Laos, Thailand Hmong Refugee Crisis: US Congress Urges UN Access, Resettlement Abroad

WASHINGTON & BANGKOK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), and 11 Members of Congress, have sent a letter to the Lao government asking it to grant the United Nations access to thousands of Lao Hmong refugees recently forced back to Laos from Thailand by the Thai Army. The Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), in Washington, D.C., and others, are highlighting the Congressional letter and encouraging policymakers to address this urgent refugee, human rights and humanitarian crisis in the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR).

The letter was co-signed by Representatives Dan Burton (D-IN), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Steve Kagen (D-WI), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Ron Kind (D-WI), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), and Bill Delahunt (D-MA).

“We are writing to express our concern regarding the nearly 4,700 Lao Hmong refugees who have been repatriated by the Royal Thai Government to Laos in recent days,” the Members of Congress wrote. “We urgently ask the government of Laos to treat all of the returnees humanely, guarantee access to the international community for independent monitoring, and allow those who are eligible for resettlement to be resettled without delay.”

“According to the Royal Thai Army, between 500 and 800 Lao Hmong in Huay Nam Khao camp alone were in danger of being persecuted upon return to Laos… We also ask that you grant the United Nations and other agencies access for independent monitoring…,” the letter said.

“This Congressional letter to the Lao Government is a first step in resolving the Hmong refugee debacle in Laos. Based on past experience, the LPDR is likely to view statements from the House Foreign Relations Committee as only ‘gestures’ which can be ignored because no real actions or penalties will result,” said Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt, author of the award winning book "Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, The Americans and the Secret Wars for Laos" and a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. http://www.tragicmountains.org

“To get the attention of the LPDR, it will be wise for Congress to hold hearings, requesting international agencies, such as Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch to present their well-researched warnings about the dangers of any forced repatriation of the Hmong in Thailand back to Laos without unfettered, independent, international screening of this population, to identify those who have a well-founded fear of persecution…” Dr. Hamilton-Merritt stated.

"Laos should grant the UNHCR and other humanitarian and human rights organizations access to all Hmong refugees,” said Vaughn Vang of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council.

“Chairman Berman’s letter regarding the plight of the Lao Hmong refugees, is important; Unfortunately, however, after two years, the Lao military junta continues to deny the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and human rights organizations, access to the over 8,000 Lao Hmong refugees brutally forced from Thailand to Laos from 2007-2009,” said Philip Smith, Director of the CPPA.

Smith explained further: “After over a month, the recent group of 4,700 Lao Hmong refugees subjected to mass forced repatriation by the Thai and Lao military on December 28, 2009, have been largely isolated by the Lao army and LPDR regime; Hundreds are imprisoned in harsh conditions in various secret camps and prisons that are off-limits to the UNHCR, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other organizations,” Smith explained. “Most of the refugees, including the 158 from Nong Khai, wish to be resettled abroad despite the Lao government’s denials and propaganda.” http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

“Beneath thin diplomatic language, Vientiane’s responses, when there is any response at all, are as likely to be perfunctory evasions as honest answers,” said The Honorable Howard Eugene Douglas, U.S. Ambassador at Large and Coordinator for Refugee Affairs (1981 – 1985). “Vientiane might wish to decide if it wants to be stuck in the rut of a pugnacious post-Vietnam attitude syndrome or behave like the society it pretends to be. The case of the Hmong just might be the catalyst for how the United States will view the Lao government’s true intentions.”

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Legislators appeal to Laos to aid Hmong

Deported from Thailand to Laos, ethnic Hmong raise concern among members of Congress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Note: On 14 January 2010, UNPO and 67 global organizations have issued a joint statement calling for Asian states to reaffirm commitment to safeguarding asylum seekers threatened with a return to torture and persecution. To read the joint statement click here.

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Rights groups call for access to returned Hmong in Laos

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

In a letter to Lao President Choummaly Sayasone, the organisations expressed "serious concerns for the safety and protection" of the returned Hmong.

They also called for immediate resettlement to third countries of all returned Hmong with a well-founded fear of persecution, including 158 sent back despite being recognised by the UN as refugees.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Lao govt reiterates policy for Hmong returnees

A senior diplomat has announced that the Lao government will be happy to arrange visits to Hmong returnees requested by foreign ambassadors when they have been properly resettled, while reiterating the government's humanitarian policy to the returnees.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Phongsavath Boupha restated the position to ambassadors of European Union countries, the United States and Australia recently when the ambassadors called on him to request information on the situation of the Hmong returnees.

Hmong returnees would be able to live in villages of their own choice, he told the ambassadors, adding that the government had provided them with food, clothing and medicines on arrival in their homeland.


Later, the returnees were transported to their original villages or to live with relatives or in government-resettlement villages.

Mr Phongsavath said the government's long-term plan was to build a house for each family in the resettlement villages and allocate land for farming activities.

The government will also build gravity-fed water systems, toilets, roads and schools as well as expanding the electricity network to include the villages, he said, adding that hospitals would also be available in village groups.

The government will also provide food to the returnees until they are able to make their own living, as well as one year of free electricity use.

The deputy minister reaffirmed to the ambassadors that receiving the returnees reflects the extension of the government's humanitarian policy to its citizens.

During the meeting, Mr Phongsavath thanked foreign diplomats for their concern for Lao citizens and explained that the Lao government was even more concerned about its citizens than foreigners, because these Hmong people had been lured to a foreign country. The Hmong were the concern of Laos and it was the duty of the Lao government to protect them and agree to bring them home.

Mr Phongsavath said the Lao PDR is a party to many UN human rights treaties, and the government took care to implement these treaties as fully as possible, especially those relating to political rights and citizenship.

Being deceived by people smugglers, in 2004 the Hmong began flocking to Thailand . More than 7,000 departed Laos and became economic migrants in Thailand , including 158 who were detained in the Immigration Detention Centre in Thailand 's Nong Khai province.

Most had paid a large amount of money to people smugglers to take them from Laos to a detention camp in Thailand 's Phetchabun province. Many became homeless after selling everything they owned in Laos and their children received no schooling.

The Lao and Thai governments deemed the migrants to be illegal and agreed to address the issue through bilateral channels.

I n 2006, the two governments began cooperating to repatriate them until the last group was brought back to Laos on December 28 last year.

Since then the Lao government has arranged for visits by international delegations and foreign ambassadors to Phalak, the government resettlement village in Kasy district, Vientiane province, to witness the situation first hand.

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Hmong students reconnect with homeland

For part of the eighth-grade group, it was a class trip back to a life they once knew; for the others it was an introduction to a world they had only heard about.

A group of Hmong students with the Community School of Excellence in St. Paul recently traveled to Thailand for three weeks. The goal was to help the students "connect globally to Hmong around the world," said Mo Chang, founder of the Hmong language and culture charter school in St. Paul's Thomas-Dale neighborhood.

Not only did the students tour the region, they also studied in a school, met the villagers and farmed the land.

"One of the things we wanted to do was give them a real experience of what life (there) is like," Mo Chang said. "They learned how hard it is."

The conditions and the work — student Jer Yang worked the ground with a hoe — certainly left an impression.

"I almost hit a grave," the 14-year-old said.

The students prepared by selling eggrolls, soliciting local businesses and contributing their own money to pay for the trip. They also wrote to pen pals from a Thai sister school in anticipation of a meeting.

About half the students who signed up for the trip were born in Thailand before immigrating to the United States. The others were born here. In all, 28 made the trip.

The trip was emotional and eye-opening, the students said.

Yong Le, 14, said he shed a few tears when he stood near a house he once lived in.

For Kao Nou Yang, also 14, the reality and poverty were a bit shocking: "I get to see the people that I used to know ... and I haven't seen them for five years now. They were older and very skinny."
The American-born students had a different set of impressions.

When he saw the Hmong villagers, 14-year-old Kong Tay Le "wanted to do something to help them." Then he felt their generosity. "They were living in poverty and a lot of stress, but they still did something for us."

Villagers "welcomed us to their home. They welcomed us to their family," Mo Chang said.

Brandon Ferdig can be reached at 651-228-5480.

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