Laos: Military atrocities against Hmong children are war crimes
Amnesty International is horrified by recent reports, including video evidence and witness testimony, of an attack by
Lao soldiers against a group of five children, four of them girls, in the Xaisomboune military zone on 19 May 2004.
The children, aged between 13 and 16 years old and part of an ethnic Hmong rebel group, were brutally mutilated -- the
girls apparently raped before being killed -- by a group of approximately 30-40 soldiers. The victims -- four girls, Mao
Lee, 14; her sister Chao Lee, 16; Chi Her, 14; Pang Lor, 14; and Tou Lor, Pang Lor’s 15 year old brother -- were killed
whilst foraging for food close to their camp. They were unarmed.
The attacks violate the most fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. These rapes and
killings constitute war crimes. The Lao authorities must bring to justice those responsible for this atrocity and cease
attacks on unarmed civilians.
A witness, who has subsequently fled the country and been recognized as a refugee by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, reported hearing one of the soldiers saying: "Meo (Hmong). Your kael ni (mouth) allows you to
speak. Your hin (vagina) allows you to breed".
He then heard moans and a gunshot.
Mao Lee was shot in each breast and the other bodies were mutilated by what appears to be high-powered rifle shots fired
at close range. One of the girls was disembowelled.
Several other members of the group were seriously injured with gun shot wounds but managed to return to their
encampment. The rebels have little if any medicine and rely on traditional treatments using plants found in the forest.
The Lao authorities must, as a matter of utmost urgency, permit UN agencies and independent monitors unfettered access
to those rebels who are recently reported to have ‘surrendered’. They must also permit humanitarian agencies to provide
medical and food assistance to those injured as a result of this and other military actions against the rebels.
Background
The Hmong ethnic minority group in Laos was allied to the US during the Viet Nam war and its spill-over fighting in both
Laos and Cambodia. The Hmong people have a long history of resistance and aspirations of independence from Lao
government control. Following the creation of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 1975 and the fall of the former
regime, as many as a third of the Hmong ethnic minority are believed to have fled the country. Most of these refugees
resettled in the USA, but a large number spent many years in refugee camps in Thailand.
Sporadic military resistance to the government has continued among some ethnic groups, predominantly Hmong. There are
also continuing allegations of serious human rights abuses against those Hmong perceived as still being opposed to the
Lao government.
There have been increasing concerns over the last two years at an apparent increase in Lao government military activity
against rebel groups, who along with armed adult men also comprise a large number of women, children, elderly and sick.
The upsurge in military activity followed increasing international concern at the situation, which was triggered by a
number of journalists visiting rebel groups and reporting their plight.
Credible sources have reported the deaths of scores of civilians, mainly children, from starvation and injuries
sustained during the conflict. It is known that several of approximately 20 rebel groups with their families are
surrounded by Lao military and prevented from foraging for food that they traditionally rely on to survive. Amnesty
International has protested to the Lao authorities at what it believes is the use of starvation as a weapon of war
against civilians.
Several hundred ethnic Hmong rebels are reported to have ‘surrendered' to the Lao authorities in recent months. UN
agencies, diplomats and journalists have not been given access to these people and Amnesty International has received
conflicting reports as to their reception and treatment by the authorities.
Amnesty International has also repeatedly condemned indiscriminate attacks by armed opposition groups that have
reportedly killed and injured civilians in Laos. Amnesty International unequivocally condemns these acts and has and
will continue to call upon the perpetrators to cease all activities that are in violation of human rights and
international humanitarian law.
Laos in the AI Report 2004: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacDWkaa9WkEbb0hPub/