Laos Communiqué Urges Release of Jailed Americans, Dissidents, Hmong Refugees

BANGKOK & WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
The Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), the United League for Democracy in
Laos (ULDL) and a coalition of Lao and Hmong non-governmental organizations have
released a twelve-point joint communiqué today in Bangkok, Thailand. The joint
statement outlines opposition to the visit of Lao Foreign Minister Thongloun
Sisoulith to the United States as well as recent military actions by the Lao
government. The communiqué was also released on Friday in Washington, D.C. and
New York.

Thongloun Sisoulith also serves as deputy prime minister for the Lao Peoples
Democratic Republic (LPDR), a one-party, authoritarian regime closely allied
with the military junta in Burma and Stalinist North Korea. The senior-level Lao
Communist party official recently met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton. An Open Skies Agreement was concluded to promote tourism.

"We are calling on the Lao military and Thongloun Sisoulith to abide by
international law and stop persecuting and killing the peace-loving Lao and
Hmong people," said Bounthanh Rathigna, President of the ULDL. The ULDL has
participated in recent human rights protests at the LPDR Embassy in Washington,
D.C.

"Ironically, and sadly, American citizens and others continue to be illegally
detained, tortured and imprisoned in Laos, including Hakit Yang and two other
Hmong-Americans from St. Paul, Minnesota," stated Philip Smith, Director of the
CPPA in Washington, D.C. http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

Smith expressed further concerns about: "…the Lao military regime`s close
relationship with Burma, North Korea and corrupt military generals in Vietnam."

"The U.S. Congress and European Parliament have repeatedly issued resolutions
and legislation urging Laos to abide by international law and cease its military
attacks, and human rights violations, against Laotian and Hmong civilians,
dissidents and refugees," Smith said.

"We are urging the Lao military government to immediately release the three
Americans it continues to imprison as well as the peaceful Lao student leaders
and the 8,000 Lao Hmong refugees recently forced from Thailand to Laos from
2007-2009," Smith concluded.

U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) recently visited Laos where he was denied
free and unfettered access to some of the 8,000 Lao Hmong refugees recently
forced back to Laos.

The following are excerpts from the 12 Point Joint Communiqué on Laos which
urges Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and the LPDR regime to:

"…abide by international law, and to release, unconditionally, all political
prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including the Lao student leaders of the
October 26, 1999, Lao Students Movement for Democracy and those arrested in the
Fall of 2009...," the Joint Communiqué by the CPPA and Laotian and Hmong
organizations stated.

"… immediately, and unconditionally, release the three American citizens from
St. Paul, Minnesota, including Mr. Hakit Yang, a Hmong-American citizen arrested
and imprisoned in Laos for nearly 3 years.

"… immediately provide unfettered international access by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the thousands of Lao Hmong refugees
who were forced from Thailand to Laos by the Thai and Lao military from
2007-2009, including some 158 screened-in political refugees from Nong Khai
refugee camp.

"…cancel and renounce the illegally-concluded, so-called `Treaty of Friendship
and Cooperation` between Laos and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which
violates the neutrality and territorial integrity of Laos and provides the
ongoing basis for the illicit exploitation of Laos and its people and natural
resources by Vietnamese military-owned companies engaged in illegal logging and
other activities.

"… halt all military attacks against Lao and Hmong civilians and political and
religious dissident groups in hiding in the jungles and mountains of Laos…

"… cease its military and cooperation with the military junta in Burma and the
Burmese military persecution of dissident Buddhist monks and religious
believers.

"…cease its military cooperation with the Stalinist regime in North Korea and
its imprisonment and detention of North Korean refugees and dissidents fleeing
the Pyongyang regime."

The communiqué was issued by the CPPA, ULDL, Lao Hmong Human Rights Council, Lao
Community of Minnesota, Hmong Advance, Inc., Hmong Advancement, Inc., Laos
Institute for Democracy and others.

Center for Public Policy Analysis
Helen Cruz, 202-543-1444
info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

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