| | | Thailand, Samak Crisis: Secretary Condoleezza Rice Urged by 20 US Congressmen to Stop Sending Hmong to Laos |
| The
U.S. Congressional letter to Secretary Rice on the Hmong refugee crisis
in Thailand and Laos was spearheaded in the House by Congressman Dennis
Cardoza (D-CA) Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Congressman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA), Congressman Patrick
Kennedy (D-RI), Congressman Tim Walz (D-MN), Congresswoman Gwen Moore
(D-WI), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), Congressman Mike Honda
(D-CA), Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Congressman Thomas Petri
(R-WI), Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI), Congressman Robert Matsui (D-CA),
Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Congressman Steve Kagen (D-WI) and
others. |
(Media-Newswire.com) -
Washington, D.C. - Twenty ( 20 ) Members of Congress have written to
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging her to act to help stop
the forced repatriation of Hmong political refugee from Thailand back
to the authoritarian regime in Laos where they face torture,
persecution and imprisonment in reeducation camps.
The U.S.
Congressional letter to Secretary Rice on the Hmong refugee crisis was
spearheaded in the House by Congressman Dennis Cardoza ( D-CA )
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren ( D-CA ), Congressman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (
R-FL ), Congressman Jim Costa ( D-CA ), Congressman Patrick Kennedy (
D-RI ), Congressman Tim Walz ( D-MN ), Congresswoman Gwen Moore ( D-WI
), Congresswoman Barbara Lee ( D-CA ), Congressman Mike Honda ( D-CA ),
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin ( D-WI ), Congressman Thomas Petri ( R-WI
), Congressman Ron Kind ( D-WI ), Congressman Robert Matsui ( D-CA ),
Congressman Jerry McNerney ( D-CA ), Congressman Steve Kagen ( D-WI )
and others.
The U.S. Congressional letter to Secretary of State
Rice spearheaded by Rep. Dennis Cardoza states: “We wish to convey our
deep concern about the urgent humanitarian crisis at Huay Nam Khao
refugee camp in Petchabun, Thailand. We continue to believe it is
imperative for the U.S. to quickly press the Thai government to halt
the forced repatriation of Hmong refugees to Laos and to urge that they
allow UNHCR full access to ensure all protection claims and
repatriations are resolved in accordance with international standards
for the protection of refugees.
The Congressional letter
to Condoleezza Rice further states: “ …we are worried that the Thai
government will continue to forcibly return Hmong refugees back to
Laos, where they face a real and severe threat of being persecuted by
the government.”
“We welcome this important U.S. Congressional
letter, spearheaded by Representative Dennis Cardoza, to Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice on the human rights crisis and forced
repatriation facing the Lao-Hmong refugees in Thailand and Laos,”
stated Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy
Analysis ( CPPA ) in Washington, D.C. “Hundreds of these Hmong
refugees face persecution, torture and death in Laos; those returned in
recent weeks have been summarily executed, jailed, have disappeared or
have been sent to reeducation camps as political prisoners.”
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1068048.html
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1068367.html
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1068645.html
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1068822.html
“The
Congressional letter is especially timely and important given the
horrific forced repatriation of over 1300 Hmong political refugees in
recent weeks by Thai Third Army soldiers back to the military regime in
Laos that they fled and that continues to brutally starve, kill and
persecute them,” Smith said. “This Congressional letter is an important
follow-up effort by key Members of Congress, led by Representative
Dennis Cardoza, who, along with Rep. Patrick Kennedy and others, have
recently introduced historic new legislation, H. Res. 1273, to seek to
stop the repatriation of Laotian and Hmong refugees from Thailand back
to the Stalinist regime in Laos that the Hmong people have fled.”
In
recent months, Amnesty International ( AI ), Human Rights Watch ( HRW
), the Hmong Lao Human Rights Council, Inc. ( HLHRC ), Doctors Without
Borders ( MSF ), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (
UNHCR ) and other non-governmental organizations ( NGOs ) have issued
statements in opposition to Thailand’s forced repatriation of Hmong
refugees and asylum seekers back to Laos as well as concern about fears
of persecution or human rights violations against the Hmong in Laos. http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/reports/2007/Hmong_Briefing.pdf
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA26/003/2007
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/07/11/thaila19340.htm
“This
Congressional letter to Secretary Rice is right on point; Forced
repatriation of Hmong refugees from Thailand back to Laos must be
stopped immediately., stated Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt. “There is no
excuse for Secretary Rice and the Bush administration to allow this
humanitarian tragedy to continue.”
Dr. Hamilton-Merritt
continued: “Hmong not only fought as U.S. allies in the Lao theatre of
the Vietnam War, they also fought alongside Thai soldiers in Laos with
the intent to keep the Vietnam War from spilling over into Thailand.
Both the U.S. and Thailand have a moral responsibility to see that the
Hmong refugees in Thailand are not abused, not forcibly repatriated to
the Lao regime that is intent upon punishing and persecuting them for
their alliances with the U,.S. and the Kingdom of Thailand. “
Dr.
Jane Hamilton-Merritt is a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee for her human
rights work on behalf of the Hmong. She is author of the award winning
book “Tragic Mountains, The Hmong, The Americans and the Secret Wars
for Laos” http://www.tragicmountains.org
Vaughn Vang, of the Hmong Lao Human Rights Council in Green Bay, Wisconsin, stated:
“We
applaud the letter by Congressman Cardoza and the twenty Members of
Congress sent today that appeals for increased assistance from the
United States and Thailand to immediately stop the forced repatriation
of Hmong refugees from Thailand to Laos. Many of the Hmong refugees in
the camp in Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai Detention center in
Thailand have relative in the United States. Their relatives in
America, and the Hmong-American community in Wisconsin and across the
United States, is deeply horrified at the recent forced repatriation of
over one thousand Hmong refugees from Thailand back to Laos. Hundreds
of the Hmong refugees have disappeared or have been tortured and killed
in Laos; others have been sent to reeducation camps that the Lao
military and secret police administer and where they live in inhumane
and brutal conditions, often suffering and dying a slow death.”
H.Res.
1273, regarding the human rights crisis facing the Laotian and Hmong
people in Thailand and Laos, was introduced and cosponsored in the U.S.
Congress recently by U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy ( D-RI ), U.S.
Congressman Frank Wolf ( R-VA ), U.S. Congressman Dennis Cardoza ( D-CA
), U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin ( D-WI ), U.S. Congressman Dana
Rohrabacher ( R-CA ) and some 15 Members of the U.S. House of
Representatives.
The new legislation cites the Lao government
for its ongoing human rights violations, campaign of mass starvation
and military attacks on the Hmong people, and its failures to implement
reforms and an open society as called for in earlier legislation, H.
Res. 402, on Laos that passed the U.S. Congress in 2004.
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:hr1273ih.txt.pdf
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_bills&docid=f:hr402eh.txt.pdf
The
Lao government has increased its military and security force attacks on
unarmed Laotian and Hmong civilians, villagers and non-combatants in
recent months resulting in thousands of deaths. Many of these Hmong and
Laotian people seek to live outside the regime's authoritarian rule.
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1069392.html
http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1066895.html
---
Contact:
Anna Jones
Tele. ( 202 ) 543-1444
Center for Public Policy Analysis
2020 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Suite No.#212
Washington, D.C. 20006 USA
Tele. ( 202 )543-1444
e-mail: info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org
research@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org
web:
http://www.cppa-dc.org |
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| | Posted 8/2/2008 7:11 AM - 55 Views - 6 eProps - 4 comments
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