LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ON JOINT DEMARCHE ON HMONG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENTIANE 000542

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, PRM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL KIRF LA
SUBJECT: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ON JOINT DEMARCHE ON HMONG
CHILDREN

REF: A. VIENTIANE 500


B. VIENTIANE 496

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Kristen Bauer, reason 1.4 (b) and (d).

Summary
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1. (C) The like-minded missions and UN will seek to deliver
their joint demarche on the missing Hmong children by the end
of June, with the UN playing the coordinating role. The
group awaits the outcome of a UN coordination meeting to be
held tomorrow to determine the timing of the demarche. The
demarche comes as concern mounts regarding the fate of the 26
Hmong children; one Hmong source has reported to the UN that
one of the incarcerated boys has died, several of the girls
are missing and the others are in poor condition. End summary.

State of the Children
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2. (C) The like-minded group (U.S., Australia, France,
Sweden, Germany, Poland, EU, UN Acting Resident Coordinator
and UNICEF) met June 14 to discuss developments on the
missing Hmong children and plans for delivering a joint
demarche (reftels). While there has been little new
information over the last month regarding the status of the
children, UNICEF reported that the UN Department of Political
Affairs had recently received an unsubstantiated report from
a source identified as the World Hmong People's Congress,
based in New York, that one of the incarcerated boys had
died, that the girls had been mistreated and had been shifted
frequently between detention facilities in Bolikhamsai and
Salavane provinces, and that at least several of the girls
were missing.

Going Forward
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3. (C) The UN, represented by the UNICEF Country Director now
serving as the UN's Acting Resident Coordinator, also
notified the group that the Lao had not yet responded to the
Secretary General's May 18 letter to the Lao President on the

SIPDIS
children; the Lao said they had only received the letter last
week, and sources in MFA believed it would take time for the
letter to work its way through the system before eliciting a
response. The Acting Resident Coordinator noted there was
ongoing discussion between UNICEF and the Department of
Political Affairs (DPA) in New York regarding the timing of
the demarche. The two are to meet in New York June 14 to
discuss the demarche, with the DPA pushing for a demarche
soonest and UNICEF advocating a delay until the Lao had
responded to the Secretary General's letter.


4. (C) In spite of this potential obstacle to UN
participation, the like-minded group agreed that plans to
present a joint demarche should go forward as soon as
possible. The UN would plan to lead the demarche, assuming
the question of timing could be ironed out in New York. The
Acting Resident Coordinator will draft a Note Verbal within
the week, to be cleared by the group before submission to MFA
which will request a meeting between the demarche
participants and the newly-appointed Foreign Minister,
Thongloun Sisoulith. The note will say that optimum timing
for the demarche would be before June 28, when the Acting
Resident Coordinator will be leaving Vientiane for several
weeks.


5. (C) The Australian Ambassador agreed to circulate
slightly revised points reflecting some minor corrections.
(These have been emailed to the desk.) The group concurred
that the points will be left with the GOL at close of the
demarche. All parties also agreed that there should be no
press and that if asked by the media all would respond with
"no comment."

Participation

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6. (C) Most in the group thought it would take some days for
the Lao to decide to grant the meeting, in view of the fact
that Thongloun was only coming on board at MFA this week and
would need time to read in to his new job. In the meantime,
the Australian Ambassador volunteered to coordinate with
Bangkok-based missions who have signed on to the demarche,
namely the Canadians, UK and possibly New Zealand. The group
hoped these countries could participate at the Ambassador
level, but in the absence of the Ambassadors lower-level
representatives could stand in. Most important was that the
Lao see non-Vientiane participation as a signal of the
non-resident missions' concern for the children.


7. (C) Of the Lao-based representatives, the following have
formal approval to participate: Australia, Germany, Sweden,
and USA. France has not heard from Paris but will go ahead
regardless. The EU will then follow France,s lead. Poland
too is awaiting a decision but felt empowered to go ahead if
nothing was forthcoming from Warsaw. The EU also has yet to
make a final determination on their form of representation in
the actual meeting*either by individual country and the
commission or by the EU presidency.

Comment
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8. (C) The joint demarche has proceeded by fits and starts;
the diffidence of some of our "like-minded" colleagues
worried about making any waves with the Lao has kept progress
to a crawl. Even the most timid agree, however, that the time
has come to fish or cut bait, especially with the condition
of the children now in serious question. Ironically, the last
obstacle now appears to be UNICEF. Although UNICEF in
Vientiane is ready and willing, according to the Acting
Coordinator, the New York headquarters is not fully on-board
and doesn't wish to "upset" the Lao.


9. (C) Assuming the joint demarche goes forward, we believe
that it has two things going for it: first, voicing the
concern of a large segment of the GoL's most important
diplomatic relations, it will send an unmistakable message
that the Lao can't continue to duck this issue. Second, the
recent government changes (including a new President, Prime
Minister and Foreign Minister) may break the logjam. Both
the PM and FM are pragmatists; with no baggage to carry on
this issue and no personal stake (unlike departing FM
Somsavat),they may be more amenable to setting the children
free and ridding themselves of this vexing problem. End
comment.
BAUER