Hmong National Development, Inc. (HND): U.S. Holocaust Memorial Event For Laos Victims
Named today in Washington, D.C. by Hmong National Development, Inc. (HND) in front of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, memorializing the Jewish victims of the Nazi holocaust in which over 6 million Jewish people perished under Adolph Hitler, were a group of Lao PDR officials including : Lt. General Saignason Choummali, President; Major General Asang Laoli, Deputy Prime Minister, Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh; Major General Douangchai Phichit, Minister of Defense; Thongbanh Sengaphone; Minister of Public Security; Sitaheng Latsaphone, Minister of Forestry and Agriculture and others.
(PressZoom) - Washington, D.C. - At memorial ceremonies this morning in front of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. for Laotian and Hmong victims recently murdered by the Lao military, Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ) named additional senior-level Lao military, government and communist party officials engaged in crimes against humanity, genocide and systemic human rights violations.
Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ) discussed a widening international probe by a coalition of non-governmental organizations, human rights advocates, independent journalists and Members of the the U.S. Congress regarding atrocities, ethnic cleansing, mass starvation and genocide directed against unarmed Laotian and Hmong civilians and religious and political dissident groups in the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic ( LPDR ).
At the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., flowers were laid by a group of Laotian and Hmong-Americans in memory of the victims of the LPDR. A memorial ceremony was held by Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ) at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Raoul Wallenberg Place, S.W. and speeches were delivered in front of the statue to the Jewish victims of Nazi Germany. Current and former U.S. policymakers, including U.S. officials, also spoke and participated in the events. The Museum is American's monument to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust.
Former U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos ( D-CA ) was honored at the ceremony, as a Jewish Holocaust survivor, for his human rights and religious freedom efforts in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Congress. He passed away earlier this year from cancer. Congressman Lantos, and thousands of other Jews, were saved from death during the Holocaust in Hungary at the hands of Nazi occupational forces by the courageous work of diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
Standing before the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum this morning in Washington, D.C., Hmong National Development ( HND ), Executive Director Christy Lee said: "There is a mounting body of evidence of the systematic operation preparations and planning conducted by senior level Lao military officials to target thousands of Hmong for extermination in Laos, just as Nazi military and security officials targeted many of the Jews in Eastern Europe with special SS and Gestapo forces and their mobile Einsatzgruppen, hunter-killer teams, and using their full use of the institutions of the state, including the secret police and military, to persecute, marginalize, starve to death and execute many innocent people; this is what is going on now in Laos and we in the Hmong-American community want the world to hold these Lao LPDR military generals accountable so that they can eventually be brought to justice before the Hague international court in the Netherlands for their horrible crimes against the Hmong people, their crimes against humanity, genocide, atrocities and war crimes and other charges."
Named today in Washington, D.C. by Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ) in front of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, memorializing the Jewish victims of the Nazi holocaust in which over 6 million Jewish people perished under Adolph Hitler, were a group of Lao PDR officials including : Lt. General Saignason Choummali, President; Major General Asang Laoli, Deputy Prime Minister, Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh; Major General Douangchai Phichit, Minister of Defense; Thongbanh Sengaphone; Minister of Public Security; Sitaheng Latsaphone, Minister of Forestry and Agriculture and others.
Large-scale, illegal logging in Laos by the Lao military and Vietnamese military owned companies is causing severe environmental degradation, soil erosion and the displacement and deaths of thousands of Hmong civilians and villagers that are being driven off their traditional homelands in Laos by the Lao military. Tons of these logs, from ancient forests, in Laos in Xieng Khouang Province, Xaysamboune Special Closed military zone, Khammoune Province, Vientiane Province, Luangprabang Province and elsewhere are being illegally trucked to lumber yards in Vietnam, especially to the city of Vinh.
"Widespread illegal logging in Laos is an environmental and human rights catastrophe; it constitutes the rape of the environment, the rape of the Hmong people and their homelands in Laos as well as the brutal rape of the national sovereignty of the nation of Laos itself by these corrupt and Lao military generals and communist party officials that are pursuing this policy that is very much linked to the ethnic cleansing and military attacks on unarmed Hmong civilians as well as the tragic mass starvation of thousands of Hmong people today," Christy Lee commented further.
"A number of key independent journalists, human rights and refugee organizations, humanitarian aid and environmental organizations have helped to chronicle the sad fate of the Hmong people in Laos and the LPDR's terrible killing and rape of the Hmong and Laotian people by the Lao military, including the illegal logging now going on in the Hmong homelands and elsewhere in key provinces in Laos," concluded Jade Her, with Hmong National Development, Inc.'s Washington, D.C. office and outreach program. "The Lao LPDR military and communist party officials responsible for mass murder and these unspeakable crimes against humanity and against the Laotian and Hmong people, we believe and understand, will eventually be brought to justice before a Hague war crimes tribunal just like the Bosnian war crimes investigation and trial; there is a Holocaust in Laos now facing the Hmong people that we want the world to understand and help to stop."
Human rights statements and reports about the crisis in Laos by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Lao Human Rights Council, Doctors Without Borders ( MSF ), Reporters Without Borders ( JSF ), Members of the U.S. Congress and others were read at the memorial service and ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
In recent months, hundreds of Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers who fled persecution by LPDR officials have been forcibly sent back to Laos from Thailand by elements of the Thai Third Army under the direction of Prime Minister Samak. In Laos, many Hmong refugees have disappeared, been subjected to torture or summary execution, or imprisoned in reeducation camps and detention centers.
Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ) has condemned Prime Minister Samak for forcing over 1300 Hmong refugees back to Laos in recent months.
In 2008, Lao and Hmong religious believers, especially dissident Buddhists, Christian and animist leaders worshiping and practicing their faith independently outside the government's control, have been subjected to increased religious freedom violations, persecution and murder.
--- Contact:
Paul Xiong or Laurie Vue ( 202 ) 629-0377
Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ) P.O. Box # 96503 Washington, D.C. USA 20090-6503
Hmong National Development, Inc. ( HND ) is a non-profit corporation established in the Washington, D.C. metro area in 1991 and officially incorporated and registered in the District of Columbia.
This news item was released on 2008-11-20. Please make sure to visit the official company or organization web site to learn more about the original release date. See our disclaimer for more information.
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