DOCUMENT - LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC: HIDING IN THE JUNGLE - HMONG UNDER THREAT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 2
Background 3
The Hmong in Laos 4
The Hmong, “The Secret Army” and its immediate aftermath 4
The ongoing legacy of the “Secret Army” 6
International human rights framework 8
Life in the jungle 9
Killings and attacks by the authorities 10
Lack of access to food and medical care 14
Forced labour and sexual abuse 15
Arbitrary detention 16
“Surrenders” and forcible returns – to an uncertain fate 19
“Surrenders” 19
Forcible returns 20
Human rights violations on the periphery of the jungle 21
Couriers 21
Neighbouring villages 22
Refugee protection – Thailand’s role 23
Recommendations 27
To the Lao authorities 27
To the Thai authorities 27
To UN agencies and the international community 28
Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Hiding in the jungle - Hmong under threat
Introduction
Thousands of ethnic Hmong women, men and children live in scattered groups in the Lao jungles, hiding from the authorities, particularly the military. The armed forces regularly attack their temporary encampments, killing and injuring them, perpetuating their life on the run.
These predominantly Hmong groups are a remnant of a faction who in the early 1960s fought against Communist Pathet Lao forces and alongside the USA in its war against the North Vietnamese, which spilled over into Laos and Cambodia. After the Pathet Lao won the war in Laos in 1975, small numbers of soldiers from the losing side launched armed resistance against the new government basing themselves in the jungles. Some of these remain in the jungle to this day, remnants of a former armed rebel force, which no longer appears able to pose a military threat against the Lao government. They live with their families and communities in small groups struggling to survive, unable to realise their basic human right to a standard of living adequate for their health and well-being; they lack food, clothing, housing and medical care.
Amnesty International calls on the Lao government to fulfil its obligation under international law to respect the human rights of these groups, in particular their right to life and to an adequate standard of living.
Over the years thousands have fled to Thailand, where some have been resettled as refugees in third countries; some have been forcibly returned to Laos. Amnesty International has repeatedly called on Thai authorities not to forcibly return any Lao Hmong who would be at risk of serious human rights violations, in keeping with Thailand's obligations under international law.
Living on the run and in hiding, these groups have limited contact with the outside world. A few journalists have managed to pay clandestine visits, smuggling out film footage and stories. Others have tried, but been imprisoned when attempting to access the groups.
This report is based, in part, on information obtained from asylum-seekers and refugees in Thailand interviewed by Amnesty International in March 2006 and early 2007. It is also based on interviews and other information from a variety of actors who have connections to those in the jungle, including relatives, human rights advocates and journalists.
Background
One of Asia’s poorest nations, Laos has an ethnically diverse population of 5.6 million, over three quarters of whom live in rural areas.(1) Laos is home to some 50 ethnic groups,(2)until recently officially divided into three broad categories: lowlanders or Lao loum, Lao theung, which refers to the people who live on the slopes, and Lao soung, those who live on the mountain tops.(3)The Hmong belong to the latter.
Land-locked Laos is largely covered by rugged mountains and borders Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. Laos has one of the lowest densities of roads in the world,(4)although the road network is gradually expanding, large parts of the country are almost inaccessible.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR) is a one-party state, which was established on 2 December 1975 when the Communist Pathet Lao forces entered the capital Vientiane and a protracted war ended. The abdication of the king at the same time also marked the end of the constitutional monarchy, which had lasted for just under 30 years.
Laos is a state party to some of the core international human rights treaties: the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In 2000 Laos signed, but to date has not ratified, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Laos is also a party to the main international humanitarian law treaties (the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977).
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Laos has gradually opened up towards the outside world following a long period of isolation. In July 1997 the country became a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the country has also expressed interest in joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO). But despite opening up towards investors and tourism, the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and political participation remain systematically violated for the Lao population. Political opposition is not allowed, the media are state-controlled and mass organisations, such as the Lao Front for National Construction, the Lao Federation of Trade Unions, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union and the Lao Women’s Union, are closely controlled by the state. There are no domestic independent non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but service-delivering international development NGOs are allowed to operate if under foreign management. Access for independent human rights monitors from abroad is prohibited.
In 1991 Laos adopted a Constitution which provides for the rule of law,(5) but the legal framework is not yet in place. The judiciary is poorly resourced and under-developed; the court system is under executive and party influence. The government itself admits to many shortcomings, including “the absence of uniformity and consistency in the application of the law”, a scarcity of qualified personnel, and ineffective dissemination of information on laws – which are printed only in a limited number of copies – across the country.(6)Amnesty International has for years voiced concern over unfair trials and the absence of fair trial guarantees, political bias of courts and impunity for those who commit human rights violations. Individuals perceived as political opposition have been given long sentences of imprisonment simply for having exercised their right to freedom of expression or peaceful assembly; torture and ill-treatment in custody continues, though reports have gradually reduced over the years.
The Hmong in Laos
Ethnic Hmong people are a highland tribe that lives in southern China, Laos, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Thailand. They arrived in Laos from south-eastern China in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century and settled as farmers in the mountainous north. Today, the Hmong in Laos number over 450,000 people, constituting eight per cent of the population, making them the third largest ethnic group in the country after the Lao and the Khmou.(7) The ethnic Lao are the largest and politically, economically and culturally dominant group, with 55 percent of the population according to a national census carried out in 2005.(8)
The Hmong’s social organisation is clan-centred(9) and they live – for the most part – in small villages in the northern and central parts of the country, many of them only accessible by footpath or small tracks. But the Hmong have also integrated into business and political life across Laos; they are represented, though in limited numbers, at all levels of the administration, including in the newly elected National Assembly, and in the government that took office in June 2006. For the first time ever, 2006 also saw a Hmong enter the 11 member strong and highly influential politburo.
The Hmong, “The Secret Army” and its immediate aftermath
The war that ended in 1975 was partly an internal armed conflict between the left-wing Pathet Lao and the right-wing royalists and nationalists. But it was partly also a war that spilled over from Viet Nam and related to access to the so-called Ho Chi Minh trail, a network of supply lines that crossed into Laos and Cambodia and which was used by the North Vietnamese fighting the USA and the South Vietnamese forces.(10)The USA supported the right-wing faction, while the North Vietnamese backed the Pathet Lao.
On the side of the right-wing faction and alongside the USA, fought the so-called “Secret Army,” a CIA-funded irregular armed force established in 1961 and led by Royal Lao Army Lieutenant Vang Pao,(11)an ethnic Hmong. “The Secret Army” reached some 30,000 troops in the early 1970s, and comprised of several ethnic groups, including ethnic Lao, but the majority were ethnic Hmong. Not all ethnic Hmong, however, supported the royalists and nationalists. In fact, many Hmong and other minority groups supported Pathet Lao.(12)
Following the end of the war in 1975, the Hmong came to be perceived with suspicion by the new Communist government because of the involvement by Hmong in the “Secret Army”. After the victory of the Pathet Lao, tens of thousands of its former adversaries were jailed. Officials of the former government and its army, members of the “Secret Army” and Hmong who were perceived by the new government as having collaborated with the enemy side were sent to “re-education” camps, euphemistically called seminars,(13)or prisons. They were held in harsh conditions, without ever facing charge or trial, some for over a decade. It is not known how many people died in such detention, but many never returned.
Ostracism of the Hmong, mass arrests, violence and harassment were some factors pushing thousands of Hmong to flee the country in 1975 and afterwards. All in all around 300,000 people, including many Hmong, fled Laos during the first ten years,(14)mostly to Thailand where they sought refugee status. The majority resettled in third countries, particularly in the USA, which received some 250,000 Lao people between 1975 and 1996.(15) Over half of those 250,000 were ethnic Hmong, and Vang Pao was one of them.
Fearful of retribution and in turmoil after the escape of Vang Pao, thousands of irregular Hmong soldiers from the “Secret Army” retreated to inaccessible forest areas with their families from where they mounted armed resistance to the new government. The resistance was largely crushed within the first years by the Lao People’s Army with the help of some 30,000 Vietnamese troops,(16)though the defeat of the rebel groups was not total. A small rebel force held out, supported by Hmong groups in exile, particularly in the USA, including by Vang Pao.
From inaccessible encampments, particularly in the remote areas around Laos’ highest mountain, Phu Bia, the armed rebels launched occasional attacks against the Lao People’s Army into the 1990s.(17)Since then, dwindling Hmong groups of rebels have made sporadic attacks on army positions, and were accused by some representatives of the authorities of responsibility for two attacks on public buses in 2003 which caused multiple casualties. From then on very few reports have come out of Laos about other sporadic attacks allegedly involving groups that live in hiding in the jungle. By contrast, Amnesty International has frequently received reports and accounts about attacks against such groups by the Lao People’s Army.
The ongoing legacy of the “Secret Army”
No comprehensive data is available about how many people continue to eke out a living in the Lao jungles, on the run from frequent attack by the Lao People’s Army. A precise figure is impossible to calculate: independent observers are not allowed access and the groups are moving around in the jungle. There is also a movement between the jungles and mainstream Laos as people leave their hiding places to try to assimilate into regular society. Current estimates by observers and lobby groups range from several hundred to 3,000(18)up to as many as 17,000,(19)although the latter figure is probably a significant overestimate.
Very few people from the outside world have been able to visit any of these groups, and no one has been able to visit all groups in this remote hinterland. This is not to say there is a total absence of accounts from the jungle. At least six visits by journalists – with the first in January 2003 and the latest in June 2006 – have sporadically placed the Lao jungles in the headlines.
More recently, sympathisers, family members or political groupings abroad have provided satellite or mobile phones to people in the jungle, through which they have been able to relay information to the outside world. In addition, journalists and others have managed to smuggle out film footage from hide-outs, providing images and descriptions about what they encountered during clandestine visits. Refugees and asylum-seekers in Thailand have also been able to tell of life in hiding.
So far lobby groups, media and human rights organisations have predominantly described those in hiding as rebels. Without unfettered access to the regions in question it is hard to assess whether such a description remains accurate or whether it merely reflects a historical position. Up until 2004, Amnesty International received information indicating that anti-government groups of Hmong ethnicity were involved in attacks, including against government positions in Houa Phan in 2004. In 2003, there were also ambushes against public buses, including two along the road that links Vientiane with Luang Phrabang, which killed 25 people and wounded many more. In both instances witnesses reported that the perpetrators had been ethnic Hmong, and consequently most observers attributed the attacks to armed rebels. To the knowledge of Amnesty International, however, no group ever took responsibility for the attacks against the buses, and although some initial arrests were made,(20) no one has been held to account for these serious crimes.
The journalists who visited the jungle have pointed out that the people they met were extremely vulnerable because they were hiding form the authorities, coming under violent attack, and lacked food, medicine and shelter. They described formerarmed rebels and people in hiding with very limited means for survival and in isolation from other groups in the same circumstance. For example, in a testimony to the European Parliament's sub-committee on Human Rights, BBC journalist Ruhi Hamid, who paid a clandestine visit to an encampment in 2004, noted that:
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“in our observation this particular group has no significant military capability and so pose no real threat to the government forces but will defend themselves if attacked. To protect our journey out of the jungle, the fighters gathered the collective bullets in the group and handed them to the six men walking us out. They were left with six bullets to defend their village.”(21)
While the Hmong groups living in the jungle originated as an armed opposition to the LPDR government which came to power in 1975, the remnants over thirty years later are not in a position to carry out anything more than sporadic acts of violent opposition to the government. The Lao government have themselves implicitly acknowledged this, by describing the perpetrators of the 2003 bus attacks as “bandits”, rather than seeking to characterise those attacks as part of any armed conflict. The military, however, continues to pursue and attack those who formerly belonged to the rebels and their descendants, compelling them to keep on the move, and denying them the opportunity to exercise their human rights.
Amnesty International is not in a position at this time to determine conclusively that the situation no longer amounts to an armed conflict, although this appears to be the case. It is clear that the Lao military continues to pursue those who belong, or belonged to rebel groups and their relatives. At any rate, international human rights law is applicable at all times, and should, in the circumstances, form the primary international legal framework governing the authorities’ conduct towards and treatment of the Hmong people.
International human rights framework
The right to life is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which proclaims that “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” (Article 3). This right is set out also in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which provides that no one should be arbitrarily deprived of their life. The UDHR and the ICCPR also provide that no one should be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention or subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. These provisions reflect rules of customary international law which are binding on all states. While Laos has not to date ratified the ICCPR, it signed it in December 2000 with a view to ratification, and so is under an obligation in international law to refrain in good faith from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty.
Laos is a state party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), under which it is obliged to prohibit and eliminate all forms of racial discrimination and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law in the enjoyment of human rights, including the right to security of person and economic, social and cultural rights (Article 5).
The right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, housing and access to health care is enshrined in Article 25 of the UDHR. The rights to adequate food, to adequate housing, and to the highest attainable standard of health, among others have been further elaborated in binding international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which, like the ICCPR, Laos signed in December 2000.
States parties to the ICESCR have immediate obligations, including the obligation to refrain from interfering arbitrarily with people’s efforts to realise their own rights, including those to housing, health and food. This includes respecting efforts that people themselves make to realize their rights.
These human rights are also set out in numerous other human rights instruments including treaties which Laos has ratified. Of particular relevance, in view of the fact that the Hmong living in the jungle include families with children, is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Under this treaty, Laos has explicitly undertaken an obligation to recognize every child’s “inherent right to life” and “to ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child” (Article 6); “to recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development” (Article 27); and to “recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health [and to] strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services” (Article 24). Article 2 of the CRC provides that these rights must be ensured to each child without discrimination, including on the basis of the perceived political opinions of their parents:
“1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.
2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members.”
The Committee on the Rights of the Child, the body of independent experts which monitors states’ compliance with their obligations under that treaty, in its General Comment No 5,(22)has stated that the non-discrimination obligation on state parties requires them actively to take measures in order to identify individual children and groups of children who may be particularly vulnerable in this regard.(23) Furthermore, General Comment 5 underlines the primacy of the principle of the best interest of the child in all decisions and actions taken by government authorities.(24)
Life in the jungle
There are Hmong groups living in the jungle in the provinces of Bolikhamxay, Xieng Khouang, Vientiane, and Luang Phrabang, including Xaysomboune Special Zone, which was under military administration until 2006 and stretched over parts of the three former provinces.
The groups that have had the means to contact the outside world or have had clandestine visits by journalists consist of men and women, including elderly people, and children. According to their accounts, they have not engaged in any attacks on the military, but are constantly pursued and attacked by the military.
Regular violent attacks by the military around and on encampments and their inhabitants have led to numerous deaths, injuries and continual displacement. This displacement in turn deprives the women, men and children of their right to an adequate standard of living, including shelter, drinking water, and food. Their destitution further perpetuates ill-health and disease; without any access to health services, many of them die.
During periods of heightened international attention after the first few visits by journalists to the jungle, the international donor community was reportedly ready to offer humanitarian assistance to the Lao government in order to address the needs of those in the jungle. No such assistance was requested by the authorities.
Killings and attacks by the authorities
Amnesty International has received numerous reports about armed attacks by the military on people in the jungle. Accounts of such attacks are often difficult to corroborate because they take place in isolated locations, far from populated areas and independent observers. Nevertheless, Amnesty International has received multiple credible accounts over the past four years from a range of sources sufficient to conclude that there is a pattern of such attacks.
Most frequently, attacks take place while people forage for food. Foraging is a vital but time-consuming and dangerous task which can take between 12 and 18 hours a day. The further the people venture from their encampments, the more vulnerable they are to attacks by the military.
Numerous individuals have reported how their relatives have been shot dead while searching for food. The family patterns of the groups in the jungle reflect this; family members outside the nuclear family, such as uncles, aunts and grandparents, are often referred to as being custodians of children whose parents have been killed.
Bullet and shrapnel wounds are also widespread in the jungle groups. In one of the largest encampments with a population of over 800, the leader, who kept a tally of the number of injuries, told a journalist that 30 percent had shrapnel wounds.(25)Reports, including photographs, from the six visits by journalists have provided evidence of the large numbers of injured and scarred people, including children. Invariably victims attributed scars and injuries to attacks by the military.
Those who have been injured have had no access to medical services inside Laos.
On 6 April 2006 Lao government troops reportedly launched an attack in northern Vientiane province which killed 26 Hmong belonging to a jungle group. Of the 26 dead, reports state that 17 were children and several women. Five people were wounded, while a group of around a dozen survived without injury. The incident took place around 20 kilometres northeast of the tourist town of Vang Vieng. Two men in the group carried guns, but they did not use their weapons.
The ambush took place in the morning hours while the victims were searching for food around two kilometres from a hiding place in the jungle where they had been living for five days.
Tong Her only saw the dead, whose shallow graves he helped dig at the scene. He told Amnesty International that most of the dead were women and children, all from his make-shift village – at that time consisting of over 400 people.
Pressure from the US Embassy on the government to conduct an inquiry into the killing led the Lao authorities to summon the US Ambassador to protest against the accusations. Lao officials categorically denied the incident and publicly accused the US Embassy of having fabricated accusations. To date, so far as Amnesty International is aware, no adequate investigation has been carried out into the killings.
Tong Her was born in the area near Vang Vieng in 1982, to a former CIA trained soldier. Tong Her lived in these jungles for all his life until 10 October 2006, when he escaped. An attack against his group on 1 October 2006, in which one person was killed and another injured, prompted him and his nearest family to decide finally to leave. Constant lack of food was another decisive factor.
Tong Her, his father Blia Shoua Her, the leader of the group, and their family were the only ones to flee to Thailand. The rest of the village decided to emerge from the jungle in an attempt to join mainstream Lao society, according to Tong Her. He and his family do not know what has happened to those who stayed in Laos.
As a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Lao government is obliged to recognize every child’s “inherent right to life” and “to ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.”(26)More generally, the right to life is enshrined in Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the core provision in Article 6 of the ICCPR, namely that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of life, reflects a rule of customary international law, applicable in all circumstances.
The UN has developed more detailed and specific standards which, while not legally binding per se, nevertheless represent global agreement by states on how to best implement international human rights treaties and other standards, through legislation, regulation and during actual law enforcement operations. These include the United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials(1979);(27) the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (1990);(28)and theUnited Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (1989).(29)
The Lao authorities have not sought to justify their use of lethal force against members of Hmong jungle groups in terms of a framework of armed conflict, but havegenerally referred to them as “bandits”, which implies recognition of a law enforcement framework. Article 3(c) of the UN Code of Conduct states that “every effort should be made to exclude the use of firearms, especially against children. In general, firearms should not be used except when a suspected offender offers armed resistance or otherwise jeopardizes the lives of others and less extreme measures are not sufficient to restrain or apprehend the suspected offender.”(30) The UN Basic Principles state that firearms should not be used against persons except in self-defence or defence of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life, to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives. In any event, intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”(31)
International law requires that every death in suspicious circumstances must be investigated promptly, thoroughly and independently. Principle 9 of the Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions states that “There shall be thorough, prompt and impartial investigation of all suspected cases of extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions, including cases where complaints by relatives or other reliable reports suggest unnatural death in the above circumstances.” Lao law provides for such investigation, as do the laws of virtually every country in the world. Except in two instances, no known investigations into incidents of military violence against Hmong groups have taken place.
The two exceptions concern the most publicised attacks: the killing of 26 people on 6 April 2006 described above, and a reported killing and brutalization of a group of five Hmong children on 19 May 2004, the aftermath of which was caught on video camera. After the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in its concluding observations expressed concerns over reports about the May 2004 attack and others,(32) the Lao government commented in a submission to CERD that it had undertaken an investigation at the area of the reported incident and noted that there had been no complaint lodged with any authorities. It stated:
"This has led the Lao authorities concerned to the conclusion that the alleged incident is unreal, groundless and non-existent, and is proved to be merely a fabrication intended to harm the reputation of the Lao People’s Army."(33)
The authorities also claimed to have carried out an investigation after the incident on 6 April 2006. Amnesty International has been informed that the investigation had consisted of a phone call to a military commander, asking whether he had received any reports about the attack. After a negative response from the commander, the authorities reportedly concluded that no killing had taken place. During a visit to the area of the incident by a Bangkok-based photographer Roger Arnold in June 2006, survivors from the attack took him to the site and told him that no one had investigated the killings at the site. In footage taken out by Arnold, the leader of the group, Blia Shoua Her, appealed to the international community to carry out an investigation at the site, and Arnold confirmed that he had visited 23 of 26 graves, where, according to the survivors, those killed in the incident were buried. The graves were adorned with personal belongings from the dead, including clothing and ornaments.
Lack of access to food and medical care
Life on the run has driven the Hmong living in the jungle to destitution and hunger. They cannot cultivate crops because it would make them too easily detectable, particularly from the air. Accounts provided to Amnesty International describe how they avoid picking any visible quantities of wild fruit in certain areas in order to evade being found or do not hunt animals with their old guns.
They stay for short periods of time in very basic temporary shelters and have no access whatsoever to basic services including education, health care or sanitation. Sometimes they leave an encampment behind because they come under direct attack; at other times they leave because they feel insecure due to military movements in the vicinity.
“We never stayed longer than 15 days in the same place”, one young man who recently fled from the jungle in Vientiane province to Thailand told Amnesty International.
Living in hiding from the authorities and in almost complete isolation, the meagre diet of these groups consists by and large of what they can gather from the forest without leaving conspicuous traces. The most important foods are cassava roots, leaves, wild yams and the husk of an Asian palm tree known as ‘Tong-La’, which is slightly poisonous and so requires a laborious process to make it edible.(34)
Recently arrived asylum-seekers and refugees in Thailand, as well as video footage and reports from the jungle, indicate signs of malnutrition, particularly among children, many of whom have distended bellies, bleached hair or slight frames. This suggests that the authorities in Laos have taken insufficient measures to give effect to the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child's development, in particular with regard to the right to adequate food, as they are required to do as a state party to the CRC. In fact, Amnesty International has obtained credible evidence that the military regularly attacks those who forage for food, preventing them from taking their own steps to realize their right to adequate food.
After the attack outside Vang Vieng in April 2006, at least five breast-feeding infants whose mothers had been killed died as a consequence of losing their mothers, according to reports to Amnesty International. The same month, in the jungle of Xieng Khouang a boy of around ten years old received a serious injury to the stomach in an attack while searching for food. His belly had been slit wide open by shrapnel; he survived two days without any professional medical attention before he died.
Although the groups in the jungle rely on traditional medicine that they can find in their vicinity, there is a serious shortage of healthcare to control or tackle disease, which is reportedly widespread amidst food shortages and malnourishment. Moreover, those living in the jungle, including those wounded in direct attacks, cannot seek medical attention outside of their hiding places as they would risk being detected and attacked. This undermines their ability to realise the right to the health, set out in the ICESCR and, with respect to children in the CRC, which states that “States Parties shall recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health”and “to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.”
Forced labour and sexual abuse
In connection with attacks by the military or when groups from the jungle have tried to leave their life in hiding, there is a discernible pattern of separation of families. Reports provided to Amnesty International describe how men have been arrested and taken away, while the women have been taken to isolated villages, most often along the Vietnamese border in the province of Houa Phan. In other instances families have been placed in small camp-like settlements in the same area, while young women have been separated and taken away. Some have been subject to slavery-like treatment and torture and ill-treatment, including repeated rapes by law enforcement officers.
Amnesty International takes the view that the rape of a prisoner by a law enforcement, security or military official always constitutes torture, which is a crime under international law.
Around August 2005, Pakou(35) and her family were captured in the jungle. Within a week of her capture, she was separated from her parents and siblings and taken to a police post outside a village south-east of Sam Neua. For approximately one year she was locked up with two other young Hmong women in a room at the police post. All three women were used for house chores, did laundry for the policemen, and they were also forced into sexual servitude. Several times Pakou was gang raped by the police. After about one year she finally saw an opportunity to escape as she acquired a sum of money with which she bribed some of the police officers to set her free. Pakou is now around 20 years old, distressed and traumatized. She is a refugee in Thailand, at risk of deportation back to Laos.
There is not enough information at this stage to conclude whether there is a pattern of sexual abuse by military and police of Hmong women from the jungle. It remains an area that urgently needs further research. What is clear, however, is that there are allegations that serious crimes have been committed by police in Houa Phan province. So far, Amnesty International has received no information to suggest that there has been any investigation into such crimes by Lao authorities.
Arbitrary detention
In several instances, groups who have decided to give up their life in hiding have been harassed, detained and subjected to ill-treatment, according to reports provided to Amnesty International.
On 4 June 2005, a group of 173 people emerged from the jungle after a long jungle trek to the village of Chong Thuang in a planned “surrender”.
The US-based Hmong lobby group The Fact Finding Commission (FFC) had advised authorities and international organisations that a group of 30 families would emerge from the jungle, and also attempted to arrange a presence of international organisations with the aim of monitoring their arrival and ensure their well-being. International presence was not secured. In the absence of such monitoring, three members of the FFC were themselves at hand.(36)
“We received help by these Americans who came to meet us when we came out of the forest to take us to Laos where we would become Lao citizens”, Chong Vang Lor,(37) a 56-year old member of this group told Amnesty International when the organisation met him later in Thailand.
The 30 families had left behind a life in hiding inside Xaisomboune Special Zone, four days trek from Phoukout district in Xieng Khouang province. They were first provided assistance coordinated by a local police chief.
“Then came the soldiers. They took us to a prison inside an army camp outside Phoukout town. For two months we were kept inside the cells at all times, around 10 families in each cell. If we needed to go to the toilet, we had to ask the guards to be let out,” according to Chong Vang Lor.
The prison building was in the middle of the camp, and the doors were sealed by chains and locks. Food was very limited – two meals a day of a handful of rice.
“The guards were very intimidating, particularly in the beginning: at night they would fire shots over the roof of the building, shout at or harass the detainees from outside. Many of the guards, both military and police, were ethnic Hmong.”
“No one was killed, but two children died of malnourishment,” said Chong Vang Lor.
After two months the families were allowed outside the cell in the daytime, though confined to the army camp area; at night they would be locked up again. Food remained very limited through this period, which lasted around four months. The international provisions of food that authorities reportedly received did not alter the limited supplies. Altogether, they were held for around six months, before being told to leave. They were instructed not to leave in groups, but only as individual families. Fearful, they all left at the same time, at night, but in different directions as they had been told.
Not only Vietminh take over Laoland but RAPE Lao girl 12 years old; June 26, 2011 in Sikhotabong distric, Vientiane; untill dead and still covered by LPDR official not to tell the media or other source of news because it will be damaging the two Communist countries' friendship. How everybody feel about this LAO stupidity government action?. What is the role of government? protect his Viet friend and kill her citizen.
LPDR thugs see no Evil, hear no EVIL doing from its Master Viets because Lao leaders are castrated by Viet master. If any of its slave Lao commie leader complains, he or she may disappear without trace like any other one that seeks justice. Lao commie leaders turn its blind eyes on its own citizens to avoid harsh punishmentfrom its master Viets. May lord Buddha blesses the victim soul, her siblings, and her parents.
Anything can happen but it's 12yrs old girl or short skirt girl here got raped by those 20 Viet? if the story is true and those Viets rapist go to jail I didn't see how it will damage Lao-Viet relationship...
Rapists are rapists, has nothing to do with their Nationality. Arseholes are arseholes and they will mention "Viet" to vilify the Vietnamese. Just like when they use the word "commi". People like that don't have my respect and can only sway opinions of "kon smong orn".
Amnesty said the teenagers were foraging for food outside their camp Amnesty International has accused government soldiers in Laos of murdering four teenaged girls and a boy from the ethnic minority Hmong group. The human rights group said the four girls were raped before they were killed, and one was disembowelled.
Amnesty described the killings as war crimes and demanded that Laos bring those responsible to justice.
However the Lao foreign ministry said it believed video footage of the alleged victims had been doctored.
'Fabrication'
Yong Chanthalansy, spokesman for the ministry, said on Tuesday: "This is another attempt to mudsling and wreak havoc in my country."
"[Amnesty] and the media have been used to serve a small group of bad people to cause public disorder and accuse our government," he said.
"With modern technology these days you could do this anywhere. This is another groundless fabrication."
Amnesty alleges that 30-40 Lao soldiers took part in the attack in the Xaisomboune military zone on 19 May 2004.
It said the five children, aged between 14 and 16, were attacked while out foraging for food.
It said the "attacks violate the most fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law".
Hmong groups have been fighting a low-level rebellion since communist authorities came to power at the end of the Vietnam war in 1975.
Correspondents say the Hmong supported US forces during the war and the pro-American regime before the communists took over, and have been persecuted by the government ever since.
The legislative bodies of Vietnam and Laos want to further increase cooperation and improve the quality and efficiency of their operations, helping promote friendship and comprehensive ties between the two countries.
Lao Phinong,
Vietnam has up graded the position to control Laos legally but they do not hiding in the bush. This is difference with Lao Patriots overseas to put all fighting for democracy in Laos agenda in-confidence and know only their group.
Thanks for your complementation. As the PGNU and the Southeast Asia Democracy Coalition (SEA DC), to meet with UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 11:00 A.M. The nine countries of the members of SEA DC had the opportunity to bring several ongoing, urgent cases of human rights violations in Asia and the political case of Laos to the attention of the United Nations. The Coalition represented millions of Cambodian, Chinese, Laotians, Vietnamese, Cubans, North Korea, Burmese, Bangladesh, Taiwanese, Tibetan, Sinkiang, and Hong Kong people in exile in America as well as advocates human rights and government reforms and its independence.
A chance to fight for human rights and freedom, plus the government reforms:
The rate of women being trafficked throughout Asia has grown exponentially in the last several years. Thousands of Laotians, Vietnamese women are trafficked across the Lao-Cambodia-Vietnam-China border by organizers who take them to Thailand and from there to neighboring countries for prostitution and other human trafficking purposes, according to the Coalition Against Trafficking Women - Asia Pacific (CATW- Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific).
As China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are members of the United Nations, the Southeast Asia Democracy Coalition hopes that with this meeting, it can persuade the United Nations to exercise the appropriate pressures to stop human rights violations in those countries, specifically the trafficking of women and drug trafficking in Laos. Especially the trading of human organs in China, and the denial of basic human rights and freedoms in Laos and Cambodia.
Meanwhile, the governments of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are corrupt and run by the single communist party or dictators who are supported by the Chinese Communist Party and North Vietnamese in Laos. The US Government has listed China, Vietnam, Laos as the countries of the Particular Concern (CPC) for many years. The Southeast Asia Democracy Coalition members in exile from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China who desire to support the people inside their countries by standing up for human rights and by promoting freedom and democracy is our "Joint Resolution."
According to the Lao Human Rights Council report by that time, there were over 300,000 people killed by the Communist Pathet Lao officials after war in 1975. Among them, 50,000 were from soldiers, and government officials and civilians. Among them were also the Hmong ethnic people.
From 1990-1997, there were another over 25,000 Hmong were either tortured or killed by poisoning such as through injections or via food in those natures.
Up to now, the Hmong people still being hunted by the Communist Pathet Lao regime like animals. In fact, the Communist Pathet Lao regime is committing acts of genocide against the Hmong people in Laos.
More dangerously at the present moment, the Vietnamese communist military has occupied and continues to control the Lao people, its government, and its territory.
Therefore, stop these abuses. Bring a true freedom and democracy to Laos now!!!
Since 1977, another enemy has illegally invaded Laos. This enemy is Vietnam and China. Since 1997, China has helped by loaning Lao PDR $1.7 trillion. Also, according to the Chinese Daily News Paper, China also provided the entire loan to Lao PDR in June 2003. (Independence for Laos now!!!)
Meanwhile, China has taken away the power of all the territories it wants to control. The Vietnamese and Chinese have replaced the military, civilian, and government personnel of those in Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam with their own citizens in order to create a Greater Republic of Vietnam and China.
In order to stop the above processing, we need to bring the case of Laos to appeal to the United Nations which we will be based on the Geneva 1954, 1962 Treaties and its Agreements. The Paris Peace Agreements on January 27, 1973.
Additionally, we also will be brought the Vientiane Peace Agreement on February 21, 1973 to put on the table of the United Nations and the International Criminal Court of Justice in the Hague, the NETHERLAND for justice. As you can visualize, I have provided for you documenting a history of these undemocratic activities and practices perpetrated by the Chinese, North Vietnamese, and Communist Pathet Lao regimes to remind you about why we still need to fight for freedom and democracy.
Today, I am speaking on behalf of the Lao overseas people in exile and the people inside the country of Laos to let the people of the free world know that communism is falling and that the communist regimes of China, Vietnam and Laos are no EXCEPTION. I, therefore, need all of the groups in this forum to support my alleges to submit to the United Nations Tribunal Court of Justice and the ICJ.
I am looking forward to working with all of the groups, organizations, communities around the world to sign the petitions of supports which there will be more 1500 pages of the contents of the complaints, plus solid evidences and witnesses that we have in our possessions at this time.
With high respectfully submitted, Dr. William K. BOUAROUY, Author...
Oh! No Mr. Bounkhong, This news was spread all over the medias, including ASTV, RFA. you're the opposition of LaoPDR, you don't need proved from The UN. before you said is true.???
ລາວສວັນ ລູກຫລານພໍ່ກະດວດ
On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 9:57 PM, A. Bounkhong. wrote:
Sabaidee Mr Vang and Mr Somxai,
Our team tried to check this news but we cannot find properly a document to back up as evidence. If we do wrong so our forum will affect in the future to the international eye. The strategy of Lao PDR Government is priority to destroy our forum. Sometimes we sent news directly to Security council or international communities and UN or publish in the media.
Sad news and sorry news to Lao girl and I known very well about the Hunting Hmong ethnic that why our team tried to work in the forum very hard to publish Lao Voice even we receive the lack of supporting in English text. We accept the English is hard for us who have less knowledge if not check properly the meaning go to the wrong direction.
Best Regards, A. Bounkhong
On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 12:58 AM, wrote:
Our heart and sorrow for our beloved 12 years old and her families. This type of horrible acts have been practiced against Lao-Hmong in the jungle and village in Laos at will. When a government neglect their responsibilities to protect the lives and rights of their citizens, the word" People's Republic" is nothing more than a smoke screen.
To: laosnetworkroom@googlegroups.com Sent: Sat, Jul 16, 2011 7:11 am Subject: Re: Lao girl 12 years old was raped by 20 Vietnamese from Hanoi.
Mr. Phom All of your messages looks terrible with red, yellow, blue, look like advertise from MacDonald or Vietnam new year some how, it don't look official or professional. Does any body have comment?
ລາວສວັນ ລູກຫລານພໍ່ກະດວດ
On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 6:26 AM, Phom Soudhasa wrote:
Unacceptable manner of Vietnamese from Hanoi. Phom: The incident happened at Sikhotabong distric , Vientiane so Lao PDR Government should bring the murders to punish. If Lao PDR authority cannot do anything to the murders so Laos country is not a sovereign country. So we will raise this matter to the Amnesty international to justice.
From: Lao Phouan Not only Vietminh take over Laoland but RAPE Lao girl 12 years old; June 26, 2011 in Sikhotabong distric, Vientiane; untill dead and still covered by LPDR official not to tell the media or other source of news because it will be damaging the two Communist countries' friendship. How everybody feel about this LAO stupidity government action?. What is the role of government? protect his Viet friend and kill her citizen.
LPDR thugs see no Evil, hear no EVIL doing from its Master Viets because Lao leaders are castrated by Viet master. If any of its slave
Anything can happen but it's 12yrs old girl or short skirt girl here Lao commie leader complains, he or she may disappear without trace like any other one that seeks justice. Lao commie leaders turn its blind eyes on its own citizens to avoid harsh punishmentfrom its master Viets. May lord Buddha blesses the victim soul, her siblings, and her parents. got raped by those 20 Viet? if the story is true and those Viets rapist go to jail I didn't see how it will damage Lao-Viet relationship.. .http://www.manager.co.th/IndoChina/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID= 9540000084976
Rapists are rapists, has nothing to do with their Nationality. Arseholes are arseholes and they will mention "Viet" to vilify the Vietnamese. Just like when they use the word "commi". People like that don't have my respect and can only sway opinions of "kon smong orn".
Kind Regards, Phom Soudhasa A member of Lao Activist Group. 16 - 07 - 2011
