Laos, Hmong Hold Human Rights Rally To Protest Human Rights Violations, Ethnic
Cleansing In Laos
A Hmong and Laotian
human rights rally and candle-light vigil will be held at the U.S. District
Court House in Sacramento, California to draw attention to the current human
rights crisis in Laos and protest ethnic cleansing and mass starvation.
Source: Center for Public Policy Analysis
Jun 11, 2007 14:52:27
A Hmong and Laotian human rights rally and candle-light vigil will be held at
the U.S. District Court House in Sacramento, CA (501 “I” St., Sacramento) from
9:00 A.M-8:00 P.M. on Monday, June 11, 2007, to draw attention to the current
human rights crisis in Laos and protest ethnic cleansing, mass starvation and
genocide in Laos by Lao military forces under the current Communist regime.
Similar rallies are slated to be held in Fresno, California, Minnesota and
Wisconsin as well at the same time.
The peaceful demonstrators will call for the intervention of international human
rights groups in Laos to monitor Hmong and Laotian groups trapped in closed
miitary zones; it will also call for the arrest of senior Pathet Lao communist
officials currently engaged in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Laos as
well as a plea for justice and a fair trial for General Vang Pao and several key
community leaders who were recently arrested and are in imprisonment. Major
emphasis will be on the many Laotian and Hmong families who continue to lose
relatives in Laos at the hands of the one-party Communist Pathet Lao regime that
like North Korea is using food as a weapon against innocent Hmong and Laotian
civilians. The Paris-based "Journalists Without Borders" has again recently
branded Laos' Communist leaders as "Press Predators" for preventing freedom of
the press and press coverage of the mass killing and perscution of Hmong and
Laotians. Amnesty International has released a new report (March 2007) on the
crisis in Laos facing the Hmong.
"Senior Lao military officials and Communist politbureau members are engaged in
Darfur and Bosnia-like war crimes and crimes against humanity in Laos by killing
and starving to death thousands of unarmed Hmong and Laotian civilians,
dissidents and opposition groups, including poltical and religious dissidents
and minorities like the Hmong people," stated Philip Smith, Executive Director
of the Center for Public Policy Analysis. "To be fair, and for their to be
justice, the Pathet Lao generals who run Laos are indeed a group of serious war
criminals and state terrorists who the United States government and
international community should seek to bring to justice for their close
cooperation with North Korea regime as well as the mass killing of thousands of
unarmed Hmong and Laotian civilians as highlighted by the United Nations' human
rights hearings in Geneva just several years ago; In light of the Vang Pao
arrest and Amnesty International report regarding the crisis in Laos facing the
Hmong people, the Bush Administration needs to take a serious and fresh look at
the larger picture of what is actually going on in Laos to the Hmong people
today; Moreover, it is also important to point out the Communist Pathet Lao
regime's ongoing egregious violation of the letter and spirit of H.Res. 402
passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and Congress to help address this
ongoing crisis in Laos that has cost the lives of so many innocent Hmong and
Laotian civilians in recent years," Smith continued.
Smith concluded: It is my understanding that hundreds of Hmong and Laotian
protestors in Sacramento, Fresno, Minnesota and Wisconsin will also rally
against the threatened forced and involuntary repatriation of some 8,000 ethnic
Hmong and Laotian refugees currently seeking asylum from persecution in Thailand
and the continued jailing of peaceful Laotian student demonstrators arrested in
1999 in Vientiane; Indeed, for there to be justice in Laos and in the U.S. Court
in Sacramento, it is important to put the current situation with General Vang
Pao and the Hmong and Laotian people into context with the current human rights
crisis and ethnic cleansing campaign since many Hmong and Laotian-Americans are
still suffering as their relatives continue to be killed and persecuted by the
brutal Stalinist regime in Laos."
"Many Hmong are calling for the release of General Vang Pao given criminal acts
of ethnic cleasing, mass starvation and genocide now going on Laos that are
being directed by senior Pathet Lao military and communist party officials
against thousands of innocent Hmong civilians, Laotian and Hmong Christians as
well as the jailing and killing of Lao student leaders who protested peacefully
in Laos in 1999," stated Stephen Vang, a Hmong-American advocate and Hmong Peace
Task Force Committee organizer. "We want the Pathet Lao officials responsible
for these Bosnia-like crimes stopped and brought to justice in front of an
international war crimes tribunal for their ongoing killing of so many innocent
and unarmed Hmong and Laotian civilians and opposition group leaders," Vang
concluded.
The rally will discuss the recent 28-age report released in March 2007 by
Amnesty International (Lao Peoples Democratic Republic: Hiding in the Jungle,
Hmong Under Threat) regarding the ongoing killing and persecution of Hmong
civilians and opposition groups by the Pathet Lao communist regime and its
military. They will also discuss H. Res. 402, passed by the U.S. Congress
regarding the crisis in Laos facing the Hmong and Laotian people.. Hmong and
Laotians advocating non-violence and peace will discuss and seek to further
expose the cruel treatment of ethnic Hmong in Laos by the Lao communist regime
and ask for the international community for the intervention to stop human
rights abuses and genocide.
Lao and Hmong human rights advocates will demand access to Laos for
international human rights monitors, peacekeepers and the news media to monitor
and help stop the persecution, killing and ongoing military-backed mass
starvation of Hmong civilians in the jungle and closed military zones and allow
for human rights organizations to investigate human rights violations in Laos.
Pursuant to the language of H.Res. 402, passed by the U.S. Congress, Hmong
advocates and protestors will also demand access for UN agencies and the
International Red Cross in Laos to provide humanitarian assistance such as food,
medicine and clothing to the suffering Hmong and other ethnic groups as well as
religious minorities trapped in the jungle. Hmong will advocate for human
rights, freedom and democracy in Laos.
Laotians and Hmong will also call on the international community to the arrest
as war criminals top Lao Communist and military leaders responsible for these
Darfur and Bosnia-style war crimes against innocent Hmong and Laotian civilians.
Some of these Pathet Lao Communist leaders have been deemed “press predators” by
“Journalists Without Borders” (Journalists Sans Frontiers) again this year by
the Paris, France based organization.
Hmong and Laotian protestors and community advocates will also seek to discuss
the honorable and important history of the Hmong and Laotian role with the
United States during the Vietnam War and will carry copies of the book "Tragic
Mountains: The Hmong, The Americans and the Secret Wars for Laos," written by
historian and scholar Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt.
Thousands of Hmong and Laotian protestors are expected to participate in the
rallies today in Sacramento, Fresno, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Green Bay, Milwaukee
and Madison, Wisconsin.
Contact(s):
Ms. Anna Jones or Philip Smith (202) 543-1444
Center for Public Policy Analysis
Hmong Peace Task Force Committee
Contact: Stephen Vang (918) 237-2006