 to 10,000 in the last five years alone.
The atrocities suffered by these Hmong are well documented by human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Society for Threatened Peoples International, respected news sources such as Time Magazine and BBC, and by video cameras smuggled into Laos by the NGO, Fact Finding Commission; the video evidence plus interviews with Hmong refugees was recently made available in Rebecca Sommer's documentary, "Hunted Like Animals."
The Hmong in hiding are mostly elderly, women, and children, almost defenseless, starving and suffering from frequent military attacks. These hunted persons are farmers who hide and run for their lives but have nowhere to go. They only wish for the ability to farm in peace; they are not rebels. Anti-terrorist legislation after 9-11 had the unintended side-effect of classifying these former American allies as terrorists, making them ineligible for immigration to the USA as political refugees. There are only an estimated 10,000 of these Hmong left and they need America's aid immediately or else they will surely come to a horrible end in the upcoming months.
Hmong-Asylum.org strongly believes that working separately is not effective as working in a collaborative community effort. We support good work of organizations already developed to help the Hmong in times of crisis or continuing to better the Hmong community.
Hmong-Asylum.org was founded by Moua Lo (director) and husband Edward Kirton (webmaster) and relies upon the continuing efforts of many volunteers.
