Nov. 15, 2006
 
HMONG REFUGEE CRISIS: Laos, Thailand Negotiate Fate of More than 8,300 Hmong Lao
 
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
 
Laos is changing its direction, with an announcement last week that it is willing to take the Hmong Lao refugees back, if they can verify that these Hmong are Laotians, Supreme military Commander Gen. Boonsang Niempradit told journalists in Bangkok, Thailand, after returning from talks with Laotian governmental officials and army officers in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
 
Coerced into joining the CIA’s anti-communist efforts during the Vietnam war, the ethnic minority of the Hmong Lao became a Secret Army. When the U.S. pulled out of Southeast Asia in 1975 and the Lao kingdom was overthrown by the communists, the Hmong became targets of retaliation and persecution. Hundreds of thousands fled the country; others ran to remote mountainous regions of Laos.
 
Over thirty years and two generations later, the Hmong in hiding are still mercilessly hunted, attacked, raped, tortured and killed by the military, according to Hmong and human rights sources. Since 2004, the crackdown has intensified and those who can escape seek refuge in Thailand.
 
Those traumatized refugees (who fled military aggressions) have not been promised protection or help, according to human rights advocates and refugee spokespeople. Instead, they are threatened with deportation back to Laos, the very place from which they barely escaped.
 
Boonsang said that it would strengthen relations between Laos and Thailand, If they would resolve the problem and considered Laos offer as a positive sign.
 
“Positive sign? We remind [everyone] that many of the ethnic Hmong in the camp fled outrageous, inhumane and cruel persecution by the Lao government” said Rebecca Sommer, from the Society for Threatened Peoples International. ”They deal with these people like livestock, planning to bring them to the slaughter house, we remind, we talk about humans!”
 
The Lao government and the Thai governments started with their new arrangement, which alarmed Human Rights organizations and the Hmong community at large, and deported 52 detained Hmong (and one baby) back to Laos on the 15th of November. Another group of 17 people are known to be the next to be deported.
 
“Nobody told us anything” said Lee Yang, the female leader of the 52 Hmong, on the phone still at the police station - were they were held are detained, “Please, help us, they will send us back to our death, we cannot go back.”
 
“The UN country team sent an emergency Appeal (Demarche) to the Thai National Security Council, reminding that there are great concerns about the possible forced deportation of these 52, and so did the US,” said Sommer, “other governments stepped in, but obviously Thailand declined the concerns of the UN system, and governments.
 
Links to UNHCR public statement:
 
http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/455c752a2.html
 
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20635&Cr=kazakhstan&Cr1=thailand
 
“The 52 refugees were sent back against their will, that is simply not acceptable” said Kue Xiong, from Hmong Lao Human Rights Council.
 
We have suggested that the Hmong problem could be solved only with co-operation between Thailand and Laos, Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad said in an interview.
 
“Laos and Thailand seemed to have agreed in cooperating in evaluating who came from Laos, and who not, “ said Kue Xiong. “Which means that Thailand will send them all back if they are, even as they fled persecution, torture and killings?”
 
Lao authorities claim that Hmong came from Laos to Thailand with the hope of being resettled and rejoined with their families in the US, even so Laos never suppressed the Hmong.
 
“Never suppressed?” said Sommer. “This is going too far: we are talking daily attacks on people hiding in ground holes, to avoid contact with chemical weapons, bombs, heavy war weapons, the Lao government is hunting and killing these people-in-hiding without mercy, and many fled and are now in the refugee camp - and Thailand knows that very well!”
 
“It is good that those who have not fled from the jungle, and came to Thailand for economic reasons, to allow them back without punishment” said Chue Hue Vang, Lao Human Rights Council, “but it is not a secret to Thailand, or the word, that those who fled from the jungle would be not only punished, they would find most likely their dead, if send back, imprisonment, torture, rape.”
 
“The deported group of 52 people came from the jungle, they came from three different groups hiding in the mountains of Laos, Phou Bia and Phou Dapho, and escaped attacks by the Laotian military on a daily bases“ said Rebecca Sommer.” One group of those 52 reported that they had prior to their escape to Thailand surrendered to the Lao authorities, but fled afterwards to Thailand.
 
I spoke with female group leader Lee Yang from the 52 last Friday at Nong Khai police station when they were still detained. She begged me to help, they were so scared to be send back” Said Rocky Vang” I feel so angry with this situation, we spoke to our people.. They are supposed to have agreed to go back, NO, they have not, I repeat, I say this loud and clear to the whole world, this group of 52 Hmong people were deported like livestock, against their will, against their plight for safety. There is no one to monitor their wellbeing, they are left alone in the hands of a government which has hunted them for years and years and years. What do you think they will do to them? Give them houses, farmland, and a warm welcome, as they claim they do? Listen to those who surrendered, and we talk again.”
 
Thai officials and Loa officials are busy to explain that the whole situation was caused by human trafficking, and completely decline the voices of the refugee people from the jungle, who explained clearly why they fled. Even the chief police officer we spoke to was concerned to send the 52 back, he knew that they fled military aggressions.”said Chue Chou Tchang, from Hmong Mutual Assistance Association.
 
The whole issue is a nightmare, Laos planted Hmong, who are serving as Laotian spies to live inside the refugee camp. They monitor the refugees, and send intelligence information back to Laos. Just look at the issue with the 2 Hmong who just got arrested inside the camp. The refugees from the jungle recognized them as Laotian spies. These 2 Hmong are known to some refugees, these 2 Hmong had served at Lao military base Muang Mok. We are so grateful to Thai Commander David, he removed and arrested them; he listened to the refugees concerns, Said Lo Thao from Hmong18 Council. “But what’s with all the other Laotian spies still residing in the camp?
 
For example, there is one Hmong men inside the camp, who had lured a group of the jungle to surrender with false promises. Ones the group surrendered to the Lao soldiers, a set of 3 groups of Hmong men who surrendered were forced to go back and get the rest of the group still hiding in the jungle. Later, the Hmong women which renmained in the military camp found their sons and husbands corpses. The bodies were so decomposed, that they could identify them only by their shoes and cloths. The man who lured the group out of the jungle at the first place is now inside of the refugee camp. He served as translator for the soldiers, and coordinated the Hmong women which has surrendered to be used day by day as the soldiers sex-slaves. There are three women from that group in the refugee camp. They escaped the military bases after being abused and tortured and see this Laotian spy on a daily base, they are horrified. Said Chue Chou Tchang.” All the Hmong from the jungle are horrified, because they know that they are monitored and reported to the Lao authorities, each Hmong from the jungle is listed to the Lao authorities - they can not be sent back to Laos.”
 
“There are unfortunately Hmong people, which are traitors to their own people, including some individuals living in the US,”said Kue Xiong, from the Hmong Lao Human Rights Council “ those in Laos contact the groups in-hiding, and bring them out – even so they know that they will be at least mistreated, imprisoned, raped, tortured, or even killed. Others serve in the military, and hunt their own people. But there are other’s, now refugees in the camp, who fled Laos because they did not wanted to serve in the military as requested, to shoot at their own people. So they had to flee Laos, their villages, livestock, families, because they would otherwise be killed too.”
 
“Even in our US based Hmong community we have Hmong individuals and one Hmong organization, which serves Laos to counter or discredit any information on our people’s voices.” said Chue Chou Tchang, “She must be well paid by the Lao government.”
 
The deported group of 52 and the baby were seen atthe Lao side of the river, at area Tha Deuan. The 53 Hmong people were brought by the Lao authorities direction Vientiane. We have no further knowledge were they are held at this moment, or how they are treated by the Lao authorities.
 
The refugees are in fear and despair.
 
“We were hunted down like vermin all over the area by the Lao military, and a lot of us died. Those sprayed by the chemical poison go blind, their teeth fall out, their bellies swell up” said Chia Soua Yang, one of the many refugees in Phetchaboun. “Imagine how scared and desperate we were. And that's what the Lao government does to us. That’s why we are here.”
 
“The Lao soldiers attacked us constantly. They said they’d kill us all, if we didn’t come out, didn’t surrender. They killed my husband’s second wife and wounded her son. Why would we come out? Said Mrs. Kaxee Yanga, a refugee mother, “My husband went and surrendered (with us) anyway, but he was dead in less than a year. They killed him. We cannot be sent back, they would kill us too.”
 
“I want the Thai government and the UN to know: I am just a civilian, but I had to hide in the jungle. “The military still hunt us, the Hmong people, hiding in the deepest jungle for over 30 years!” My wounds are from the Lao army -- it was impossible to survive,” Said Chue Hue Her, a refugee with severe wounds, a lost eyes and lost hand.“ To stay alive, we had to escape to Thailand. Please listen. Even though we are just peaceful civilians, the Lao military hunts us everywhere. If Thailand sends us back to Laos, then we will all be killed.”