Showing posts with label Thailand send back Hmong refugees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thailand send back Hmong refugees. Show all posts
Monday, January 04, 2010
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Refugees Are Not Bargaining Chips
January 1, 2010
By BILL FRELICK
Op-Ed Contributor
New York Times
By BILL FRELICK
Op-Ed Contributor
New York Times
WASHINGTON — A virus is sweeping Asia. The symptoms are heightened xenophobia and amnesia about fundamental refugee rights. Australia and Indonesia succumbed first, in October, when they stopped boats carrying Sri Lankans. Neither country would allow the Sri Lankans to disembark even though they came from a country experiencing massive violence and displacement. Almost three months later, one of the boats, holding more than 250 Sri Lankans, remains moored in the West Javan port of Merak.
Cambodia was next to catch the fever. A small group of Uighur men, women and children fleeing the aftermath of the worst ethnic violence in decades in China sought asylum in Cambodia. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issued “persons of concern” letters on their behalf and moved them into a facility it managed jointly with the Cambodian government. But Cambodia forcibly returned 20 Uighurs on Dec. 19, despite the protests of the U.N. agency, the diplomatic corps and human rights groups. They have not been heard from since.
Now Thailand has gone viral. On Monday, soldiers with truncheons and shields herded more than 4,000 Hmong asylum seekers onto buses back to Laos from the Huay Nam Khao camp in Petchabun Province, where they have lived since 2005. For four years, the Thai Army detained the Hmong in the closed camp, never allowing the U.N. refugee agency to interview them or assess their claims to refugee status. The Thai Army’s own screening process, based on criteria never made public, found that hundreds of the Hmong had legitimate protection concerns, but Thailand never provided any additional protections. The Thai government maintained that the Hmong were “economic migrants” but refused any fair determination process to assess that claim.
When it came, the forced repatriation was conducted in the face of loud international condemnation, from the refugee agency, top levels of the U.S. State Department, and the president of the European Union. Tellingly, a group of 158 Hmong who not only had been recognized as refugees by the U.N. refugee agency but also had been offered resettlement by Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States were also deported. They had been detained separately in abysmal conditions for three years at Nong Khai immigration detention center.
The willingness to flout international refugee law and to ignore the entreaties of refugees not to be sent back to their home countries has become the mark of chummy bilateral relations between Asian states. Thailand sends back Hmong refugees — a group with a history of persecution at the hands of the Lao government dating back to the 1960s — citing a secret bilateral agreement and the Lao government’s assurances of their safe treatment. Cambodia forcibly repatriates Uighurs just as the Chinese vice president, Xi Jinping, arrives on a visit to Phnom Penh to announce a $1.2 billion aid package to Cambodia.
Governments in the region this month have lied outright to the U.N. refugee agency about their intentions to return “people of concern” to their home countries, blocked the agency from interviewing asylum seekers to assess their claims, and simply ignored the agency’s protests. The marginalization of the U.N. agency goes hand in hand with rapid erosion of the bedrock principle of international refugee law — called nonrefoulement, the prohibition on the forcible return of refugees to places where they would be likely to face persecution.
Like biological viruses, this latest strain of refugee mistreatment has its antecedents, in part, because Asia — unlike Africa, the Americas and Europe — has no legal regional framework for refugee protection. Few Asian governments have even signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, ratified by 147 countries, which sets the global standard for the treatment of refugees.
The African refugee convention has a provision that should be particularly instructive for Asian governments: “The grant of asylum to refugees is a peaceful and humanitarian act and shall not be regarded as an unfriendly act by any Member State.”
The spate of refugee returns has the urgency of an impending epidemic that needs to be contained. But the focus of immediate concern now shifts to the home countries to which these unfortunate people have been returned. China and Laos need to give the United Nations and other relevant agencies immediate and continuous access to the returnees in an atmosphere of complete openness and accountability. At the dawn of a new decade, Asian governments should commit themselves not only to the nonrefoulement principle, but also to the idea that granting asylum is a humanitarian act that should be entirely divorced from political relations between states.
Bill Frelick is the refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch.
Cambodia was next to catch the fever. A small group of Uighur men, women and children fleeing the aftermath of the worst ethnic violence in decades in China sought asylum in Cambodia. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issued “persons of concern” letters on their behalf and moved them into a facility it managed jointly with the Cambodian government. But Cambodia forcibly returned 20 Uighurs on Dec. 19, despite the protests of the U.N. agency, the diplomatic corps and human rights groups. They have not been heard from since.
Now Thailand has gone viral. On Monday, soldiers with truncheons and shields herded more than 4,000 Hmong asylum seekers onto buses back to Laos from the Huay Nam Khao camp in Petchabun Province, where they have lived since 2005. For four years, the Thai Army detained the Hmong in the closed camp, never allowing the U.N. refugee agency to interview them or assess their claims to refugee status. The Thai Army’s own screening process, based on criteria never made public, found that hundreds of the Hmong had legitimate protection concerns, but Thailand never provided any additional protections. The Thai government maintained that the Hmong were “economic migrants” but refused any fair determination process to assess that claim.
When it came, the forced repatriation was conducted in the face of loud international condemnation, from the refugee agency, top levels of the U.S. State Department, and the president of the European Union. Tellingly, a group of 158 Hmong who not only had been recognized as refugees by the U.N. refugee agency but also had been offered resettlement by Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States were also deported. They had been detained separately in abysmal conditions for three years at Nong Khai immigration detention center.
The willingness to flout international refugee law and to ignore the entreaties of refugees not to be sent back to their home countries has become the mark of chummy bilateral relations between Asian states. Thailand sends back Hmong refugees — a group with a history of persecution at the hands of the Lao government dating back to the 1960s — citing a secret bilateral agreement and the Lao government’s assurances of their safe treatment. Cambodia forcibly repatriates Uighurs just as the Chinese vice president, Xi Jinping, arrives on a visit to Phnom Penh to announce a $1.2 billion aid package to Cambodia.
Governments in the region this month have lied outright to the U.N. refugee agency about their intentions to return “people of concern” to their home countries, blocked the agency from interviewing asylum seekers to assess their claims, and simply ignored the agency’s protests. The marginalization of the U.N. agency goes hand in hand with rapid erosion of the bedrock principle of international refugee law — called nonrefoulement, the prohibition on the forcible return of refugees to places where they would be likely to face persecution.
Like biological viruses, this latest strain of refugee mistreatment has its antecedents, in part, because Asia — unlike Africa, the Americas and Europe — has no legal regional framework for refugee protection. Few Asian governments have even signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, ratified by 147 countries, which sets the global standard for the treatment of refugees.
The African refugee convention has a provision that should be particularly instructive for Asian governments: “The grant of asylum to refugees is a peaceful and humanitarian act and shall not be regarded as an unfriendly act by any Member State.”
The spate of refugee returns has the urgency of an impending epidemic that needs to be contained. But the focus of immediate concern now shifts to the home countries to which these unfortunate people have been returned. China and Laos need to give the United Nations and other relevant agencies immediate and continuous access to the returnees in an atmosphere of complete openness and accountability. At the dawn of a new decade, Asian governments should commit themselves not only to the nonrefoulement principle, but also to the idea that granting asylum is a humanitarian act that should be entirely divorced from political relations between states.
Bill Frelick is the refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Thailand defies protests to deport asylum seekers
December 29 2009
By Tim Johnston in Bangkok
Financial Times (UK)
By Tim Johnston in Bangkok
Financial Times (UK)
Thailand began to deport more than 4,000 ethnic Hmong asylum seekers back to Laos yesterday, defying pressure from the UN, the US and human rights organisations that say the group could face persecution on their return.
About 5,000 troops and officials entered the Hmong camp in Thailand's central Petchabun province in the morning to load residents on to buses to take them over the border, a process that a military official said might take 24 hours.
The Thai government said the communist authorities in Laos had given assurances that the people would be well treated and given amnesty. But the migrants say they are at risk from discrimination because they backed the US during the Vietnam war.
Many were soldiers or relatives of soldiers who fought in a secret army set up by the US both to try to cut supply lines to communist forces in south Vietnam, and to fight Laotian communists who eventually took over the country in 1975. Hundreds of thousands fled Laos after the communist takeover.
Colonel Thana Charuwat, who led the operation, said 2,100 residents of the camp had agreed to leave voluntarily and the army was trying to persuade the rest, but the authorities blocked media access and mobile phone connections to the camp, making it difficult to confirm his comments.
By evening, Human Rights Watch reported the camp had been emptied and 130 people judged to have resisted removal had been put in police trucks to be handed direct to the Laotian military at the border.
The US and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees urged Thailand to suspend the deportations. "We deeply regret this serious violation of the international humanitarian principles that Thailand has long been known for championing," said the US state department.
Panitan Wattanayagorn, a Thai government spokesman, said Bangkok was also planning to deport 158 Hmong who have been held for three years in a detention centre. This group, whose members have been identified as being in -danger by Bangkok, were being interviewed by representatives of Australia, Canada, the US and the Netherlands, with a view to giving them permanent sanctuary.
"Our plan is to send them back to Laos and that within a month they should be sent out to the third countries," Mr Panitan said.
The Thai government has denied international access to residents of the larger Hmong camp in Petchabun, insisting they are economic migrants rather than political refugees.
"Based on the evaluation of our officers, these people are illegal immigrants," said Mr Panitan.
But the UN High Commissioner said the Thai authorities originally informed them that some of the Hmong did need protection.
Médecins Sans Frontières, the French charity, was working in the camp until May when it pulled out, saying the army was trying to use its food and medical distributions to encourage the Hmong to return to Laos.
Amnesty International said some women and girls who were sent back in 2005 were detained for 18 months and another group of six, who returned at the same time, were still unaccounted for.
In the past, tens of thousands of refugees from Burma and Cambodia were given sanctuary in Thailand, but a year ago, the army was accused of towing back out to sea hundreds of Burmese refugees who had arrived by boat, leaving them with inadequate food and water. human rights groups say hundreds died.
About 5,000 troops and officials entered the Hmong camp in Thailand's central Petchabun province in the morning to load residents on to buses to take them over the border, a process that a military official said might take 24 hours.
The Thai government said the communist authorities in Laos had given assurances that the people would be well treated and given amnesty. But the migrants say they are at risk from discrimination because they backed the US during the Vietnam war.
Many were soldiers or relatives of soldiers who fought in a secret army set up by the US both to try to cut supply lines to communist forces in south Vietnam, and to fight Laotian communists who eventually took over the country in 1975. Hundreds of thousands fled Laos after the communist takeover.
Colonel Thana Charuwat, who led the operation, said 2,100 residents of the camp had agreed to leave voluntarily and the army was trying to persuade the rest, but the authorities blocked media access and mobile phone connections to the camp, making it difficult to confirm his comments.
By evening, Human Rights Watch reported the camp had been emptied and 130 people judged to have resisted removal had been put in police trucks to be handed direct to the Laotian military at the border.
The US and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees urged Thailand to suspend the deportations. "We deeply regret this serious violation of the international humanitarian principles that Thailand has long been known for championing," said the US state department.
Panitan Wattanayagorn, a Thai government spokesman, said Bangkok was also planning to deport 158 Hmong who have been held for three years in a detention centre. This group, whose members have been identified as being in -danger by Bangkok, were being interviewed by representatives of Australia, Canada, the US and the Netherlands, with a view to giving them permanent sanctuary.
"Our plan is to send them back to Laos and that within a month they should be sent out to the third countries," Mr Panitan said.
The Thai government has denied international access to residents of the larger Hmong camp in Petchabun, insisting they are economic migrants rather than political refugees.
"Based on the evaluation of our officers, these people are illegal immigrants," said Mr Panitan.
But the UN High Commissioner said the Thai authorities originally informed them that some of the Hmong did need protection.
Médecins Sans Frontières, the French charity, was working in the camp until May when it pulled out, saying the army was trying to use its food and medical distributions to encourage the Hmong to return to Laos.
Amnesty International said some women and girls who were sent back in 2005 were detained for 18 months and another group of six, who returned at the same time, were still unaccounted for.
In the past, tens of thousands of refugees from Burma and Cambodia were given sanctuary in Thailand, but a year ago, the army was accused of towing back out to sea hundreds of Burmese refugees who had arrived by boat, leaving them with inadequate food and water. human rights groups say hundreds died.
Thailand Deports Hmong Asylum Seekers to Laos
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Dec 28 (IPS) - In a move that places greater weight on growing regional solidarity over historical ties with a western superpower, Thailand ordered its military to forcibly return over 4,000 men, women and children from the Hmong ethnic community to Laos, the country they had fled in search of political asylum.
By Monday, the first batch of 440 Hmong—an ethnic tribe living in the mountains of northern and central Laos—from an isolated camp in the Petchabun province in north-eastern Thailand was removed under the watchful eye of over 4,500 soldiers and police, says the Thai government’s spokesperson, Panitan Wattanayagorn, adding that the operation involving military trucks began at dawn.
"We have given instructions to the military officers that this move has to be conducted ensuring the safety of the Hmong and with no violations of their rights," says Panitan. "Our agreement with the Laotian government is that all the Hmong should be sent back by the end of the year."
It means that the "time for negotiations is over" and the Thai government will "not turn back on its decision," Panitan confirms in an interview with IPS. "That would undermine the relationship we have developed with our neighbour Laos in recent years. It is a relationship built on good faith."
Bangkok’s decision to send the Hmong back to communist-ruled Laos has prompted protests from a range of international actors, notably the United States. Washington has been equally troubled by Thai authorities justifying the deportation after characterising the majority of Hmong as "economic migrants," not refugees.
"This is a deeply disappointing decision by the government of Thailand," Eric Schwartz, U.S. assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, tells IPS in a telephone interview from Washington. "You cannot make categorical statements that all people are economic migrants unless the (Thai) government has knowledge of each individual case."
The U.S. government, the United Nations and concerned human rights groups state that at least 158 of the Hmong asylum seekers had been recognised as refugees by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). And a further 80 had "bullet wounds," suggesting that they had fled violence in Laos.
What is more, Thai officials have denied the UNHCR access to screen the largest group of the Hmong, who had been living in makeshift shacks at the Huay Nam Khao village in Petchabun. Journalists and other independent observers have also been denied contact to the same group.
According to Human Rights Watch, the New York-based global rights lobby, Thai authorities have violated international refugee laws by using "intimidation" to silence the Hmong. The coercive tactics included "light deprivation," separating parents from children and cutting off "access to clean water and proper sanitation."
"Thai authorities know very well that the United States and other countries would have been prepared and are still prepared to ensure the possibility of third-country resettlement for each person deemed to need protection," says Schwartz, who ended a mission to Bangkok last week, where he made a bid to secure a policy shift from senior Thai officials.
But for the Thai administration of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, that would have meant a further delay in ending a problem that traces its roots back to the mid-1970s. At that time, Thailand opened its borders to refugees who poured in from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam following the end of the U.S. government’s war in Indo-China. At its height, Thailand hosted over 1.5 million refugees.
"We have been trying to persuade the U.S. to take these people back but the U.S. has not said they will receive all of them," says Panitan, the Thai government spokesman. "Thailand cannot shoulder this burden alone."
Thailand’s stance suggests how far regional politics has changed since the end of the Cold War era, when Bangkok was Washington’s strongest ally on mainland South-east Asia during the wars the U.S. government waged in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) "secret war" in Laos was among them, beginning in 1961 and ending in 1975, when U.S. troops left Vietnam in defeat. This clandestine war staged by Washington’s spy agency depended on tens of thousands of Hmong for manpower.
The covert military operation to fight the advancing communist guerrillas in Laos resulted in the landlocked South-east Asian country coming under relentless aerial attacks—where over two million tonnes of explosives were dropped by U.S. bombers, more than the explosives dropped on Europe during the Second World War.
Both the U.S. public and the Congress were kept in the dark while this conflict raged. The CIA’s air base in Long Chen, in central Laos, became one of the busiest airports in the region at that time. Flights from Thailand were frequent.
But the triumph of the communist forces in Laos saw the Hmong flee their homeland in the thousands, first to Thailand as refugees and later to the United States for resettlement. Some 250,000 to 300,000 Hmong – nearly a third of this ethnic group’s population in Laos – joined this exodus decades ago.
In 2005, when the United States took in 15,000 Hmong who had been languishing in Thai refugee camps since the 1970s, Washington declared that it would the last group of refugees it was aiding.
But soon after that, the current group of Hmong asylum seekers surfaced in Petchabun, hoping for a similar journey to the U.S. for supporting the CIA during its "secret war" and being persecuted by the Laotian military since the conflict ended.
Among them is Blia Pao Yang, a leader of the refugees in Petchabun, says Joe Davy, a Hmong rights advocate in an e-mailed statement. "Many in his group have war wounds and have been documented by the Thai military as having legitimate asylum claims."
By Monday, the first batch of 440 Hmong—an ethnic tribe living in the mountains of northern and central Laos—from an isolated camp in the Petchabun province in north-eastern Thailand was removed under the watchful eye of over 4,500 soldiers and police, says the Thai government’s spokesperson, Panitan Wattanayagorn, adding that the operation involving military trucks began at dawn.
"We have given instructions to the military officers that this move has to be conducted ensuring the safety of the Hmong and with no violations of their rights," says Panitan. "Our agreement with the Laotian government is that all the Hmong should be sent back by the end of the year."
It means that the "time for negotiations is over" and the Thai government will "not turn back on its decision," Panitan confirms in an interview with IPS. "That would undermine the relationship we have developed with our neighbour Laos in recent years. It is a relationship built on good faith."
Bangkok’s decision to send the Hmong back to communist-ruled Laos has prompted protests from a range of international actors, notably the United States. Washington has been equally troubled by Thai authorities justifying the deportation after characterising the majority of Hmong as "economic migrants," not refugees.
"This is a deeply disappointing decision by the government of Thailand," Eric Schwartz, U.S. assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, tells IPS in a telephone interview from Washington. "You cannot make categorical statements that all people are economic migrants unless the (Thai) government has knowledge of each individual case."
The U.S. government, the United Nations and concerned human rights groups state that at least 158 of the Hmong asylum seekers had been recognised as refugees by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). And a further 80 had "bullet wounds," suggesting that they had fled violence in Laos.
What is more, Thai officials have denied the UNHCR access to screen the largest group of the Hmong, who had been living in makeshift shacks at the Huay Nam Khao village in Petchabun. Journalists and other independent observers have also been denied contact to the same group.
According to Human Rights Watch, the New York-based global rights lobby, Thai authorities have violated international refugee laws by using "intimidation" to silence the Hmong. The coercive tactics included "light deprivation," separating parents from children and cutting off "access to clean water and proper sanitation."
"Thai authorities know very well that the United States and other countries would have been prepared and are still prepared to ensure the possibility of third-country resettlement for each person deemed to need protection," says Schwartz, who ended a mission to Bangkok last week, where he made a bid to secure a policy shift from senior Thai officials.
But for the Thai administration of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, that would have meant a further delay in ending a problem that traces its roots back to the mid-1970s. At that time, Thailand opened its borders to refugees who poured in from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam following the end of the U.S. government’s war in Indo-China. At its height, Thailand hosted over 1.5 million refugees.
"We have been trying to persuade the U.S. to take these people back but the U.S. has not said they will receive all of them," says Panitan, the Thai government spokesman. "Thailand cannot shoulder this burden alone."
Thailand’s stance suggests how far regional politics has changed since the end of the Cold War era, when Bangkok was Washington’s strongest ally on mainland South-east Asia during the wars the U.S. government waged in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) "secret war" in Laos was among them, beginning in 1961 and ending in 1975, when U.S. troops left Vietnam in defeat. This clandestine war staged by Washington’s spy agency depended on tens of thousands of Hmong for manpower.
The covert military operation to fight the advancing communist guerrillas in Laos resulted in the landlocked South-east Asian country coming under relentless aerial attacks—where over two million tonnes of explosives were dropped by U.S. bombers, more than the explosives dropped on Europe during the Second World War.
Both the U.S. public and the Congress were kept in the dark while this conflict raged. The CIA’s air base in Long Chen, in central Laos, became one of the busiest airports in the region at that time. Flights from Thailand were frequent.
But the triumph of the communist forces in Laos saw the Hmong flee their homeland in the thousands, first to Thailand as refugees and later to the United States for resettlement. Some 250,000 to 300,000 Hmong – nearly a third of this ethnic group’s population in Laos – joined this exodus decades ago.
In 2005, when the United States took in 15,000 Hmong who had been languishing in Thai refugee camps since the 1970s, Washington declared that it would the last group of refugees it was aiding.
But soon after that, the current group of Hmong asylum seekers surfaced in Petchabun, hoping for a similar journey to the U.S. for supporting the CIA during its "secret war" and being persecuted by the Laotian military since the conflict ended.
Among them is Blia Pao Yang, a leader of the refugees in Petchabun, says Joe Davy, a Hmong rights advocate in an e-mailed statement. "Many in his group have war wounds and have been documented by the Thai military as having legitimate asylum claims."
Monday, December 28, 2009
Thailand deports Lao-Hmong despite international concerns available
Dec 28, 2009
DPA
DPA
Bangkok - Thailand on Monday began deporting 4,000 ethnic Hmong refugees to Laos despite international appeals to the government to reconsider the involuntary repatriation to an uncertain future.
The first batch of 442 Hmong were taken from Huay Nam Khao camp in Phetchabun province at 9:30 am (0230 GMT) to buses that will carry them to Nong Khai province where they will cross the Mekong River on the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge into neighbouring Laos, said Thai Army Colonel Thana Jaruwat, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command.
The remaining 3,600 have thus far refused to leave the camp peacefully, he said.
'We will try to convince them to leave on their own will but if they refuse we will enforce the law,' Thana said.
Thailand has never recognized the Hmong at Huay Nam Khao, 280 kilometres north-east of Bangkok, as refugees but instead has classified them as illegal migrants, who, according to Thai law can be expelled without bringing charges against them, Thana said.
Officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), other human rights workers and journalists were held several kilometres away from the camp to prevent outsiders from observing the mass deportation operation.
'If the Hmong see journalists they will do themselves harm to make a scene and we don't want that,' Thana said.
The US government, the UNHCR and the European Union all urged the Thai government to reconsider its deportation plans but to no avail.
'This is unfortunate and indefensible and we're very concerned about it,' said Eric Schwartz, the US assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, in a telephone interview with the German Press Agency dpa.
Thailand and Laos agreed months ago that the Hmong at Huay Nam Khao camp must be deported by year-end. The Lao government announced on state TV Sunday night that the returning Hmong will be treated humanely.
'The government of Laos has a great opportunity now to demonstrate a policy of humanitarian treatment for those who have returned,' Schwartz said.
Preparation for the mass deportation began last week when the Thai army, which controls Huay Ban Khao, confiscated all sharp objects and mobile phones from the 4,000 Hmong residents, some of whom have lived in the camp since 2004 hoping to be resettled in third countries.
The Hmong, an ethnic minority which has inhabited the mountainous northern region of Laos for centuries, were recruited as guerrilla fighters by the US military in its 'secret war' against communist forces in Laos.
The communists prevailed in 1975, and the Hmong were left behind. Unknown thousands fled to neighbouring Thailand since 1975 and sought resettlement abroad.
In 2003, the US agreed to take 14,000 Hmong who had lived for years at Tham Krabok temple in north-east Thailand. Since then, some 8,000 more Hmong sought refuge in Thailand, claiming persecution at home.
About 3,000 refugees returned to Laos voluntarily in 2008-09. Thailand insists the remainder must be deported to prevent the country from being a magnet for more Hmong migration.
'There are ways to try to discourage economic migrants but you cannot decide by fiat one day that people are going to stop crossing the border when they need protection,' Schwartz said.
Besides Hmong, Thailand has attracted more than 1.5 million refugees from Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam over the past four decades.
The Thai government has been criticized for not allowing UNHCR to determine the Hmong's eligibility for refugee status. At least 158 former Huay Nam Khao residents, now in a detention centre in Nong Khai, have been classified as 'people of concern' by the UN agency.
Despite claims of concern, no foreign country has expressed interest in accepting the Huay Nam Khao community.
To date, the Lao government has not invited the UNHCR to work in the country, nor to monitor the Hmong repatriation process, although foreign embassy staff in Vientiane have been brought to resettlement camps where some of the 3,000 Hmong who returned have ended up.
The first batch of 442 Hmong were taken from Huay Nam Khao camp in Phetchabun province at 9:30 am (0230 GMT) to buses that will carry them to Nong Khai province where they will cross the Mekong River on the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge into neighbouring Laos, said Thai Army Colonel Thana Jaruwat, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command.
The remaining 3,600 have thus far refused to leave the camp peacefully, he said.
'We will try to convince them to leave on their own will but if they refuse we will enforce the law,' Thana said.
Thailand has never recognized the Hmong at Huay Nam Khao, 280 kilometres north-east of Bangkok, as refugees but instead has classified them as illegal migrants, who, according to Thai law can be expelled without bringing charges against them, Thana said.
Officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), other human rights workers and journalists were held several kilometres away from the camp to prevent outsiders from observing the mass deportation operation.
'If the Hmong see journalists they will do themselves harm to make a scene and we don't want that,' Thana said.
The US government, the UNHCR and the European Union all urged the Thai government to reconsider its deportation plans but to no avail.
'This is unfortunate and indefensible and we're very concerned about it,' said Eric Schwartz, the US assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, in a telephone interview with the German Press Agency dpa.
Thailand and Laos agreed months ago that the Hmong at Huay Nam Khao camp must be deported by year-end. The Lao government announced on state TV Sunday night that the returning Hmong will be treated humanely.
'The government of Laos has a great opportunity now to demonstrate a policy of humanitarian treatment for those who have returned,' Schwartz said.
Preparation for the mass deportation began last week when the Thai army, which controls Huay Ban Khao, confiscated all sharp objects and mobile phones from the 4,000 Hmong residents, some of whom have lived in the camp since 2004 hoping to be resettled in third countries.
The Hmong, an ethnic minority which has inhabited the mountainous northern region of Laos for centuries, were recruited as guerrilla fighters by the US military in its 'secret war' against communist forces in Laos.
The communists prevailed in 1975, and the Hmong were left behind. Unknown thousands fled to neighbouring Thailand since 1975 and sought resettlement abroad.
In 2003, the US agreed to take 14,000 Hmong who had lived for years at Tham Krabok temple in north-east Thailand. Since then, some 8,000 more Hmong sought refuge in Thailand, claiming persecution at home.
About 3,000 refugees returned to Laos voluntarily in 2008-09. Thailand insists the remainder must be deported to prevent the country from being a magnet for more Hmong migration.
'There are ways to try to discourage economic migrants but you cannot decide by fiat one day that people are going to stop crossing the border when they need protection,' Schwartz said.
Besides Hmong, Thailand has attracted more than 1.5 million refugees from Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam over the past four decades.
The Thai government has been criticized for not allowing UNHCR to determine the Hmong's eligibility for refugee status. At least 158 former Huay Nam Khao residents, now in a detention centre in Nong Khai, have been classified as 'people of concern' by the UN agency.
Despite claims of concern, no foreign country has expressed interest in accepting the Huay Nam Khao community.
To date, the Lao government has not invited the UNHCR to work in the country, nor to monitor the Hmong repatriation process, although foreign embassy staff in Vientiane have been brought to resettlement camps where some of the 3,000 Hmong who returned have ended up.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Hmong refugees sent back to Laos
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2007
Al Jazeera
Thailand and Laos have agreed to forcibly repatriate thousands of Hmong refugees currently living in Thailand to purpose built villages outside Vientiane, the Lao capital.
The governments of the two South East Asian nations are to jointly sponsor the project to relocate the refugees and construction on the "new villages" has already begun.
But the move has been criticised by rights groups and prompted concerns among the refugees, who say they will be persecuted if they return to Laos, claims the Lao authorities deny.
General Bovaxieng Champaphanh, deputy general in the Lao People's Army told Al Jazeera: "The allegation that there is persecution ... is all fabrication."
"We are in peace, there is no war, there is no conflict and there is no reason for people to flee the country."
Meanwhile, Thailand, which says it cannot cope with the influx of asylum seekers from neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, is keen for the refugees to return home.
General Nipat Thonglek, director of Thai border affairs, told Al Jazeera that it was "very clear" that the Hmong "are just illegal migrants in Thailand".
"The good news is the Thai government and Lao government already agree that we will work together to do the right thing by sending them back."
'Secret war'
In the 1960s, many of the Hmong were recruited by the US to fight its "secret war" as part of its fight against Vietnamese communists.
When the US withdrew from the Vietnam conflict in 1975, the Lao kingdom was overthrown by the communists and an exodus of the ethnic Hmong began.
Thousands escaped with their families to live in the forests or fled to Thailand. Many of those who did not flee were rounded up by the Lao authorities and sent to re-education camps where hundreds died.
In Thailand, the majority of Hmong asylum seekers live in a military-patrolled camp in the country's Petchabun province. Human rights groups say they have little freedom of movement and limited access to food, water and medical services.
Many of the refugees say they fear persecution if they return to Laos.
'A burden in every way'
In August, General Surayud Chulanont, Thailand's prime minister, warned that the Hmong asylum seekers could become a "never-ending problem."
"It is a burden in every way for us," he said.
So far eleven families have been resettled in a remote purpose built village in Laos.
The repatriation plan has been criticised by Human Rights Watch, the US-based rights organisation.
Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch Asia director, said in a statement: "It is shocking that Thailand is even considering the return of refugees fleeing from political persecution, rights abuses and fighting in Laos."
Thai officials are monitoring their welfare, but the UN refugee agency and other international human rights groups have not been given access to them.
Kia Pao Her, who alongside his family was recently repatriated as part of the project, told Al Jazeera: "Before coming back from Thailand I thought I would be tortured by the Laos government authority but after coming back I feel very safe."
But without international monitoring, the world may never know the fate of those in the remote mountains of Laos.
The governments of the two South East Asian nations are to jointly sponsor the project to relocate the refugees and construction on the "new villages" has already begun.
But the move has been criticised by rights groups and prompted concerns among the refugees, who say they will be persecuted if they return to Laos, claims the Lao authorities deny.
General Bovaxieng Champaphanh, deputy general in the Lao People's Army told Al Jazeera: "The allegation that there is persecution ... is all fabrication."
"We are in peace, there is no war, there is no conflict and there is no reason for people to flee the country."
Meanwhile, Thailand, which says it cannot cope with the influx of asylum seekers from neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, is keen for the refugees to return home.
General Nipat Thonglek, director of Thai border affairs, told Al Jazeera that it was "very clear" that the Hmong "are just illegal migrants in Thailand".
"The good news is the Thai government and Lao government already agree that we will work together to do the right thing by sending them back."
'Secret war'
In the 1960s, many of the Hmong were recruited by the US to fight its "secret war" as part of its fight against Vietnamese communists.
When the US withdrew from the Vietnam conflict in 1975, the Lao kingdom was overthrown by the communists and an exodus of the ethnic Hmong began.
Thousands escaped with their families to live in the forests or fled to Thailand. Many of those who did not flee were rounded up by the Lao authorities and sent to re-education camps where hundreds died.
In Thailand, the majority of Hmong asylum seekers live in a military-patrolled camp in the country's Petchabun province. Human rights groups say they have little freedom of movement and limited access to food, water and medical services.
Many of the refugees say they fear persecution if they return to Laos.
'A burden in every way'
In August, General Surayud Chulanont, Thailand's prime minister, warned that the Hmong asylum seekers could become a "never-ending problem."
"It is a burden in every way for us," he said.
So far eleven families have been resettled in a remote purpose built village in Laos.
The repatriation plan has been criticised by Human Rights Watch, the US-based rights organisation.
Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch Asia director, said in a statement: "It is shocking that Thailand is even considering the return of refugees fleeing from political persecution, rights abuses and fighting in Laos."
Thai officials are monitoring their welfare, but the UN refugee agency and other international human rights groups have not been given access to them.
Kia Pao Her, who alongside his family was recently repatriated as part of the project, told Al Jazeera: "Before coming back from Thailand I thought I would be tortured by the Laos government authority but after coming back I feel very safe."
But without international monitoring, the world may never know the fate of those in the remote mountains of Laos.
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