When America Quits: The Hmong in the Mountain Jungles of Laos

Rebecca Sommer says her documentary, “Hunted Like Animals,” is “about an ongoing, but unknown, genocide — against the Hmong people in the jungles of Laos.” Information about the film and clips can be found on Sommer’s website.

In an interview with Stephen Magagnini, Phiane Philakone, the Lao ambassador to the United States, said "there are "no human-rights violations" against the Hmong.

"I deny these things because we don't have people in the jungle -- it's only a rumor; it's not accurate information,’ Philakone said. ‘There are no more Hmong refugees (in Laos)."

[See my entries of Monday, June 25 on United States offers of aid to Laos on Yellow Rain, also June 25, and on “Moral Ambiguity?”]

The House of Representatives passed H.Res. 402 in May of 2004, which States that the House of Representatives urges the Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the United Nations, the European Union, and the Association of South East Asian Nations to work for: (1) unrestricted access to Laos by international election monitors and international human rights organizations; (2) the rights of opposition political parties and their candidates to run for public office and for all adult citizens of Laos to vote; (3) the right of the citizens to assemble, protest, and to organize; (4) the cessation of all acts of violence against the Hmong population; (5) the release of those jailed in connection with the 1999 pro-democracy demonstrations; and (6) the promotion of religious freedom in Laos.>

Links to the full text of the bill, list of co-sponsors and all Congressional actions, can be found here.