> This is an article from Professor of Law Joshua Castello in Ireland
>
> http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=2...
>
> The Hmong Struggle in Laos: Freedom Fighters or Terrorists?
> Joshua Castellino
>
> June 8, 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
>
> Joshua Castellino is Professor of Law at the Law School and
> Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster, Northern
> Ireland, and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Irish Centre for Human
> Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway. He is an Academic
> Director on the European Masters in Human Rights and Democratisation,
> Italy and has held visiting positions in Trinity College Dublin,
> Ireland, and the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid, Spain.
>
> His researches interests lie in international law, human and minority
> rights. He has authored International Law & Self Determination (2000),
> Title to Territory in International Law (with Steve Allen) (2002),
> Minority Rights in Asia (with Elvira Dominguez Redondo)(2006) and has
> edited a collection of essays entitled International Law & Indigenous
> Peoples (2005). He participated actively in inter-governmental
> exchanges such as the EU-China Experts Network and the EU sponsored
> Lawyers for the New Millennium hosted by the Arab Lawyers Union in
> conjunction with the Law Society of England & Wales. He has also
> contributed to the work of NGOs such as Human Rights Law Network,
> India, Human Rights in China, Minority Rights Group International,
> Amnesty International and Trocaire.
>
> Joshua is the founder and director of the Annual Summer School on
> Minority Rights & Indigenous Peoples hosted in Galway, Ireland every
> June.
>
> TEXTE EN FRANCAIS
>
> La lutte de Hmong au Laos : Combattants de liberté ou Terroristes ?
> Joshua Castellino
>
> 8 juin 2007
>
> Cette semaine les agents de ce capot interne aux Etats-Unis ont monté
> une opération de piqûre contre un groupe d'individus qui projetaient
> renverser le gouvernement des Laotiens. Dix personnes ont été arrêtées
> dans l'opération, y compris les anciens commandants militaires et
> d'autres, qui ont été accusés d'essayer d'acheter des pistolets, des
> missiles et des explosifs en vue d'un coup essayé. L'arrestation a mis
> de nouveau en évidence, ce qui s'est nommé « la guerre secrète » - où
> les agents de CIA ont armé la population ethnique locale de Hmong afin
> de contrecarrer les canalisations d'alimentation vietnamiennes d'armée
> pendant la guerre de Vietnam dans les années 70.
>
> Hmong (également appelé Mong et Miao en Chine) sont un groupe ethnique
> asiatique antique qui a traditionnellement vécu dans les montagnes
> autour de la Chine méridionale. Ils ont émigré de là aux pays
> environnants tels que les Laotiens, le Vietnam, la Thaïlande et le
> Myanmar où ils ont depuis de phase en tant que minorités nationales.
> Au début des années 60 beaucoup de Hmong dans le Laos a commencé à
> être recruté par la CIA pour aider à la guerre de Vietnam. Il y a des
> rapports de Hmong combattant sur la ligne du front afin de bloquer des
> approvisionnements obtenant au Viet Cong, et étant également
> responsables de la délivrance des pilotes américains avalés dans le
> combat. Les évaluations suggèrent que plus de 40.000 Hmong aient été
> tués avec beaucoup plus parmi les non retrouves et handicapés.
>
> Au lendemain de la guerre un nombre significatif de Hmong a émigré aux
> Etats-Unis, et le recensement l'an 2000 d'USA énumèrent de près de
> 200.000 personnes en tant que d'origine Hmong. En attendant parmi des
> ces la gauche derrière dans les Laotiens, une tragédie avait lentement
> dévoilé. Les communistes, qui ont saisi la puissance dans les Laotiens
> dans les années 70, depuis ont uniformément visé des membres de ce
> groupe dans la revanche, menant au groupe ...
>
> read more »