Laos: Persecution of Lao Hmong Christians, Animists, Buddhist Dissident Believers Intensifies

Monday, November 30, 2009

The persecution, imprisonment and killing of minority Christians and independent Animist and Buddhist believers who seek to worship in freedom outside the control of the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR) government’s control in Laos has intensified. Laos is slated to host the South East Asia Games ( SEA Games ) in December.

Luang Prabang and Vientiane, Laos and Washington, D.C., November 29, 2009

The persecution, imprisonment and killing of minority Christians and independent Animist and Buddhist groups who seek to worship in freedom outside the control of the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR) government’s control in Laos has intensified.

Release International, Open Doors, Compass Direct, International Christian Concern, Persecution International, Human Rights Watch for
Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF), Christian Aid, Voice of the Martyrs, Barnabas Fund, the Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR), the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council (LHHRC), the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), United League for Democracy in Laos (ULDL), Hmong Advance, Inc. (HA), Hmong Advancement, Inc. (HAI), Lao and Hmong student organizations, the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) and others have documented the upswing in efforts by the LPDR to use its military and security forces to seek to oppress religious believers who operate independently of the LPDR regime.

The LPDR regime in Laos is a staunch ally of Burma and North Korea. The LPDR in Laos provided sanctuary and support to the military junta leader and their families in Burma during the mass arrest and crackdown against Burmese Buddhist monks. The families of Burmese generals involved in military action against the peaceful Buddhist protests were given sanctuary in Laos during the peaceful protests by Buddhist monks in Yangoon and elsewhere in Burma in 2007. The LPDR regime has engaged in the persecution, arrest and imprisonment of independent Buddhist believers and dissident Buddhist monks seeking to practice their faith independently of the LPDR secret police who monitor many of the Buddhist temples in Laos.

"Many of our Lao Buddhist believers, who oppose the Lao regimes oppression and manipulation of the Buddhist faith and Buddhist temples seeking to operate outside of the government’s strict control, and who support the Lao Student’s peaceful demonstrations, are also being persecuted by the Lao military regime said Mr. Bounthanh Rathigna, President of the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc.

“We are urging the LPDR regime to release all of the Lao students, and other political and religious dissidents, prior to the upcoming South East Asia games ( SEA games ) in Vientiane,and give the... people amnesty Mr. Rathigna concluded.

On November 26, 2009, according to Laotian sources in Laos as well as the Center for Public Policy Analysis, twenty-three ( 23 ) unarmed Lao Hmong Christian civilians were recently killed by LPA and VPA soldiers in the early hours of Thanksgiving Day ( Vientiane Time ) during intense military attacks at the Phou Bia Mountain Area of Laos in Xieng Khouang Province as well as Vientiane Province by LPA and VPA soldiers.
media-newswire.com/release_1106723.html

Hundreds of Laotian and Hmong religious dissident and persecuted Buddhist, Animist and Christian religious believers have fled from Laos along with political dissidents and political refugees where they face persecution and forced repatriation in refugee camps in Thailand. Laos has send Lao Peoples Army officers to refugee camps in Thailand, including Ban Huay Nam Khao to persecute independent Christian and Animist religious leaders, close Christian House churches and Animist shrines and stop them from holding religious rituals and ceremonies.
www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0905/S00160.htm
www.media-newswire.com/release_1090786.html

As cited in “Christianity Today” (June 4, 2009), Release International recently .traveled to Laos to investigate the treatment of Christian prisoners. They uncovered a catalogue of abuse. Several had been imprisoned without trial. They include Stephen, whose real name cannot be given for security reasons, who was arrested and jailed after a village head man objected to him talking about his faith. He told Release: “The police put my feet in stocks and chains on my hands. I could not move. The cell smelled like a toilet. Sometimes I could not breathe because of the smell Pastor Timothy, whose real name has been concealed for security reasons, was arrested for bringing a foreign religion to Laos. He claims to have been beaten almost to death. He told Release: ‘They asked me to sign a piece of paper that said that I would not be a Christian because Christians are not good or not right for the Lao people. I didn't sign it because of my faith” www.christiantoday.com/article/release.warns.of.appalling.condit ..

“The Laos constitution professes freedom of religion in its Constitution: "Lao citizens, irrespective of their sex, social status, education, faith, and ethnic groups are all equal before the law" according to Article 22. Article 9, however, is loosely written to say, ‘The state respects and protects all lawful activities of the Buddhists and of other religious followers . . . to participate in the activities which are beneficial to the country and people So, practicing Christianity in any of its manifestations can be construed as not being beneficial to the country. Charges are made against Christians for ‘violating the religious traditions of their ancestors Worship services, religious gatherings, Christian burial services, marriage ceremonies, prayer meetings, evensong and praise all qualify as violations. Politics weigh heavily in the accusations made against Christians in Laos. This is just a sampling of letters from groups receiving help through Christian Aid: In July of last year, 17 Christian families were detained in the Katin village school. The district authorities ordered the families be detained without food. They brought with them a book entitled ‘The Tricks of the Enemy (The "enemy," being the United States of America.) The authorities accused all those believing in Christ as being helpers of the Americans, because ‘Christianity is the American religion Christian Aid said in April 2009 statement about Laos.
www.christianaid.org/Missionaries/MIR/mir20090429.aspx

International Christian Concern (ICC) has frequently raised the issue of Christians persecuted and killed in Laos, including the use of Hmong Christian children for target practice and mutilation by the Lao military.
www.persecution.org/suffering/newsdetail.php?newscode=10702&PHPS ..

Lao Authorities have repeatedly threatened to jail and kill Christians. In a September 11, 2009, statement by Compass Direct News and the HRWLRF: “Authorities in Laos last week jailed a church leader in Savannakhet Province for embracing Christianity and threatened to expel him unless he renounces his faith – and kill him if his arrest is made public, according to a human rights organization. Officials from Liansai village, from Saybouthong sub-district and from Ad-Sapangthong district on Sept. 3 arrested Thao Oun, an elder at Boukham Church, at his home and forced him at gunpoint to the Saybounthong sub‐district office, according to Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF). The organization said the officials turned him over to the chief of police of Saybouthong sub‐district, Thao Somphet, who detained, interrogated, and terrorized the Christian for nearly six hours. Oun was charged with bringing destruction to the Lao nation and government by embracing Christianity, which the officials consider a ‘foreign religion to be abhorred according to HRWLRF. The chief of police demanded that Oun immediately renounce Christianity or face expulsion from the village. He ‘further threatened Thao Oun that if word of his arrest and interrogation get out to the international community, he will be put to death according to HRWLRF
www.compassdirect.org/english/country/laos/9254/

“Police in Borikhamxay province, Laos, on March 19 destroyed a church building in Nonsomboon village while Christian residents attended a meeting called by district officials Compass Direct News said in a March 30, 2009 statement.
wwrn.org/articles/30608/?&place=cambodia-laos

“ Last Sunday (July 5, 2009) officials and residents of Katin village in Ta Oih district, Saravan province, Laos, confiscated and slaughtered livestock belonging to nine Christian families in an effort to force them to renounce their faith. In June village elders had warned the families, 53 people in total, to renounce the faith they had adopted in late May or face “serious consequences according to advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF). When the Christians ignored this warning and attended worship services in a neighboring village, villagers broke into their pig pens and seized one pig per family, later slaughtering the animals and distributing the meat among themselves, according to HRWLRF stated Compass Direct News on July 10, 2009. wwrn.org/articles/31329/?&place=cambodia-laos

Following the confiscation of livestock from Christian families earlier this month, officials in a village in Laos on Saturday (July 11) called a special meeting for all residents and announced that they had “banned the Christian faith in our village Compass Direct News stated. www.compassdirect.org/english/country/laos/4576

On June 12, thirteen Christians were arrested by plain clothes police, after visiting Christian villages in Laos, according to The Voice of the Martyrs.
persecutedchurch.blogspot.com/2009/06/thirteen-christians-arrest ..

In a separate incident: “Fourteen Khmu Christian families in Laos are standing strong in their faith, despite the Communist government forcing them to relocate to another village and their homes and church building being destroyed… In 2003, the families were evicted by the government and relocated to another village where they were moved again. "After these 14 families stayed at this village for a year, the Communist Party members of the village found out that the head of the village loved them," VOM contacts said. The village leader] even allowed them to build a bamboo church on his land The Communist district governor was not happy with the head of the village. . [The] governor kicked him out from his post and then replaced [him] with another man. The new head of the village started persecuting them from 2006 to 2009," VOM contacts report. The leader refused to allow them to register, making them illegal residents and he stopped them from farming land, the contacts said The Voice of the Martyrs reported earlier this year.
www.persecution.com/public/newsroom.aspx?story_ID=MTEw

Laos placed the LPDR regime in Laos on its World Watch List as one of world’s worst regimes engaged in religious persecution and egregious violators of religious liberty. According to a 2009 study by Open Doors, of the 50 countries in which the worst Christian persecution exists in the world, Laos was listed among the worst 10 countries engaged in religious persecution and violations of freedom of religion. www.opendoorsusa.org/content/view/962/21/
In a 2009 statement and report, the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom placed Laos on its watch list for religious freedom violations and persecution on believers.
www.media-newswire.com/release_1090417.html
www.uscirf.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2668&It ..

Contacts: Ms. Maria Gomez or Mr. Juan Lopez

Center for Public Policy Analysis
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SEA Game Attacks: Vietnam, Laos Military Kill 23 Lao Hmong Christians on Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

"Lao military helicopters are reportedly delivering, on almost a daily basis, food, ammunition and supplies to the Lao Peoples Army (LPA) military camp in Pha Phai and elsewhere in Phu Bia mountain, Laos that is being used to attack Lao Hmong civilians and religious believers and political dissidents hiding in the jungles and mountain there in Laos, " said Vaughn Vang of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Vientiane, Laos, Chang Mai, Thailand, Washington, D.C. - November 26, 2009 - In apparent preparation for the upcoming SEA Games in Vientiane, Laos, in December, the Lao People’s Army ( LPA ) in Laos and the Vietnam People’s Army ( VPA ) have undertaken a major troop surge in key rural and mountainous provinces in Laos where Lao and Hmong civilians and religious believers, including Christians, have sought sanctuary. 

Twenty-three ( 23 ) unarmed Lao Hmong Christian civilians were recently killed by LPA and VPA soldiers in the early hours of Thanksgiving Day ( Vientiane Time ) during intense military attacks at the Phou Bia Mountain Area of Laos in Xieng Khouang Province as well as Vientiane Province by LPA and VPA soldiers. 

Two new battalions of LPA soldiers have been deployed to hunt and kill Lao Hmong Christian and animist believers seeking to practice their faith outside of the Lao government’s strict control.  Ordinary Lao Hmong civilians as well and other religious and political dissidents have come under increased attack in Laos as Hanoi and Laos undertake a significant troop surge in apparent preparation for the start of the Southeast Asia Games ( SEAG or SEA games ) in early December.

“Lao military helicopters are reportedly delivering, on almost a daily basis, food, ammunition and supplies to the Lao Peoples Army ( LPA )  military camp in Pha Phai and elsewhere in Phu Bia mountain, Laos that is being used to attack Lao Hmong civilians and religious believers and political dissidents hiding in the jungles and mountain there in Laos, ” said Vaughn Vang of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council in Green Bay, Wisconsin. 

Vang continued:  “Hanoi and the Vietnam Peoples Army and LPA troops are also using ethnic Hmong communist commanders to track, hunt and kill their own Hmong people at Phou Bia Mountain, including LPA communist deputy commander Lor Vue and LPA Deputy Commander Vang Yang.

Vaughn Vang explained:  “The LPA troops and commanders are intentionally targeting for military attack and starvation unarmed Lao and Hmong Christian and Animist groups of believers and civilian dissident groups that are largely comprised of women and children with very few male survivors left to defend themselves and their people and villages."

"The Lao military is using heavy machine guns, mortars, artillery, land mines and new battalions of soldiers from Hanoi’s VPA as well as regular Laotian LPA army troops to attack and kill the Lao Hmong Christians and Animist believers who seek to practice their faith outside the LPDR communist regime's strict control.  Also leading the attack against Lao Hmong in-hiding are village commander and head Nhia Lee and radio operator and LPA Army translator Kee Vang,” Mr. Vaughn Vang observed.

“Twenty-three ( 23 ) unarmed Lao Hmong Christian civilians were recently killed by LPA and VPA soldiers in the early hours of Thanksgiving Day ( Vientiane Time ) during intense military attacks at the Phou Bia Mountain Area of Laos in Xieng Khouang Province as well as Vientiane Province by LPA and VPA soldiers,” said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Policy Analysis ( CPPA ). 

“Many more Lao Hmong civilians, Christians and Animist believers are reportedly wounded or are trapped by LPA and Vietnam Army units and are being starved to death and hunted down.  Suspected political dissident groups in hiding are also under attack, including peaceful supporters of the 1999 Lao Students Movement for Democracy,” Smith stated.

Smith continued:  “Two new battalions of LPA soldiers with VPA advisers have been deployed in recent weeks to hunt and kill Lao Hmong Christian and aninimist believers seeking to practice their faith outside of the Lao government’s strict control at the Phou Bia Mountain area.”

The one-party, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic ( LPDR ) has been cited by the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom ( USCIRF ) and other organizations for religious persecution of Lao and Hmong religious believers, including Christians.
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1072587.html

In recent months and years, the LPDR Lao military regime has engaged in military attacks and atrocities against Lao Hmong civilians and political and religious dissident groups according to independent human rights organizations and journalists.
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1088802.html
http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/aidoc/ai.nsf/Index/ENGASA260042004
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA26/003/2007
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1082838.html
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1090673.html

###

Center for Public Policy Analysis
Washington, D.C.

Contact ( s ): 
Mr. John Smith or Mr. Juan Lopez
Tele.( 202 ) 543-1444

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Laos Sea Games Crisis: Refugees Appeal To Not Be Forced Back to Laos LPDR

SEA Games Human Rights, Refugee Crisis in Laos, Thailand Faces Lao Hmong Appeals

25.11.2009 08:18:02 Lao Hmong refugees, are again appealing to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, The King of Thailand as well as United States President Obama, U.S. Secretary of State Clinton, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva, Members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate including U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, U.S Senator Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator Al Franken and others.

(live-PR.com) - Washington, D.C., Ban Huay Nam Khao, Petchabun Province and Nong Khai, Thailand, Green Bay and Madison, Wisconsin, November 25, 2009

With the start of the SEA Games looming in Laos, Thailand has readied more troops and undertaken military preparations for the mass forced return of thousands of Lao Hmong political refugees back to the communist regime in Laos from where they fled persecution. In the last week, three (3) new razor wire and barbed wire circular-fenced holding areas have been built at the Lao Hmong refugee camp at Ban Huay Nam Khao in an apparent effort by the Thai military to begin the mass forced repatriation of over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers in the coming days and weeks. Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, Army Chief General Anupong Paochinda have repeatedly defied international appeals by humanitarian organizations and a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Congress to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, the King of Thailand, to grant political asylum to the Lao Hmong refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai, Thailand until they can be screened by the the United Nations and resettled in third countries that have agreed to take them, including Canada, France, New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands and the United States.

Vaughn Vang, Director of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council (LHHRC) in Wisconsin has issued a statement and appeal regarding what appears to be the mobilization Thai troops for a violent mass forced repatriation of Lao Hmong refugees from Thailand to Laos over the American Thanksgiving holiday and prior to the start of the Southeast Asia (SEA Games) Games in Laos.

The Former U.S. Ambassador at Large and Coordinator for Refugee Affairs, The Honorable Howard Eugene Douglas, has issued an international statement and communique in response to recent emergency appeals to Thailand and its Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI), the Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR) and others to end the forced repatriation of Lao Hmong refugees to Laos.
media-newswire.com/release_1106500.html
www.pr-inside.com/anupong-abhisit-s-laos-thailan ..
media-newswire.com/release_1106263.html

Edmund McWilliams, a Distinguished U.S Foreign Service officer who served in Laos and Thailand, has also made recent appeals and statements urging that the Lao Hmong refugees at Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai not be sent back to the communist regime in Laos where they face persecution.

“Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, Army Chief-of-Staff General Anupong Paochinda and Ministry of Interior (MOI) Minister Chavarat Charnvirakuland have come under growing international criticism for using increasingly brutal and coercive measures against the Lao Hmong refugees in Thailand to seek to force them back to Laos by the end of this year. Laos is slated to hold the Southeast Asia Games (SEA Games) in December and efforts to force the Lao Hmong refugees back to the Stalinist regime in Laos have violently intensified in recent weeks,” said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) in Washington, D.C.

“Unfortunately, Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, Army Chief General Anupong Paochinda and Ministry of Interior (MOI) Minister Chavarat Charnvirakuland have repeatedly defied international appeals by humanitarian organizations and a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Congress to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, the King of Thailand, to grant political asylum to the Lao Hmong refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai, Thailand until they can be screened by the the United Nations and resettled in third countries that have agreed to take them, including Canada, France, New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands and the United States,” Smith concluded.
www.pr-inside.com/his-majesty-bhumibol-adulayade ..
media-newswire.com/release_1101602.html

“The over 5,000 Lao Hmong refugees in Thailand are very afraid that there will be bloody, deadly mass forced repatriation in the middle of the night this Thanksgiving holiday or in the coming days and weeks and refugees lives will be endanger as they can tell and now see from the current movements of Thai military at Huay Nam Khao. It is clear that the Thai Army and MOI soldiers are preparing to force the Lao Hmong refugees back to the communist regime in Laos they fled; The refugees know that it could be at any time time now and they are appealing to the world community and their families in Wisconsin, California, Minnesota and around the United States to know thee terrible truth of the current situation,” said Vaughn Vang , Director of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Mr. Vang continued with the following statement:

“We are alarmed because we know that there are now three (3) new circular barbed wire holding areas that the Thai soldiers and military have built in the last week outside the perimeter of the razor wire and fences of Huay Nam Khao in the last week, and hundreds of heavily armed new soldiers have been deployed to the camp. The Thai military is clearly preparing to lock the refugees in three difference smaller groups like cattle and animals and herd them into holding these barbed wire holding areas before they force them back to Laos.

There is growing concern that Thai military and Ministry of Interior troops are ready to force the over 5,000 Lao Hmong refugees, or significant groups of them, back to Laos at any minute now., possibly during the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States or shortly thereafter. Hmong refugees sources are eye witness to Thai soldiers now openly carrying large numbers of electric taser and electric cattle prod guns, tear gas masks and other chemical agent equipment. The soldiers have also cut over a dozen new doors and openings into the Huay Nam Khao camp in an apparent effort to attack the refugees with these weapons and troops from all sides in the coming days.

We, and the Lao Hmong refugees, are again appealing to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, The King of Thailand as well as United States President Obama, U.S. Secretary of State Clinton, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva, Members of the U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate including U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, U.S Senator Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator Al Franken and others.

We are also making an emergency appeal to the United Nations, the International community, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Thai Human Rights Organizations and Lao and Hmong organizations and communities around the world to help save the lives of these over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers at Huaj Nam Khao, Petchebon Province and Nong Khai, Thailand.

We are very concerned about the safety of the Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers at Huaj Nam Khao, Petchabun Province and Nong Khai, Thailand. The live’s of these Lao and Hmong men, women and children are very much endangered by the over one thousand new heavily armed Thai soldiers who are currently preparing to launch a deadly and bloody plan in the next several days and weeks to force the refugees back to Laos using heavy tear and poison gas, electric taser guns and cattle prods, night sticks and clubs to beat the refugees and machine guns and automatic weapons.

The Lao Hmong refugees at Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai are human beings. They are political refugees and asylum seekers that have the right under international law to not be forced back to the military regime in Laos, the one-party communist regime that persecuted and hunted them with their military and security forces. The Lao Hmong refugees, they have the rights to live, to be protected from persecution, torture and human rights abuses against them. These Lao Hmong refugees they have not committed any crimes and have not violated any law. They only want to be alive, live in peace, free from persecution, torture and the ongoing killing by the Lao communist government and military regime, These over 5,000 Lao Hmong refugees must be protected by the United Nations, the United States, Thai government and the international community.”

(-- End Statement Mr. Vaughn Vang, Director Lao Hmong Human Rights Council, Inc. Green Bay and Madison, Wisconsin-- )

The SEA Games are slated to start in December in Vientiane at a time when the Thai and Lao armies have increased their attacks, persecution and forced repatriation of Lao and Hmong dissidents as well as political refugees and asylum seekers.


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Contact: Mr. Juan Lopez
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Laos Urged To Free 3 Jailed Americans Before SEA Games: St. Paul, Minnesota Hmong Men in Limbo

Monday, November 23, 2009

Mrs. Sheng Xiong, a spokesperson for three Americans jailed in Laos, has repeatedly appealed to the LPDR government for the release of her husband and for answers to his current whereabouts in Laos. The Lao government has refused to allow the families of the three St. Paul American citizens to receive visitors from humanitarian groups, the U.S. Embassy in Laos or the family of the three arrested men. The Lao government is being urged to release the three prior to the start of the SEA Games.

(Media-Newswire.com) - St. Paul, Minnesota, Vientiane, Laos, Washington, D.C., November 23, 2009 - In Laos, the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic ( LPDR ) military regime has been urged to release, three Americans of Hmong descent from St. Paul, Minnesota, who were arrested in 2007 while traveling to Laos. The LPDR has been asked to release the three, which include Mr. Hakit Yang, of St. Paul, prior to the start of the Southeast Asia Games ( SEA Games ) in December. The three Americans were arrested by Lao Peoples Army ( LPA ) and LPDR security forces in Xieng Khouang Province in the summer of 2007 and moved to Laos’ notorious Phonthong Prison were they were tortured and interrogated before being moved to a secret prison in Sam Nuea Province, Laos, according to sources.

“We are asking the Lao government for answers about my husband Hakit Yang and the others that they arrested,” said Sheng Xiong, wife of Hakit Yang, at a two-day national policy conference on Laos earlier this year at the U.S. Congress and National Press Club where she appealed for help for the release of her husband and his colleagues to the LPDR government, U.S. Ambassador Ravic Huso and the U.S. Embassy and Department of State in Washington, D.C. http://media-newswire.com/release_1089561.html

The three Americans from St. Paul, Minnesota, arrested and imprisoned in Laos without charge by the Lao military are Mr. Hakit Yang, Mr. Congshineng Yang, and Mr. Trillion Yunhansion.

The LPDR regime and public sector in Laos have been listed as one of the most corrupt countries in the world in a recent study by Transparency International. http://media-newswire.com/release_1106258.html

In April, Australian author and former political prisoner Kay Danes spoke at a national policy conferences in Colorado, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Congress on the horrific situation that prisoners in Laos face under the LPDR regime. http://presszoom.com/story_148273.html
http://media-newswire.com/release_1088730.html

Kay Danes new book ‘Standing Ground’ was released in the Spring of 2009 about her ordeal, along with her husband, in Vientiane, Laos’ infamous Phonthong Prison, where she was imprisoned and was an eyewitness to torture and unspeakable abuses by LPDR officials and prison guards. http://www.amazon.com/Standing-Ground-Imprisoned-Struggle-Communist/dp/1741107571

Mrs. Sheng Xiong was a keynote speaker at the events with Danes and other policy experts and Laotian and Hmong non-profit organizations.
http://media-newswire.com/release_1089564.html

Mrs. Sheng Xiong, a spokesperson for three Americans jailed in Laos, has repeatedly appealed to the LPDR government for the release of her husband and for answers to his current whereabouts in Laos. The Lao government has refused to allow the families of the three St. Paul American citizens to receive visitors from humanitarian groups, the U.S. Embassy in Laos or the family of the three arrested men. The three Americans were traveling to Laos as tourist and seeking potential business investment opportunities in Laos according to family members.

“Hakit Yang and the other two American citizens have disappeared into the Lao LPDR gulag system and secret prison system like so many others after their arrest in 2007,” said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis ( CPPA ) in Washington, D.C. “The LPDR regime is being urged to release the three Americans from St. Paul, Minnesota before the SEA Games so they can be reunited with their families before Christmas and the New Year; the Hmong community in St. Paul, Minnesota, and across the United States is anxious to see the three Hmong-American men returned safely to their families and released from jail in Laos where they are being held without charges or due process.” http://media-newswire.com/release_1096024.html

In Thailand, the Thai military and Prime Minister Abhisit and Army Chief-of-Staff General Anupong are mobilizing more troops to force nearly 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees from Thailand back to Laos. Members of the U.S. Congress, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ), Human Rights Watch ( MSF ), Amnesty International ( AI ), Doctors Without Borders ( MSF ), the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council ( LHHRC ), CPPA and others have repeatedly urged Thailand to end the repatriation of these refugees and allow them to be screened and resettled in third countries that have agreed to grant them political asylum including France, Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and The Netherlands.

"Clearly, given the arrest and ongoing imprisonment of Hakit Yang and the Hmong-Americans from St. Paul, Minnesota, these 5,500 Lao Hmong refugees should not be sent back to Laos; there should especially be no more forced repatriations of Lao Hmong refugees from Thailand back to the communist regime in Laos that the refugees fled until Hakit Yang and his America colleagues are released from jail in Sam Neua Province, Laos by the Lao government," said Philip Smith of the CPPA earlier this year in Washington, D.C.
http://media-newswire.com/release_1090996.html

“Mrs. Sheng Xiong has issued numerous heart-felt and courageous appeals regarding her husband’s arrest and the ongoing imprisoned of the three St. Paul Hmong-Americans in Laos who were seeking business and investment opportunities in Laos,” stated Philip Smith of the CPPA. “We now know the three American citizens were transferred from Phonthong Prison in Vientiane, Laos, to a secret prison site in Sam Nuea Province, where they are still being held against their will and with out charge or due process,” Smith concluded.
http://presszoom.com/print_story_147295.html

Ms. Sheng Xiong provided an official statement in January 2008 in the U.S. Congress regarding Hakit Yang’s arrest and imprisonment in Laos by Lao military and security forces along with Mr. Congshineng Yang, and Mr. Trillion Yunhansion. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=110-s20080625-19

A number of key Minnesota Twin Cities Lao Hmong community leaders and delegations from St. Paul and Minneapolis spoke at, and participated, at a series of Capitol Hill and Washington, D.C. policy events on the plight of the three St. Paul men as well as human rights and refugee issues in Laos and Thailand including: Mr. Phoukhio Khaochonetham, Mr. Boon Boualaphanh, Mr. Phoumy Phanthavong, Mr. Sangvane Phommachanh, Ms. S. Thao, Beth Xiong and others. http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1090990.html

Some 1200 Laotians have been arrested in Laos in November in reform and anti-government marches, rallies and protests in Vientiane and elsewhere in Laos. Many, including political and religious, students and ordinary Laotians, are being imprisoned in Laos notorious Sam Khe Prison. The marches and protests began on November 2 in Laos. Vietnam has intervened with more troops and security forces deployed in Laos to seek to prop up the Stalinist LPDR regime prior to the start of the SEA Games.
http://media-newswire.com/release_1105478.html

__

Contacts: Juan Lopez or Maria Gomez
e-mail: info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

Telephone contact: ( 202 ) 543-1444

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End Hmong detention

Saturday, November 21, 2009


A file photo of Hmong boys in the Huay Nam Khao village in Thailand's northeastern province of Petchabun. -- PHOTO: AP


BANGKOK - A LEADING rights group on Saturday called on the Thai government to allow 158 Lao Hmong refugees, who have been detained for three years pending deportation, to be resettled in four western countries.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the group were being 'held in poor and abusive conditions' and should be allowed to leave for the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia, which have agreed to resettle them.

'Thai authorities have kept Lao Hmong refugees in fear and uncertainty for years to pressure them into giving up hope of refuge in Thailand or resettlement elsewhere,' said Brad Adams, the group's Asia director.
'The government should immediately end this immoral and unlawful policy,' he said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch in the statement said it had sent a letter to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that also raised concerns about the ongoing detention of some 5,000 Hmong being held in Phetchabun in north-east Thailand.

The immigrants are expecting to be deported to Laos following an agreement between the countries. -- AFP

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Thailand must end detention of Hmong: rights group

BANGKOK — A leading rights group Saturday called on the Thai government to allow 158 Lao Hmong refugees, who have been detained for three years pending deportation, to be resettled in four western countries.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the group were being "held in poor and abusive conditions" and should be allowed to leave for the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia, which have agreed to resettle them.

"Thai authorities have kept Lao Hmong refugees in fear and uncertainty for years to pressure them into giving up hope of refuge in Thailand or resettlement elsewhere," said Brad Adams, the group's Asia director.

"The government should immediately end this immoral and unlawful policy," he said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch in the statement said it had sent a letter to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that also raised concerns about the ongoing detention of some 5,000 Hmong being held in Phetchabun in northeast Thailand.

The immigrants are expecting to be deported to Laos following an agreement between the countries.

Tens of thousands of ethnic minority Hmong have sought asylum in Thailand, claiming that they face persecution from the communist Laos regime as they had fought alongside US forces during the Vietnam war.

Large numbers have since been resettled in western countries, including the United States.

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Thailand: End Detention of Lao Hmong Refugees

20 Nov 2009 23:42:56 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
(New York) - The Thai government should immediately end the detention of 158 Lao Hmong refugees held in poor and abusive conditions for three years, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Human Rights Watch urged the government to cease its mistreatment of the Lao Hmong refugees and to permit them to resettle in Thailand or in countries that have already agreed to take them.
"Thai authorities have kept Lao Hmong refugees in fear and uncertainty for years to pressure them into giving up hope of refuge in Thailand or resettlement elsewhere," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government should immediately end this immoral and unlawful policy."
In violation of international refugee law, the Thai government has used intimidation and the denial of basic necessities to coerce Lao Hmong refugees in a Nong Khai immigration detention center to return to Laos "voluntarily." Thai authorities restricted all of the refugees to two small cells, deprived them of adequate light, separated parents from their children, denied them mosquito nets and clean clothing, and cut off access to clean water and proper sanitation facilities.
The United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia have already made commitments to accept these 158 refugees. Thai authorities should allow them to leave for resettlement abroad without further delay, Human Rights Watch said.
Laos continues to persecute Hmong communities because of a Hmong insurgency that dates back to the 1960s. In recent decades, Lao security forces have been responsible for arrests, torture, sexual abuse, and extrajudicial killings of Hmong living in areas of Laos suspected to be insurgency regions.
In the letter, Human Rights Watch also raised concern about the situation of 5,000 Lao Hmong currently detained in Huay Nam Khao Camp in Petchabun, who will be subject to deportation as a result of an agreement between the governments of Thailand and Laos.
At best, when Hmong asylum seekers and refugees arrive in Laos after deportation, Lao authorities prohibit return to their homes and force them to stay in relocation sites or with relatives in government-friendly villages. At worst, Hmong deportees face arbitrary incarceration, sexual abuse, torture, and disappearance.
While Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, under customary international law the Thai government has an obligation of nonrefoulement (non-return) of persons to places where their life or freedom is at risk.
Human Rights Watch asked the Thai government to guarantee that all Lao Hmong in Huay Nam Khao Camp have access to screening and status determination procedures if they wish to make an asylum claim, prior to deportation or forced return.
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Hmong: Appeal for Freedom for the 158 Lao-Hmongs Refugees of Nongkhai

Friday, November 20, 2009

The Lao Movement for Human Rights appeals to EU, UN, US, Japan, Australia, ASEAN and International Financial Institutions to act firmly upon Lao leaders to respect human rights, freedom and democracy in Laos.

Below is an article published by Lao Movement for Human Rights:

Press release Paris, November 18th, 2009
Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l'Homme ( MLDH)
Lao Movement for Human Rights
BP 123 - 77206 Torcy Cedex, France
e-mail : mldh@mldh-lao.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - Web : http://www.mldh-lao.org/


One hundred and fifty eight Lao-Hmong refugees, among whom more than 85 children, having been detained for more than 1095 days in the Center of detention of Nongkhaï, a Thai city at the Lao border, will be sent back to the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR).

These persons who had chosen to flee the LPDR for their life and safety, had been recognized as political refugees by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). According to the UNHCR spokesman, they found a host country, but have been placed in detention for three years now, the Thai and the LPDR authorities having agreed to send some 8.000 civilian Lao-Hmongs in Thailand back to Laos before the end of 2009.

The Lao Movement for Human Rights denounces, once more, the non-respect of the basic rights of these 158 Lao-Hmongs, and the obvious violation of the political refugee status officially granted them by the UNHCR.

The Lao Movement for Human Rights asks for the immediate release of these 158 refugees. It appeals to the Thai and Lao governments to stop the repatriations of the Lao-Hmong civilians and to respect international laws.

The Lao Movement for Human Rights appeals to all the donors – especially the European Union and its 27 member States, the United Nations, the United States, Japan, Australia, ASEAN and the International financial institutions – to act firmly upon the Lao leaders so that deep reforms are truly engaged to bring human rights respect, freedom and democracy in Laos.

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International Communique on Laos Urges Release of Lao Hmong Refugees in Thailand

Thursday, November 19, 2009

"The Lao Movement for Human Rights denounces, once more, the non-respect of the basic rights of these 158 Lao-Hmongs, and the obvious violation of the political refugee status officially granted them by the UNHCR. The Lao Movement for Human Rights asks for the immediate release of these 158 refugees; It appeals to the Thai and Lao governments to stop the repatriations of the Lao-Hmong civilians and to respect international laws," said the Lao Movement for Human Rights and its President Vanida S. Thephsouvanh in a international appeal and statement.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Paris, France, Washington, D.C. , Vientiane, Laos, Bangkok, Thailand, November 19, 2009 - The Paris, France based Lao Movement for Human Rights ( LMHR or MLDH, Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l’Homme ) has issued an international communiqué  and press statement today urging the release and freedom for the Lao Hmong refugees being detained in squalid condition in Nong Khai, Thailand prior to the start of the SEA Games in Laos.

"A growing international appeal has been made to urge Thai Prime Minister Abhisit and General Anupong to immediately cease the forced repatriation of Lao Hmong political refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai, Thailand, back to the brutal communist regime in Laos where the Laotian refugees fled persecution and attack by the Lao army and LPDR regime," said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Washington,D.C.-based Center for Public Policy Analysis ( CPPA ).

The 158 Lao Hmong refugees fled political and religious persecution in the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic ( LPDR ) and were sent to Nong Khai in an effort to forcibly repatriate them to Laos.  Royal Thai soldiers have repeatedly used tear gas and other violent and psychological measures to coerce the Lao Hmong political  refugees to return to Laos where many also fled military attacks by the Lao army, ethnic cleansing and a campaign of mass starvation.  Royal Thailand Army Chief-of-Staff General Anupong Paochinda as well as Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Minister of Interior ( MOI ) Chavarat Charnvirakulhave have mobilized over 320 heavily-armed troops in the Lao Hmong refugee camp at Ban Huay Nam Khao, Thailand, and are reportedly preparing for the potential mass forced repatriation of the refugees prior to the start of the Southeast Asia Games (  SEA Games  ) in Laos.  There is growing fear that the Lao Hmong refugees at Nong Khai could be forcibly repatriated thereafter.

The LMHR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ), the Center for Public Policy Analysis ( CPPA ), the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council, Inc. ( LHHRC ), the Lao Veterans of America, Inc. ( LVA ), the Lao Veterans of America Institute ( LVAI ), Hmong Advance, Inc. ( HA ), Hmong Advancement, Inc. ( HAI ), the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc. ( ULDL ), the Lao Institute for Democracy ( LIFD ), the Lao Students Movement for Democracy ( LSMD ) and a coalition of Lao and Hmong non-governmental organizations have urged the Royal Thai government to release the refugees and allow them to be resettled in third countries that have agreed to grant them political asylum.  http://www.pr-inside.com/sea-games-crisis-in-laos-mldh-r1578605.htm

U.S. President Barack Obama has been asked to address the current Lao Hmong refugee crisis during his recent APEC summit meeting and trip to Asia. http://www.pr-inside.com/president-obama-urged-to-address-laos-r1583086.htm
http://www.pr-inside.com/president-obama-to-communist-laos-you-r1569506.htm
U.S. Policymakers in Washington, D.C. and senior Members of the U.S. Congress have again appealed to His Majesty, the King of Thailand, to help save the Lao Hmong refugees from forced repatriation to Laos.  http://www.pr-inside.com/his-majesty-bhumibol-adulayadej-the-r1586480.htm

As of November 18, the Lao Peoples Army ( LPA ) and LPDR regime have arrested nearly 1200 Laotians, including political and religious dissidents as well as ordinary Lao and Hmong citizens, seeking reform and change in the Laos in November.
http://www.pr-inside.com/print1570881.htm
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/11593-1258153263-laos-crackdown-on-38-more-dissidents-as-obama-sea-games-near.htm
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/11593-1258153263-laos-crackdown-on-38-more-dissidents-as-obama-sea-games-near.html

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( SRV ) and senior Vietnam Peoples Army ( VPA ) generals in Hanoi have mobilized more combat troops and secret police to Laos to prop up the corrupt and staggering LPDR regime who faces increased internal opposition and dissent. http://www.pr-inside.com/sea-games-crisis-in-laos-mldh-r1578605.htm

The following is the text of the international communiqué and press statement ( in the English and French language  ) by the LMHR and its President Vanida S. Thephsouvanh issued around the globe on November 18-19, 2009:

"Laos-Thailand : Freedom for the 158 Lao-Hmong refugees of Nong Khai

One hundred and fifty eight Lao-Hmong refugees, among whom are more than 85 children, having been detained for more than 1095 days in the Center of detention of Nong Khaï, a Thai city at the Lao border, will be sent back to the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( LPDR ).

These persons who had chosen to flee the LPDR for their life and safety, have been recognized as political refugees by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ). According to the UNHCR spokesman, they found a host country, but have been placed in detention for three years now, the Thai and the LPDR authorities having agreed to send some 8.000 civilian Lao-Hmongs in Thailand back to Laos before the end of 2009.

The Lao Movement for Human Rights denounces, once more, the non-respect of the basic rights of these 158 Lao-Hmongs, and the obvious violation of the political refugee status officially granted them by the UNHCR.
The Lao Movement for Human Rights asks for the immediate release of these 158 refugees. It appeals to the Thai and Lao governments to stop the repatriations of the Lao-Hmong civilians and to respect international laws.

The Lao Movement for Human Rights appeals to all the donors – especially the European Union and its 27 member States, the United Nations, the United States, Japan, Australia, ASEAN and the International financial institutions – to act firmly upon the Lao leaders so that deep reforms are trully engaged to bring human rights respect, freedom and democracy in Laos."

( End  international communiqué and press statement in English by LMHR and its President Mrs. Vanida S. Thephsouvanh, November 18-19, 2009 )

( In the French language ):

Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l'Homme (  MLDH )
Communiqué de presse Paris, le 18-19 novembre 2009

Laos-Thaïlande : Liberté pour les 158 réfugiés Lao-Hmongs de Nongkhai

Cent cinquante huit réfugiés Lao-Hmongs, parmi lesquels plus de 85 enfants, sont détenus depuis plus de 1095 jours au centre de détention de Nongkhai, ville thaïlandaise située à la frontière lao , vont être renvoyés en République Démocratique Populaire Lao ( RDPL ).

Ces personnes, qui avaient choisi de fuir la RDPL par crainte pour leur sécurité et leur vie, ont été reconnues comme réfugiés politiques par le Haut Commissariat de l'ONU ( UNHCR ).
Selon le porte-parole de l'UNHCR, ces 158 Lao-Hmongs ont trouvé des pays d'accueil, mais ont été placées en détention depuis trois ans, les autorités de Thailande et de la RDPL s'étant mis d'accord pour renvoyer les quelques 8.000 civils Lao-Hmongs en Thaïlande vers le Laos avant fin 2009.

Le Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l'Homme ( MLDH ) dénonce, une fois de plus, le non-respect des droits fondamentaux de ces 158 Lao-Hmongs, et l'atteinte flagrante au statut de réfugié politique que leur a accordé officiellement l'UNHCR.

Le MLDH demande la remise en liberté immédiate de ces 158réfugiés. Il appelle les gouvernements laotien et thaïlandais à mettre fin aux extraditions des civils Lao-Hmongs et à respecter les traités internationaux.
Il appelle les donateurs --en particulier l'Union Européenne et ses 27 Etats membres, les Nations Unies, les Etats-Unis, le Japon, l'Australie, l'ASEAN et les Institutions financières internationales-- à agir avec fermeté auprès des dirigeants du régime laotien afin que réformes en profondeur soient entreprises en vue de restaurer le respect des droits humains, la liberté et la démocratie au Laos.

[( End International Communique, Press Statement Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l'Homme (  MLDH ), and its President Mrs. Vanida S. Thephsouvanh November 18-19, 2009]

###

For More Information Contact:

Ms. Maria Gomez
Telephone ( s ) :  202-543-1444
info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

Center for Public Policy Analysis - CPPA
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Hmong-American Partnership loses funds

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

APPLETON - Khee Vang has been in the United States for five years, has a job, and is learning English.

Vang is one of many immigrants from Thailand who moved to the Fox Valley to start a new chapter in life. He got help from the Hmong-American Partnership.

"One of the more difficult things they helped (me) with was they helped him to apply for (my) resident card," Vang said through a translator.

With almost 5000 Hmong in the Fox Valley, the Hmong-American Partnership is now losing about a third of its Federal funding. The reason? They're good at what they do -- education and job placement. The organization estimates 95 percent of the Hmong population in the Fox Valley is employed. Hmong-American Partnership Executive Director Lo Lee says because the organization has helped so many people, the funding is being cut.

“That's why I believe we can't rely totally on the federal government, we have to do something," said Lee

"That's that double edged sword,” said Jennifer Gaines Bates, Hmong-American Partnership Coordinator of Youth Programs. “We definitely want people to become citizens, but once you cross over that line, you have to look at funding in other areas.

The organization is looking to raise money itself and through businesses matching funds. The large number of Hmong willing to work can help area businesses.

"As the economic turn down ceases, employers will increasingly turn to our growing number of minority populations," said Joyce Bytof, CEO of Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group.

Vang still says he has a long way to go, but is happy he made the move to the U.S.

"(I’m) glad (my) children are here in the United States because here they'll have a chance to pursue education," said Vang

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Laos, Thailand Refugee Crisis: SEA Games May Suffer More Political Violence, Unrest

"The Thailand and Laos refugee crisis may stir more unwanted political violence and civil unrest prior to the SEA games start if a military solution continues to be pursued by Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, General Anupong and Prime Minister Abhisit as well as the Lao military," said Philip Smith, of the Center for Public Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C.
 Over 328 more Thai Third Army and MOI soldiers have been deployed by Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, General Anupong and Prime Minister Abhisit to seek to force Lao Hmong refugees from Thailand back to Laos prior to the SEA Games (Photo Credit: Center for Public Policy Analysis License Creative Commons 2.0 and GNU License).
Online PR News – 17-November-2009 – Geneva, Switzerland, Washington, D.C., Nong Khai, Thailand, November 17, 2009
A coalition of non-governmental and non-profit organizations (NGOs) have appealed for an end to the surge in political and institutional violence directed against Laotians in Laos and Thailand on the eve of the Southeast Asia Games (SEA Games) and access by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to Lao Hmong refugees who have fled political and religious persecution in Laos. In Geneva, the UNHCR again issued an appeal to Thailand, and the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, for the release of over 150 Lao Hmong political refugees held in Nong Khai, Thailand, that fled persecution in Laos. The Thailand and Laos refugee crisis may stir more unwanted political violence and civil unrest prior to the SEA games start if a military solution continues to be pursued by Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, General Anupong and Prime Minister Abhisit as well as the Lao military, a Washington, D.C. foreign policy research organization, the CPPA, observed.
The Lao Hmong Human Rights Council (LHHRC) has also issued a new appeal on behalf of Hmong refugee leaders in Thailand opposed to returning to the communist regime in Laos where they fled horrific military and security forces attacks.
Laotians and Hmong have suffered increased political and religious persecution in Laos, prior to the start of the SEA games in Laos, including the massive Lao army and secret police crackdown on recent protest organizers and ordinary citizens in Vientiane, Laos, that has led to the arrest or detention of over 1100 Laotians this month. http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/11593-1258153263-laos-crackdown-on-38-more-dissidents-as-obama-sea-games-near.html
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/10586-1257366404-hundreds-more-laotians-arrested-by-laos-army-as-sea-games-approach.html
"The Thailand and Laos refugee crisis may stir more unwanted political violence and civil unrest prior to the SEA games start in December if a military solution continues to be pursued by Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, General Anupong and Prime Minister Abhisit in Thailand as well as the Lao military," observed Philip Smith, of the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) in Washington, D.C. "In Laos, the Lao army and LPDR regime, with the help of additional troops from Vietnam, are also pursuing a military solution to what is essentially a social, civil and human rights problem, namely the continued Stalinist tyranny of an elite and corrupt, one-party military dictatorship that continues to generate an outflux of refugees."
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1105230.html
Recent appeals have again been made to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, the King of Thailand, from Washington, D.C., for his compassionate help and assistance to save the over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees from being forcibly returned to Laos so that the Laotian refugees can be screened by the United Nations, and UNHCR , and resettled in third countries that have agreed to sponsor them including New Zealand, France, Canada, Australia and others.,
The human rights, humanitarian and non-profit NGOs concerned about the upswing in political and institutional violence in Laos and Thailand directed against Lao and Hmong political refugees, dissidents and asylum seekers, include the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council (LHHRC), the Lao Veterans of America Institute (LVAI), Lao Veterans of America, Inc. (LVA), Hmong Advance, Inc. (HA), Hmong Advancement, Inc. (HAI), United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc. (ULDL), Laos Institute for Democracy (LIFD) the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) and others.
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1105478.html
"Today, 17 November, marks three years since a group of recognized Lao Hmong refugees were rounded up in Bangkok for deportation. The group, now totalling 158, have been in detention ever since. UNHCR calls on all parties to play their part in finding a humanitarian solution to their plight and end the detention of this group of children, women and men who are being held in two cells in an immigration detention centre in Nong Khai, Thailand," said UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic at a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Mr. Mahecic continued: "Many of the Hmong living in the highlands of Laos took part in the war that engulfed Laos in the 1960s and 1970s. When the Pathet Lao came to power in 1975, many tens of thousands of Lao Hmong fled to Thailand seeking asylum, and large numbers were resettled in Western countries, mostly in the United States…"
"Today, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva has again urged Thailand, and Prime Minister Abhisit, to allow over 150 Lao Hmong political refugees at Nong Khai Detention Center to be released and resettled in third countries that have agreed to take them," said Philip Smith, Executive Director for the Washington, D.C.-based CPPA. http://www.cppa-dc.org
"Over, 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand’s Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai detention center are under increasing pressure by Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva who, along with General Anupong Paochinda, have deployed more troops and coercive new tactics to force the refugees to return to the one-party, authoritarian military regime in Laos that they fled," said Mr. Smith.
"The tragic and disastrous move by Prime Minister Abhisit, General Anupong Paochinda, and MOI Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul ironically comes as senior Members of the U.S. Congress, and policymakers in Washington, D.C. have once again made high-level appeals to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej,The King of Thailand, to grant asylum in Thailand to the over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao, and Nong Khai, Thailand," said Mr. Smith. http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGASA390022009
"Recent appeals have again been made to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, the King of Thailand, from Washington, D.C., for his compassionate help and assistance to save the over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees from being forcibly returned to Laos so that the Laotian refugees can be screened by the United Nations, and UNHCR , and resettled in third countries that have agreed to sponsor them including New Zealand, France, Canada, Australia and others.," Smith said.
http://www.pr-inside.com/his-majesty-bhumibol-adulayadej-the-r1586480.htm

Smith observed: "Under the apparent orders of General Anupong Paochinda and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva elements of the Royal Thai Third Army and special army units have mobilized some 328 troops to the Lao Hmong refugee camp at Ban Huay Nam Khao, Thailand, and are reportedly preparing for the potential mass forced repatriation of the refugees prior to the start of the Southeast Asia Games in Laos in December. Thailand's Minister of Interior (MOI) Chavarat Charnvirakul and Deputy Minister of Interior Boonchong Wongtrairat also appear to be responsible for the latest efforts to seek to force Lao Hmong refugees from Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai back to Laos prior to the start of the SEA games."
Mr. Vaughn Vang of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council has recounted the following appeal and statement of refugee leaders at the Lao Hmong refugee camp at Huay Nam Khao, Petchabun Province, Thailand, facing forced repatriation back to Laos: "Lao Hmong refugee leaders in Huay Nam Khao, who wish to remain anonymous, have stated: ‘We are the survivors, and victims of the Vietnam war and the communist military takeover of Laos which continues to this day; we will be persecuted and killed by the Lao communist government and military once we step foot on the soil of Laos, therefore, we will not go back to the bloody communist regime in Laos, the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR). Because of the LPDR regime’s political and religious persecution of the freedom-loving Lao Hmong people, the Hmong blood flows through the country of Laos as the LPDR military and secret police along with troops from Vietnam continue to kill our women and children and all those who seek to live in peace and freedom apart from the corrupt LPDR regime. Again, we will not return to Laos, . . If the Royal Thai Government does not want us to seek political asylum here on Thailand's soil, then allow us to go to another country which allows us to live there, such as Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand or the United States. If the Thai Government refuse to allow us to seek political asylum here in Thailand and refuse to allow us to seek political asylum in another country, then we want the Thai Government to kill us all here instead of returning us to Laos. If we are forced to return, we know we will slowly disappear and be tortured by the LPDR regime and Lao Peoples Army.’"
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/10907-1257617640-mortars-slam-jungle-enclaves-in-laos-killing-wounding-6-hmong.html
Mr. Vang said further: "These Lao Hmong refugees report that Thai soldiers are now continuing to threaten, beat and rob Lao Hmong families on a daily basis in Ban Huay Nam Khao camp. Often the Thai military commanders would have 20 army or MOI soldiers on guard surrounding the homes of Lao Hmong families while other soldiers threaten, beat and rob these families of all their belongings. All their valued belongings, of the Lao Hmong refugees, have been taken away by these soldiers in many cases. On one occasion recently, in one area of the refugee camp, it is reported that more than 250 Hmong cooking forks and knives… 26 radios, cookware, cooking utensils, food, including Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and salt and money--over 28,245 baht in currency-- have been taken by Thai soldiers from the Lao Hmong refugees. The refugees are so very poor to begin with, so this is very sad and cruel and the people cannot survive without food, salt, cooking utensils, forks and knives and what little personal items and small money they have."
"Lao Hmong refugees in the refugee camp at Huay Nam Khao have been told by Thai military officials and soldier that they must volunteer to return to Laos or face mass forced repatriation between November 17-30, 2009," said Vaughn Vang. "Many of the Lao Hmong refugees escaped from human rights violations, persecution and military attacks by the Lao Army in Laos in recent years."
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA26/003/2007
Mr. Vang concluded: "More heavily armed Thai army soldiers and Ministry of Interior troops, 328 new soldiers, have been sent to the camp and are now telling the Lao Hmong refugees that they will all be sent back to Laos by force in the coming days and weeks this November…"

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) has again intervened in Laos with more military and security forces. Hanoi and the SRV have increased the intervention of their armed forces in support of the LPDR military regime in Laos and Lao Peoples Army attacks against civilians as well as political and religious dissidents, and minority groups hiding in the jungle and mountains of Laos. http://www.pr-inside.com/sea-games-crisis-in-laos-mldh-r1578605.htm
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/10907-1257617640-mortars-slam-jungle-enclaves-in-laos-killing-wounding-6-hmong.html
Independent human rights organizations and journalists, including the LHHRC, Amnesty International and others, have reported that the Lao Army and VPA are also engaged in military attacks and atrocities against Laotian and Hmong civilians and political and religious dissident groups at Phou Bia Mountain, Phou Da Phao, Xieng Khouang Province, Vientiane Province, Luang Prabang Province, Khammoune Province and elsewhere in Laos. http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGUSA20070323001
http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/aidoc/ai.nsf/Index/ENGASA260042004

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UNHCR calls for release of detained Lao Hmong refugees in Thailand

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has called on Thai authorities to release more than 150 Hmong refugees from Laos who are being held in the town of Nong Khai in northern Thailand.

Lao Hmong refugees
Lao Hmong refugees

UNHCR says November 17 marks three years since the Lao Hmong, who have been recognized as refugees, were rounded up in the Thai capital of Bangkok for deportation.

The Lao Hmong refugees fled to Thailand after the Pathet Lao left wing nationalist group came to power following the war that engulfed Laos in the 1960s and 1970s.

Many of the Hmong living in the highlands of Laos had participated in that war.

UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic says that large numbers of the Lao Hmong refugees were resettled in Western countries, mostly in the United States.

"The situation of the Hmong today is very different from what it was in the 1970s, but the Nong Khai group are part of the legacy left by a troubled past. Originally 147 refugees, they were rounded up for deportation and transferred on 8 December 2006 to the Nong Khai immigration detention centre on the Mekong River border with Laos where they have been held since. With babies born in detention, the number now stands at 158."
Four countries - the U.S., Australia, Canada and the Netherlands have offered to resettle the refugees, and UNHCR believes they should be allowed to leave Thailand for resettlement.

It says the refugees have not committed any crime, and their detention serves no purpose.

Diane Bailey, United Nations Radio.

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His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, The King of Thailand Asked to Save Laos, Hmong Refugees as SEA Games Crisis Widens

2009-11-17 05:53:33 - With the upcoming Southeast Asia Games (SEA Games) approaching , recent appeals, have again been made to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, the King of Thailand, from Washington, D.C., for his compassionate help and assistance to save over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees from being forcibly returned to Laos. The SEA Games have already been overshadowed by mass arrests and military intervention by Lao army and secret police units in Vientiane and elsewhere in Laos who, along with special units of the Vietnam Peoples Army (VPA), have arrested or imprisoned over 1100 Laotians this month, including students, political and religious dissidents, activists and ordinary Laotian and Hmong citizens. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit and Army General Anupong have mobilized over 300 new troops to seek to force the refugees to volunteer to return to Laos this month.

Ban Huay Nam Khao, Thailand, Vientiane, Laos, Washington, D.C., November 17, 2009

Ban Huay Nam Khao, Thailand, Vientiane, Laos, Washington, D.C., November 17, 2009

Royal Thailand Army Chief-of-Staff General Anupong Paochinda as well as Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Minister of Interior (MOI) Chavarat Charnvirakulhave have mobilized over 320 heavily-armed troops in the Lao Hmong refugee camp at Ban Huay Nam Khao, Thailand, and are reportedly preparing for the potential mass
forced repatriation of the refugees prior to the start of the Southeast Asia Games ( SEA Games ) in Laos. The upcoming SEA Games have been overshadowed by mass arrests and the intervention by the Lao army and secret police in Vientiane and elsewhere in Laos who, along with special units of the Vietnam Peoples Army (VPA), have detained or imprisoned over 1100 Laotians this month.

In recent months, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) has again intervened in Laos with more military and security forces, boosting troop levels and military operations and attacks, to seek to prop up the faltering Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR) regime that has been besieged by internal opposition to its communist politburo and one-party military rule.
www.pr-inside.com/sea-games-crisis-in-laos-mldh-r1578605.htm
www.onlineprnews.com/news/11593-1258153263-laos-crackdown-on-38- ..

U.S. President Barack Obama has been urged to address the current Laos, Hmong refugee crisis during his current trip to Southeast Asia.
www.pr-inside.com/president-obama-urged-to-address-laos-r1583086 ..
www.pr-inside.com/president-obama-to-communist-laos-you-r1569506 ..

"Lao Hmong refugees in the refugee camp at Huay Nam Khao have been told by Thai military officials and soldier that they must volunteer to return to Laos or face mass forced repatriation between November 17-30, 2009," said Vaughn Vang of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council, Inc. (LHHRC) in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Vang stated further: "Three hundred and twenty-eight more heavily armed Thai army soldiers and Ministry of Interior troops have been sent to the camp and are now telling the Lao Hmong refugees that they will all be sent back to Laos by force in the coming days and weeks this November; in one case, just last week, some of the Thai soldiers threatened, robbed and stole the personal possessions of six Lao Hmong refugee families, including their jewelry, radios, personal valuables and what little money they had left. The Thai soldiers said the Lao Hmong families will all be forced to return to Laos this month, in November, and would not be needing any of their personal items, money or valuables, in Laos once the Lao army had gotten finished with them."

"The tragic and disastrous move by Prime Minister Abhisit, General Anupong Paochinda, and MOI Minister Chavarat Charnvirakulironically comes as senior Members of the U.S. Congress, and policymakers in Washington, D.C. have once again made high-level appeals to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej,The King of Thailand, to grant asylum in Thailand to the over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao, and Nong Khai, Thailand," said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) in Washington, D.C.

"Recent appeals, have again been made to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, the King of Thailand, from Washington, D.C., for his compassionate help and assistance to save over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees from being forcibly returned to Laos so that the Laotian refugees can be screened by the United Nations, and UNHCR , and resettled in third countries that have agreed to sponsor them including New Zealand, France, Canada, Australia and others.," Smith said.

Smith explained further: "Unfortunately, Thai Army Chief-of-Staff General Anupong Paochindaand, Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and MOI Chief Chavarat Charnvirakulhave seem determined to preside over a humanitarian and policy catastrophe regarding their incomprehensible determination, in the face of an international humanitarian outcry by human rights, refugee organizations and Members of the U.S. Congress, to force the Lao Hmong political refugees in Thailand back to Laos in the coming weeks prior to the SEA Games."

Smith observed: "Under the apparent orders of General Anupong Paochinda and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva elements of the Royal Thai Third Army and special army units have mobilized some 328 troops to the Lao Hmong refugee camp at Ban Huay Nam Khao, Thailand, and are reportedly preparing for the potential mass forced repatriation of the refugees prior to the start of the Southeast Asia Games in Laos in December. Thailand's Minister of Interior (MOI) Chavarat Charnvirakul and Deputy Minister of Interior Boonchong Wongtrairat also appear to be responsible for the latest efforts to seek to force Lao Hmong refugees from Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai back to Laos prior to the start of the SEA games."
www.pr-inside.com/laos-students-urge-thailand-s-gen-r1531530.htm

“The SEA Games have already been overshadowed by mass arrests and military intervention by Lao army and secret police units in Vientiane and elsewhere in Laos who, along with special units of the Vietnam Peoples Army (VPA), have arrested or imprisoned over 1100 Laotians this month, including students, political and religious dissidents, activists and ordinary Laotian and Hmong citizens,” Smith concluded.

The Lao Army and VPA are also engaged in military attacks and atrocities against Laotian and Hmong civilians and political and religious dissident groups at Phou Bia Mountain, Phou Da Phao, Xieng Khouang Province, Vientiane Province, Luang Prabang Province, Khammoune Province and elsewhere in Laos.
www.onlineprnews.com/news/10907-1257617640-mortars-slam-jungle-e ..

Doctors Without Borders ( MSF ), Amnesty International and other non-governmental organizations have urged the government and Thai military to stop forcing Lao Hmong political refugees back to the communist regime in Laos that the refugees have fled from political and religious persecution.

--

Contact:

Ms. Maria Gomez
Tele. (202) 543-1444
info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

Center for Public Policy Analysis
2020 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Suite No. #212
Washington, DC 20006 USA

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UN: Thailand should release Hmong refugees

The U.N. refugee agency says Thailand should release 158 ethnic Hmong refugees detained for 3 years and allow them to move to another country.

UNHCR says the refugees held in a Thai detention center have committed no crimes.

The Geneva-based agency called Tuesday on Thailand to allow these refugees to move to the U.S., Australia, Canada or the Netherlands which have offered to resettle them.

The Hmong are an ethnic group from Laos' rugged mountains. Many fought on the side of a pro-U.S. Laotian government in the 1960s and 1970s before the communist takeover of their country in 1975.

Over 300,000 Laotians, mostly Hmong, fled to Thailand after the takeover citing political persecution. Most were resettled in third countries.

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UN urges Thailand to allow Hmong to resettle in West

* U.N. refugee agency calls for end of three-year detention * Group of 158 face forced deportation to Laos

* Four countries including U.S. have offered to take them in

GENEVA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Tuesday urged Thailand to end the three-year detention of 158 ethnic Hmong from Laos and let them resettle in the West.

The detainees, rounded up in Bangkok for deportation on Nov. 17, 2006, are being held in two cells in an immigration detention centre in Nong Khai on the Mekong River border with Laos, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

The UNHCR has recognised them as refugees deserving asylum, but Thai authorities say that they are economic migrants facing deportation to Laos.

"Four countries -- the United States, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands -- have offered resettlement places to the refugees, and we believe they should be allowed to leave Thailand for resettlement," said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.

"They have not committed any crime and their detention serves no purpose," he told a news briefing in Geneva.

Known as America's "forgotten allies", the Hmong were recruited by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to fight alongside U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

When the Pathet Lao communists took power in 1975, the Hmong exodus began. Human rights groups say some of the Hmong could face persecution back home due to possible links to the anti-communist resistance.

The group, which includes babies born in detention, are "part of the legacy left by a troubled past", Mahecic said. "We don't want to see them forcibly returned," he told Reuters. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jonathan Lynn)

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President Obama Urged To Address Laos, Hmong Crisis During Asia Trip, Student Protests in Vientiane

Saturday, November 14, 2009

2009-11-14 06:46:09 - U.S. President Barack Obama is being urged to address the Laos, Hmong crisis during his Asia trip and visit to Singapore by Laotian student, human rights and humanitarian organizations. President Obama is also being urged to address the current Lao Hmong refugee crisis in Thailand where some 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees face forced repatriation back to the Stalinist regime in Laos that they fled. The Peoples Army of Vietnam has sent more troops to Laos from Hanoi to assist the LPDR military regime in Laos during the planned protests and anti-government rallies.

Bangkok, Thailand and Washington, D.C., November 14, 2009

Contact: Mr. Juan Lopez
info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org
Tele. (202) 543-1444

With the start of the APEC meeting in Singapore attended by U.S. President Barack Obama and the Southeast Asia Games ( or SEA Games) on the horizon, the Lao military is seeking to renew a major faltering effort to stem civil unrest and intervene against Laos and Hmong
anti-government activists.
Lao students, pro-democracy and human rights groups as well as political and religious dissidents in Laos have sought to mobilize in mass opposition to the one-party, military junta in Vientiane in recent weeks. President Obama is being urged to address the Laos, Hmong crisis during his Asia trip by Laotian student, human rights, humanitarian and non-governmental organizations. Obama is also being urged to address the current Lao Hmong refugee crisis in Thailand where some 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees face forced repatriation back to the Stalinist regime in Laos that they fled.

The Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR) is a one-party, authoritarian regime closely allied with Burma and North Korea. The LPDR regime has held rallies this year in support of the Marxist-Leninist regime in Pyongyang despite President Obama's efforts to remind Communist leaders in Laos that they are a post-Marxist Leninist Communist regime. http://www.pr-inside.com/laos-north-korea-hold-rally-prior-r1402606.htm

As U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to meet with Southeast Asia leaders in Singapore, more Lao students and human rights activists have been imprisoned for advocating peaceful reform of the communist regime in Laos. The total number of Laotian political and religious dissidents arrested in Laos by secret police and army units since November 2nd has been confirmed at 1176 from sources inside Laos, including multiple sources inside the Lao government and Lao military. Lao Hmong civilians and anti-government groups, including dissident Protestant and Catholic Christians, are also suffering increased attacks as the government has intensified its crackdown prior to the start of the Southeast Asia games in Vientiane in December.

The U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) has also reported about some of the activists in Laos seeking to demonstrate for reform in the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR).

“We are very concerned that the new Laotian protesters and pro-democracy activists in Laos are being jailed in terrible and harsh conditions in Sam Khe prison where they are suffering in horribly from the abuses of communist authorities,” said Mr. Oudong Saysana and Ms. Nouamkham Khamphylavong of the Lao Students Movement for Democracy ( LSMD ). “By the 5th of November we received reports and confirmation from Lao student movement members inside Laos that the arrests of over 300 Laotian people had indeed occurred.”
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1105004.html

Currently, as of November 14, 2009, over 1176 people have been arrested by Lao government for suspected roles in organizing or participating in rallies in opposition to the Lao government’s policies and oppressive

Ms. Nouamkham Khamphylavong, along with other Lao students, participated in the October 26, 1999, peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in Vientiane, Laos seeking political freedoms and change in Laos. Many of her colleagues and fellow students have been imprisoned in Laos for over 10 years by the Lao military junta.
http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA260042000?open&of=ENG-LAO
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1096784.html

“The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has intervened in Laos with special police and army units to seek to halt the spread of anti-government opposition in key provinces inside Laos, including Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Xieng Khouang, Khammoune, Sam Neua and Savanakhet Provinces and others,” said Bounthanh Rathigna of the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc (ULDL).

Mr. Rathigna continued: "Religious and political dissidents are seeking to protest the corrupt LPDR regime in Laos and the soldiers from Hanoi that are continuing to oppress and exploit the Laotian and Hmong people; Hundreds more have been arrested by the LPDR secret police in Laos and Lao army along with troops from Hanoi, more and more each day."
http://www.pr-inside.com/virginia-laos-hmong-appeal-to-senator-r1436647.htm
http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/10586-1257366404-hundreds-more-laotians-arrested-by-laos-army-as-sea-games-approach.html

"The Laotian people who are trying to demonstrate against the Lao government want political change and reform in Laos; they want true religious freedom for all Lao Buddhists, Christians and Animists, and to end the LPDR regime's Stalinist and one-party communist control of the Lao peoples' religious affairs, political affairs and economic freedom. The Lao students, activists and protesters in Laos, along with Laotian people, want an end to the LPDR regime's corruption and military rule; The Lao and Hmong people want the soldiers and troops from Vietnam and Hanoi out of Laos," said Boon Boulaphanh, of the Laotian Community of Minnesota.

“More attacks have occurred against the Lao Hmong Christians and Animist dissident groups hiding in Phou Bia and Phou Da Phao mountain areas in Laos in recent days,” said Vaughn Vang, Executive Director of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council. “We are appealing to President Obama to help urge the Lao government to stop these attacks on religious and political dissidents as well as ordinary Laotian and Hmong civilians who wish to live in peace and freedom away from the corrupt one-party communist regime in control of Laos.”http://www.pr-inside.com/laos-8-lao-hmong-children-captured-r1434824.htm

“The Lao Peoples Army (LPA) backed by special units and battalions of the Vietnam Peoples Army (VPA) have mobilized forces in key provinces of Laos to attack enclaves of Laotian and Hmong civilians hiding in the mountains and jungles of Laos as well as groups of religious and political dissidents opposed to the Communist regime in Laos, especially dissident Christian, Animist and Buddhist groups,” Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) in Washington, D.C.

“The growing movement of support for the Lao Students Movement for Democracy of October 1999, has come under heavy attack by the Lao security forces following efforts to organize various protests and events to mark the 10th anniversary of the peaceful protests that occurred in Vientiane, Laos,” Smith said.

“The confirmed total number of Laotian political and religious dissidents arrested in Laos in November now stands at 1176 with scores jailed in Vientiane's infamous Sam Khe prison,” said “The ongoing and unnecessary arrests of ordinary Laotians and students peacefully opposed to the Lao military junta as well as political and religious dissidents is overshadowing the start of the Southeast Asia Games ( SEA Games ) slated to begin in weeks. Laos’ Sam Khe prison has swelled with the arrest of dozens more Laotian political and religious dissidents in recent days, including 38 more people today in Vientiane,” Smith continued.

The Lao Movement for Human Rights (MLDH - Mouvement Lao pour les Droits l’Homme, or LMHR ), the Lao Students Movement for Democracy (LSMD), the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc. (ULDL), the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council (LHHRC), the Laos Institute for Democracy (LIFD), the Lao Veterans of America, Inc. (LVA), Lao Community of Minnesota (LCMN) Hmong Advance, Inc. (HA), Hmong Advancement, Inc. (HAI), the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) and other organizations have issued statements and appeals in opposition to the arrests of the some 1176 Laotians in recent days.
www.onlineprnews.com/news/10586-1257366404-hundreds-more-laotian ..

--

Center for Public Policy Analysis - CPPA

Contact (s): Ms. Maria Gomez or Mr. John Smith,
Communications Department
CPPA
Telephone contact. (202)543-1444
e-mail contact: info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

CPPA - Center for Public Policy Analysis
2020 Pennsylvania Ave., North West
No. # 212
Washington, D.C. 20006

http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

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Hmong Religious Minorities, Including Christians, are Targeted in Laos

November 9, 2009, 02:59:24 PM

Mortars Slam Jungle Enclaves in Laos Killing, Wounding 6 Hmong

In Laos, six Lao Hmong women and children were wounded or killed by army artillery and mortar attacks directed against Christian and other religious minorities

11/9/09 Laos (OnlinePRNews)--Six Hmong women and children were wounded or killed by army artillery and mortar attacks directed against Lao Hmong civilians hiding from government forces in remote mountain and jungle areas of Laos. The military attacks in Laos come at a time when the Lao government is engaged in a brutal effort with its secret police and armed forces to try and contain massive anti-government opposition in Vientiane and other cities and towns in Laos where there are ongoing efforts to organize demonstrations to the one-party, authoritarian rule.

"Sadly, more and more innocent Lao and Hmong people are being starved to death and denied food and water as the Lao military seeks to surround them; The people do not even have time to bury the many Lao and Hmong dead that the Lao government continues to kill," said Mr. Vaughn Vang of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council (LHHRC) in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USIRF) has placed Laos on its watch list for religious persecution of believers including Laotian and Hmong Protestant and Catholic believers. Religious persecution has increased in Laos in recent months where Lao and Hmong dissident religious believers, including independent Buddhists, Protestant, Catholic and Animist groups, have come under attack by increasing numbers of Vietnamese military and security forces that have intervened in support of the Lao Peoples Army and Lao government to suppress internal religious and political dissent. Vietnamese military-owned companies are also now engaged in widespread illegal logging and other activities in much of Laos.

“Most sadly, now as we speak, the Lao military is using heavy machine guns, mortars and artillery to ambush, surround, attack and kill remaining groups of Lao Hmong civilians and Christian and Animist believers who only wish to live in peace and freedom," said Vaughn Vang of the LHHRC.

"The Lao army seeks to trap and starve these people to death if these Lao and Hmong groups will not surrender, but these innocent Lao and Hmong people continue to seek to live independently from the government’s control because of the religious and political beliefs and their desire to be free people," Vang said.

The Lao Peoples Army (LPA) military attacks occurred at the Phou Bia Mountain area of Xieng Khouang Province and were part on a campaign to seek to eliminate Lao and Hmong groups in the area who live independent of the Lao government. Laos, also known as the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR), is ruled by communist military regime.

Mr. Vaughn Vang further explained: "The LPA military attacks at one of the Lao Hmong civilians groups has come from three angles seeking to trap and kill the Hmong there; in recent weeks hundreds have been seriously wounded and are without medical care and food. The Lao Army is using 82 millimeter weapons as well as other mortars and artillery to bombard the jungle and mountain areas where the Laotian and Hmong are now hiding at Phou Bia Mountain in Xieng Khouang Province. The Lao government is even using a communist Hmong commander to help lead the attack against his own people, Commander Vue Lo, who is engage in war crimes against his own Lao Hmong people and is helping to murder and kill his own people on behalf of the Lao communist regime."

"Yesterday and today, Laotian and Hmong groups in-hiding are continuing to report that the Lao Army is launching heavy infantry and artillery attacks, ambushing and surround these groups in-hiding using mortars, heavy artillery, infantry, and small commando unit attacks. Now, more than 118 Hmong women and children in-hiding in Phou Bia mountain area alone are known casualties of the recent attacks that have occurred over the last three to four weeks," continued Mr. Vang from the LHHRC offices in Green Bay Wisconsin.

"Ironically, now, with the right hand the LPDR government in Laos welcomes the world to the SEA Games in Vientiane," commented Mr. Vaughn Vang.

"But, unfortunately, with the other hand the Lao Peoples Army and LPDR regime are engaged in a massive campaign in Laos to arrest, starve, kill and persecute the Lao and Hmong people who only want peace and freedom. Now the Lao military has again launched new attacks against innocent civilians in the provinces of Xieng Khouang, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Khammoune and elsewhere resulting in many innocent Lao and Hmong civilians and religious believers, including Christians, to be injured or killed," Mr. Vang concluded.

"In the mountainous areas Xieng Khouang Province in Laos, a three pronged military offensive has been launched by the LPA in recent days to seek to wipe out, or starve to death, remaining Lao and Hmong civilians and political and religious dissident groups as well as ordinary Laotians who simply wish to live in peace and freedom independent of government control," said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) in Washington, D.C.

Thousands of Lao and Hmong political refugees are facing forced repatriation by the Thai military from Ban Huay Nam Khao refugee camp and Nong Khai Detention center in Thailand. MSF and other humanitarian organizations have protested the forced repatriation of the Lao Hmong refugees back to the communist regime in Laos that they fled.

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