TRIBESMAN (Translation): Today the Lao government is trying to use starvation as a weapon to kill us. They are also using chemicals to kill us.
This extraordinary video testimony was shot by Hmong tribespeople in the remote mountains of northern Laos. Smuggled out at great risk, it is the first time it's been seen on television anywhere. It reveals the desperate plight of the Hmong who are hiding in jungle sanctuaries, totally cut off from the outside world.
For over 30 years they have been trying to survive as hunter gatherers while the Lao Government hunt them like wild game.
TRIBESMAN (Translation): They have been hunting us and killing us for 30 years, today there are 20,000 of us in the jungle.
The Hmong had fought on the American side in their war against the communists in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. When the Americans withdrew in 1973 they left their allies, the Hmong, behind.
But the people they were fighting against, the communist Pathet Lao, became the Government in Laos and have relentlessly pursued the Hmong ever since. Driven by starvation and constant attacks from the Lao military, tribal leaders have now taken a momentous decision. They are sending out an advance party of women and children to surrender and try to save their lives.
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