Release Date: 2008-01-31
Original Link: http://presszoom.com/story_143256.html
Source: Center for Public Policy Analysis
A US Congressional forum and policy briefing on Laos and the Hmong people will be held to discuss recent developments in Laos and Thailand regarding the human rights, refugee and humanitarian crisis facing thousands of Laotian and Hmong refugees. Intensified Lao military attacks against unarmed Lao and Hmong civilians will be detailed.
(PressZoom.com) - A U.S. Congressional forum and policy briefing on Laos and the Hmong people will be held on Capitol Hill to discuss recent developments in Laos and Thailand regarding the current human rights, refugee and humanitarian crisis facing thousands of Laotian and Hmong refugees. The ongoing imprisonment in Laos of Hakit Yang and two other Hmong-Americans from St. Paul, Minnesota will also be discussed as well as the plight of persecuted dissident and minority religious and political opposition groups.
The event will be held from 9:00 A..M.-12:00 P.M. on Thursday, January 31, 2008, in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C.
“Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF) and Amnesty International have made it very clear that the Hmong hiding in the jungles of Laos and the Lao and Hmong refugees at Thailand’s Ban Huay Nam Khao camp facing repatriation to Laos are populations at risk,” stated Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt, a Noble Peace Prize Nominee for her work on Hmong and Lao human rights issues and author of the award-winning book “Tragic Mountains: The Hmong the Americans and the Secret Wars For Laos” (Indiana University Press). “The deafness on these issues is no longer acceptable; At this Congressional Forum on Laos, it is hoped that Members of Congress will hear the cries and stories of these most vulnerable people, suffering because of their ancestors’ relationship with the U.S. during the Vietnam War,” Dr. Hamilton-Merritt continued.
"Many in Washington and in the U.S. Congress are concerned about reliable and ongoing reports regarding the thousands of unarmed Lao and Hmong civilians and refugees in Laos who have been killed or starved to death in recent years by Lao and Vietnamese military and security forces," stated Philip Smith, Executive Director for the Center for Public Policy Analysis. "The killing of unarmed Lao and Hmong dissident and minority religious and opposition groups, including dissident Christians and the Hmong people, continues and has intensified in Laos in recent months," continued Smith.
We want to get truthful answers to what has happened to Hakit Yang the other two Hmong-American citizens from St. Paul, Minnesota that have been arrested and jailed in Laos by the Lao government,” stated Sheng Xiong, wife and spokesperson for Mr. Hakit Yang and the families of the three Hmong-Americans from St. Paul, Minnesota, arrested and currently jailed in Laos. Sheng Xiong continued: “We know that Hakit Yang and the other two Hmong-Americans from St. Paul are still being jailed in Laos and that the Lao government has denied detaining them; So, we strongly urge the Lao military and security forces to release Hakit Yang and the two other Hmong-American citizens from St. Paul because we know that they are still forcibly being held in Laos against their will. The Lao government needs to abide by international law and the international community and provide immediate humanitarian access and the unconditional release of my husband Hakit Yang, who is a law-abiding American citizen as well as the two other Hmong-American he was traveling with at the time of his arrest in Laos.”
Current international efforts to stop the pending forced repatriation of some 8,000 Laotian and Hmong refugees and asylum seekers from Thailand back to the communist regime in Laos will also be detailed. Developments in the U.S. Congress and Washington to revisit the “material support” issue and status of the Hmong under the Patriot Act and REAL ID Act will be also be highlighted in the context of recent developments.
"We are urging the international community, including the United Nations and Royal Thai Government, to intervene with the help of the UNHCR and MSF, Doctors Without Borders, to put a permanent halt to the planned forced repatriation of over 8,000 Lao and Hmong refugees at Huay Nam Khao, Nong Khai and elsewhere in Thailand back to the brutal Lao Communist regime that they fled," said Colonel Wangyee Vang, National President of the Lao Veterans of America, Inc. “The Lao government and Vietnamese communist military attacks against unarmed Lao and Hmong people continues and the human rights situation has grown much worse in recent months as thousands of innocent civilians die at the hands of the Lao regime’s security and military forces,” concluded Colonel Wangyee Vang.
The event will also seek to detail and illuminate recent U.S. Congressional policy actions and the efforts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), human rights and dissident groups to seek to stop the planned and pending forced repatriation of Laotian and Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers, including the 8,000 political refugees at Huay Nam Khao, Thailand, back to the Lao communist regime that they fled.
"Freedom-loving Lao people are concerned about the dozens of Lao student leaders and family members from the 1999 peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in Laos that are still jailed and missing after being arrested by Communist Pathet Lao secret police and military troops in Vientiane, Laos," stated Bounthanh Rathigna, President of the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc. "We want Vietnam's military and security forces to immediately withdrawal their troops from Laos and stop killing, persecuting and exploiting the Lao and Hmong people; and we want the Lao regime to release Mr. Hakit Yang and the Hmong-American citizens from St. Paul that they have illegally arrested along with the Ban Vang Thao patriots whom the communist continue to hold in prison," Mr. Rathigna continued.
“The brutal military attacks against the Lao and Hmong people are increasing around Phou Bia mountain and in other areas of Laos by Lao and Vietnamese military and security forces,” stated Vaughn Vang, Director of the Lao Human Rights Council. “Lao and Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) air force units, which include helicopter gunships, continue to rocket and machine gun attacks against unarmed Lao and Hmong villagers amd civilians each day resulting in many horrific deaths and casualties,” Vaughn Vang said.
Speakers and invited panelists include: The Honorable Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), The Honorable Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt, Noble Peace Prize Nominee and Southeast Asian and Lao/Hmong scholar; T. Kumar, Amnesty International; Philip Smith, Executive Director, Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA); Colonel Wangyee Vang, National President, Lao Veterans of America; Thongchanh Boulum and Bounthanh Rathigna, United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc.; Ger Xiong, Lao-Hmong Community of Rhode Island and Lao Veterans of America; Vaughn Vang, Director, Lao-Hmong Human Rights Council; James Chang, Lao-Hmong Student Activist, Wisconsin; Sheng Xiong, spokesperson and wife of missing Hmong-American Hakit Yang and two-Hmong-American citizens from St. Paul, Minnestoa; Sang Ly and Sai Khue Khang, Lao-Hmong Community of North Carolina; Members of Congress and U.S. Congressional staff; United Nations and Administration officials; non-governmental and human rights organizations; Lao and Hmong community leaders; and policy experts.
Recent statements by Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiers ), Journalists Without Borders (JSF) the UNHCR and others will be discussed regarding the dire plight of Laotian and Hmong refugees in Thailand and Laos.
Issues and topics of discussion will include:
1. Emergency status and U.S. Congressional policy developments regarding the status of some 8,000 Hmong refugees in Huay Nam Khao, Phetchabun, Thailand as well as Lao-Hmong refugees at Nong Khai, Thailand;
2. Current issues of concern to U.S. and international policymakers regarding the nation of Laos and recent developments in Southeast Asia, including the political, economic and human rights situation in Laos and Thailand;
3. The arrest and disappearance of three Hmong-American citizens in Laos, including Hakit Yang of St. Paul, Minnesota;
4. The plight of Lao and Hmong civilians as well as unarmed opposition groups and resistance forces trapped in Laos by government security and military forces as documented in a recent New York Times article (NYT, December 17, 2007) and Amnesty International reports;
5. Increased military operations, ethnic cleansing and religious persecution in Laos by Lao government military and security forces in cooperation with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) and SRV troops and secret police;
6. “Material Support” issues and ongoing U.S. Congressional and Bush Administration regulatory and legislative efforts to revisit and amend the Patriot Act and REAL ID Act to address citizenship, immigration, asylum and national security concerns that relate to the Hmong and Laotian community diaspora members in the United States, Thailand and Southeast Asia.
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