Laos, Hmong Washington DC Events, Protest Rally, Urge End to Human Rights Violations
U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) introduced legislation, H.Res. 1273, earlier this year, which also appeals to the Royal Thai government to stop sending Hmong and Laotian refugees back to the communist regime in Laos that they have fled.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Washington, D.C., December 11, 2008 - The Embassy of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic ( LPDR ) in Washington, D.C. was rocked by a major demonstration on Saturday, December 6, by a coalition of Lao, Hmong and Southeast Asian human rights, student, religious, humanitarian and non-governmental organizations ( NGOs ).
Following the Laos Embassy demonstration, a special session of the Laos National Policy Conference was hosted in Washington, D.C. as well as follow-on meetings, from December 6-11, 2008, with community leaders, Members of Congress and U.S. policymakers about the human rights crisis in Laos and Thailand facing Laotian and Hmong refugees, political and religious dissidents, and asylum seekers. The national events in Washington, D.C. were concluded today.
Laos Embassy demonstrators urged the immediate release of all imprisoned Lao student leaders, Hmong refugees recently forcibly repatriated from Thailand and jailed in reeducation camps in Laos as well as political and religious dissidents. http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA260042000?open&of=ENG-LAO
The imprisonment, disappearance and summary execution of hundreds of Lao Hmong refugees recently forcibly repatriated from Ban Huay Nam Khao refugee camp in Petchabun Province, Thailand, back to the LPDR regime in Laos was also heralded in the protests. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA26/003/2007
Protesters from dozens of organizations swarmed the front of the Lao Embassy with signs, banners and bull-horns demanding an open society, political and economic change in Laos and an end to the corrupt rule of the one-party communist military dictatorship in the LPDR.
The Laos Embassy demonstrators decried the recent arrests, persecution and killings of Lao Buddhist and Lao-Hmong Animist and Christian religious believers by the Lao Army and security services.
The Laos and Hmong national events in Washington, D.C. were cosponsored by the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc. ( ULDL ), the Lao Hmong Students Organization, Lao Students Movement for Democracy, the Lao Veterans of America, the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council, Lao New Generation Democracy Movement, United Lao Movement for Democracy, the Vietnamese Community in America, the Center for Public Policy Analysis and other organizations and human rights and refugee advocates.
“We want an end to the corrupt military dictatorship in Laos and positive change toward an open society in Laos with the first step being the immediate and unconditional release of the Lao student leaders of the peaceful October 1999 pro-democracy demonstrations in Vientiane, Laos,” stated Bounthanh Rathigna, President of the ULDL.
Bounthanh Rathigna continued: “We also demand an end to the violation of international law by the LPDR regime that is now engaged in the barbaric mass starvation and killing of thousands of unarmed Laotian and Hmong civilians in Laos; We are protesting today to also demand an end to the widespread illegal logging in Laos by the Lao military and Vietnam’s military-owned companies that is deforesting the nation, destroying the environment and driving the highland peoples of Laos, including the Hmong off their homelands, who are being killed by the military generals in Hanoi and Vientiane for bloody profit and black money.” http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/aidoc/ai.nsf/Index/ENGASA260042004
“The Lao student leaders of the October 1999 anti-government demonstrations in Vientiane, Laos, should be released because they did nothing wrong and because they were advocating for political and economic change and reform in Laos; they should not continued to be imprisoned by the LPDR regime in Laos,” stated Thongchanh Boulum, Secretary of the ULDL.
Following up on recent horrific reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the New York Times and other independent sources, the Laos Embassy protestors also pressed the LPDR regime to stop the Darfur and Bosnia-like mass starvation and ethnic cleansing operations by the Lao military against thousands of unarmed Laotian and Hmong civilians in Laos which have resulted in atrocities, war crimes and the brutal deaths of countless women and children. http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA260022006?open&of=ENG-LAO http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGUSA20070323001
“Demonstrating in front of the Washington, D.C., embassy of the Lao People's Democratic Republic is an important reminder to the international community that the current government of Laos continues on its path of civil and human rights abuses against its own people while catering to tourists and potential investors,” stated Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee for her humanitarian and human rights work with Hmong and Laotian refugees.
Dr. Hamilton-Merritt is also a distinguished journalist, Southeast Asian historian, scholar and author of the book Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans and the Secret Wars for Laos ( Indiana University Press ). http://www.tragicmountains.org
“The demonstrators at the Lao embassy continue their tradition of not being silent about the suffering of their countrymen at the hands of the communist government of Laos,” Hamilton-Merritt continued. “They are paying attention and hoping that the world will take note as well.”
Publicizing human rights violations is the enemy of abuses, according to Aryeh Neier of Americas Watch. "Silence is acquiescence," he noted. "The worst abuses take place when no one is paying attention."
Following the Laos Embassy demonstration, a special session of the Laos National Policy Conference was hosted in Washington, D.C. as well as follow-on meetings, from December 6-11, 2008, with community leaders, Members of Congress and U.S. policymakers about the human rights crisis in Laos and Thailand facing Laotian and Hmong refugees, political and religious dissidents, and asylum seekers.
“Widespread human rights violations, systemic corruption by the LPDR regime, increased religious persecution and ethnic cleansing against Laotian and Hmong dissidents and civilian groups remain serious problems in Laos,” stated Philip Smith, Executive Director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Policy Analysis ( CPPA ) who was invited as one of the keynote speakers at the Laos Embassy demonstration and Laos National Policy Conference event.
“Many in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Congress are also concerned about the continued imprisonment in Laos of three Hmong American citizens from St. Paul, Minnesota, including Mr. Hakit Yang, who were arrested last year in Laos by Lao military and security forces and who have been jailed and held without charge by the LPDR regime,” Smith stated.
“Hakit Yang and the Hmong American men from St. Paul should be released by the Lao government from jail and allowed to return to join their families in St. Paul, Minnesota in time for Christmas and the New Year holidays since they have children and wives that are still waiting for them in the Twin Cities,” Smith concluded.
“Free, multi-party elections that are monitored by the international community are needed to help bring about change and reform in Laos,” stated Sangvane Phommachanh, Minnesota Chapter, President of the ULDL.
House Res. 1273, legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress which addresses the current human rights crisis in Laos and Thailand, and urges Laos to cease its military attacks on Hmong civilians was discussed. U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy ( D-RI ), U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf ( R-VA ), U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin ( D-WI ) and U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher ( R-CA ) introduced the bill earlier this year, which also appeals to the Royal Thai government to stop sending Hmong and Laotian refugees back to the communist regime in Laos that they have fled.
“The 7,000 Lao Hmong political refugees now detained in Huay Nam Khao, Petchabun Province and the 159 Hmong refugees who are being held in Nong Khai Detention Center, in Thailand and including those hiding in the jungle in Laos are our family members-- mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and children of the Lao and Hmong Diaspora and community in the United States,” said Vaughn Vang in a statement by the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council.
“The Hmong refugee crisis in Thailand and human rights abuses against the Hmong people in Laos are directly affecting the daily life of all the Hmong Diaspora and the majority of the community in the United States,” Vaughn Vang concluded.
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s ( SRV ) increased military intervention, occupation and economic exploitation of Laos and the recent deployment of thousands of Peoples’ Army of Vietnam ( PAVN ) troops to help the Lao Peoples Army hunt and kill thousands of unarmed Laotian and Hmong civilians in the Phou Bia and Phou Tha Phao was discussed.
In recent months, new LPDR military and security forces units, boosted by fresh battalions of PAVN troops from Vietnam, have deployed in Luang Prabang, Xieng Khouang, Vientiane Province and elsewhere in Laos to help eradicate and kill Hmong and Laotian civilians and dissident groups, including religious communities of Animists and Christians, suspected of living independently from the LPDR government or opposing the regime in Vientiane.
“The U.S. government should take very serious consideration about the new battalions of Vietnamese combat troops now being deployed in Laos to attack and kill the Laotian and Hmong people and oppress our human rights and religious freedom ,” stated Phousikeo Meunmany, a Laotian community leader from Rochester, New York, at the Laos National Policy Conference following the Laos Embassy protest.
High-level meetings between the defense ministries of Laos and Vietnam have intensified in recent months. LPDR and SRV military air and ground force operations in Laos have increased against Hmong and Laotian dissident groups in key provinces that have grown unstable and restive against the LPDR’s one-party rule and Vietnam’s military role in illegal logging and deforestation.
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