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Press/Media:
The following links are to reports and articles from several international human rights groups.  The following links will direct you to the article you wish to view on each host institution's website.  These links will open in a new browser window.  Additional information can be found by searching Google or GoogleNews for "Hmong."
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Medicine_Sans_Frontieres.jpgMedicine Sans Frontieres

Fearing a Forced Return

The situation of the Lao Hmong refugees in Petchabun, Thailand

Date Published: 22 May 2008

Thailand 2007 © Greg Constantine

A child stands in front of the barbed wire fence that hems in the Hmong refugees living in Huay Nam Khao camp in Thailand's Phetchabun province.

Nearly 8,000 ethnic Lao Hmong currently confined to a guarded, barbed-wire enclosed camp controlled by the Thai military in the village of Huai Nam Khao in Petchabun province in northern Thailand face the imminent threat of a forced return to Laos. Many of these refugees have told the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the sole nongovernmental organization working in the camp, of a life in Laos spent fleeing violent attacks and persecution, witnessing the murder of family members, suffering rape, surviving bullet and shrapnel wounds, and enduring malnutrition and disease.

Recent actions taken by the Thai and Lao governments—including the involuntary return to Laos of 11 refugees in the camp—have heightened the anxiety, psychological distress, and fear among the camp population. Four of the refugees have attempted to commit suicide since January 2008. Some refugees receiving psychological care have told MSF that facing the Thai military during the screening process—even anticipation of the meeting—has triggered flashbacks and nightmares recalling abuses suffered in Laos. This state of desperation has been fueled by the Thai military’s near constant threats to the refugees of an imminent return to Laos.

Out of grave concern for their safety and well-being, MSF is calling upon the governments of Thailand and Laos to immediately stop the forced repatriation of these Lao Hmong refugees without independent monitoring and guarantees for their safety.

To view the HTML introduction to of this report, click: here

To view and save the Adobe PDF version of this report, click: here 

(You will need the free Adobe Reader software available here)

 

Medicine_Sans_Frontieres.jpgMedicine Sans Frontieres

As Tensions Mount for Forced Return to Laos, Fire Ravages Hmong Refugee Camp in Northern Thailand

Date Published: 27 May 2008

Field News

© MSF

On Friday, May 23, a fire destroyed close to 60 percent of the houses in the Huai Nam Khao refugee camp in Petchabun province in northern Thailand. The blaze took hold after a week-long demonstration in the camp, which is home to nearly 8,000 Lao Hmong refugees, to protest the arrest of a community leader and the imminent threat of a forced return to Laos.

Many of these refugees have told Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the sole nongovernmental organization working in the barbed-wire, military-controlled camp, of a life in Laos spent fleeing violent attacks and persecution, and enduring malnutrition and disease. MSF has been assisting this refugee population since 2005. MSF has called on the Thai and Lao governments to immediately stop the refugees' forced repatriation without independent monitoring and guarantees for their safety. Gilles Isard, MSF head of mission in Thailand, describes the recent events in the camp leading up to the demonstrations and fire.

What prompted the week of demonstrations?

On May 16, one of the Hmong leaders in the camp was arrested by the Thai army on the charges that he had given a phone interview to Radio Free Asia and that he was in possession of alcohol. At the same time, rumors were allegedly circulating in the camp that the Thai army was planning to send him back to Laos. This prompted thousands of people to start demonstrating in support of him. The very same day, the leader, with the help of his wife, chained himself to the camp’s main gate in order not to be sent to Laos. He stayed chained at the gate until Friday when the fire started. At the same time, a hunger strike was started in the camp. People started coming to our outpatient clinic complaining of weakness and in hysteria.

What else were the refugees protesting?

The demonstrators have been demanding that the United Nations step in to the situation to protect their rights as refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or any other third party, has not been allowed to enter the camp to carry out an independent screening of their claims for refugee protection. They demanded that the UN representatives come to the camp before May 25 and if not, they said that they would take action to provoke the army and create chaos in the camp. Two people threatened to kill themselves and their family before the end of the month if UN did not step in.

Did the tensions continue to build in the camp?

On Friday, before the fire started, the situation was highly explosive and we really thought that things were going to get out of control. Thousands of refugees destroyed the fence and moved out of the camp protesting in front of the military, some of the refugees were hiding knives in order to get ready for a confrontation with the Thai military. The Thai military remained calm and did not respond to the provocation. Otherwise, it would have been really chaotic.

We do not know who set the fire, but we know that most of the refugees had the chance to collect their main belonging before going away from the burning houses. Nobody was injured. In all, about 850 houses out of 1,400 were completely destroyed as well as the surrounding latrines and some of the piping for the water system.

What are the living conditions in the camp since the fire?

Following the fire, people slept anywhere they could—in the remaining houses, in the churches and school buildings, in the military compound, in the MSF warehouse and clinic, and in some makeshift emergency shelters. Saturday, several hundred people were still outside the camp sitting on the road and protesting. They continued to demand the presence of the UN and say that they will not return into the camp until UNHCR comes and listens to their claims. Our team has been supplying plastic sheeting and blankets to the refugees for the past days. We have also repaired the water system and are repairing the latrines in order to control the sanitation

How do you think it came to this situation?

The tension in the camp has been mounting for months since the Thai authorities conducted a screening process without any independent oversight and announced the intention of returning all the Hmong before the end of 2008. We are talking about an already highly traumatized population. The stress of life in the camp for refugees who report a long personal history of traumatic events in Laos continues to intensify in the face of ongoing uncertainty about their future. Through our mental health program, 96 patients have been seen for psychological consultation. MSF staff living in the camp report there are many more whom suffer symptoms of stress but are not yet referred.

Nearly every day, new faces come to the consultation room door and ask to be seen. Of those seen, 93 percent report a lifetime of loss, torture, running, hiding, and starving in the mountainous jungles of Laos. Patients present extensive documents showing photos of the dead and relatives in military uniforms, papers showing the family’s connection to the US Central Intelligence Agency during the US-Vietnam War, and maps of hiding places and routes of escape from attacks. While many details differ, the elements are quite consistent. Of the 96 patients seen for consultation by our psychologist nearly 50 percent threaten suicide if they are forced to return to Laos.

Have there been other episodes to heighten tension in the camp?

This is just latest serious incident in the camp. On February 27, 2008, four Hmong families—11 individuals—were sent back to Laos. According to Thai authorities, the four families were registered on a list of voluntary returnees. But statements given to MSF from witnesses in the camp do not corroborate this account. On that day, Thai soldiers examined their registration cards and screened them. They then separated 12 people from the group and had them board military vehicles. According to these witnesses, several people were clearly being forced to board the vehicles. A woman with 5 children, ages 2 to 15, was compelled to leave even though her children were still in the camp, making the claim that she was returning voluntarily to Laos doubtful. She managed to escape and her whereabouts remain unknown. She is still separated from her children in the camp.

Additionally, alleged abuses perpetrated against Lao Hmong refugees who have been forcibly returned to Laos have intensified the stress and anxiety among the people in the camp. In December 2005, 27 Lao Hmong children (5 boys and 22 girls) from Huai Nam Khao were arrested by the Thai police and sent back by force to Laos. Twelve of the girls managed to come back to Thailand and join their parents in the camp in May 2007. They told MSF staff of enduring repeated beatings, rapes, and other abuses during their detention in Laos. Ten girls and five boys are still in Laos, their whereabouts and fates unknown. Such incidents have only heightened anxieties among the population living in the camp.

What is MSF calling on the governments of Laos and Thailand to do?

Because of the credible fear among the Lao Hmong refugees in the Huai Nam Khao camp, MSF is urgently calling upon the governments of Thailand and Laos to stop the forced repatriation proceedings against the Hmong refugees in Huai Nam Khao until an independent, third party can review the government's screening process and refugee status determinations. And if repatriations are to take place, we are also asking both governments to allow an independent, third party to assess the areas of return and the adequacy of assistance offered, monitor all repatriations, verify the voluntary nature of returns, and continued safety of returnees. International standards state that repatriation cannot be forced or imposed on individuals fearing for their safety and any repatriation must remain linked to guarantees for safety upon return. For the Lao Hmong refugees, none of these conditions have been met by either the governments of Thailand and Laos.

To view the HTML version of this report and all the photos, click: here

Amnesty_International.jpgAmnesty International

Lao People's Democratic Republic: Hiding in the jungle - Hmong under threat

Index Number: ASA 26/003/2007
Date Published: 23 March 2007
Categories: Laos, Asia And The Pacific, South-east Asia

Thousands of ethnic Hmong women, men and children live in scattered groups in the Lao jungles, hiding from the authorities, particularly the military. Amnesty International is calling for an immediate end to armed attacks on these people. To support those who want to reintegrate into mainstream society, Amnesty International also calls on the Lao authorities to permit access for United Nation bodies and others in order to monitor their well-being. Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Thai authorities not to forcibly return any Lao Hmong who would be at risk of serious human rights violations.

To view the HTML version of this report, click: here

To view and save the Adobe PDF version of this report, click : here

(You will need the free Adobe Reader software available here)

 

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hrw-logo.gifHuman Rights Watch

Thailand: Stop Forced Returns to Laos

Forced Repatriations of Hmong to Laos Should End

Date Published: New York, March 5, 2008
This is the latest Press Release by HRW regarding the Hmong.  The HRW website offers a complete archive of reports and press releases accessible by searching for "Hmong" on the HRW website.

To view this Press Release, click: here

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Medicine_Sans_Frontieres.jpgMedicine Sans Frontieres

The situation of the Lao Hmong refugees in Petchabun, Thailand

Date Published: 31 October 2007

The international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling upon the government of Thailand to halt forced repatriation proceedings against 7,500 ethnic Hmong refugees from Laos who are currently confined to a camp controlled by the Thai military in the northern village of Huai Nam Khao in Petchabun province.

The refugees claim to have fled violence and persecution in Laos and fear for their safety if forcibly returned to the country.

MSF began providing humanitarian aid to this group of Hmong refugees in July 2005 and has been the sole international organization present since November 2005. During medical consultations and mental health assessments, MSF has found extreme fear and psychological distress among this population, which is being exacerbated by the fear of being sent back to Laos.

To view the HTML introduction to of this report, click: here

To view and save the Adobe PDF version of this report, click: here 

(You will need the free Adobe Reader software available here)


will be completed during Summer 2008.

Books/Literature:
The Following Books are available direct from Indiana University Press or from online bookstores such as Amazon.com & BarnesandNoble.com. These links are to the homepage of each site and will open in a new browser window.
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Tragic Mountains:The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992
 
Tragic_Mountains.jpg
Publication date: 11/1/1999
Format: paper 47 b&w photos
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-20756-2
ISBN: 0-253-20756-8
 
Jane Hamilton-Merritt, Nobel-nominated scholar and photojournalist, has followed the plight of the Hmong and the war in Indochina since the 1960s. The staunchest of allies, the Hmong sided with the Americans against the North Vietnamese and were foot soldiers in the brutal secret war for Laos. Since the war, abandoned by their American allies, the Hmong have been subjected to a campaign of genocide by the North Vietnamese, including the use of chemical weapons. Tragic Mountains moves from the big picture of international diplomacy and power politics to the small villages and heroic engagements in the Lao jungle. It is a story of courage, brutality, heroism, betrayal, resilience, and hope.
 
Jane Hamilton-Merritt was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for her coverage of the Vietnam War, and in 1998 for the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of her long-standing efforts on behalf of the Hmong. Tragic Mountains is her account of the historic struggle of the Hmong and of their betrayal by the United States.
 

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The Stones Cry Out: A Cambodian Childhood, 1975-1980

Stones_Cry_Out.jpg 

Publication date: 4/1/1999
Format: paper
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-21291-7
ISBN: 0-253-21291-X

In 1975, Molyda Szymusiak (her adoptive name), the daughter of a high Cambodian official, was twelve years old and leading a relatively peaceful life in Phnom Penh. Suddenly, on April 17, Khmer Rouge radicals seized the capital and drove all its inhabitants into the countryside. The chaos that followed has been widely publicized, most notably in the movie The Killing Fields. Murderous brutality coupled with raging famine caused the death of more than two million people, nearly a third of the population. This powerful memoir documents the horror Cambodians experienced in daily life.

Molyda Szymusiak (Buth Keo) was born in Phnom Penh on October 19, 1962. After the 1975 Khmer Rouge takeover, she and her family were driven from the capital into the Cambodian countryside. Molyda and the three surviving members of her family reached the Kao I Dang refugee camp on the Thai border in 1980. In 1981 they went to Paris, where Molyda and two of her cousins were adopted by Polish exiles Jan Szymusiak, an academic historian, and his wife, Carmen, a psychiatrist.

This book is part of the Indiana University Press Vietnam War Era Classics Series

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To Bear Any Burden: The Vietnam War and Its Aftermath in the Words of Americans and Southeast Asians

 

To_Bear_Any_Burden.jpg

 

Publication date: 4/1/1999
Format: paper
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-21304-4
ISBN: 0-253-21304-5
 
The 48 American and Asian veterans, refugees, and officials who speak in this book come from widely divergent backgrounds. In their narratives we hear them reliving crucial moments in the preparation, execution, and aftermath of war. It is a riveting, eyewitness account of the war and also reclaims from this tragic continuum larger patterns of courage and dedication.
 
Al Santoli is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller Everything We Had, which was nominated for a 1983 American Book Award. He served in Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division and received three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for valor

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In The Jaws of History 

InJawsofHistory.jpg 

Publication date: 4/1/1999
Format: paper 28 b&w photos
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-21301-3
ISBN: 0-253-21301-0
 
In the Jaws of History is the most important book written on the Vietnam War from the viewpoint of the South, from an author who was a senior official of the South Vietnamese government and later ambassador to the U.S.
 
Bui Diem is now a consultant on Vietnamese affairs living in Rockville, Maryland.
 
David Chanoff is the co-author of several other books on Vietnam.


The Recommendations page is still under construction and will be completed during Summer 2008 - We apologize for the delay.