The Hmong of Laos: A Historical Struggle Against State-Led Violence
- Gemma
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
For this edition of "Le Dragon Déchaîné" I wrote a piece on the Hmong of Laos, one of the indigenous communities found throughout Asia. So, come with me to begin (or continue) your exploration into the culture and modern challenges of these peoples. As always, feel free to contact me if you have questions or want access to my sources.
The artwork by Gemma Tabet is inspired by Hmong culture, and was created using mixed media: alcohol markers with digital art. The work takes direct inspiration from photographs and texts of Hmong traditions and peoples, and thus the art serves as a glimpse into this rich and unique history. Inspiration came from photographers like Stefan Auth, Carolyn Chang, Frances Miley, and Andrew Read, as well as artist Alex Yang and Hmong Embroidery. In the artwork I have depicted a Hmong woman, wearing the traditional clothes of the Hmoob Deeb or Green/Blue Hmong subgroup. Her black, long-sleeved shirt is collared with coloured fabric called appliqué and embroidered with pat ntaub (Hmong motif and symbol script). The skirt or tiab is made of blanched hemp-reed fibers that are then dyed indigo and decorated with appliqué and embroidery. It is said that through the pat ntaub in the skirts, Hmong record their clan, family, crops grown, animals owned, details on edible or medicinal plants, and more. Particularly, in Laos, hiding patterns and pat ntaub in the pleats of the 6-meter skirts is used as an act of resistance. Around the Hmong woman are some common design motifs: elephant’s foot or ko taw ntxhw, snail or Qab qwj, mountain or rooj, house or lub tsev, dragon tail or ko tw zaj, cucumber seed or noob dib, and heart or lub plawv. The skirt is held by a pink sash or hlab sev, with a black apron called sev to hide the opening of the skirt or pants. On her head, the woman wears a headwrap called phuam txo suab, with stripes to indicate her unmarried status. Around her neck, a silver necklace called xuav, acting as a spirit lock to protect from illness or harm. Finally, I also drew a Qeej - an instrument made of six bamboo reeds, a body of wood, and inner copper blades, played at funeral rituals, marriage ceremonies or new year ceremonies. Each sound from the Qeej corresponds to a spoken word. These terms are derived from a variety of sources: Frances Miley, Andrew Read, Alex Yang, Hmong Embroidery, and Learn About Hmong.
In October 2021, the Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organisation (UNPO) submitted to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and Responsibility to Protect a report emphasising that Laos government policies were “greatly increasing the risk of countrywide mass atrocities in the future” against the Hmong peoples. The report is only one among many the UNPO has submitted over the years, emphasising the violent attacks targeting the Hmong by the Lao People’s Army (LPA) since the establishment in 1975 of Laos’ one-party rule under the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) (UNPO, 2024). The Hmong are an ethnic minority that today live in China and Southeast Asia, with many having immigrated beyond to the United States or Europe (UNPO, 2023). Historically marginalised and persecuted, the Hmong have been uprooted time and time again from their homes, with some settling in Laos in the 1800s (Duffy et al., 2004). Despite their long history of oppression, the Hmong have managed to protect their cultural traditions and preserve their ethnic identity, which is strongly linked to the mountains, animism, and clan system (Duffy et al., 2004). For example, the Hmong believe that all objects, inanimate or alive, have spirits and are equal, particularly regarding nature as having moral value independent of its use to humans (Zhang, 2023). Today, these peoples face a variety of challenges brought by historical discrimination and forced displacement, fuelling modern State-led violence in Laos, leading to detrimental effects on the ever-shrinking community.
The Hmong are believed to be among the indigenous populations of central China, as a mountain-dwelling group that speaks Hmong (part of the Hmong-Mien linguistic family) and lived in the basins of the Yangtze and Huanghe rivers (Duffy et al., 2004). They traditionally practised shifting cultivation, which involves burning vegetation to grow crops (e.g., rice, corn, taro) and then moving, after several years, to a new field to allow reforestation, ensuring sustainable farming and minimal harm to the environment (Duffy et al., 2004). The Hmong were gradually driven southward and to higher altitudes by the expanding Han Chinese population, migrating to areas in Southeast Asia like Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam in the early 19th century (Duffy et al., 2004). The Hmong have a variety of subgroups, such as the Hmoob Dwaab or White Hmong, Hmoob Deeb or Green/Blue Hmong, Hmong Txaij Npab or Stripe Hmong, and Hmoon Dub or Black Hmong, which refers to their traditional clothes and dialect (Yang, 2021). The Hmong also have a clan-based system, with 19 clans in Laos, obtained by birth, marriage for women, or adoption (Duffy et al., 2004), that provide material and spiritual support to members (Moua, 2003). In Laos, Hmong communities make up 10% of the population, and mainly live in the remote and mountainous region, Xaisomboun, while others live in resettlement camps or military-controlled villages (UNPO, 2024). One of the groups most targeted by the LPA is the Chao Fa Hmong, who live in the forest of Phou Bia mountain (in the Xaisomboun region) (UNPO, 2024).
The Hmong, particularly in Laos, suffer from historical discrimination, tied to French colonialism and the Cold War, that has led to forced displacement and continued persecution by the Laos state. Many Hmong have fled Laos, to refugee camps in Thailand or even further, to North America and Europe.
The Hmong community has suffered from a history of forced displacement, starting with mass migration to Southeast Asia in the 19th century after centuries of conflicts against imperial China (Minnesota Historical Society). In 1893, Laos became a French colony, as part of French Indochina, which had detrimental effects for the Hmong, who suffered under heavy taxation and oppression (Minnesota Historical Society). Consequently, Hmong resentment led to two major anti-colonial rebellions, which as explained by expert Mai Na Lee, “stigmatized the Hmong as warlike in the eyes of colonialists”. Thus, when World War II broke out and the Japanese invaded French Indochina, some Hmong were recruited by the French for their perceived expert guerilla tactics (Hopp, 2020). As the Cold War began to brew with the rise of communism in Southeast Asia, the Hmong again were drawn into consecutive conflicts. Particularly, Laos, due to its geographical positioning, became a centre stage for the proxy war, infamously dubbed the Secret War - a 10-year air and ground campaign led by the United States, resulting in the use of 2 millions tons of explosives that killed and displaced hundreds of thousands, marking Laos as the most bombed nation per capita in history. Because of the 1954 Geneva Accords, the United States and other foreign states were prohibited military presence in Laos, thus prompting the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to build a ground-army through recruitment of the Hmong, believing, as per the Western narrative, they were “the one force in Military Region II that could resist the Pathet Lao” (unclassified U.S. Air Force official histories, 1993). More than 10% of the Lao Hmong population were killed in the war, equivalent to around 30,000 to 40,000 civilians and soldiers, with 100,000 Hmong internally displaced and forced into resettlement centres or refugee camps (Duffy et al., 2004). This brought substantial changes to the Hmong way of life as they lost much self-sufficiency through decreased land and able-bodied workers, coming to rely on foreign aid - a generation of children growing up without traditional knowledge of farming (Duffy et al., 2004). Most pressingly, by 1975, the coalition government, formed to end the Lao war, collapsed, with the communist Pathet Lao or officially the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party rising to power (Minnesota Historical Society). The LPRP began an aggressive campaign against the Hmong for their involvement with the United States, arresting, raping, and killing civilians, causing much of the population to flee to Thailand and beyond (World Without Genocide).
Today, the remaining Hmong in Laos are mainly found in jungle regions, such as Xaisomboun, and are named Chao Fa, after the remnants of the CIA’s secret army (Duffy et al., 2004). Five decades later and the Hmong, civilians and no longer soldiers, still face persecution, lacking legal recognition as an indigenous community by the Lao government (despite meeting international legal criteria), who continue to deny human rights violations (UNPO, 2025). For example, 2013 saw the killing of numerous Hmong civilians by the LPA, forcing communities in the Xaisomboun region to move weekly to avoid attacks (UNPO, 2015). Hmong culture and religion is thus greatly threatened in Laos, due to denial from speaking their language, wearing traditional attire, and intimidation tactics (UNPO, 2024). Particularly, recent years have seen a surge in State-violence and repression due to Lao economic projects as part of the LPDR’s “Turning Land into Capital” policy, which has led to tourism, mining of preious metals, logging, and more in traditional Hmong land, causing mass displacement (World Without Genocide). In 2021, the LPRP sealed off the Phou Bia mountain for a military-led operation to clear the territory (UNPO, 2024). The Hmong living outside indigenous jungle-land are in military-controlled camps and villages, facing harsh living conditions and human right violations, with denial of access to fundamental necessities and constant military-surveillance and intimidation (World Without Genocide). Hmong women and girls in these military facilities are particularly vulnerable, facing slavery-like labour, human trafficking, and sexual abuses (UNPO, 2024). Growing extrajudicial killings of the Hmong, disappearance of activists, along with the inaccessibility of the Xaisomboun region, has led to concerns of LPA’s efforts to fully eradicate the communities in the Phou Bia jungle area, raising concerns over the future of the Hmong peoples across Laos. A detailed account of the ongoing human right violations by the Lao government against the Hmong can be found in the most recent report submitted by UNPO and the Congress of World Hmong People (CHWP).
In conclusion, it is evident that the Hmong in Laos are greatly threatened by the Lao government and military, who have led decades of human rights violations against the indigenous community. The Hmong are a historically marginalised peoples who have faced forced displacement and been subject to global conflicts over the centuries, fuelling LPRP resentment. Not only does this endanger the lives and safety of Hmong people, but also risks the loss of a unique cultural identity, with traditions tied to the preservation of nature and biodiversity (Vongphachanh, 2023). As many organisations stress, more international pressure must be placed on the Laos state to end the military violences and abuses against the Hmong communities, and particularly, the LPRP should allow international observers to conduct investigations and to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Hmong peoples. To discover more about the history and culture of the Hmong, explore the Hmong Studies Journal, and follow UNPO updates on the critical situation in Laos. As outspoken Hmong activist Anousa Luangsuphom wrote in 2023, after being shot twice by an unknown assailant in Laos, “We, Lao people, want democracy and freedom!”
Disclaimer: As a student, I don’t have the full capacity nor time to delve into the complexities of each ethnic community. My intention is to create a space dedicated to introducing readers to different minorities and their plights, to raise awareness and to encourage further readings into such topics. My art piece of each ethnic community is not an accurate representation of the culture as a whole, but an artistic interpretation based on primary photographs and references of historical traditions.
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