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 Demo-
cratic Republic against the Hmong ChaoFa Indigenous 
people, and for other purposes. 
Whereas the Hmong ChaoFa indigenous people, a peace-lov-
ing 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 de-
scendants 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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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 annex-
ation and colonial occupation of the region from the 
Pathet Lao regime and the Vietcong-North Vietnam mili-
tary 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 Viet-
nam 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 docu-
mentation 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 devel-
opment; 
(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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(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 refu-
gees once in Laos, such as— 
(1) the deportation of Zoua Yang and her 27 chil-
dren 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 dis-
appeared 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 Spe-
cial Zone, Northern Laos; 
Whereas this campaign is ongoing and the Hmong ChaoFa 
continue to be hunted by the Lao military and Viet-
namese mercenaries, and are now numbering less than 
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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 Sep-
tember 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 commu-
nity 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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(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 par-
ties and international institutions to visit or provide hu-
manitarian aid; 
Whereas the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Dis-
crimination (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 Na-
tions mandate holders; 
Whereas eight United States Senators sent an urgent letter 
on May 16, 2008, to urge Secretary of State Rice to re-
quest Thailand’s Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej’s ur-
gent help to stop the forced deportation of Hmong refu-
gees in Huay Nam Khao and Nongkhai Detention Cen-
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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 rec-
ommendations in its review of Laos in 2012, reiterating 
its previous recommendation that ‘‘the State party should 
invite United Nations bodies for the protection and pro-
motion 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 bod-
ies, especially the CERD Committee, particularly the con-
cern of overdue reports from the LDPR; 
Whereas the LDPR refuses to reestablish an in-country pres-
ence of independent organizations such as the United Na-
tions 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 Indige-
nous Nation by the total absence of freedom of associa-
tion, 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 Spe-
cial Zone, which seems to be an indication of a final 
eradication effort of the Hmong with the increasing den-
sity of military bases in the Phou Bia region and the de-
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ployment of occupying troops and heavy weapons, includ-
ing tanks: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) urges the Lao People’s Democratic Republic 
(LDPR) to— 
(A) cease its repeated and ongoing assaults 
on the Hmong community living in the jungle 
and ensure its insertion into society; 
(B) respect the Convention on the Rights 
of the Child, which it signed in 1989, and espe-
cially— 
(i) article 3.3, which states that State 
parties shall insure the care or protection 
of children; and 
(ii) article 6, which states that State 
parties recognize that every child has the 
right to life, and that State parties shall 
ensure to the maximum extent possible the 
survival and development of the child; 
(C) ensure that its election processes are 
competitive, free, fair, inclusive, and participa-
tory by allowing multiple parties to take part; 
(D) grant the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Refugees and such other inter-
national organizations access to the country; 
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(E) abide by international law with regards 
to the treatment of Hmong returnees living in 
refugee camps; 
(F) demilitarize the Xaisomboum Special 
Zone; and 
(G) uphold its commitments to human 
rights treaties that it has ratified, particularly 
the International Covenant on Civil and Polit-
ical Rights, the International Convention on the 
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimina-
tion, the International Covenant on Economic, 
Social, and Cultural Rights, and the Convention 
on the Rights of the Child; 
(2) urges the United Nations to— 
(A) condemn the actions of the LDPR; 
and 
(B) invoke the Responsibility to Protect 
(R2P) mechanisms as soon as possible; 
(3) urges the Secretary General to consider ac-
tion on this situation such as encouraging or insti-
gating independent investigation; 
(4) urges the relevant mandate holders of the 
Council, including those addressing summary execu-
tion, disappearances, torture, internally displaced 
persons, health, food, water and sanitation, arbitrary 
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detention, human rights defenders, truth, and mi-
nority issues to request onsite visits to the Hmong 
areas in Laos, either alone or in concert; and 
(5) urges the Council to— 
(A) consider requesting the High Commis-
sioner to undertake action, including estab-
lishing a team of inquiry as has been estab-
lished in other situations; or 
(B) establish its own committee of inquiry 
or appoint a special rapporteur or independent 
expert. 
Æ 
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