Hmong National Development Denounces Samak and George Bush on Hmong Refugee Crisis
Washington, D.C. August 6, 2008 - Hmong National Development, Inc. (HND), a national non-profit corporation registered in Washington, D.C., that helps to represent Hmong communities across the United States and internationally denounced President George W. Bush for shaking the bloody hands of Thai Prime Minister Samak after Samak, as Defense Minister, ordered elements of the Thai Third Army to forcibly repatriate over a thousand Hmong refugees from Thailand back to Laos in June.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Washington, D.C. August 6, 2008 - Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ), a national non-profit corporation registered in Washington, D.C., that helps to represent Hmong communities across the United States and internationally denounced President George W. Bush for shaking the bloody hands of Thai Prime Minister Samak after Samak, as Defense Minister, ordered elements of the Thai Third Army to forcibly repatriate over a thousand Hmong refugees from Thailand back to Laos in June.
Earlier in the year, Samak order Thai Third Army attacks dogs unleashed on Hmong refugees in Ban Huay Nam Khao refugee camp to force Hmong refugees back to Laos prior to his official visit there.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders ( MSF ), Reporters Without Borders ( JSF ), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UHHCR ), the Center for Public Policy Analysis ( CPPA ), the Hmong Lao Human Rights Council ( HLHRC ), Lao Veterans of America, Inc. ( LVA ), the Lao Veterans of America Institute ( LVAI ), the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc. ( ULDL ) and other Non-governmental humanitarian and human rights organizations have urged Thailand to cease its repatriation of Hmong refugees from Thailand to Laos. http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/07/11/thaila19340.htm http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGASA390042008
"Samak has the blood of hundreds of innocent Hmong refugees and people on his hands after he ordered over 1300 Hmong refugees to be brutally forced back to Laos just a few months ago ," stated Christy Lee, Executive Director of Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ) in Washington, D.C. "Unarmed and innocent Hmong women and children, students, and the young and old Hmong people at Ban Huay Nam Khao were attacked by elements of the Thai Third Army by direct orders of Prime Minister Samak in his capacity as Defense Minister; these Hmong refugees and asylum seekers were engaged in a peaceful protest in opposition to their repatriation back to Laos and to seek to reach the United Nations and UNHCR headquarters in Bangkok to seek political asylum." http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGUSA20070323001 http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1067715.html http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1068645.html
Continued Christy Lee: "Hundreds of the Hmong refugees from Ban Huay Nam Khao have now disappeared in Thailand after this peaceful protest march and bloody crackdown by Prime Minister Samak and elements of the Thai Third Army in Petchabun Province, Thailand. And, many of the Hmong refugees and people violently forced back to Laos have been sent to reeducation camps, tortured, killed or simply disappeared." http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1068048.html http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1068367.html
A bipartisan coalition of some twenty ( 20 ) Members of Congress, spearheaded by U.S. Congressman Dennis Cardoza ( D-CA ) sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday, August 1, 2008, urging the Bush Administration to work with the Royal Thai government to seek to immediately halt the repartiation of Hmong refugees from Thailand to Laos. An earlier, bipartisan Congressional letter was sent by U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf ( R-VA ) in August of last year, signed by over a dozen Members of Congress to His Majesty the King of Thailand, appealing for sanctuary for the Hmong refugees. http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1069576.html
Since last year, under orders of Prime Minister Samak, who also serves as Defense Minister for the Royal Thai government, some 2000 Hmong refugees have been forced back to Laos or disappeared in Thailand. Thousands of Hmong have been killed or starved to death in Laos in recent months by the Lao military.
In June of 2008, a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Congress introduced H.Res. 1273 regarding the human rights crisis facing the Laotian and Hmong people in Thailand and Laos. The legislation was introduced and cosponsored by U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy ( D-RI ), U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf ( R-VA ), U.S. Congressman Tammy Baldwin ( D-WI ) and U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher ( R-CA ) and some fifteen ( 15 ) Members of Congress. The legislation appeals to His Majesty the King of Thailand and the Royal Thai government to grant asylum to some 8,000 Hmong refugees in Ban Huay Nam Khao refugee camp, Petchabun Province as well as Nong Khai, Thailand. House Res. 1273 also urges the Lao government to cease its military attacks on the Hmong people and release Lao political dissidents, including Lao student protestors from the October 1999 pro-democracy demonstrations in Vientiane, Laos. Similar legislation, H. Res. 402, passed the U.S. Congress in 1994 in bipartisan fashion.
U.S. Senator Russell Feingold ( D-WI ), Senator Norm Coleman ( R-CA ), Senator Amy Klobuchar ( D-MN ), Senator Herb Kohl ( D-WI ), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse ( D-RI ), Senator Dianne Feinstein ( D-CA ), Senator Barbara Boxer ( D-CA ) and other U.S. Senators have repeatedly sent letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging the Bush Administration and Prime Minister Samak to address the Lao Hmong refugee crisis in Thailand and Laos and to urge the Royal Thai Government to end the forced repatriation of Hmong refugees at Nong Khai and Ban Huay Nam Khao. http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1067326.html http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1067016.html
"President Bush should send a strong signal of protest on his visit to Thailand and his meeting with Prime Minister Samak," stated Jade Her, Outreach Director of Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ) in Washington, D.C. "Thousands of Hmong people are being starved to death, massacred and hunted by the Lao military in Laos right now; Samak is the Defense Minister of Thailand and he should not be sending back any Hmong people to this terrible one-party military junta that is allied with the Burmese regime that also continues to kill and oppress its own people."
"We urge President Bush to work to press Prime Minister Samak to stop the forced and involuntary repatriation of the remaining 6,000 Hmong refugees from Ban Huay Nam Khao in Petchabun Province, Thailand, back to the brutal communist regime in Laos that the have fled," stated Vaughn Vang , Executive Director of the Hmong Lao Human Rights Council, Inc. ( HLHRC ) in Green Bay, Wisconsin. http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1069392.html http://www.media-newswire.com/release_1069296.html
"We urge President Bush to remind Prime Minister Samak about the historic role the Hmong people in assisting in the defense of the national security Kingdom of Thailand, the Royal Kingdom of Laos and the United States during the Vietnam War," stated Philip Smith, Executive Director for the Center for Public Policy Analysis ( CPPA ) in Washington, D.C. "The Hmong refugees in Thailand should not be forced or sent back to Laos since they are the descendants of those who fought to assist the United States military and clandestine forces, including the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ), during the years of the Indochina conflict and that long war; many American and Thai soldier's lives were saved by the Hmong people and General Vang Pao's soldiers during the long alliance between the United States and the freedom-loving people of Laos and Thailand during he Vietnam War and its aftermath." ---
For More Information Contact:
Ms. Jade Her or Christy Lee Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND )
Tele. ( 202 ) 629-0377
Hmong National Development, Inc. P.O. Box 96503 Washington, D.C.20090-6503
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