laotian policy against Hmong revealed
Protest about genocide
    By Jonathan Gramling

    On March 13, approximately 200 Hmong and their supporters, primarily from the Green Bay area, gathered at the State Capitol to make their concerns
known about present-day conditions for the Hmong in Laos. As the national spotlight has faded from Laos since the last of the Hmong refugee camps began
to close several years, some Hmong in the United States claim that the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is closing the book on its own “Hmong problem”
through genocide, the deliberate killing of the Hmong remaining in the mountain jungles of Lao where the Hmong have lived for several centuries.
    “We have 50,000 Hmong civilians — women and children — who are in the jungles of Laos,” said Vaughn Vang, the director of the Lao Human Rights
Council, after the rally. “The Lao government launched a heavy military attack on them. Their plan of action is to exterminate all 50,000 Hmong by the
end of 2008. Right now the strategy is to plant land mines and grenades around all of the Hmong hiding areas. They have also sent in ground troops to look
in the mountain areas. They are also shooting artillery into the Hmong areas. They are also poisoning the water supply. They have also blocked all of the
tree roots, so the Hmong cannot find any tree roots or anything else to eat. They are also using helicopters shooting missiles down during the nighttime. So
anytime, daytime or nighttime, they cannot go out and look for food so that they will die by the end of this year. This is our concern.”
    Compounding the problem is the policy of the Thai government. It has closed the refugee camps and sending remaining Hmong refugees back into
Laos where Vang fears they will be persecuted and tortured. It is also creating a problem because the remaining Hmong have nowhere else to go. “The
50,000  people will be massacred,” Vang emphasized. “The Thai military is blocking the border between Laos and Thailand. Refugees can no longer cross
the Mekong River to get to the other side. Also the Laotian military also has blocked the Hmong so they cannot get out to the world and will die in the
jungle.”
    The Lao Human Rights Council is pleading with the United States, the United Nations and the international community to intercede in Laos. “We want
them to stop the killing of our innocent Hmong people in the jungles of Laos,” Vang said. It remains to be seen whether their cries for help will be heard.
(Left) Vaughn Vang; (above) protestors march