The Hmong Struggle in Laos: Freedom Fighters or Terrorists?
Joshua Castellino
June 08, 2007
This week undercover agents in the USA mounted a sting operation against a group of individuals who were planning to overthrow the government of Laos. Ten people were arrested in the operation, including former military commanders and others, who were accused of attempting to buy guns, missiles and explosives in preparation for an attempted coup. The arrest brought to light once again, what has been termed the “Secret War” - where CIA agents armed the local ethnic Hmong population in a bid to thwart Vietnamese army supply lines during the Vietnam War in the 1970s.
The Hmong (also called Mong and Miao in Chinese) are an ancient Asian ethnic group who traditionally lived in the mountains around southern China. They migrated from there to surrounding countries such as Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar where they have since live as national minorities. In the early 1960s many Hmong in Laos began to be recruited by the CIA to assist in the Vietnam War. There are reports of the Hmong fighting on the frontline in a bid to block supplies getting to the Viet Cong, and also being responsible for the rescuing of American pilots downed in the fighting. Estimates suggest that more than 40,000 Hmong were killed with many more among the missing and disabled.
In the aftermath of the war a significant number of Hmong migrated to the United States, and the 2000 US census lists close to 200,000 people as being of Hmong origin. Meanwhile among those left behind in Laos, a tragedy has been slowly unfolding. The communists, who seized power in Laos in the 1970s, have since consistently targeted members of this group in retaliation, leading to the group haemorrhaging its population to neighbouring Thailand where many live in refugee camps.
The persecution of the Hmong in Laos has been well documented though merits little attention on the world stage. The government rounded-up many among the community and placed them in ‘re-education’ labour camps. The conditions in these camps led to severe physical hardship with widespread fatalities. Those who managed to escape the military have lived as internally displaced people in the remote mountains of Laos far removed from any facilities. Further difficulties were foisted upon the community when the Thai government agreed a repatriation deal to send back the Hmong to Laos, where they faced severe persecution.
The ongoing destruction of the Hmong is the subject of a vivid film entitled ‘Hunted Like Animals’. Filmmaker Rebecca Sommer documents ‘the ongoing genocide on the Hmong people, running and hiding from the Laotian military aggressions in the remote mountainous regions of Laos’. The film is based on testimonies and at times gruesome footage filmed by the Hmong themselves. In the words of the press release for the film, these testimonies: ‘…are interwoven into the documentary like a tapestry, revealing the human face behind the shocking human rights violations in the remote mountains of Laos, where the Hmong and Hunted Like Animals’.
The arrest this week shows that there is support among the US resident Hmong for a violent overthrow of the Laos government. It raises an important question that ought to be in the forefront of the thinking about international community: what are the options available to groups who face persistent persecution? This is a question that is at stake not only in the context of the Hmong in Laos, but also in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine and countless other less famous but equally intricate conflict scenarios all over the world.
As international lawyers we argue that the rule of law has to be respected: that armed struggles seeking to dismember a State, can never be encouraged. That the resort to terror of any kind is intolerable in a civilised international society. But as international lawyers we also insist on the importance of international human rights law, in the belief in the inherent dignity and worth of every individual, and with the acknowledgement of the duty to protect these rights in the face of oppression.
The problem lies in the impotence of the international human rights regime in situations such as in Laos, and the relative potency and power behind the attraction of an armed struggle. When persistent oppression is foisted upon a community, it is relatively easy to engage members of that community in armed struggle. The ease in acquiring arms and ammunition has made the possibility of an armed struggle much more achievable than before. The new challenge for the international community is how to be able to create a forum that will allow genuine airing of issues in an ambience of the pacific settlement of these disputes. This is not a new challenge but has taken on heightened importance in view of the proliferation of armed struggles and also the general ambience of fear that seems to have enveloped international society. This fear appears to have significantly reduced the possibility of hearing the voices of the oppressed, especially where they, in sheer desperation, turn to an armed struggle that may involve the use of terrorism.
Irene Khan captured an element of this struggle in launching the Amnesty International Report for 2007. She states:
Today far too many leaders are trampling freedom and trumpeting an ever-widening range of fears: fear of being swamped by migrants; fear of “the other” and of losing one's identity; fear of being blown up by terrorists; fear of “rogue states” with weapons of mass destruction.
Fear thrives on myopic and cowardly leadership. There are indeed many real causes of fear, but the approach being taken by many world leaders is short-sighted, promulgating policies and strategies that erode the rule of law and human rights, increase inequalities, feed racism and xenophobia, divide and damage communities, and sow the seeds for violence and more conflict
The biggest contemporary challenge surely lies in finding a way in which the politics of fear can be trumped: on the one hand to prevent states from using force against civilians, but also to find a route through which the disenfranchised, the oppressed or merely the desperate, can be listened to in a peaceful environment with no fear of any more bloodshed.
8th June, 2007
Erratum: Last week’s column stated that Susan George formerly worked for the World Bank. This is incorrect. Sincere apologies for the error.
The Hmong (also called Mong and Miao in Chinese) are an ancient Asian ethnic group who traditionally lived in the mountains around southern China. They migrated from there to surrounding countries such as Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar where they have since live as national minorities. In the early 1960s many Hmong in Laos began to be recruited by the CIA to assist in the Vietnam War. There are reports of the Hmong fighting on the frontline in a bid to block supplies getting to the Viet Cong, and also being responsible for the rescuing of American pilots downed in the fighting. Estimates suggest that more than 40,000 Hmong were killed with many more among the missing and disabled.
In the aftermath of the war a significant number of Hmong migrated to the United States, and the 2000 US census lists close to 200,000 people as being of Hmong origin. Meanwhile among those left behind in Laos, a tragedy has been slowly unfolding. The communists, who seized power in Laos in the 1970s, have since consistently targeted members of this group in retaliation, leading to the group haemorrhaging its population to neighbouring Thailand where many live in refugee camps.
The persecution of the Hmong in Laos has been well documented though merits little attention on the world stage. The government rounded-up many among the community and placed them in ‘re-education’ labour camps. The conditions in these camps led to severe physical hardship with widespread fatalities. Those who managed to escape the military have lived as internally displaced people in the remote mountains of Laos far removed from any facilities. Further difficulties were foisted upon the community when the Thai government agreed a repatriation deal to send back the Hmong to Laos, where they faced severe persecution.
The ongoing destruction of the Hmong is the subject of a vivid film entitled ‘Hunted Like Animals’. Filmmaker Rebecca Sommer documents ‘the ongoing genocide on the Hmong people, running and hiding from the Laotian military aggressions in the remote mountainous regions of Laos’. The film is based on testimonies and at times gruesome footage filmed by the Hmong themselves. In the words of the press release for the film, these testimonies: ‘…are interwoven into the documentary like a tapestry, revealing the human face behind the shocking human rights violations in the remote mountains of Laos, where the Hmong and Hunted Like Animals’.
The arrest this week shows that there is support among the US resident Hmong for a violent overthrow of the Laos government. It raises an important question that ought to be in the forefront of the thinking about international community: what are the options available to groups who face persistent persecution? This is a question that is at stake not only in the context of the Hmong in Laos, but also in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine and countless other less famous but equally intricate conflict scenarios all over the world.
As international lawyers we argue that the rule of law has to be respected: that armed struggles seeking to dismember a State, can never be encouraged. That the resort to terror of any kind is intolerable in a civilised international society. But as international lawyers we also insist on the importance of international human rights law, in the belief in the inherent dignity and worth of every individual, and with the acknowledgement of the duty to protect these rights in the face of oppression.
The problem lies in the impotence of the international human rights regime in situations such as in Laos, and the relative potency and power behind the attraction of an armed struggle. When persistent oppression is foisted upon a community, it is relatively easy to engage members of that community in armed struggle. The ease in acquiring arms and ammunition has made the possibility of an armed struggle much more achievable than before. The new challenge for the international community is how to be able to create a forum that will allow genuine airing of issues in an ambience of the pacific settlement of these disputes. This is not a new challenge but has taken on heightened importance in view of the proliferation of armed struggles and also the general ambience of fear that seems to have enveloped international society. This fear appears to have significantly reduced the possibility of hearing the voices of the oppressed, especially where they, in sheer desperation, turn to an armed struggle that may involve the use of terrorism.
Irene Khan captured an element of this struggle in launching the Amnesty International Report for 2007. She states:
Today far too many leaders are trampling freedom and trumpeting an ever-widening range of fears: fear of being swamped by migrants; fear of “the other” and of losing one's identity; fear of being blown up by terrorists; fear of “rogue states” with weapons of mass destruction.
Fear thrives on myopic and cowardly leadership. There are indeed many real causes of fear, but the approach being taken by many world leaders is short-sighted, promulgating policies and strategies that erode the rule of law and human rights, increase inequalities, feed racism and xenophobia, divide and damage communities, and sow the seeds for violence and more conflict
The biggest contemporary challenge surely lies in finding a way in which the politics of fear can be trumped: on the one hand to prevent states from using force against civilians, but also to find a route through which the disenfranchised, the oppressed or merely the desperate, can be listened to in a peaceful environment with no fear of any more bloodshed.
8th June, 2007
Erratum: Last week’s column stated that Susan George formerly worked for the World Bank. This is incorrect. Sincere apologies for the error.
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