The Fact Finding Commission receives periodic reports from leaders of the U.S. Secret War veteran groups still hiding in the mountains of Laos. The following information has been translated by FFC Commission Member Ger Vang and Associate Thua Va.
May 24, 2008 Homes Burn in Huay Nam Khao Refugee Camp
Thai officials report the burning of the shelters was by the Hmong themselves that have been protesting their threatened repatriation back to Laos. Some protestors claim the Thai authorities are responsible for the fires....
February 28, 2008 Thailand Forcibly Repatriated 12 Hmong Refugees
On February 27, 2007 at about one o’clock p.m. Bangkok time, twelve (12) Hmong refugees from the Huay Nam Khao camp, Phetchabun Province, were forced by Thai military to return to Laos....
February 15, 2008 The Killing Fields Revisited
The Fact Finding Commission continues receiving reports from the jungles of Laos of the attacks by the Lao Military. The follow report was received on February 12, 2008....
December 17, 2007 More American Journalists Visited the Remote Jungle of Laos
Since 2003, there had been a total of seven different trips where foreign journalists managed to sneak into the remote jungle of northern Laos to cover the ongoing persecution of families of the U.S. backed Secret Army against Communism in the 1960s...
December 5, 2007 Why A Coup In Laos Will Not Work Commentary
The Fact Finding Commission’s mission is to save the lives of these people. We share the frustration of those whose parents, siblings, and cousins are perishing because of an impotent diplomatic community’s inability to intervene on their behalf....
August 16, 2007 Hmong Refugees in Nongkhai Province, Thailand have no hope
Fact Finding Commission has learned that the 153 Hmong refugees who have currently been detained in the detention facility in Nongkhai Province could face serious health problem....
July 30, 2007 UPDATE: Thai Military Actions Questioned
The Fact Finding Commission highly respected Thailand for their well being and respect of the Hmong refugees....
July 11, 2007 Thai Military Actions Questioned
Two incidents at the new refugee camp at Huay Nam Khao cause concern over actions taken by the Thai military.
June 20, 2007 Former American Allies Face Uncertain Future
Since there isn't any third country willing to resettle the Hmong refugees...Thai authorities have already deported 406 Hmong refugees to laos...
June 9, 2007 Hmong Crisis in Huay Nam Khao, Thailand
...local Thai police authorities insisted 39 Hmong refugees to be fingerprinted and have their pictures taken without any clear reason to why this must be done...
June 8, 2007 FFC Responds to Arrest of Hmong American Leaders
Though he has been under a great deal of pressure for his position, Vang Pao in his conversations with the FFC has continued to support a peaceful resolution for the people in the jungle...
April 12, 2007 21 Hmong Girls in Laos will not "Reunite" with Families in Thailand
The Fact Finding Commission greatly concerns that Laos’ continuous denial and refusal to work openly with the international community will continue to harm the welfare and well beings of the children. .....
February 3, 2007 Update: Current Condition of 153 Hmong in Nong Khai
The condition of the 153 Hmong held at the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Center has dramatically improved despite the frustration and distrust of the Thai authority....
January 31, 2007 Laos’ Desperation for 153 Hmong in Nong Khai
I am Blia Shoua Her. The time right now is 7:45 AM Thailand time on this 31st of January, 2007. First of all, I want to address to the United Nations Higher Commission, His Majesty of Thailand, Royal Thai Government....
December 12, 2006 Secret War Veterans and their Families Surrender
One group in the remote jungles of the Xieng Khoang Province of Laos, under the leadership of Moua Toua Ter, has been the subject of many news reports and documentaries about the plight of the Secret War veterans and their families who hide in the mountains of Laos to escape persecution by the Lao government....
September 27, 2006 Death Toll on the Rise
As of May 1, 2006 to September 27, 2006, the death toll reported on the people in the jungle of Laos has totaled to 334 people...
August 29, 2006 The Killing Season Begins
As the rainy season comes to a close, leaders of the groups hiding in the jungles of Laos reported military buildup around them and renewed attacks against their people...
May 1, 2006 Lao PDR's Killings Against Unarmed Hmong Continues
The Lao PDR and Vietnamese soldiers opened fire at the U.S. Secret War veterans and their families at approximately 9:00 a.m. then chased and continued to firing at them...
February 2, 2006 Forced Starvation Continues
Lao military forces continue to use forced starvation as a weapon against the U.S. Secret veterans and their families in the remote mountains of Laos. Their future remains uncertain.
November 7, 2005 FFC Response to Mr. Somsavat Lengsavad
On behalf of the free world, the Fact Finding Commission would like to take a moment of your time to hear our response concerning the situation in Laos. Our mission is to bring THE TRUTH inside Laos to the outside world.
November 6, 2005 Military Buildup in Remote Jungles of Laos
Now that the raining season has come to an end, the Lao PDR soldiers are re-launching their military campaign against the U.S. Secret veterans and their families in the jungles.
October 20, 2005 Dateline Australia
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO - Requires Real Player
It's the first time I become aware of the desperate plight of the Hmong in Laos. The video fottage of the burial of the murdered teenagers touched my spirit.
October 17, 2005 Forced Surrender
An updated report from Wa Leng Lee, leaders of the U.S. Secret War veterans in Bolikhamxay Province allege the 43 families were captured by LPDR military forces.
October 7, 2005 LPDR Retribution
After what appeared in the beginning to be a good faith effort on behalf of the LPDR (applauded by Kofi Annon) the Lao military took charge of the group.
August 25, 2005 The Death of Dr. Vang Pobzeb
We mourn the passing of our friend and colleague Dr. Pobzeb Vang. Dr. Pobzeb dedicated his life to the cause of the human rights injustices faced by the Secret War veterans and their families that live in the jungles of Laos.
July 5, 2005 Stranded with Rejection
The fearful 6,500+ Hmong refugees from Laos who are seeking relocation in Phetchabun, northern Thailand, were forced out of their temporary homes onto the streets and ordered to leave the area.
June 27, 2005 Mixed Messages from Lao Government Cause Concern for the People in the Jungle
Though the Lao government claims to be providing care for the people who recently came out of the jungles, others wanting to come out are reluctant due to the LPDR not allowing international monitoring...FFC hopes Laos will take advantage of the resources offered by the U.N. Food, shelter, medical assistance, psychological and life skills training is available through the international community.
June 27, 2005 FFC's Experience at Chong Thuang
When we and our interpreter Nhia Yang arrived at the village of Chong Thuang the villagers welcomed the people from the jungle. They had been expecting this group. Shortly Wa Neng Lor, Chief of Police of nearby Muang Souy, arrived. He told us the Lao government had told him and the villagers the group was coming but he had expected them two days earlier. He said he was assigned to look after them and care for them until what he presumed was Provincial or international aid came.
May 17, 2005 Starvation or Surrender? A Difficult Choice for 850 Women and Children
Laos (FFC) Within the next few weeks over 800 hundred women and children from a group of U.S. Secret War veterans and their families who have been hiding in the mountains of Laos since 1975, face the choice of remaining in the jungles of Laos and die of starvation or walking out of the jungle and surrendering to the Lao authorities,
April 15, 2005 Women and Children Have No Food
I want to let you know that if we are able to farm and gather we might be able to hold on longer but today there are nothing left for us to eat. We have consumed every possible food sources there is available to us.
December 10, 2004
Reports From The Jungles of Laos
I am reporting to you that we have recently found out the LPDR military forces who captured, raped, and murdered the five teenagers on May 19, 2004 at Xay Somboun Special Zone.
June 9, 2005 FCCT - Laos' Desperate Hmong Fighters: The Final Chapter? ...these Hmong fighters and their families lived in appalling conditions, on the run from the Lao army, and foraging for food in the jungle, and their plight was recently recognized as a humanitarian crisis."
June 8, 2005 Annan Welcomes Humane Treatment Of Ethnic Minorities In Laos "The Secretary-General welcomes the reports received of the humane treatment extended to the group of 171 men, women and children from ethnic minorities, including Hmong, who have come out from remote areas of the Xaysomboune Special Zone..."
June 7, 2005 US nationals deported from Laos They were in Laos to try and ensure the safety of relatives of Hmong rebels surrendering to the Lao authorities.
June 6, 2005 Laos arrests four "troublemakers" Communist Laos said it had freed four American "troublemakers" on Monday after detaining them for illegal contacts with ethnic Hmong
June 6, 2005 HMONG SURRENDER: Four US observers missing Four Americans helping with the surrender of the first batch of 173 ethnic Hmongs to the Laos government went missing on Saturday afternoon and are believed to have been arrested by the authorities
June 4, 2005 Hmong emerge after decades on run The Hmong were recruited by the CIA to fight on behalf of a pro-American government during the Vietnam War, only to find themselves all but abandoned after their communist enemies, the Pathet Lao, won a long civil war in 1975.
June 4, 2005 Hmong Tribespeople Surrender in Laos After decades on the run, 170 women, children and old men of the Hmong ethnic minority — once part of a U.S.-backed secret army fighting communists in Laos — emerged from their jungle hideouts on Saturday to surrender to the government.
April 9, 2005 An Open Wound: A Voice From The Jungle For most people, the Vietnam War is a wound that has healed. For others it's a wound that has left an ugly scar. for others, it's an open wound that oozes a trail of blood and tears.
April 2, 2005 Communist hunt Lao Veterans Fact Finding Commission seeks help from U.S. government Regardless of journalist's reports of Laotian communist soldiers raping, torturing, disemboweling and killing the children of Lao veterans and their families still hiding in the jungle, the U.S. government refuses to acknowledge the genocide.
February 2, 2005 Press Conference on the Human Rights Abused in Laos Washington, D.C. -- The Honorable Congressman Mark Green-Rep. of Winsconsin along with other members of Congress will be hosting a news conference addressing the Human Rights Violations and Attrocities against Laotian civilians in Laos.
December 22, 2004 A Few Word from Philip Blenkinsop
I would like to take a few moment of your time please to remember a group of people I met two years ago in the mountains of Laos.
October 5, 2004 FCCT - Laos And The Hmong: An Ongoing War
What happened on May 19, 2004 when four girls and one boy were allegedly killed by Lao Army soldiers in the Xaysomboune Special Zone.
September 15, 2004 A Blackbird's Song
Va Char Yang spent years helping the Hmong before escaping Laos in July and settling in California. "I was faced with thousands of people, screaming from hunger, telling me stories of persecution."
June 14, 2004 ABANDONED ARMY Insurgency in Laos
The rebels lack food and medicine. Hunger has become their major enemy and there have been deaths from starvation. Since government offensives have prevented them from cultivating rice, their main food is a type of boiled yam.
May 5, 2003 Welcome to the Jungle
In all my years as a journalist I had never seen anything like this: a ragtag army with wailing families in tow, beseeching me to take news of their plight to the outside world.
