Title: Condemning the actions taken by the Lao People's Democratic Republic against the Hmong ChaoFa Indigenous people, and for other purposes.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Urges Laos to cease its assaults on the Hmong community, respect the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and uphold its commitments to human rights treaties.
Urges the United Nations to condemn the actions of Laos and invoke the Responsibility to Protect mechanisms.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 992 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






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;
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;

    (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 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;

    (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 Center, 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 
        deployment of occupying troops and heavy weapons, including 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 especially--
                            (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 participatory 
                by allowing multiple parties to take part;
                    (D) grant the United Nations High Commissioner for 
                Refugees and such other international organizations 
                access to the country;
                    (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 Political Rights, the 
                International Convention on the Elimination of All 
                Forms of Racial Discrimination, 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 action on this 
        situation such as encouraging or instigating independent 
        investigation;
            (4) urges the relevant mandate holders of the Council, 
        including those addressing summary execution, disappearances, 
        torture, internally displaced persons, health, food, water and 
        sanitation, arbitrary detention, human rights defenders, truth, 
        and minority 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 Commissioner to 
                undertake action, including establishing a team of 
                inquiry as has been established in other situations; or
                    (B) establish its own committee of inquiry or 
                appoint a special rapporteur or independent expert.
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