IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 992 

Condemning the actions taken by the Lao People’s Democratic Republic 

against the Hmong ChaoFa Indigenous people, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 12, 2018 

Mr. GARRETT submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the actions taken by the Lao People’s Democratic Republic against the Hmong ChaoFa Indigenous 

people, and for other purposes. 

Whereas the Hmong ChaoFa indigenous people, a peace-loving nation, existed more than 5,000 years in greater Asia 

and Southeast Asia, with their own distinct language, 

culture, religion, and national flag; 

Whereas the Hmong ChaoFa Indigenous Nation are the descendants of Hmong Great King Chi-You (Great Grand 

Father) and Joualidou was his Kingdom in 2600 B.C., 

and San-Miao Kingdom (now called Southern China), 

and Prince Nraug Na and Princess Gao Youa were the 

founders of the Great Kingdom of Jars (now called Plain 

De Jars), Xieng Khoung Province, Laos; 


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•HRES 992 IH 

Whereas the Hmong nation was allied with France during 

the French Indochina era for the French colonial empire 

from 1946 to 1954 under the command of Major Roger 

Trinquier; 

Whereas the Hmong people also allied with Thailand and the 

United States as the frontline troops to stop the annexation and colonial occupation of the region from the 

Pathet Lao regime and the Vietcong-North Vietnam military in Laos during the Vietnam war era, about 1960– 

1975, where more than 40,000 Hmong lost their lives; 

Whereas when Thailand and the United States withdrew 

their troops, the Hmong nation suffered from persecution 

and racial discrimination and were labeled as the enemy 

of the Pathet Lao or Lao People’s Democratic Republic 

(LPDR) and Vietnam because of the loss of thousands 

of lives and countless actions that were perpetrated by 

Thailand and the United States both in Laos and Vietnam during the Vietnam war era, 1960–1975; 

Whereas the LDPR has shown a history of arbitrary arrests 

and enforced disappearances, such as— 

(1) the imprisonment of Reverend Naw Karl Mua 

and two foreign journalists in June 2003 for their documentation of the Hmong in the Xaisomboun Special 

Zone; 

(2) the arrest of activists Thao Moua and Pa Phue 

Khang in June 2004 for orchestrating protests; 

(3) the arrest of activist Sompema Khantisouk in 

2007 for speaking out against ecologically harmful development; 

(4) the arrest and subsequent disappearance of 

Hmong-Americans Hakit Yang, Cong Shi Neng Yang, 

and Trillion Yunhaison, during a 2007 visit to Laos; 


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•HRES 992 IH 

(5) the arrest and subsequent disappearance of Lao 

activist Sombath Somphone in December 2012, whose 

whereabouts are still unknown; and 

(6) the disappearance of Minnesota Lao-Americans 

Souli Kongmalavong, Bounthie Insixiengmai, and 

Bounma Phannhotha in January 2013; 

Whereas the repatriation of Hmong refugees from Thailand 

since 1990, leading to more than 8,000 Hmong forcibly 

sent back to Laos to suffer further discrimination, has 

resulted in the detention or disappearance of these refugees once in Laos, such as— 

(1) the deportation of Zoua Yang and her 27 children from Thailand in December 2005 after the group 

was arrested attending a Christian church in Ban Kho 

Noi, Phetchabun Province, Thailand, where upon arrival 

back in Laos, Ms. Yang and her children were detained, 

after which the whereabouts of much of the family are 

still yet unknown; and 

(2) the case of Kha Yang, arrested after his second 

forced return from Thailand in 2011, after which he disappeared and remains missing to this day; 

Whereas the violent military campaign of the LDPR against 

the Hmong ChaoFa, who refused to flee the country or 

surrender to the government for fear of arrest or death 

that began in 1975, saw about 7,000 Hmong indigenous 

men, women, and children out of more than 100,000 

Hmong ChaoFa forced from their villages to the 

rainforest in the Hmong ChaoFa State, Xaisomboun Special Zone, Northern Laos; 

Whereas this campaign is ongoing and the Hmong ChaoFa 

continue to be hunted by the Lao military and Vietnamese mercenaries, and are now numbering less than 


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•HRES 992 IH 

1,000, and are still living on leaves and roots, unable to 

farm in their nomadic situation; 

Whereas this campaign continues to be marked by death and 

violence, such as— 

(1) the murders of Hmong men Hue Xiong, Cha 

Xiong, Ze Xiong, and Bee Vang, at the hands of the 

Laos People’s Army (LPA) in the Phou Bia mountain 

area on February 22, 2013, and the wounding of Year 

Chang in the same incident, in which these unarmed 

Hmong men, three of whom were teachers at a nearby 

school, were among a group of 10 men who had left their 

village to search for food when they were fired upon by 

the military; 

(2) an attack on a Hmong village in the Xaisomboun 

Province of Laos by military forces where a Hmong 

woman and a Hmong man were killed, Pa Moua and 

True Moua, where the latter’s body was never recovered; 

(3) the disappearance of Hmong men Vajntxiag Vaj 

and Vue Thao after they were summoned to meet with 

a Lao police officer in the village of Lat Houang on September 14, 2016, after which Mr. Vaj’s corpse was found 

on September 20, 2016, and Mr. Thao’s corpse was 

found on September 23, 2016, in a local river, where 

both corpses had indications of severe beatings as limbs 

were broken; 

(4) the death of a 1-month-old baby by violent 

coughing on September 21, 2016, and the similar death 

of a 5-month-old baby on October 6, 2016, believed to be 

a result of chemical poisoning which the Hmong community suspects is being used as a tactic by the military as 

they experience symptoms related to chemical poisoning 

after military helicopters fly over their camps; 


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•HRES 992 IH 

(5) the death of Hmong men Kim Vang and 

Vangxeng Vang after an attack on October 17, 2016, by 

the LPA near Muoang Cha; 

(6) the deployment of heavy artillery, including 

60mm, 80mm, and 120mm rounds that are randomly 

fired into suspected Hmong camps during morning, noon, 

and night; and 

(7) the ignored United Nations recommendation 

during the 66th Session in March 2005 in Geneva, where 

Article 9 of the Convention (C. 21) requested the Lao 

Government should start an initiative to find a peaceful 

solution between the Hmong ChaoFa Indigenous Nation 

and allow humanitarian aid such as food, medicine, and 

clothes to help the Hmong ChaoFa Indigenous Nation in 

the rainforest at Hmong ChaoFa State, Xaisomboun 

Special Zone, Northern Laos as soon as possible; 

Whereas the LDPR has continued to defy its commitments 

to international law and reject the requests of State parties and international institutions to visit or provide humanitarian aid; 

Whereas the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has raised serious concerns about 

the situation of the Hmong people in Laos since 2003, 

invoking its early warning and urgent action procedures, 

urging proper and impartial investigation into the areas, 

and urging authorities to invite the relevant United Nations mandate holders; 

Whereas eight United States Senators sent an urgent letter 

on May 16, 2008, to urge Secretary of State Rice to request Thailand’s Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej’s urgent help to stop the forced deportation of Hmong refugees in Huay Nam Khao and Nongkhai Detention CenVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:22 Jul 12, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR992.IH HR992

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ter, Thailand, back to Laos because the Hmong would 

face persecution by the LDPR; 

Whereas, in April 2011, the Committee on the Rights of the 

Child considered the malnutrition and high incidence of 

wasting disease in rural areas where Hmong reside an 

emergency situation; 

Whereas the CERD continued to voice concerns and recommendations in its review of Laos in 2012, reiterating 

its previous recommendation that ‘‘the State party should 

invite United Nations bodies for the protection and promotion of human rights to visit the areas where members 

of the Hmong ethnic groups have taken refuge’’; 

Whereas the Universal Periodic Review of Laos in 2014 and 

2015 contained concerns expressed by several treaty bodies, especially the CERD Committee, particularly the concern of overdue reports from the LDPR; 

Whereas the LDPR refuses to reestablish an in-country presence of independent organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which 

has been denied access to refugee camps in Laos since 

the expiration of its mandate in 2001; 

Whereas the growing systematic repression, arbitrary arrests, 

detention, and imprisonment of Hmong ChaoFa Indigenous Nation by the total absence of freedom of association, opinion, expression and the constant extrajudicial 

execution of innocent Hmong in the last 43 years from 

1975 to the present of 2018; and 

Whereas by the rapid militarization of the Xaisomboum Special Zone, which seems to be an indication of a final 

eradication effort of the Hmong with the increasing density of military bases in the Phou Bia region and the deVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:22 Jul 12, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR992.IH HR992

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ployment of occupying troops and heavy weapons, including tanks: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) urges the Lao People’s Democratic Republic 

3 (LDPR) to— 

4 (A) cease its repeated and ongoing assaults 

5 on the Hmong community living in the jungle 

6 and ensure its insertion into society; 

7 (B) respect the Convention on the Rights 

8 of the Child, which it signed in 1989, and espe9 cially— 

10 (i) article 3.3, which states that State 

11 parties shall insure the care or protection 

12 of children; and 

13 (ii) article 6, which states that State 

14 parties recognize that every child has the 

15 right to life, and that State parties shall 

16 ensure to the maximum extent possible the 

17 survival and development of the child; 

18 (C) ensure that its election processes are 

19 competitive, free, fair, inclusive, and participa20 tory by allowing multiple parties to take part; 

21 (D) grant the United Nations High Com22 missioner for Refugees and such other inter23 national organizations access to the country; 


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1 (E) abide by international law with regards 

2 to the treatment of Hmong returnees living in 

3 refugee camps; 

4 (F) demilitarize the Xaisomboum Special 

5 Zone; and 

6 (G) uphold its commitments to human 

7 rights treaties that it has ratified, particularly 

8 the International Covenant on Civil and Polit9 ical Rights, the International Convention on the 

10 Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimina11 tion, the International Covenant on Economic, 

12 Social, and Cultural Rights, and the Convention 

13 on the Rights of the Child; 

14 (2) urges the United Nations to— 

15 (A) condemn the actions of the LDPR; 

16 and 

17 (B) invoke the Responsibility to Protect 

18 (R2P) mechanisms as soon as possible; 

19 (3) urges the Secretary General to consider ac20 tion on this situation such as encouraging or insti21 gating independent investigation; 

22 (4) urges the relevant mandate holders of the 

23 Council, including those addressing summary execu24 tion, disappearances, torture, internally displaced 

25 persons, health, food, water and sanitation, arbitrary 


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1 detention, human rights defenders, truth, and mi2 nority issues to request onsite visits to the Hmong 

3 areas in Laos, either alone or in concert; and 

4 (5) urges the Council to— 

5 (A) consider requesting the High Commis6 sioner to undertake action, including estab7 lishing a team of inquiry as has been estab8 lished in other situations; or 

9 (B) establish its own committee of inquiry 

10 or appoint a special rapporteur or independent 

11 expert. 

Æ 


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