[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1273 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1273

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
 human rights crisis of Laotian and Hmong people in Laos and Thailand.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 12, 2008

 Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Wolf, Ms. Baldwin, and Mr. Rohrabacher) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
 human rights crisis of Laotian and Hmong people in Laos and Thailand.

Whereas tens of thousands of Laotian and ethnic Hmong forces served honorably 
        and courageously in defense of the national security interests of Laos, 
        Thailand, and the United States;
Whereas special ethnic Hmong military and paramilitary air and ground forces, 
        along with United States Armed Forces and clandestine forces, conducted 
        many heroic and successful large-scale air and ground operations against 
        North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao guerrilla forces, including the rescue 
        of United States Air Force, Navy, and Army pilots shot down in Laos and 
        Vietnam during the Vietnam War;
Whereas Laos and the Royal Lao Government fell to the Communist Pathet Lao and 
        invading North Vietnamese forces in 1975;
Whereas Pathet Lao guerilla forces, in cooperation with invading military forces 
        from North Vietnam, established the authoritarian, one-party communist 
        regime that continues to rule Laos and maintains a strict monopoly on 
        political power;
Whereas tens of thousands of Lao and Hmong people, including the Royal Lao 
        family, many in the Royal Lao Government, and the Royal Lao Army as well 
        as those individuals who served with the United States Armed Forces and 
        clandestine forces were persecuted, imprisoned, or killed by the Lao 
        People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) regime;
Whereas tens of thousands of Laotians, including ethnic Hmong who served with 
        United States Armed Forces and clandestine forces during the Vietnam 
        War, fled the communist regime and were given political asylum and 
        refugee status in Thailand and eventually resettled in third countries 
        such as Australia, Canada, France, and the United States;
Whereas His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand and the Royal Thai 
        Government have historically provided political asylum and compassionate 
        humanitarian assistance to Lao and Hmong refugees who have fled the 
        brutal LPDR regime;
Whereas tens of thousands of Laotians and ethnic Hmong have been granted 
        political asylum in the United States and resettled to become 
        productive, positive, prosperous, and good citizens and members of their 
        communities;
Whereas the LPDR, a one-party state, has a serious and repeated record of human 
        rights violations, religious persecution, and military and security 
        force attacks against its own citizens, especially against the minority 
        ethnic Hmong people;
Whereas the LPDR regime refuses to allow human rights organizations unfettered 
        access to areas of concern in Laos where, according to Amnesty 
        International and other independent human rights organizations, 
        intensified military attacks against unarmed Lao and Hmong civilians 
        continued in 2007 and 2008, including in Bolikamsai, Luang Prabang, 
        Vientiane, and Xieng Khouang Province;
Whereas the Department of State reported in its 2007 Country Report on Human 
        Rights Practices in Laos that Laos restricts its citizens from enjoying 
        the freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion, and from undertaking 
        activities to change their government;
Whereas the LPDR regime in Laos continues to deny independent human rights 
        organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch 
        access to, or monitoring of, Lao and Hmong returnees from Thailand or 
        those individuals who are captured or surrender in Laos;
Whereas as a result of ongoing political violence and military attacks in Laos 
        directed against thousands of Laotian and Hmong people, asylum seekers 
        continue to seek refuge in Thailand;
Whereas over 7,000 Lao and Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers have fled 
        Laos and sought refuge from the Lao Government at a make shift camp at 
        Ban Huay Nam Khao, Phetchabun Province, Thailand;
Whereas in January 2007, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
        (UNHCR) issued a statement of concern regarding Thailand's decision to 
        deport 16 Lao and Hmong from Nong Khai, Thailand, to Laos without 
        screening them to see if they needed international protection, and 
        repeated its offer to help Thai authorities put in place a screening 
        system; and
Whereas the United States has a vital national security interest in and moral 
        obligation to assist its former allies and those Laotians and Hmong 
        seeking political asylum at Ban Huay Nam Khao, Nong Khai, and elsewhere 
        in Laos and Thailand: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives strongly supports and 
urges that--
            (1) the Lao Government should--
                    (A) end the ongoing humanitarian tragedy in Laos by 
                immediately ceasing all military and security force 
                attacks and actions against Lao and Hmong civilians and 
                dissident Laotian political and minority religious 
                groups;
                    (B) provide immediate, unfettered international 
                access by independent human rights, humanitarian, and 
                United Nations organizations, including the United 
                Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to 
                closed areas and military zones in Laos where Laotians 
                and Hmong are being killed, starved to death, 
                persecuted, or have been internally displaced or fled;
                    (C) comply with the provisions of H. Res. 402 from 
                the 108th Congress which urges the Lao Government to 
                move toward an open, prodemocratic society that 
                respects the human rights of its people and to cease 
                its military attacks and its persecution of Laotian and 
                Hmong citizens including student activists; and
                    (D) release the leaders of the Lao Students 
                Movement for Democracy of October 1999 and other Lao 
                political and religious opposition leaders and 
                prisoners of conscience; and
            (2) His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the 
        Royal Thai Government, and commanders of the Thai Army and 
        military, including the Thai Third Army, should--
                    (A) allow UNHCR access to the over 7,000 Lao and 
                Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers at Ban Huay 
                Nam Khao and elsewhere in Thailand;
                    (B) continue to allow the over 7,000 Lao and Hmong 
                political refugees and asylum seekers at Ban Huay Nam 
                Khao to be given humanitarian assistance and sanctuary 
                and to remain in Thailand until such time as they can 
                be resettled in third countries by UNHCR and 
                nongovernmental organizations;
                    (C) allow transparency and access for journalists, 
                humanitarian aid groups, and human rights monitors 
                seeking to help the Laotian and Hmong refugees at Ban 
                Huay Nam Khao to assist by providing humanitarian and 
                resettlement assistance;
                    (D) refrain from any further repatriation of Lao 
                and Hmong refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand who 
                have fled from the LPDR regime in Laos; and
                    (E) continue to allow Lao and Hmong refugees and 
                asylum seekers from Laos fleeing the LPDR regime's 
                intensified military attacks as well as Lao political, 
                religious, and opposition dissidents to have sanctuary 
                in Thailand until they can be assisted by the UNHCR and 
                the international community.
                                 <all>