Independence movements

History of Hmong self-determination projects

From the 1961-1975 Secret War in Laos to the 2020 UN concern over the ChaoFa Hmong community.

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1961-1975: the Secret War

The CIA recruited more than 30,000 Hmong fighters in Laos from 1961 to 1975.[1]

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The Secret War in Laos, 1961-1975

CIA-recruited Hmong fighters engaged in a covert conflict in Laos, later facing persecution after the war's end.

Post-1975: the Chao Fa movement

Following the 1975 communist takeover, some Hmong formed the Chao Fa resistance movement, led by Zong Zoua Her and later Pa Kao Her.[2]

2020: UN concern

In 2020, UN Special Rapporteurs raised formal concerns about the treatment of the ChaoFa Hmong community.[3]

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    Claim: From 1961 to 1975, the United States Central Intelligence Agency recruited, trained and funded a guerrilla force of more than 30,000 Hmong fighters under General Vang Pao in Laos, conducted in the context of the 1954 Geneva Accords, which had established Laos as a neutral nation; Hmong forces engaged in intelligence gathering, protection of installations, and rescue operations for downed American pilots during the conflict, this bundle not narrating the war's military course in detail.

    • The Secret War in Laos (La Crosse County Historical Society) link, Historical Context section. Advocacy organisation perspective Source record
  2. 2.

    Claim: Following the 1975 communist takeover in Laos, the Pathet Lao government regarded former Hmong fighters as a serious threat, and reported responses included executions, imprisonment, and forced re-education; some Hmong who could not flee the country went into hiding in remote mountain areas and formed or joined the Chao Fa resistance movement, led initially by Zong Zoua Her, a former Royal Lao Army major, from a base on Phou Bia Mountain until his death around 2000, after which Pa Kao Her became Chao Fa Party president in 1999. This bundle presents the scope of post-1975 persecution as a documented but not independently adjudicated historical account.

  3. 3.

    Claim: In 2020, nine UN Special Rapporteurs and the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances sent a formal letter of concern to the government of Laos regarding reported human rights abuses against the ChaoFa Hmong community in the Phou Bia region, including alleged attacks, enforced disappearances, and denial of access to food and safe drinking water; this bundle presents these as documented concerns raised by named UN bodies, not as independently adjudicated findings of this bundle.

    • The Secret War in Laos (La Crosse County Historical Society) link, Recent Developments section. Advocacy organisation perspective Source record

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