HMONG LAO HUMAN RIGHTS
Updates on HMONG Lao in Thailand / Laos

News/Press

AUSTRALIAN ENVOY MEETS HOMG REFUGEES
April 3, 2010…Ms Forster's visit was as part of a group of diplomats, UN officials and selected media taken to the camp for about two hours by Lao authorities. The group was closely guarded and not allowed to speak privately with the refugees. The Lao government says the refugees, having been returned to Laos, now do not want to be resettled elsewhere.

RARE GLIMPESE OF HMONG IN LAOS FAILS TO QUELL CONCERNS
March 28, 2010…A small, woollen-hatted woman, one of thousands of ethnic Hmong recently expelled from Thailand, creeps up to the row of rare foreign visitors in her new Laotian village. Lao Hmong hill tribe villagers watch as foreign media and diplomats visit the village of Phongkham in Bolikhamsai province on March 26, 2010 where some 3,000 Lao Hmong were resettled after recently being deported from Thailand. I want to go to another country," she whispers to the diplomats and journalists, who have been invited by the communist government for a tightly-monitored trip to this remote, newly-built community.

LAOS ASKED TO GRANT ACCESS TO HMONG
March 27, 2010...Vientiane yesterday took about 20 diplomats, mostly based in Laos, including the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) representative and US ambassador, and a group of foreign journalists to visit the Hmong resettlement village in Borikhamxay, about 225km from the capital.The excursion was also joined by Thai diplomats and UN officials. Lao representatives told visitors about how the government was resettling 4,500 Hmong in the village. Foreign diplomats asked questions to see if the Hmong would be allowed free and unrestricted contact with the outside world, including relatives, said a diplomatic source. 'The Hmong indicated that they wanted to leave Laos. Some were crying, but there was not enough time to talk in depth with the individuals."

LAOS ALLOWS WESTERN DIPLOMATS INTO HMONG VILLAGE
March 26, 2010…The visitors included about 20 Western diplomats including the US ambassador to Laos, European Union delegates, and foreign reporters. They were welcomed to the village by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Phongsavath Boupha….But for most of the two-hour stay, the delegation was confined to an unfinished village hall, mainly to be briefed about planned infrastructure developments, with no time allocated for one-on-one discussions with the Hmong… But as the visit concluded, some Hmong approached the delegation and said they wanted to leave.

NATIONS RENEW OFFER OF REFUFE TO HMONG
March 08, 2010…The four countries were told by senior authorities in Thailand, including Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban and Lt Gen Nipat Thonglek, chief of the Royal Armed Forces' Border Affairs Department, that they could pursue the resettlement process with the Lao government 30 days after the Hmong had returned to Laos, the sources said. Their applications requests to Vientiane have so far been rejected. The sources said Laos might want to wait until the international attention which the repatriation attracted has died down. Buaxieng Champaphan, the Lao army deputy chief of staff, last month told Thai and US delegates the returnees were safe and he welcomed any party to contact them through Vientiane. However, if the Hmong are happy here, they should not be bothered by outsiders,'' said Brig Gen Buaxieng during a tour of the Hmong resettlement site in Borikhamsay, about 230 kilometres southeast of Vientiane. What we need is [foreign] support for schools and other infrastructure development which will cost some US$8 million.

HMONG RETURNEES LOOK LIFE IN EYE OF BARREN LAND
Feb.28, 2010…It was the first official Thai visit to the village since the repatriated Hmong left the camps. The Hmong people who met them at the village sang a native song of welcome. The lyrics confessed their guilt at having left the motherland, and asserting their happiness at having returned. However, the optimistic message of the song was at odds with how many of the Hmong really feel.

THE HMONG PLIGHT CONTINUES AS THE US CONTINUES THEIR ABANDONMENT
Feb.27, 2010...The US has clearly turned their backs on The Hmong who remain in Southeast Asia. What “secrets” remain preventing the US and the UN from performing the necessary humanitarian work and free all Hmong from ongoing persecution?

LAOS EXTRACTS FORCED CONFESSIONS TO HELP SILENCE HMONG REFUGEES
Feb.26, 2010…The Hmong refugees in Ponkham village, Pha Lak village and elsewhere in Laos are unable to freely and openly communicate to visiting U.S. and Thai officials and journalists today about the true horrific human rights violations inflicted upon them by the Thai and Lao military for fear of severe retaliation when these foreign visitors leave.

US PLEASED OVER ACCESS TO HMONG IN LAOS
Feb.26, 2010…Dorsey said the US would encourage the government to allow regular access to the returnees. She said the US was planning to provide "basic needs assistance" to the repatriated Hmong, and was willing to do more. According to the Vientiane Times, Ponkham village is being built in Bolikhamxay province to house about 3,000 returned Hmong.

LAOS TO ALLOW ACCESS TO DEPORTED HMONG
Feb.24, 2010…The Laos government says it will give Thai and US officials access to thousands of ethnic Hmong who were expelled from Thailand.

LAO MINISTER WARNS HMONG RETURNEES OF SUBVERSION
Feb.18,2010…The Lao Defense Minister gave advice on the structure of the village’s administrative body. He called for continuous education of the people on Party and government policy, and to make them aware of the tactics employed by subversive elements. The Hmong returnees well understand this type of ambiguous language used by the Lao government.

HMONG REMAIN TRAPPED IN ENEMY JUNGLE, FORGOTTEN BY AMERICA AND THE WORLD
Feb.17, 2010…Old women shake with emotion as they speak of the horrors they have witnessed, while young children weep at their first sighting of an outsider. CIA veteran Cho Her lies face down in the dirt, praying for the rescue of his people. US and world leaders please come and rescue us and stop the Laos government persecuting us for being the CIA's foot-soldiers during the secret war, he says.

LOCAL HMONG FAMILIES FEAR FOR SAVETY OF RELATIVES, FRIENDS
Feb.10, 2010…Xia Moua Thao, 54, Wisconsin Rapids, still has not heard from his three relatives whom the Thai government sent back to Laos in December.
"I'm worried because I don't know where they're at, and I'm concerned that they're in prison," Thao said through his daughter-in-law, Mai Thao of Wisconsin Rapids, who interpreted.

THAI AGENCY BLOCKED FROM HMONG REFUGEE ACCESS
Feb.9, 2010…Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR) pledged to continue working with the Hmong after their repatriation but it has been prevented from doing so by the Laotian government even after more than a month, UCA News reports.

LAOS MOVING FORWARD HMONG ACCESS: US DIPLOMAT
Feb.6, 2010...My sense is they indicated they were open to that, said the diplomat, who spoke in Vietnam after recent talks -- which he described as quite good" -- in neighbouring Laos. Laotian officials did not rule it out but neither did they give a definite date for international access, the diplomat said.

THAILAND HALTS MYANMAR REFUGEE RETURN AFTER OUTCRY
Feb.5, 2010...The Karens were forced to tell Thai authorities they wanted to return to Myanmar, the Karen National Union, the political wing of the independence movement, said in a statement last week. The villagers were “under enormous pressure” and “in great fear of being forcibly repatriated,” the statement said. Thailand repatriated 4,600 Lao Hmong refugees and asylum seekers late last year amid similar protests. UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-Moon said through a spokesperson at the time that he regretted the deportations, particularly amid protests from UNHCR and offers for resettlement to third countries.

THAILAND SAYS KARENS TO BE RETURNED TO MYANMAR ON VOLUNTARY BASIS
Feb.5, 2010…Bangkok - The Thai government and military on Friday insisted that 1,700 refugees from the Karen ethnic minority would only be repatriated to neighbouring Myanmar on a voluntary basis.

RIGHTS GROUPS CALL FOR ACCESS TO RETURNED HMONG IN LAOS
Feb.1, 2010...In a letter to Lao President Choummaly Sayasone, the organisations expressed serious concerns for the safety and protection" of the returned Hmong. They also called for immediate resettlement to third countries of all returned Hmong with a well-founded fear of persecution, including 158 sent back despite being recognised by the UN as refugees.

THAI - US RELATIONS ARE DRIFTING APART
Feb.1, 2010…Eric John was diplomatic enough to describe the operation as "involuntary"— which meant a forced send-back in layman terms. The Thai government was not happy and strongly rebutted his views.

THAILAND TO DEPORT KAREN REFUGEES IN PHASES
Jan.28, 2010…Gen Thanongsak said that the government had no policy to provide additional temporary shelters to the refugees, saying it has decided to gradually send them back to Burma.

REP. KIND SENDS LETTER TO LAO GOVERNMENT
Jan.28, 2010…Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) recently sent a letter to the Government of Laos expressing concern for the safety of the Lao Hmong asylum seekers who were repatriated by the Royal Thai Government.

EXPELLED HMONG IMPRISIONED IN LAOS
Jan.22, 2010...Around 50 Hmong refugees who were forcibly repatriated by Thailand to Laos on Dec. 28 have been imprisoned in Paksan jail, according to the Fact Finding Commission (FFC), an American based NGO.
It is suggested that the group may have been isolated because of their role as leaders in the camps and during the “secret war,” when the CIA hired the Hmong as foot soldiers to prevent the spread of communism during the Vietnam War.

LAOS PLEDGES TO CARE FOR HMONG
Jan. 19, 2010...Lao Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Phongsavath Boupha met with ambassadors from the European Union, US and Australia on January 15 to allay concerns about some 4,500 ethnic Hmong who were deported from neighbouring Thailand on December 28, the Vientiane Times reported.

THAI-LAO TIES: Overcoming mutual mistrust
Jan. 18, 2010…Both Thailand and Laos must come clean to eliminate lingering doubts over their joint repatriation actions. The Thai government must produce the list of Hmong who used to live in Phetchabun…..

U.S. POLICY FAILURE HAD HAND IN HMONG REFUGEE CRISIS
Jan. 15, 2010….After repeated State Department stonewalling and mixed messages on this plight of the Hmong refugees, nine senators including U.S. Sens. Russell Feingold, D-Middleton, Herb Kohl, D-Milwaukee, and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., sent a letter on Dec. 17 directly to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit urging him to halt the forced return of the Hmong to Laos.

US LAWMAKERS SEE NO ILL-TREATEMENT OF HMONG
Jan.15, 2010...WASHINGTON — US lawmakers back from a trip to Laos said they saw no signs of ill-treatment of ethnic Hmong recently expelled from Thailand, but rights advocates voiced fear they would face persecution later.

THAILAND BLAMES ITS CRITICS FOR REFUGEES' FATE
Jan. 14, 2010 …But Mr Abhisit said the Laotian Government had guaranteed the asylum seekers would be well treated, and said that if the countries willing to resettle them were so concerned, they should have acted faster. Some of the asylum seekers had been living in camps on the Thai-Laotian border for more than five years. If these countries were serious about working on resettlement, they should have settled these people long ago he told foreign journalists.

GROUPS CONDEMN FORCED DEPORTATIONS OF REFUGEES FROM CAMBODIA AND THAILAND
Jan 14, 2010...We, the undersigned, condemn the actions in the last days of 2009 of some Asian governments in requesting, encouraging and performing the forcible deportation (refoulement) of refugees and asylum seekers from Cambodia and Thailand.   
We demand that all governments in the Asia-Pacific region reaffirm the importance of the principle of non-refoulement of asylum seekers and refugees.  

UN WANTS ACCESS TO HMONG
Jan.13, 2010...BANGKOK—U.N. refugee officials want access to a group of more than 150 ethnic Hmong they believe may have been wrongly repatriated to Laos from Thailand, to find out if they still want to resettle in a third country, according to the refugee agency spokeswoman..

HMONG ADVOCATES SAY U.S. GOVERNMENT STOOD IDLE DURING EVICTION
Jan.9, 2010…There are so many stories from the Hmong of the torture that many Hmong have to endure, Lee said. If the United Nations had really pushed for the Thai and Lao government to (prevent the camps' closing) ... they would be safe.

ALLOW IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO HMONG REFUGEES
Jan.7, 2010...we are outraged by the Southeast Asian governments' refusal to disclose information about the forced repatriation of the 4,532 Hmong asylum seekers, who could be in danger of retribution from the communist Lao government.

THAILAND: WITH HMONG EXPULSION, ARMY ASSERTS FOREIGN POLICY ROLE
Jan. 6, 2010…"We had to ask permission from the military after these new guidelines to cover the Hmong," Supalak, who writes for ‘The Nation’, an English-language daily, said in an interview with IPS.

REFUGEES ARE NOT BARGAINING CHIPS
Jan. 1, 2010… A virus is sweeping Asia. The symptoms are heightened xenophobia and amnesia about fundamental refugee rights.

MENSCHENRECHTLER: HMONG WERDEN GEFOLTERT
Dec. 31, 2009...Auch die Vereinigten Staaten und Vertreter der Europäischen Union hatten die Abschiebung verurteilt. Die meisten der knapp 4400 Hmong, die am Montag in Bussen und Lastwagen über den Grenzfluss Mekong nach Laos gebracht wurden, waren in den vergangenen fünf Jahren aus dem kommunistischen Land geflüchtet.

LAOS TELLS UN IT'S TOO SOON TO VISIT HMONG
Dec.30, 2009...Laos denied the U.N. immediate access to 4,500 ethnic Hmong who were forcibly repatriated from Thailand, saying Wednesday it would "complicate" matters but that international observers could visit later.

UN SEEKS ACCESS TO HMONG DEPORTEES
Dec. 30, 2009 …The agency says some of those sent back to Laos have refugee status and need international protection.

IN PHOTOS: THE HMONG EXPULSION
Dec.29, 2009...The army removed some 4,000 ethnic Hmong from their Thai camps on Monday and trucked them to Laos. Here are some photos of the drama.

THAILAND BEGINS REPATRIATION TO LAOS OF HMONG
Dec.28, 2009…The deportation of 4,000 Hmong to Laos began in the early hours of Monday with convoys of military trucks and buses ferrying people to the border. Human rights groups fear the Hmong, who have been held at the Huay Nam Khao refugee camp, will be persecuted once they return to Laos.

MSF Denounces Thai Government’s Forced Repatriation of Hmong Refugees to Laos
Dec.28, 2009…Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) which left the camps in May 2009 following military pressure, had denounced the forced repatriation policy. The expulsion of the Hmong, who fled Laos to seek refuge in the Huai Nam Khao camp in Thailand, results from an agreement between the Laotian and Thai governments, signed in May 2007. The two had stated their intention to repatriate all Hmong to Laos before the end of 2009. The Thai government refuses to recognize the Hmong in the Huai Nam Khao camp as refugees; rather, it considers them illegal immigrants whose repatriation does not violate international law.

THE LAST REMNANT OF THE VIETNAM WAR MAY BE ABOUT TO END
Dec.22, 2009...The man at the center of the surprise breakthrough is General Vang Pao, the Hmong commander in the C.I.A. years and now in American exile. Until a few months ago, Vang Pao was the marquee defendant in a U.S. federal terrorism case - accused of conspiring to overthrow the same Laotian regime with which he's now trying to reconcile.

FORCED REPATRIATION OF HMONG REFUGEES TO LAOS DENOUNCED
May 20, 2009…During the last four months, the Thai army, present in the camp, has introduced increasingly restrictive measures with the aim of pressuring the Hmong into dropping their demands for refugee status and returning “voluntarily” to Laos. The refugees talk of arbitrary arrests and cases of forced repatriation. Moreover, MSF denounces the methods employed by the Thai authorities, who have stamped out any possibility of offering independent humanitarian assistance to the camp’s refugee population…

HMONGS IN PETCHABUN CAMP ACCUSE THAILAND OF BLOCKING FOOD SUPPLY
March 2009…Hmong refugees in Phetchabun's Ban Huay Nam Khao accused Thai authorities on Monday of putting pressure on them so that they would join repatriation programme.

Thai authorities arrest blacklisted Hmong refugee for deportation
March 29, 2009…Around 8:30 pm Saturday night, Thai authorities in Huay Nam Khao camp arrested Joua Va Yang, a former guide for the BBC.

REGARDING THE HMONG REFUGEES IN THAILAND
Feb. 12, 2009…The UN High Commission for Refugees, Amnesty International and other groups have offered to assist in the resettlement of the detainees but the Thai government has forbidden access to them. Why? This is contrary to the policies of past Thai governments and contrary to the obligations of Thailand under international agreements governing refugees and asylum seekers. Within the past few days, another group of Hmong were escorted by the Thai Army back to Laos. We are told by the Thai authorities that all -voluntarily- returned. No independent person can verify this and there is ample reason to doubt.

Thai Government must not fail Lao Hmong refugees and asylum seekers
Jan. 22, 2009…On 16 January 2009 Kasit Piromya, Thailand's new Minister of Foreign Affairs, publicly confirmed that some 5,000 Lao Hmong individuals living in a camp in Huay Nam Khao in northern Thailand may be returned to Laos by mid-2009. The vast majority of the camp population has not had the opportunity to seek asylum through full and fair procedures, and Amnesty International is concerned that there are people among them who may be at risk of serious human rights violations inside Laos.

UN CALLS FOR RELEASE OF HMOMG DETAINED IN NONG KHAI
Nov.17, 2008…The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Monday urged the Thai authorities to release 158 Hmong refugees who have been detained in immigration's detention center in Nong Khai for two years.

UPDATE: HMONG LAO REFUGEES IN THAILAND
Oct.23, 2008... TO WATCH THE VIDEO-THE SHAMEFUL TRUTH HOW LAOS TREATS REPATRIATED HMONG REFUGEES - CLICK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn394wy-pw

THE LOST CHILDREN OF LAOS
Oct. 16, 2008...Advocating for liberation of detained Hmong youth...In the beginning, detention presented an escape from the threat of bullets. However, as the years pass and detainment comes to resemble normalcy, the once glossy eyes of children become hazy with the crestfallen grayness of premature adulthood.Their crime? They are Hmong.

BARACK OBAMA SUPPORTS HMONG CAUSE
Oct. 22, 2008...Hmong on the Thailand-Laos border are in a dire situation. The U.S. must be clear in calling for all parties to respect international law and ensure that displaced Hmong are not placed in harm's way. As President, I will restore America's commitment to human rights abroad and help forge a more effective regional framework for collective security in Asia and the Pacific to promote political and economic stability, confront transnational threats like terrorism and influenza, and collectively address environmental concerns.

EXPATRIATION OF HMONG REFUGEES FROM THAILAND
Aug.3, 2008…Expatriation of Hmong Refugees from Thailand. The U.S. has long recognized an obligation to Hmong refugees who have fled Laos because of our ...

LET UNHCR PLAY A MAJOR ROLE
June 29, 2008...The news that the Thai military has over the last week forcibly returned hundreds of Hmong refugees from the Huai Nam Khao camp in Petchabun province to Laos, even after Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama told a representative from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at the end of last month there would be no forced repatriation, amounts to an outright refusal by the present government to commit to fundamental human rights.

THAILAND: UNHCR CONCERNED OVER RETURN OF LAO HMONG
June 27, 2008 ...This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson: UNHCR has written to the Thai government expressing concern over the return of 837 Lao Hmong from Thailand last Sunday, 22 June. The operation came after a mass protest by thousands of Lao Hmong who broke out of a camp in Phetchabun Province run by the Thai Army. The lack of transparency and the absence of any third party to monitor the return operation makes it impossible to verify the voluntary nature of the repatriation.

THAILAND FORCIBLY RETURNS HUNDREDS OF HMONG REFUGEES TO LAOS
June 25, 2008…An estimated 800 ethnic Lao Hmong refugees were forcibly returned to Laos by the Thai government on Sunday, June 22, and the Thai authorities have stated publicly that they intend to proceed over the coming days with further repatriations to Laos from among the remaining 6,700 refugees in the Huai Nam Khao camp in Thailand’s Petchabun Province. The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling once again on the governments of Thailand and Laos to immediately stop all forced repatriations of the Hmong refugees.

1000 REFUGEES CALL FOR UN HELP - AFTER BEING DUMPED BACK IN LAOS
Comments by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees follow reports from Laos that 1,008 Hmong were dumped in Paksane late on Sunday, just east of Vientiane, then told this morning (Mon) to simply return to the areas they left three or four years ago. Refugees called reporters and contacts in Thailand to appeal for United Nations officials to come to help them. They said Lao officials organised a meal for them last night but they had had no food today and were simply expected to disperse to villages or areas in the north of the country where they used to live.

HMONG REFUGEE DRAMA IN THE NORTH
JUNE 22, 2008...Leaders of the dramatic protest march out of the Huay Nam Khao refugee camp in Phetchabun have been forcibly returned to Laos along with a group of Hmong wanted by the Lao authorities, sources in the North said Sunday.

AS TENSIONS MOUNT FOR FORCED RETURN TO LAOS, FIRE RAVAGES HMONG REFUGEE CAMP
May 27, 2008...the leader, with the help of his wife, chained himself to the camps main gate in order not to be sent to Laos. He stayed chained at the gate until Friday when the fire started. At the same time, a hunger strike was started in the camp. The demonstrators have been demanding that the United Nations step in to the situation to protect their rights as refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or any other third party, has not been allowed to enter the camp to carry out an independent screening of their claims for refugee protection.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT- HMONG REFUGEES
May 18, 2008...In line with international law and standards, those who are granted refugee status must 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 persons, regardless of their status, to a situation in which they would face torture or other serious human rights violations.

UA HMONG STUDENTS TAKE STAND AGAINST GENOCIDE
Apr 17, 2008...Controversies in the clash between communist parties and states prelude the Hmong's involvement with the CIA's "Secret Army" during the Vietnam War. This allegedly spurred retaliation from a communist regime in Laos, placed in power after the U.S. pulled out of southeast Asia in 1975, according to footage in the documentary HUNTED LIKE ANIMALS by filmmaker Rebecca Sommer.

US AMBASSADOR TO LAOS'S VISIT TO ST. PAUL
March 28, 2008...Our goal was to have inclusive events so the entire spectrum of the Hmong community could share their stories and concerns with the Ambassador. We want the Hmong community to get to know their representative of the US Government to the LDPR, and to be able to have productive conversations with him about the issues important to them.

TROUBLE AHEAD
March 28, 2008...German film-maker and human rights advocate Rebecca Sommer is encouraging Hmong groups in the US to take to the streets - to protest against Thailand's plans to send back 8,000 Hmong who fled Laos to a refugee camp in Phetchabun. Sommer spent many days at Huay Nam Khao in Phetchabun interviewing Hmong refugees for her documentary 'Hunted Like Animals' and strongly opposes forced repatriation of the Hmong. Her film has been selected for showing at the Amnesty International Film Festival in Amsterdam this weekend.

RALLY AT CAPITAL SPEAKS FOR HMONG LOST IN LAOS
March 25, 2008...The tear-stained struggle to save several thousand Hmong hiding in the Lao jungles and another 8,000 Hmong refugees in Thailand returned to the State Capitol on Monday morning. Hundreds of Northern California Hmong, along with Vietnam veterans and state legislators, rallied around 71 white wooden crosses, each representing the soul of a Hmong who died this year in Laos.

HMONG RALLY FOR BRETHERN, WHO MAY BE IN DANGER OVERSEAS
March 14, 2008...I haven?t seen a political rally like this in La Crosse for a long time,? John Medinger, former mayor of La Crosse and now staff assistant to U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, said to the crowd. ?And this is about politics. It?s about asking your government to assist you.

HUNDREDS OF HMONG RALLY IN MADISON TO PROTEST PRERSECUTION IN LAOS
March 13, 2008...Hundreds of Hmong are rallying to call attention to the persecution of relatives in their native Laos.

UN REFUGEE AGENCY CONCERNED ABOUT THAILAND'S REPATRIATION OF HMONG TO LAOS
February 29, 2008...The 12 Hmong were taken Wednesday from a refugee camp in Thailand's Phetchabun province to be sent back to Laos on Thursday. The camp is estimated to hold nearly 8,000 Hmong from Laos, most of whom say they fear for their safety in their communist homeland.

TWO FACES OF COMMUNIST LAOS
February 28, 2008...There are two faces of Laos. One is the eco-tourism guided tour for backpackers with cheap hostels and an abundance of ganja (marijuana), coupled with the more expensive, more modernized Vientiane intent on luring western investors. The second is the insular Laos, behind a bamboo curtain, where the xenophobic, Pathet Lao communists (Lao People's Revolutionary Party), with apparent aid from the Vietnamese communists, are intent on annihilating an ethnic group of people -- the Hmong.

LAO TROOPS TOLD-SHOOT OR KILL-HMONG REBELS
February 2008...Government troops in Laos have been ordered to shoot to kil1 ethnic Hmong insurgents in the country's northern jungle regions, with cash rewards offered for every enemy killed, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.

Thailand: UNHCR calls for release of detained Hmong refugees
jan. 15, 2008... This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 15 January 2008, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

UN AGENCY URGES RELEASE OF HMONG HELD IN THAILAND FOR MORE THAN A YEAR
January 14, 2008...The United Nations refugee agency has called for the release of 149 Lao Hmong, including many children, who have been held in sub-standard conditions in a Thai detention centre since they were rounded up for deportation more than a year ago.

NY TIMES: Old U.S. Allies, Still Hiding in Laos
December 17, 2007...Still, finding the veterans in their camps is an arduous undertaking, requiring hours of trekking through the jungle. A recent visit to Mr. Yang?s remote hide-out by this reporter was the first by an American newspaper, one of about a dozen people to have visited any camp of veterans of the C.I.A. operation in Laos.

A DESPERATE LIFE FOR SURVIVORS OF THE SECRET WAR IN LAOS
December 16, 2007...If I surrender, I will be punished, said Xang Yang, a wiry 58-year-old still capable of crawling nimbly through thick bamboo underbrush. "They will never forgive me," he said of the Laotian government. I cannot live outside the jungle because I am a former American soldier.

MSF APPEALS FOR HMONG NOT TO BE REPATRIATED
November 1, 2007...Having kept silent for more than two years about its work providing humanitarian assistance to 7,500 Hmong refugees in Phetchabun, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) made a public appeal yesterday for Thai authorities to halt the forced repatriation of the Hmong to Laos.

FILM RALLIES YOUTHS TO HMONG CAUSE
July 3, 2007...Video says thousands still in Laos jungle are hunted by troops. Rebecca Sommer recounts the plight of the Hmong in Laos, especially women and children, who she says are not part of any resistance and need international help to come out safely. Sommer describes her documentary as "an insider film for the U.N. and governments," but it has inspired protests in Sacramento and nationwide.

THAI MILITARY BARS MEDIA FROM HMONG REFUGEE CAMP, ISSUES COVERAGE 'GUIDELINES'
July 3,2007...The military also issued a statement to the media, offering "guidelines" on coverage of the issue, local English broadsheet "The Nation" reported on 2 July 2007. The media were told to portray Thai officials favourably, "refrain from reporting officials' bad treatment, if any, of the Hmong" and discourage further Hmong refugees. They are encouraged to report on how the influx of refugees has inconvenienced Thai villagers in the area. There is to be no mention of the legal status of the Hmong under the local or international law.

HMONG DEFENSE PLEADS FOR BAIL-Attorneys say there was no danger in the alleged plot by 11 to overthrow Lao government.
July 3,2007...Nine of the 11 are charged with conspiring to obtain missile systems designed to bring down aircraft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years. But the defense brief -- citing the affidavit filed by the undercover agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- said: "It was the government who suggested using explosives. It was the government who suggested using anti-tank rockets. And it was the government who suggested using Stinger missiles. ...

NEW US ENVOY TO LAOS HOPES FOR GREATER COOPERATION
July 2, 2007...Another sticking point has been the area of military cooperation. Nearly one year ago, the Lao defense minister (Major General Duangchay Phichit) rejected a U.S. proposal to expand military contacts between the two countries. The proposal included allowing American military medical teams to provide services in some Lao communities, and allowing U.S. military engineers to build schools, clinics and roads in Laos.

THAI AUTHORITIES CAN DO NO WRONG: MEDIA GUIDELINE
July 2, 2007...Moreover, the guideline said "The media must not say anything that could be deemed as an allegation to officials who take care of the camp, according to a military statement circulated to local media. Instead, the guideline encouraged the media to report on how the influx of Hmong refugees have affected Thai villagers in the area. It also said the media "shall refrain from reporting officials' bad treatment, if any, to the Hmong.

MISSING LAO HMONG GIRLS BACK IN THAILAND, LAO OFFICIAL SAY
June 30, 2007...Thai authorities deny having any knowledge² of what happened, he said. ³Of the 21 released to relatives [in Laos], eight are back in Thailand, [while] 13 remain in Laos with relatives. He called for all Lao Hmong in Thailand to be returned to Laos ³once and for all.²

THAILAND: FORCIBLE RETURNS OF LAO HMONG MUST END
JUNE 28, 2007...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.

BLIND JUSTICE FOR THE HMONG OF LAOS
JUNE 28, 2007...Though many younger Hmong-Americans are US college graduates today, the elders of Vang Pao's generation still don't speak fluent English. They don't know how to "read" the intentions or sincerity of mainstream Americans and they don't fully understand US government rules. Whether they have been smart to support and guide the resistance in Laos or not,  the Hmong-Americans are going to claim the right of ethnic self-defence against their old enemies. Who else would help the Hmong in Laos?

LEADERS IN VIETNAM AND CHINA ONLY SEE WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE
June 25, 2007... The current President of Vietnam, H.E Nguyen Minh Triet, spent last week in the United States transmitting a message of economic prosperity and growth for those that do business with Vietnam. But what he was told, by the President of the United States and several congressional leaders, was that he had to address what Amnesty International has called widespread abuse of human rights in Vietnam. ³Harassment and threats against leading dissidents increased and attempts were made to ensure that they could not meet or talk with foreigners,² Amnesty International reported on May 23, 2007.

THAILAND: 7000 HMONG RELOCATED
June 23, 2007...The new site is in Tambon Kheg-Noi, north of their previous site in Tambon Wang Ban in Khao Kho district. Of the 7,653 Laoborn Hmongs relocated, 40 per cent are children.

IF THEY WOULD SEE YOU, YOU WOULD DIE-Many Hmong Resettled in Madison After Fleeing Laos
June 22, 2007...Tzeng Lor, who left Laos in November of 2004, witnessed this development. ³They bulldozed through the jungle creating roads. On February 8, 2003, they came towards the area where our group of 205 families lived. They had already established military base camps. In addition, they brought airplanes that sprayed chemicals where we lived. Many of our group were killed, our plants destroyed.

HMONG HAUNTED BY HOMELAND PROTESTERS INSIST THEIR RELATIVES ARE BEING PERSECUTED IN LAOS
June 21, 2007...The United States has repeatedly tried to help, but the Lao government refuses any assistance, said Douglas Hartwick, the U.S. ambassador to Laos from 2001-04. The Lao government's position was, 'We do not have any people in the mountains, we have only bandits,' Hartwick said.

VANG PAO CASE BRIDGES HMONG GENERATIONAL DIVIDE
Jun 18, 2007....Younger Hmong Americans, with less connection to the history Vang represents, viewed his arrest with apathy or fear of being tarnished by association. One possible outcome may be something Vang Pao never achieved prior to his arrest‹a genuine dialogue between two very different generations. NAM commentator Mai Der Vang is a youth media coordinator in Fresno.

U.N. URGES THAILAND TO SUSPEND HMONG DEPORTATIONS
June 12, 2007...The United Nations on Tuesday urged Thailand to halt further deportations of ethnic Hmong to communist-run Laos until their claims for refugee status are individually assessed. Spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was troubled by the deportation of 161 Hmong over the weekend, noting that authorities ought to conduct screening interviews before repatriating any more of the 8,000 Hmong living in a makeshift northern Thailand camp.

US CRITICIZES THAILAND FOR DEPORTING HMONG TO LAOS
June 11, 2007...The United States on Monday criticized Thailand for deporting more than 160 ethnic Hmong back to Laos, saying it feared they might be persecuted in the communist state. "It is a generally recognized principle that no one with a genuine fear of persecution should be returned to a country where he or she might face mistreatment," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

THAILAND DEPORTS 163 ETHNIC HMONG ASYLUM-SEEKERS BACK TO LAOS
June 09, 2007...The group, whose information has proven to be reliable in the past, said when several Hmong began to fear on Wednesday that they would be repatriated, two of them < Lee Pao Vang, 37, and Wa Meng Lee, 35 < tried to kill themselves by taking poison, and that an unconfirmed report said one of them subsequently died.

THE HMONG STRUGGLE IN LAOS: FREEDOM FIGHTERS OR TERRORISTS?
June 8, 2007...in view of the proliferation of armed struggles and also the general ambience of fear that seems to have enveloped international society. This fear appears to have significantly reduced the possibility of hearing the voices of the oppressed, especially where they, in sheer desperation, turn to an armed struggle that may involve the use of terrorism.

ALLEGED PLOT - DOES IT STEM FROM INDIFFERENCE BY THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY TO ACT ON GENOCIDE IN LAOS?
June 8, 2007... We are deeply shocked, that our leader VP, and other prominent figures from the California-based Hmong community - disturbed by the plights of our people back home decided to take matters in their own hands, which led to their recent arrests, said Lia Vang, from Minnesota. It is terrible that after promoting peaceful resolutions they would feel so helpless by the indifference by the UN, US and other nations of the world -- that they would resort to violence.

LAOS MUST MAKE PEACE WITH HMONG
JUNE 7, 2007...More than three decades have passed since the end of the war and both the Lao government and the Hmong should put the painful chapter behind them. Latter generations of innocent Hmong should not be punished for the actions of their ancestors. Laos should learn to be at peace with itself.

OVERTHROW PLOT-LAOS LAUDS US MOVE TO STOP COUP
Laos yesterday welcomed US action against high-profile dissident Hmong lea-der Vang Pao and eight other Hmong who have been arrested on charges of plotting to overthrow the communist government in Vientiane.

DID HMONG CRISIS SPUR VANG PAO PLOT'?
Jun 5, 2007...The recent bilateral agreement by a Thai-Lao border committee last month - to forcibly return any new arrivals to Laos "no matter how many bullet wounds they have", as one sarcastic observer noted - was probably the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

NOMINEE TO BE AMBASSADOR TO THE LAO PEOPLES'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
Ravic R. Huso, Ambassador-Designate to The Lao People¹s Democratic Republic
Statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

STATEMENT OF RAVIC R. HUSO AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE TO THE LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
May 22, 2007...Porous borders and weak state institutions make Laos potentially vulnerable to terrorist activity. I will also urge the Lao government to work closely with the United States and other partner countries, as well as within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) framework, to take concrete measures to reduce the threat of international terrorists using Laos a base or a target for their crimes.

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS - CONVINCED THAT HUNTED LIKE ANIMALS CAPTURED THE REALITY
May 24, 2007...Sommer's advocacy film about the Hmong, called Hunted Like Animals was made originally for distribution to United Nations officials, who received a total of 1,300 copies.

HMONG LAO UPDATE: 21 HMONG LAO CHILDREN FOUND ALIVE; LAOS REFUSES TO RETURN THEM TO THEIR PARENTS
Apr 16, 2007... But fearing possible loss of control over what the children may say to the outside word, Laos now declines to return them to their parents residing in Thailand¹s refugee camp, according to US based Hmong Elder Lo Thao, from the Hmong 18 Clan Council.

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS Newsletter-Hmong Lao Refugee Camp
March, 2007...Are the Hmong groups rebels who refuse to yield to communist rule?

REPORTS OF NEW CHAMICAL POISON USED TO ELIMINATE THE HMONG HIDING IN JUNGLES OF LAOS
Mar 25, 2007...Vang added: ³The military usually attacks with a chemical poison against our people which is visible by a kind of smoke, but this chemical weapon was completely invisible to the Hmong group in hiding. When it must have been sprayed and contaminated the food and water, the group says that they did not see anything falling down from the airplane.²

VIETNAM'S POLITBURO CONTINUES TO OPPRESS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Febr 25, 2007...Hardliners in Vietnam's politburo in Hanoi are obsessed with punishing, oppressing and even eliminating peoples — such as the Khmer Krom, Montagnards and Hmong Lao, that aligned themselves more than 30 years ago with the United States during the Vietnam War.

GERMAN EUROPEAN UNION PRESIDENCY WELCOMES THAI DECISON NOT TO DEPORT HMONG REFUGEES
A statement on the EU's behalf from Germany, which holds the bloc's presidency, welcomed the decision and noted that most of those affected enjoy refugee status according to UNHCR procedures.

HMONG LAO REFUGEE DEPORTATION HALTED LAST MINUTE
Jan 31, 2007...the attempt to deport up to 150 Hmong Lao refugees from Thailand to Laos on Tuesday was stopped at the last minute after Thailand faced massive international protests.

PROTEST IN THAILAND SUCCESSFUL
Jan 30, 2007..."We are very relieved that the deportation has been stopped as the well - being or the lives of the refugees would have been endangered if they were sent back to Laos", explained the head of the Asia Department of STP-Germany, Ulrich Delius, on Tuesday, "It is a scandal how Thailand treats these Hmong who survived horrible atrocities in Laos."

SCREENING OF MOVIE SHOWS DARK SIDE
St.Paul - Dec 23, 2006 ... While visitors made their rounds at Saint Paul's Hmong New Year celebration, crowds gathered time and again to take in some powerful images from a new documentary that premiered at the event. Rebecca Sommer, a filmmaker from Germany showed "Hunted Like Animals" a film that shows the suffering of Hmong refugees hiding in the jungles of Laos.

HMONG FROM THE JUNGLE FORCIBLY REMOVED FROM BAN HUAY NAM KHAO REFUGEE CAMP IN THAILAND
Dec 22, 2006...Around noon on Thursday, Dec 20. 2006, more than 100 Hmong Lao refugees were quickly surrounded by the new Thai military commandant of the makeshift Hmong Lao refugee shelter camp near the border with Laos.

FILM ON HMONG LAO REFUGEES LAYS TO REST THAILAND AND LAOS MISINFORMATION
Dec 20, 2006...Lao refugees in Thailand reaching a crisis, Rebecca Sommer announced the early release of her human rights documentary ³Hunted Like Animals.²

Letter to the Editor-LAO HMONG REFUGEES FACE EXTREME DANGER IN LAOS IF DEPORTED FROM THAILAND
Dec 2006...They are part of the Hmong refugees in Thailand who fled in terror and fear after hiding in remote jungle areas in the mountains of Laos...

THAI AUTHORITIES PREPARED FRO DEPORTATION OF 152 HMONG LAO REFUGEES
Dec 9, 2006...Although UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) officials in Bangkok were confident that the deportation of 152 Hmong Lao refugees was suspended, Thai authorities nevertheless prepared yesterday night for their deportation.

HUNTED LIKE ANIMALS in St. Paul, MN
USA - Nov 23, 2006 ... "The Hmong Lao refugees showed great courage to stand in front of my video camera to send a message to the world. Now their voices are heard..."

LAOS: CRACKDOWN ON THE HMONG IN HIDING NEAR THE VIETNAMSE BORDER
Nov. 20, 2006...197 people — mostly women and children — of the ethnic Hmong group, known under the name of its main leader "Sai Ying Vang" surrendered during the attack, during which many Hmong people were killed...

LAOS: 438 HMONG REMOVED BY HELICOPTER AFTER THEY CAME OUT OF HIDING
November 17, 2006...Last October, a large group of desperate ethnic Hmong Lao decided to come out of hiding, after being chased and hunted for more than 30 years by Laotian and Vietnamese military.

LAOS, THAILAND NEGOTIATE FATE OF MORE THAN 8,300 HMONG LAO
Nov. 15, 2006 — Laos is changing its direction, with an announcement last week that it is willing to take the Hmong Lao refugees back, if they can verify that these Hmong are Laotians, Supreme military Commander Gen. Boonsang Niempradit told journalists in Bangkok, Thailand,...

LAOS: MILITARY TROOPS FAN OUT IN JUNGLES WHERE HMONG HIDE
Nov. 9, 2006...Large numbers of Laotian military forces are rapidly spreading out in alarming numbers into the remote areas where many thousand Hmong people live in hiding

438 HMONG VERSSCHWUNDEN UND MOGLICHERWEISE VERSCHLEPPT
27 October 2006..53 Familien mit insgesamt 438 Kindern, Frauen und Männer der ethnischen Gruppe der Hmong wurden ...

SFP NYC- PARALLEL SIDE EVENT DURING SECURITY COUNCIL SESSION AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Oct 25, 2006...In the United Nations Church Center, Hmong delegation with female Hmong eyewittness - who fled 3 years ago from a live-in-hiding, filmscreening of work-in-progress video HUNTED LIKE ANIMALS

FILMSCREENING OF HUNTED LIKE ANIMALS
USA - October 25, 2006...The screening and program will be in the United Nations Church Center, 12th floor, as part an awareness-raising side event on the Hmong Lao crisis...

438 HMONG LAO REMOVED BY HELICOPTER AFTER THEY CAME OUT OF HIDING
Oct 19, 2006...Our people who just surrendered, we know they are there...

FIVE FAMILIES OF 354 COME OUT, AFTER 30 YEARS HIDING AND RUNNING FROM LAOS MILITARY AGGRESSIONS
Oct 9, 2006...It was nearly midnight when Boua Xang from Milwaukee, WI, received a call on Oct. 6, 2006 from a part of the group of 354 Hmong who decided three days ago to come out of hiding in the jungle, after being chased and hunted.

DETAINED HMONG LAO REFUGEES FINALLY RELEASED FROM DARK, CROWDED THAI PRISONS
Oct 9, 2006...Three U.S.-based human rights activists — Xia Vang, Chue Hue Vang and Rebecca Sommer — discovered the shocking conditions of 240 ethnic Hmong detained refugees, most of them women and children, held in Thailand¹s prisons.

354 HMONG DECIDE TO COME OUT, AFTER 30 YEARS HIDING AND RUNNING FROM LAOS MILITARY: HUNTED, KILLED LIKE VERMIN
Oct 5, 2006... "We cannot hold on any longer, we have no choice. If we stay here, we will die," said Blia Shoua Her, the leader of his group of ethnic Hmong, which made headlines when on April 6, 2006, 26 of his group were reportedly.

REPORTS OF 19 HMONG STARVED TO DEATH IN LAOS
Sept 24, 2006...Yang Toua Thao, Hmong leader of a group of approximately 400 Hmong people living for more than 30 years hiding in the mountainous jungles of Laos, was crying desperately, when he finally reached Vaughn Vang by solar panel satellite telephone last Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006.

LES HMONG: NOUS SUPPLIONS LE MONDE ET L'ONU DE NOUS SECOURIR
Sept 23...Depuis 1975, les Hmong, peuple autochtone vivant dans les montagnes du Laos, sont traqués, persécutés, durement torturés puis tués par les forces armées laotiennes et vietnamiennes. Dans le cadre du groupe de travail sur les populations autochtones de l¹ONU, la société pour les peuples menacés a présenté un rapport et un film attestant des horreurs quotidiennes dont sont victimes les Hmong.

DETAINED HMONG LAO REFUGEES FINALLY SEE DAYLIGHT AFTER MONTHS IN DARKNESS
Sept 22, 2006... "They cried, and laughed, and cried again," said Xia Vang, who received the call from the detained refugees. "They said that in Lomsak prison, the women and children are now living in a house, allowed to go outside, only the men are still inside the prison."

REPORTS PRESS ERRORS IN CONTINUING SAGA OF HMONG DETAINEES IN THAILAND
Sept 17, 2006...Human rights activist Rebecca Sommer told HNN that the news report from the Associated Press (AP) regarding the 35 detained Hmong in Thailand is NOT true. Furnishes Copy of Letter to Thai Ambassador to U.S.

HMONG HEADLINES: FILM HUNTED LIKE ANIMALS
Sept 5, 2006...The film features interviews with Hmong refugees who accuse Lao troops of...

DOCUMENTARY HIGHLIGHTS PLIGHT OF HMONG AT PRESS CONFERENCE IN BANGKOK
Sept 5, 2006...Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees: After showing rough cuts of her documentary 'Hunted like Animals' at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, film maker Rebecca Sommer said...

GERMAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST REBECCA SOMMER DESERVES NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR WORK WITH HMONG REFUGEES
Sept 4, 2006...Sommer spoke at a Bangkok press conference after showing "rough cuts" from her forthcoming documentary "Hunted Like Animals" at the Foreign Correspondents Club. The film features interviews with Hmong refugees who accuse Lao troops of murder, gang rape and use of chemical weapons. It reportedly includes footage smuggled out of Laos by the Fact Finding Commission in recent months. She said the film stemmed from interviews with hundreds of people from the conflict zone.

PRESS CONFERENCE BANGKOK: PERSECUTED AND TREATED LIKE ANIMALS IN LAOS
Sept 2, 2006...Thailand was also condemned for brutal treatment of Hmong refugees since the beginning of this year, including the jailing of groups of 29 people and 51 people — mainly women and children — in "horrible conditions" in Phetchabun and Lomsak police station.

LAOS DENIES ATTACKS ON HMONG
Sept 1, 2006...The Lao government has dismissed charges of human rights abuses against ethnic Hmong, freshly detailed in a report and film made by a U.S. advocacy group. The film focuses on Hmong hiding in the mountains of central Laos' Xaysomboun ... The filmmaker, Rebecca Sommer, says the Lao government has a policy of...

LAOS AND THAILAND WERE THE SUBJECT OF SCATHING ATTACKS AT A PRESS CONFERENCE IN BANGKOK YESTERDAY OVER THEIR TREATMENT OF ETHNIC HMONG HILLTRIBE PEOPLE
Aug 31, 2006...Thailand was also condemned for brutal treatment of Hmong refugees since the beginning of this year, including the jailing of 29 people - mainly women and children - in "horrible conditions" in Phetchabun police station.

31 HMONG LAO REFUGEES NOT DEPORTED: ABANDONED AT LAOS BORDER
Aug 19, 2006...According to the Hmong 18 Council, a US-based advocacy organization contacted about the plight of the refugees, the 31 Hmong Lao were crowded onto a truck ...

WGIP: SIDE EVENT ON THE HMONG LAO, AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Aug 8, 2006...Ms. Rebecca Sommer gave an explanation on her film "Hunted like Animals." The 30-minute documentary began with a brief history of the Indigenous Peoples

U.N.-WORKING GROUP ON INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS IN GENEVA (31/7 - 4/8)
Aug 4, 2006...SIDE EVENT: Chemical weapons against the Hmong: "They hunt us like animals" — Report and documentary about the genocide committed by military forces in Laos.

Aug 2, 2006...HMONG LAO: L'ASSOCIAZIONE PER I POPOLI MINACCIATI (APM)
Agenti chimici contro i Hmong: "Ci danno la caccia come animali!" — Un rapporto e un documentario sui crimini delle forze di sicurezza in Laos

WRITTEN AND ORAL STATEMENT AT THE WGIP - U.N. GENEVA
Aug 2006..."I am Vaughn Vang, director of Hmong Lao Human Rights Council. Even so there are Hmong organizations here today that characterize our people in-hiding as "freedom-fighters" or "rebels", we want to stress the point very strongly, Mr. Chair, that the Hmong-in-hiding are not an armed resistance movement. They do NOT want to create a Hmong country, their goal is NOT to overthrow the Laotian government. Our people are trapped and surrounded by military forces, and they are simply hiding out of fear!"

RESPONSE TO THE STATEMENT MADE BY THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT AT THE U.N.
May 24, 2006...Lao Human Rights Council: The Vietnamese government publicly denied on 24 may, 2006 any military activities in Laos, or to conduct genocide against our people, the Hmong Lao-in-hiding. We further respond to the first statement by Vietnam, claiming that the Indigenous Representatives from Vietnam present at this Forum are "separatist movements." We fully support our indigenous brothers and sisters from Vietnam, which are as desperate as we are to help our people back home. We want to ensure that our people in Laos and Vietnam can enjoy basic human rights, freedom of religion, speech, language and their way of life. We do not promote "separation," we want to ensure that our trapped people are allowed to integrate into the main stream society without discrimination, intimidation or oppression.

WRITTEN AND ORAL STATEMENT AT THE PFII - U.N. NYC
May 23, 2006...During the 5th Session of the PFII at the U.N in NYC — Item 4b) Human Rights, with special emphasis on an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people. ...We hereby submit to you a FULL REPORT of 135 pages, on the situation of the Hmong Lao in the armed conflict area, and the refugees in Thailand, from the conflict area.

HMONG: AWARENESS-RAISING EVENT ON THE HMONG IN NYC
May 21, 2006..."Rebel groups" engaged in "active resistance" is what you have been told to believe. That is pure "spin", meant to create false impressions to allow the extermination of dwindling numbers of Hmong still hiding in the high mountain jungles of Laos. The purpose of this event is to reveal the truth: that Hmong Lao still hiding in the jungle today are desperate, hunted, starving survivors — most of whom have never even seen rice. Most of them born in the jungle and on the run, they have lived like hunted a nimals and have lived off roots and wild plants for as long as 30 years, while Laotian and Vietnamese armies have been working ceaselessly to exterminate them — using conventional weapons, including grenades and artillery, and unconventional ones, such as chemical weapons deployed by air.

 

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