SUMMARY

One-sided violence by the Government of Laos is best understood against the background of tense relations between the government and the ethnic Hmong (or Meo) people, a situation which has characterized the country since independence and with roots going back to the colonial struggle in the 1950s. After having helped the French forces against the Japanese during the Second World War, some Hmong fighters joined the independence movement Lao Issara while others clashed with the communist Pathet Lao (which also participated in the Lao Issara). Following independence in 1954, many Hmong were recruited into the US-trained government army in the intrastate conflict against the communists. As Pathet Lao took over the government in 1975, it continued to target the Hmong forces and imprisoned civilians in so-called “re-education” camps. Tens of thousands of ethnic Hmong fled across the border into Thailand or into the jungle, where some continued to fight the government in the 1980s.

There have been occasional reports of ongoing campaigns of one-sided violence against the remaining hidden Hmong, but these have been difficult to confirm. The incidents were reported from areas that remained under strict military control, referred to as special military zones, and where independent media access was banned. The one-sided violence which could be corroborated largely consisted of military attacks often involving both ground and air troops against hidden Hmong settlements or against larger groups of unarmed people in the jungle.

The Government of Laos first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2006, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in April that year when troops attacked and killed 26 unarmed people, mostly women and children, looking for food on the mountain Phou Ban near the city of Vang Vieng.