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

News/Press

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.

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.

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.²

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
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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