Chuck

Lao Minister Warns Hmong Returnees of Subversion
Thursday, 18 February 2010, 4:19 pm
Press Release: Hmong Advocate

Lao Defense Minister Warns Hmong Returnees of Subversive Elements

Last Saturday, the Lao Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Douangchay Phichit, paid a special visit to a group of 3000 Hmong returnees resettled in Phonkham village, Borikhan district, Borikhamxay province.

On February 15, the Lao government’s state-controlled newspaper Vientiane Times reported that the Defense Minister had called on faster progress in developing the resettlement village. The paper further stated that the 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.”

* “Hmong refugees to be resettled in 30 days” 28/01/2010
* Thailand To Deport More Hmong Refugees 12/01/2010
* Laos: Hmong Refugees Recently Forced Back To Laos. 05/01/2010
* Laos, Hmong Refugee Crisis 21/12/2009
* Laos, Hmong Refugee Crisis 09/12/2009

The Hmong returnees well understand this type of ambiguous language used by the Lao government. The term “subversive elements” refers to “General Vang Pao Hmong” or those who sided with the United States during the Vietnam War and who the Lao military continues to hunt down in remote jungle areas.
Earlier this year, western journalists had again visited remaining jungle groups in military-controlled Saysomboun Special Zone claiming that survivors reported recent Lao government attacks, which included the killing of an unarmed 14-year old boy who was out foraging for food. The Lao foreign ministry spokesperson continues to deny that any such jungle groups exist or that any such attacks take place. Instead, the government refers to these subversive elements as bandits.

Rather than continue to hunt down the small remaining group of starving Hmong in the jungle and threaten former General Vang Pao with a government death sentence if he ever thinks about returning to Laos, his home country, maybe the Lao government should point its finger at someone else. Instead of secretly kicking around these helpless Hmong and blaming their General Vang Pao for the mass U.S. bombings in Laos, why don’t you target those who should really be held accountable. How about former U.S Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the one many believe should be held accountable for the mass bombardment of civilians in Laos. Maybe that wouldn’t be politically correct now for the Lao government to direct its anger at such an obvious target after the U.S. just opened up a new Defense Attache Office there.

The Hmong returnees, many believed to be political refugees with legitimate asylum claims, were forcibly repatriated from Thailand to Laos on December 28, 2009. According to the U.S. Ambassador in Thailand, the Thai government had identified about 800 of these returnees as having legitimate protection concerns. The UNHCR had also recognized a group of 158 as being political refugees. Despite assurances from the foreign diplomatic community that these UNHCR-recognized refugees would have access to the UNHCR immediately upon their return to Laos and be allowed to resettle in third countries, they have been isolated and denied access from the outside world.

The Lao government has quite boldly stated that these UNHCR-recognized refugees are just illegal migrants who have broken Lao law by fleeing to Thailand. The Lao government has also stated that these Hmong have now decided to stay in Laos rather than resettle in a third country. At the same time, the government continues to deny UNHCR access to the group.

The Lao government threatens those who do not tow the government line. If they speak out then they are guilty of being manipulated by subversive elements. A Hmong refugee can just not win against the Lao government, especially when they are the whipping dog for something the U.S. government should be responsible for.

http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?id=10089&sec=1

Rights groups call for access to returned Hmong in Laos

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and 16 other rights groups on Monday urged Laos to give foreign observers access to thousands of ethnic Hmong expelled from Thailand.

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 recognized by the UN as refugees.

Bangkok sparked outrage in late December when it defied global criticism and used troops to forcibly repatriate about 4,500 Hmong from camps on the border with communist Laos.

“Given the difficulties faced by some prior Hmong returnees, we urge you to immediately allow unhindered and continuous access by UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations to all returnees to ensure that the treatment of the returnees is in accordance with international standards,” said the letter, whose signatories included Sam Zarifi of London-based Amnesty and Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch, based in the United States.

Amnesty has alleged that other forcible repatriations of Hmong to Laos from Thailand since 2005 led to “enforced disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention”.

Granting international access to the Hmong “would likely help assure the international community and the United Nations about your government’s stated intentions to respect their rights,” the letter said.

Laotian government spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing was not immediately available to comment.

He has said the international community has “nothing to worry about”, and all of the Hmong have been returned to their original homes or resettled in new villages.

A diplomatic source said last week there had been no reports of mistreatment, although some returnees had complained about living conditions in the new villages.

US congressmen who visited Laos said they saw no sign the Hmong were ill-treated.

Thailand and Laos both say the Hmong, who feared persecution because they fought alongside US forces in the Vietnam War, were illegal economic immigrants.

Joint Communique Condemning the Visit of Thai Army Chief of Staff Anupong Paochinda to Washington, D.C.
February 13, 2010 Khampoua Naovarangsy Leave a comment Go to comments
Thailand, Laos Crisis: Anupong Paochinda’s Shameful, Grotesque Visit to Washington, America Condemned
“We condemn in the strongest terms the despotic and unnecessary brutality of General Anupong Paochinda in forcing back thousands of defenseless and innocent Lao Hmong men, women and children,” said Philip Smith of the CPPA in Washington, D.C. “Anupong’s brutal efforts to use the Royal Thai Army against peaceful people living in Thailand, including ordinary Thai citizens as well as Karen, Burmese and Laotian refugees has gone too far.”
(Media-Newswire.com) – Washington, D.C., New York and Bangkok, Thailand – The Center for Public Policy Analysis ( CPPA ) and a coalition of Lao and Hmong organizations and advocates have issued a joint international communique condemning the visit of Thailand’s Army Chief-of-Staff, Anupong Paochinda ( AKA Anupong Paojinda ) and defense officials from the Administration of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, to the United States following his brutal mass forced repatriation to Laos of thousands of Lao Hmong refugees last year.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the despotic and unnecessary brutality of General Anupong Paochinda, and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, in forcing back thousands of defenseless and innocent Lao Hmong men, women and children,” said Philip Smith of the CPPA in Washington, D.C. “General Anupong’s grotesque and ill-timed visit to Washington, D.C. is shameful and inappropriate; Anupong should receive zero additional funding for U.S. military assistance or training in light of his brutal acts against the freedom loving and peaceful people living in Thailand, including ordinary Thai citizens, Lao Hmong refugees, Karen and Burmese asylum seekers and others. In fact, it would be most helpful if General Anupong would stay in Thailand where he seems determined to nravely deploy the Army against its own unarmed and peaceful people and others seeking freedom and human rights in Thailand.”
http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

“Unfortunately, in turning a deaf ear to the international community, Members of the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament, General Anupong seems to have done more to harm and damage U.S.-Thailand relations that any other single Thai leader in the history of this important relationship,” Smith said. “Why would General Anupong willfully defy the many international appeals by Members of Congress and others to His Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand, about granting the Lao Hmong refugees asylum until they could be resettled abroad ?”

“We condemn General Anupong’s visit to the United States after what he done to the Lao Hmong refugees in Thailand and we urge that no money be given by the Congress to General Anupong in light of the terrible human rights violations he has committed against refugees in Thailand, including the Burmese and Karen,” said Vaughn Vang of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council.
http://www.laohumanrightscouncil.org

The following is the text of the joint international communique:

Joint Communique Condemning the Visit of Thai Army Chief of Staff Anupong Paochinda to Washington, D.C.

February 12, 2010
—-

We condemn in the strongest terms, the deplorable and bloody actions of General Anupong Paochina, in forcing, from 2007-2009, over 8,000 Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers from Thailand to the authoritarian regime in Laos they fled, including some 4,700 he is responsible for forcing back on December 28 of last year. As a Laotian and Hmong refugee predator, and egregious human rights violator, General Anupong, used thousands of Thai Army troops against unarmed and peaceful Lao and Hmong women, children, elderly and persecuted refugees, including those who fled political and religious persecution under the communist regime in Laos. General Anupong is a Laotian and Hmong refugee predator who has preyed upon the innocent.

The Lao and Hmong people have been essential in the defense of the United States and the Kingdom of Thailand’s national security interests, during the Vietnam War and its aftermath. They are important today.

General Anupong has engaged in a pattern of propaganda and distortions to seek to cover-up his violations of the human rights against many of the people of the Kingdom of Thailand, including the Lao, Hmong, Karen and Burmese refugees who have sought political asylum in Thailand.

Therefore, unfortunately, we must condemn General Anupong’s visit to Washington, D.C. and to the Pentagon and other U.S. government departments. We reject, as illegitimate, any potential meeting with U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George Casey, Jr. and urge General Casey to communicate to General Anupong America’s serious concerns about his abuse of Lao Hmong refugees and others in Thailand.

American cannot, and must not, support despotic military leaders in Thailand such as General Anupong who deploy armed soldiers to abuse innocent and peaceful people in the Kingdom of Thailand.

General Anupong’s propaganda and abuses against the Thai, Lao, Hmong, Karen and Burmese and others in Thailand, raises very serious questions about his methods and conduct in the provinces of Southern Thailand and potential human rights violations and potential abuses there that will not serve the interests of the national security of Thailand or the United States. Any use of the Thai Army to brutalization civilians, villagers, peaceful demonstrators and ordinary Thai citizens as well as refugee populations in Thailand does not serve the interests of the Royal Thai Army, the Kingdom of Thailand, the United States or the international community.

General Anupong has discredited himself in the eyes of the international community and the Laotian and Hmong-American community in the United States.

General Anupong’s visit to the United States is disgraceful, highly shameful and inappropriate at this time given his violent role in violation of international refugee and humanitarian law and against innocent Lao and Hmong asylum seekers.

Members of the U.S. Congress and the international community have repeatedly appealed to His Majesty, the King of Thailand, the grant the Lao Hmong refugees political asylum in Thailand so that they could be humanely screened and resettled in third countries that have agreed to take them, including Canada, Australia, France, New Zealand, the Netherlands and others. General Anupong ignored the wishes of His Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand, who has always shown the utmost compassion toward the Lao Hmong refugees, and worked to protect and grant asylum to them in Thailand because of their historic role in defending the national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Laos and the Kingdom of Thailand.

U.S. military assistance, and military training assistance, to the Thai Army, as recently suggested by Senator Patrick Leahy and other Members of Congress, should be closely reviewed and sharply cut, until such time as General Anupong, resigns his post in Thailand, or is appropriately removed from office, for his brutal actions against Laotian and Hmong refugees as well as Karen and other Burmese asylum seekers.

In the event of a coup against General Anupong in Thailand during his visit to the United States, he should not be granted asylum in the United States because he boldy and willfully refused the appeals of the international community to grant 8,000 Lao Hmong refugees mercy and political asylum in Thailand and instead forced America’s former allies back to the communist regime in Laos they fled.

The budget for the annual joint “Cobra Gold” military exercise with the Royal Thai Armed Forces, the United States and its allies, should be sharply scaled back this year by the United States and Pentagon in light of General Anupong and the Thai Armed Forces he deployed.

No more U.S. taxpayers’ supplied and funded US-made M-16 automatic rifles, or military hardware and training should be provided to General Anupong, since he has ulitized them in Thailand against innocent and defenseless people, including the 4,700 Lao Hmong men, women and children he forced back to Laos in December of last year without compassion or mercy.

General Anupong has brought shame on the reputation of the Armed Forces of Thailand and the Thai Army in utilizing them against ordinary and most vulnerable of people in the Kindgom of Thailand, including the thousands of Hmong refugees he forced back to Laos. His visit to Washington, D.C., at this time is shameful and disgraceful.

Heaven and earth appear to have appropriately also shown their fury and disapproval of General Anupong’s visit to Washington, D.C., and his forced repatriation of Lao Hmong refugees, by unleashing a Siberian winter upon him and dumping over three feet of snow and ice upon his Thai Army delegation’s heads. Providentially, most of General Anupong’s meetings in Washington, D.C., were appropriately canceled in a massive bombardment of snow and ice the likes of which have not struck the area for over 100 years. The fury of this epic ice and snow storm are but a fraction of the anger and condemnation that the Lao and Hmong-American community wishes to express and communicate in opposition to General Anupong’s visit to the United States and his grotesque appeals for more U.S. funding for his brutal actions against peaceful people and refugees, like the Lao Hmong, living in the Kingdom of Thailand.

—

Issued by the Center for Public Policy Analysis and a coalition of Lao and Hmong non-governmental and non-profit organizations, including:

Lao Hmong Human Rights Council, United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc., Hmong Advance, Inc., Hmong Advancement, Inc., Lao Institute for Democracy, Lao Hmong Veterans, Laotian Community of Washington, D.C. and Virginia, Lao Hmong Community of Minnesota, Laotian Community of New York, Lao Community of Texas, Lao Hmong Community of California, North Carolina Laotian and Hmong Community Association, Michigan Hmong and Lao Community Group, Hmong and Lao Community of Rhode Island, Lao and Hmong Community of Florida, Laotian Community of Louisiana, Georgia Lao Hmong Community Group, and others.

###

Contact: Juan Lopez or Maria Gomez

info

Tele. ( 202 ) 543-1444

CPPA – Center for Public Policy Analysis

2020 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite No. # 212
Washington, DC 20006

http://wwww.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

Links and sources are at the bottom of the article…

Laos, Vietnam Peoples Army Unleashes Helicopter Gunship Attacks on Laotian and Hmong Civilians, Christian Believers
“Helicopter gunship attacks have intensified against Lao Hmong villagers and civilians in Laos, including enclaves of Hmong Protestant Christian, Catholic and Animist believers who have fled to the jungle and mountains…,” said Philip Smith of the CPPA in Washington, D.C.

(Media-Newswire.com) – Washington, D.C., and Bangkok, Thailand, February 10, 2010 – The Lao Peoples Army ( LPA ), backed by troops and advisers from the Vietnam Peoples Army ( VPA ), has launched heavy military attacks to seek to eliminate remaining Laotian and Hmong civilian and dissident groups in hiding in Phou Bia and Phou Da Phao mountain areas, and elsewhere in Laos. Many of those targeted include independent Christian and Animist enclaves of Hmong believers hiding in the jungle.

The Lao Peoples Democratic Republic ( LPDR ) is a one-party, authoritarian, military regime that still remains largely under the domination and control of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( SRV ). The LPDR is a close ally of Burma and North Korea. Last year, the LPDR regime in Laos held ceremonies honoring North Korea and its leaders.

“Relentless military attacks against Laotian and Hmong civilians as well as political and religious dissident groups have again been intensely launched at Phou Da Phao and Phou Bia Mountians areas of Laos and in other areas of Xieng Khouang Province, Luang Prabang Province and Khammoune Province with apparently no fear of international interference or consequences,” said Vaughn Vang of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council ( LHHRC ).

“Very intense military attacks by the LPDR regime have occurred since the February 2-10, 2010 against many unarmed Laotian and Hmong groups in hiding in Laos,” Vang explained.

“Reliable sources report that Lao Hmong groups in the remote mountainous areas of Phou Bia, Phou Da Phao, Xieng Khouang Province and Saysamboune Laos have been heavily attacked with significant numbers of LPA and VPA ground troops, mortars, artillery, helicopter gunships and chemical defoliants and other lethal means,” Vang said.

“Currently, the Hanoi-backed Lao government has deployed hundreds of new LPA and VPA troops to launched a merciless and brutal multi-pronged attack against the remaining 4,500-5000 Lao Hmong people who comprise the surviving civilian and religious and political dissident groups still encircled, or in hiding, in the Phou Bia and Phou Da Phao mountain areas of Laos as well as other areas of Saysamboune Special Military Zone and Xieng Khouang Province,” said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis ( CPPA ) in Washington, D.C.

Smith stated further: “In the recent joint Lao – Vietnam military offensive, over 42 Lao Hmong civilians were wounded or killed, with more casualty numbers coming in. Of these people 19 dissident Hmong Protestant and Catholic believers were shot, machine-gunned to death, or slaughtered, by attacking VPA and LPA soldiers as well as helicopter gunships.”

Smith continued: “Helicopter gunship attacks have intensified against Lao Hmong villagers and civilians in Laos, including enclaves of Hmong Protestant Christian, Catholic and Animist believers who have fled to the jungle and mountains because of persecution and to practice their faith and live in freedom outside of the Lao government’s control.”

“LPA and VPA forces are hunting, encircling and attacking Lao and Hmong civilian groups hiding in the jungles and mountains of Laos in an effort to kill, starve them to death, or capture them. Attacks are also now occurring in Xieng Khouang Province, Saysamboune Special Military Zone as well as parts of Vientiane Province, Luang Prabang Province Khammoune Province and elsewhere in Laos,” Smith explained. “Many hundreds of Lao and Hmong people were killed and wounded last year alone by LPA and VPA attacks.” http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1095620.html

“With the help of more troops and military advisers from Hanoi, the LPA continues to use food, and starvation, as weapons against the Laotian and Hmong people living outside of the government’s oppressive control,” Smith concluded.

“The Lao and Vietnam joint military assault, with its most recent offensive and attacks, is seeking to wipe out, starve to death, kill or capture all of these innocent Lao Hmong women, children, elderly, and other civilians in February and March,” Vaughn Vang continued.

“The Lao military, with the help of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is again using its soldiers and helicopters to attack and kill many innocent people and civilians, including those independent Lao and Hmong Christian, Catholic, Animist and Buddhist believers who have fled religious persecution to live in the jungles and mountains of Laos,” Vang said.

Vang concluded: “These 4,500-5000 Laotian and Hmong people in hiding, who are now under intense military attack, are desperately crying out for what could be their last opportunity to appeal for an immediate end to these military attacks on civilians by the Armed Forces of Laos and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; The Laotian and Hmong people are appealing for assistance from the United States, United Nations, United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the European Union, and others in the international community to seek to end to the LPA’s military aggression and stop these atrocities and human rights and religious freedom abuses; They are urgently appealing to the international community and human rights and humanitarian organizations to help save their lives– and to help save them from religious and political persecution, torture, and death at the hands of the Lao Communist government and LPA and VPA soldiers.”

In 2004, the U.S. Congress passed H. Res. 402 urging the LPDR regime in Laos to cease military attacks against the Lao and Hmong people.

On November 26, 2009, the European Parliament urged the LPDR regime in Laos to release all political prisoners, dissidents and prisoners of conscience it has arrested and imprisoned, including Lao student leaders and a group of Laotians arrested on November 2, 2009, for seeking to organize a reform march.http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/12936-1259340801-ep-thailand-urged-to-free-hmong-refugees-laos-urged-to-free-students.html
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/10856-1257565794-laos-vietnam-crisis-activists-moblize-for-human-rights-religious-freedom-before-sea-games.html

Following the conquest and occupation of Laos in 1975 by the North Vietnamese military and communist Pathet Lao guerillas, Hanoi imposed the East Bloc, Soviet-style “Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation” on Laos. The SRV military-imposed Treaty was renewed by Hanoi and Vientiane and serves as a pretext for Hanoi’s continued military, security force and economic intervention in the LPDR in Laos.

Vietnam military-owned companies continue to exploit Laos’ natural resources, including large-scale illegal logging in provinces where Hmong and other minority Laotian people live. The LPA and VPA continue to use military force to evict and drive Laotians and Hmong from their homelands, often for the purpose of military-backed illicit logging, illegal mining, agriculture schemes and hydro-electric projects.

LPA and VPA troops were recently involved in evicting and forcing ordinary Laotians from their land and property in Vientiane Province to make way for a golf course project.

In 2009, high-level SRV and LPDR defense ministry meetings were held. The LPA and VPA also held numerous meetings in Vientiane, Hanoi and elsewhere to discuss joint military cooperation and operational activity in Laos. Various military campaigns and operations were jointly conducted by Laos and Vietnam with hundreds of civilians killed and wounded.
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1094929.html
http://www.vietnamhumanrights.net/website/MNW_040209.htm
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/10907-1257617640-mortars-slam-jungle-enclaves-in-laos-killing-wounding-6-hmong.html

The SRV in Hanoi has intensified its attacks on religious believers in Vietnam and Laos, including Hmong Christians and Catholics as well as independent Buddhists.

Vietnamese Hmong Catholics and Protestant believers, with relatives in Laos, have participated in demonstrations against SRV communist party policies in Hanoi. The SRV has violently responded to peaceful protests in Hanoi and Vientiane against reformers and those opposed to the policies of the one-party, Communist ruling elite. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Hanoi%E2%80%99s-Catholics-continue-protests-defying-the-government%E2%80%99s-ultimatum-11365.html
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13246
http://www.vietcatholicnews.com/News/Html/59371.htm

The SRV in Vietnam has used state media to attack Hmong Protestant Christian and Catholic believers.
http://vietcatholic.net/News/Clients/ReadArticle.aspx?ID=58576

In a separate incident that drew international condemnation and outcry,on December 28, 2009, Thailand’s Army General Anupong Paochinda ( also spelled Anupong Paojinda )and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, forcibly repatriated some 4,700 Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers from Thailand back to the communist regime in Laos they fled.
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/17395-1263356748-laos-secret-jails-and-camps-minnesota-hmong-appeal-for-families-us-citizens-jailed-in-gulag-system.html
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/16061-1262102519-laos-general-involved-with-atrocities-war-crimes-denials-against-hmong-in-charge-of-repatriation-resettlement.html

http://www.cathnewsasia.com/2010/02/09/thai-catholic-agency-blocked-from-access-to-hmong-refugees/

Great to hear from you here. I know the Hmong as well as so many Vietnamese as well as our own American brothers and sisters as well as our allies are all on your mind and part of your work. Will email you separately as well.

Semper Peace!
Chuck

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.
Hmong refugees sit inside a Thai police truck during an operation to deport thousands of ethnic Hmong asylum-seekers to Laos in December. (Photo: Reuters)

Using a secret network of undercover researchers called “blackbirds,” the FFC were able to get confirmation on Tuesday morning about the group’s imprisonment.

“We received confirmation from our contact that around 50 leaders have been imprisoned,” said Bhou Than of the FFC.

“We are very concerned about what is happening to them and expect that more will face similar detention in the coming months.”

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Amnesty International confirmed that one group has been separated from other returnees and expressed concern about their treatment by the Laos government.

“We are aware that some of the leaders have been separated from the group, taken out of Vientiane and remain unaccounted for,” said Benjamin Zawacki, a Bangkok-based researcher for Amnesty.

“Our primary concern for them is torture, which we know is often employed in Laos’ prisons and could be used as a punitive measure for them bringing shame to Laos or for information gathering.”

He went on to add that Thailand has not only broken refugee law by expelling the Hmong but has also gone against the UN treaty against torture, which Thailand has signed and ratified.

“Under that treaty they are obliged not to send anyone back to a country where they are at risk of torture,” he said.

In an opinion piece published in the Bangkok Post on Jan. 13, the US Ambassador to Thailand, Eric John, said the Thai authorities said they had conducted their own screening process and 800 of the Hmong refugees were identified as having protection concerns and “should not be returned involuntarily.”

However, the names of these people were never handed over to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) or any potential resettlement country, John said, and “the lack of transparency during the repatriation process made it impossible to determine if the return was voluntary.

“The US was disappointed at the Thai decision to deport 4,689 Laotian Hmong asylum seekers back to Laos on Dec. 28, 2009, despite clear indications that some in the group required protection,” John said.

One thousand of the refugees are reported to have been allowed to return to their villages and stay with their relatives. However, the remaining returnees are thought to be held in “camps” around Laos, according to eyewitnesses.

According to an undercover FFC researcher who recently made a clandestine trip to one of the camps in Phak Beuk, three thousand are being held there in terrible conditions.

“Our researcher went to the camp yesterday and told me that the people are only receiving small amounts of rice,” Bhou Than told The Irrawaddy.

“They aren’t being given any medicine, no clothes, no shelter, no doctors and he told us that 500 are sick with malaria…they are just living on the ground and being controlled by Lao soldiers with AK47s—we are very concerned by this news.”

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald on Jan. 12, reporters approached a camp at Paksan on the Mekong River, where “hundreds of Hmong hilltribes people stood barefoot in the dirt behind three metres of razor wire as loudspeakers ordered them to move away from the gate.”

“Blue tarpaulins blocked much of the view of the camp, but the tops of scores of tents could be seen in close rows. No grass or paved areas could be seen, and there appeared to be no permanent buildings,” the Herald said, adding that the reporters were escorted from the camp and told not to return.

Despite the information leaking out of Laos, the communist regime continues to claim that the refugees are being treated well.

When the Lao Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Phongsavath Boupha met with ambassadors from the European Union, US and Australia on January 15, he told them the government had provided them with food, clothing and medicines.

“The government’s long-term plan was to build a house for each family and allocate land for farming activities,” Phongsavath said, according to the Vientiane Times, a government mouthpiece.

Although the UNHCR continues to be denied access to the returnees, three US congressmen including Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao of New Orleans visited Pha Lak, a separate camp south of Paksan and reported that the Hmong were being treated well.

Human rights groups have blasted their remarks, however, as being insensitive to the returnees and claimed their trip was staged by the Laos government.

“Their visit was nothing close to human rights monitoring,” said Joe Davy, a Hmong advocate in Chicago, who spoke to The Irrawaddy by phone.

“The Laos government told the refugees what to say before they arrived. There’s no way they would speak out and criticize the government for their living conditions. They’ve already seen how powerless the US is to help them so why would they speak out now and risk their lives?”

Responding on Thursday to the criticisms, which she described as unfounded and unfair, Cao spokeswoman Princella Smith said: “Accusations that Congressman Cao is insensitive to the needs of refugees or is somehow insensitive to victims of government abuse and persecution are not only wrong but absurd.”

Although most refugees came from Huay Nam Khao camp, one group of major concern for the UNHCR consists of 158 returnees (including 87 children) who, until they were sent back, were being held at an immigration detention center in Nong Khai on the border with Laos.

US Ambassador John said the refugees, who were detained for more than three years in the center, had been screened by the UNHCR prior to their detention and determined to have refugee status and were recognized as “Persons of Concern.”

The US was financing the care of the refugees while they were in detention in Thailand, John said, and the US and other countries were prepared to consider appropriate cases for resettlement in third countries.

“All the refugees we interviewed in Nong Khai told us on Dec. 28 that the did not wish to return to Laos, clearly indicating the return was involuntary,” John said.

http://www.unpo.org/content/view/10585/81/

Do Not Lose Hope!

Semper Peace!
Chuck

I urge you to call and write to your congressional representatives immediately. Here is an article that I just read – a few days old, but the author as well as several US Congressmen and Senators share the same concerns as w do:

Deported from Thailand to Laos, Ethnic Hmong raise concern among members of congress

Wisconsin lawmakers and other members of Congress are concerned about the safety of ethnic Hmong recently deported from Thailand to Laos.

Reps. Steve Kagen, D-Appleton, and Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, and Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl joined several of their House and Senate colleagues in signing letters to the deputy prime minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, calling for humane treatment of the returnees.

On Dec. 28, the Thai government repatriated more than 4,000 Lao Hmong who had been living in refugee camps. Human rights groups condemned the deportation, fearing that many of the Hmong would be persecuted by the communist Lao government.

The Hmong aided the United States in the Vietnam War and Secret War in Laos.

“As you know, the United States shares a unique history with the Hmong people,” said the Jan. 13 letter signed by Kagen, Kind and 10 other House members. “As such, many members of the U.S. Congress are troubled by the sudden, mass-repatriation of the Lao Hmong.”

The lawmakers urged the Lao government to allow the United Nations and other agencies access to the returnees to assess their well-being.

Both the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees and the U.S. State Department have condemned the forced return of Lao Hmong and have urged the Lao government to admit international monitors.

Vaughn Vang, director of the Lao Human Rights Council in Green Bay, said Hmong living in the United States and other countries are afraid that many returnees will be tortured and subject to other abuse.

“We are very scared there will be state persecutions,” Vang said.

“Not now, because the international eye is watching, but in the next three months, (the returnees) will slowly begin to disappear.”

and the link to the story:
http://www.unpo.org/content/view/10613/81/

SOLDIER IN THE RAIN

I’m just a soldier who stands in the rain
My memories of home are what keep me sane.
Back home is a land of milk and honey
Ruled by lust and love of money.

But, what can I say, when I serve her true
For I volunteered to see this war through.
Now, that I’m here, it’s hard to believe
We’re just the victims of those who deceive.

As darkness falls on the rice fields of Nam
Scared men with rifles walk the shadows of the calm.
It’s thousands of miles to the steps of my church
With its stained glass, steeples and lost souls who search.

Off in the distance I see an arc light
Bombs being dropped on children at night.
I’ve seen that evil they call the yellow rain
And how life withers when it’s sprayed by a plane.

All of my buddies have been taken away
No more touch football will they ever play.
Zipped in their body bags for the long trip home
Are some of the bravest, I’ve ever known.

War is a hell, devised by man
There’s death in the sea, the sky and the land.
Lord, I can’t help but wish I were home
Back with my love, whom I hope is alone?

DADS AT WAR

Where would I be without you dad
My hero of night and day
I’m so glad you love my mother
And think of us when you pray

The last time we had Christmas
You reached for me with your hand.
I looked at you, then made a wish
That I might be just half the man.

I love my father of this earth
And I love my father of heaven.
It’s a lot for me to love, you know
For I’m only eleven.

Mom and I sure miss you
Since you left to defend our flag.
When others ask, where is your dad
I can’t help but boast and brag.

BULLETS AND BARBWIRE

We awoke to the crack of rifle fire
With mortar rounds hitting the ground near by.
The flying shrapnel was absorbed by sand bags
Which saved lots of us who wished not to die.

The hot spent shell casings fell to the ground
As the VC charged our fortified hill.
We killed so many the stench made us sick
While we fought to live and not for a thrill.

Barbwire, bullets and clay-mores took their toll
As red and green tracers lit up the sky.
Before long I was the last GI left
When napalm caused my enemy to fry.

Fleeing the sound of our choppers gunfire
The enemy retreated to the caves and trees.
Then I cried, “thank you ” to heaven above
As I checked out my buddies on my knees.

Somehow I managed to survive the day
Though many I’ve served with names I have read
Carved in the shinny black stone of The Wall
Are my comrades of war, among the dead.

By Soldier For The Lord
Tom Zart
Most Published Poet
On The Web

After knowing that a faction of the students on campus was prone to switch side to them, they showed up on campus more often. They wanted to use the students to rally against the royal officials. I joined many of the discussions. Their languages were enjoyable and sounded very interesting. One thing that I can never forget was: “We will make sure all citizens have equal opportunities and can live peacefully under our New and Fresh Regime.” Guess how long that lasted? Not even three months. By the time I realized that their languages were none other than fake ones, dictatorship was in place. No gatherings of three persons or more were allowed on campus. One held anywhere on campus would be interrupted. (interruption could mean shooting). Even so, they still claimed that the Pathet Lao party was the most democratic one among all. After nearly four decades, what can the Pathet Lao do for Laos? In 1997, I went back to visit my school campus. The old auditorium where those so-called revolutionary fils were shown was about to fall apart and was a cow stable. I knew the Pathet Lao’s languages from the day that party stepped in power to the day I went back to visit Laos in 1997 did not mean anything. Listening to their lies then and now, we all know that the Pathet Lao’s languages are so unreliable. They talk one thing and take actions on the opposite. That is why they don’t like the Hmong because Hmong love honesty, truth and sincerity.

Many thanks for your remarks and thank you for remembering the services provided by the Hmong to you. I think only people like you know the Hmong best, know how friendly they are, how much they love and save life. You might remember that each time an American pilot was downed, whether it was inside North Vietnam or along the Ho Chi Minh Trail inside Laos, forty to fifty Hmong sacrificed their safety and lives to save that one American. Many attempts failed because the rescuers had been ambushed and killed before their reached their targets. Young Hmong died in high tolls for their rescue assignments. To that extent, the Hmong can still qualify for more helps from the US nowadays. Thank you.

I am concerned as the rest of the Hmong People – living in the US, other countries, but I am especially concerned about their removal from Thailand and re-entry to Laos. The Hmong’s, in my experience, were and are a brave people that believed the lies the Americans, especially the CIA told them. They were made promises that the US never intended to keep. As I shared a story about a close friend, I can share my own stories as well – being a combat Marine and part of a unit that searched for, found and destroyed the enemy SAM sites, I wouldn’t be here today writing this if it weren’t for your people. I thank you and I appreciate all you did, even though the US has turned it’s back on you. I can only hope and pray that the genocide will not restart and your civilization will continue to thrive through out the years. As with the US, the Laotian, nor the Thai are to be trusted.

Remain hopeful, stay safe and thank you for saving me and so many other Americans. What has happened to the Hmong is a travesty – the closest I can compare it to is what happened under Hitler’s rule during WWII, and of course, what happened to the Cambodians during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

It is up to all of us to remind the world what happened to the Hmong – and support them as best as we can. Let us not allow yet another civilization to be eradicated as a result of false promises and hope. Especially, so called “ethnic cleansing”.

Thank you again!

Semper Peace!
Chuck

Let me tell you a short story. I was old enough to remember living in Long Tieng so-called “Spook Heaven” with my parents. My father was a medic and his order is to be with the soldiers in the frontline, treating thousands of wounded combat troops. It was an ugly scene. Nobody likes war and when there’s war, there’s casualties. And the Hmong understand this very clearly. But the Hmong have a job to do, to defend freedom for their people and protect American lives in the jungle of northern Laos. The Hmong did their job. Whole villages wiped out and thousands killed. Most are elderly and children. When the American became our allies, we also became the target. When the Americans left Laos, the Lao soldiers promised us to return to our village to live a normal life. They promised us to give our land back. That’s not what happened. Months went by, people have disappeared. Many were taken to unknow locations only to be imprisoned or executed. One of my relatives along with a group of young men was executed when they refused to go to these so-called “secret camps”.
The whole point of the story is we know the tactics of the Lao government very well and we’re not going to fall into their traps again. Getting a goat to cross the river is probably easier than getting a Hmong to live under a communist regime.

Thanks for reading.