Un Concerns Over Hmong Deportation From Nong Khai

[george]

UN concerns over Hmong deportation

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Thursday expressed its concern over deportation of 53 Hmong ethnic minorities including a newborn baby to Laos.

The authorities in Nong Khai province deported the group which was considered as illegal migrants on Wednesday and guaranteed they would be arrive safely in Laos.

"Every government has the right to deport irregular migrants, but UNHCR is seriously concerned that there may have been within this group genuine refugees who were in need of international protection and could face persecution in Laos," said Giuseppe de Vincentis, Acting Representative of UNHCR in Thailand.

"We have no access to these people once they are returned to Laos, and there have been no guarantees that they will be properly treated on their return to Laos," he said in a statement.

Their forced return was tantamount to refoulement, contrary to international humanitarian law. The principle of "non-refoulement" says that no refugee or asylum seeker whose case has not yet been properly assessed can be forcibly returned to a country where their life or liberty could be in danger.

UNHCR has repeatedly asked the Thai government for access to the Lao Hmong in detention in Thailand to determine whether any were in need of international protection.

"The UN refugee agency has made several representations to the Royal Thai Government not to carry out deportations of Lao Hmong and has renewed its offer to assist the Thai government to find viable solutions for the roughly 6,000 Hmong living in makeshift camps near Huay Nam Khao village in Petchabun province," de Vincentis said.

UNHCR does not have access to this mixed group, which has been in Thailand for almost a year and a half.

De Vincentis also recalled that Thailand deported 26 Hmong children to Laos in December, 2005, and there has been no trace of them since, despite efforts by UNHCR and the Thai government to determine their fate.

-- The Nation 2006-11-16

[ColPyat]

UNHCR has repeatedly asked the Thai government for access to the Lao Hmong in detention in Thailand to determine whether any were in need of international protection.

Seems that present government's policy regarding human rights in particular towards refugees is no different than the last one's.

I thought we have some sort of "patiroop" here going on, being more moral and all that?

[Bottlerocket]

UNHCR has repeatedly asked the Thai government for access to the Lao Hmong in detention in Thailand to determine whether any were in need of international protection.

Seems that present government's policy regarding human rights in particular towards refugees is no different than the last one's.

I thought we have some sort of "patiroop" here going on, being more moral and all that?

Oh, those whimsical Thais. Aren't they just adorable? If they came with strings in their backs you could pull them and they'd say things like, "I'm gonna kill you you" or "Phuck everybody else, we're Thailand" while smiling.

[Rhys]

The mis-placed persons or whatever term.. are certainly not welcomed anymore in FRESNO, CALIFORNIA USA..

[Diablo Bob]

The mis-placed persons or whatever term.. are certainly not welcomed anymore in FRESNO, CALIFORNIA USA..

I am certain that this isn't such a bad thing....... considering that FRESNO, CALIFORNIA not considered a garden spot in the USA, maybe a Garden Blot!

Edited November 17, 2006 by Diablo Bob

[Scott]

I certainly hope the UN and other groups continue to put pressure on the gov't to improve it's treatment of potential refugees. All that is required is to allow the UN to determine if they are, indeed, political refugees. If they aren't, then they can be returned.

If they are they can be settled elsewhere in the world (with the exeption of FRESNO, CALIFORNIA).

[Jai Dee]

Bangkok agrees to give details of Hmong to Laos

Thailand yesterday agreed to provide Laos with detailed information on the 8,000 Hmong migrants who are now being sheltered in Phetchabun and the 150 currently being held in Bangkok, a step prior to deportation.

Vientiane agreed to take the Hmong back if information provided by Thailand clearly indicated they were Lao citizens, said Lao Deputy Chief of Staff Brig-General Buaxiang Champaphanh.

Buaxiang was in Thailand for a meeting of the Joint Boundary Sub-committee, of which the Hmong issue was a major topic.

There might be Hmong from Laos who were lured by human traffickers believing they had a chance to settle in third countries, the Lao officer told reporters.

They are not refugees seeking political asylum as claimed, he added.

Thailand shelters some 8,000 Hmong who claim they were associated with the CIA's secret war in the 1960s-70s.

Around 150 Hmong who escaped from the shelter in Phetchabun's Ban Huay Nam Khao are being held in the Immigration Bureau's detention centre in Bangkok.

Thailand has already handed details of the identity of the 150 Hmong to Laos and is ready to deport them as soon as Vientiane confirms they are Lao nationals, according to Lt-General Niphon Thonglek, chief of the Border Affairs Department, who co-chaired the meeting with Buaxiang yesterday.

Meanwhile, officials from the United Nations refugee agency were involved in urgent talks in Bangkok yesterday to try to prevent the deportation of 152 Hmong back to Laos.

A spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said they believed the Hmong would be at "serious risk of persecution or loss of life" if returned to Laos.

Source: The Nation - 9 December 2006

[Johpa]

The mis-placed persons or whatever term.. are certainly not welcomed anymore in FRESNO, CALIFORNIA USA..

And what about all the poor souls who still have little choice but to reside in Fresno?

[sriracha john]

Jail is no place for toddlers

HMONG UPDATE: Thai Authorities Prepared for Deportation of 152 Hmong Lao Refugees

Although UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) officials in Bangkok were confident that the deportation of 152 Hmong Lao refugees was suspended, Thai authorities nevertheless prepared yesterday night for their deportation.

The 152 Hmong Lao refugees were part of a group of 194 Hmong refugees, rounded up in Bangkok city, in Thailand, and held as illegal migrants at Suan Phlu Detention Center for the past three weeks.

After days of negotiations with relevant UN agencies and supporting governments, who raised their concerns to Thailand on behalf of the 194 Hmong Lao refugees, the forced deportation was understood as suspended.

But Thai police trucked last night 152 of the 194 Hmong Lao refugees to Nong Khai --to the police station they fear the most; near to the border Thailand, Laos -- it means deportation, sources told HNN.

This very same Nong Khai police station made headlines recently with its forced deportation activities. Nong Khai police recently dumped 52 Hmong refugees and one baby at the Laotian side of the border. The 52 terrified Hmong Lao refugees had begged the Thai authorities not to send them back to Laos. The 52 Hmong forcefully deported refugees were reportedly shot and killed by Lao authorities.

See previous stories on the 52:

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/national/061...chen-hmong.html

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/national/061...chen-hmong.html

Sources told HNN that at the Nong Khai police station, the terrified 152 refugees await a similar fate. They are currently aggressively pressured to sign with their thumbprints, to agree to return to Laos. Some were beaten by the Thai police.

But the Hmong refugees do not want to return to Laos, and decline to sign with their thumbprints, because they belong to those Hmong refugees in Thailand, who fled a life in terror and fear – hiding in isolated remote mountainous jungle areas in Laos. They have been chased and eliminated by Laotian and Vietnamese military.

The Hmong Lao refugee crisis in Thailand is largely connected to the merciless military crack down on the Hmong Lao of more than 10,000 ethnic minority people, hiding for more than 30 years in remote mountains of Laos.

Currently, the groups-in-hiding report from various Laotian provinces to endure severe non-stop attacks by Laotian and Vietnamese soldiers. See previous story:

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/national/061...chen-hmong.html

Since last week, a whole military training area of Laos is considered to be “ethnically cleansed” of Hmong Lao, known to have lived-in-hiding in Bolikhamxay province, avoiding any contact with the Lao authorities.

Sources told HNN that Laos successfully eliminated all remaining Hmong Lao and other ethnic minorities who lived, under the circumstances, in voluntary isolation. Only a few refugees have survived the chemical bombs, sources said.

Also in Vang Vieng province, and Louang Prabang province, major groups-in-hiding of Hmong Lao, hundreds and hundreds of people, most of them women and children, are surrounded by military battalions, and aggressively attacked with rockets and bombs -- including chemical weapons.

Sources said 300 Hmong refugees decided to walk towards Mouang Fueung, and surrender to the authorities. They are expected to arrive soon – to meet the very same soldiers that eliminated many of their people during the attack.

One group is known to hide in closed fox holes and caves to hinder inhalation of the smoke of the chemical poison they are bombed with by the military.

Many hundreds of Hmong in-hiding have been massacred during the past weeks.

The majority of the 152 Hmong refuges are under the protection of the UNHCR, considered to be under serious risk of persecution or loss of life if returned to Laos.

If Thailand proceeds with the suspended deportation of the 152 Lao Hmong scheduled on Nov. 17, 2006, it would be in direct violation of international law, respected human rights sources told HNN.

- Huntington News.Net

[Foggy Bottom]

Bangkok agrees to give details of Hmong to Laos

Around 150 Hmong who escaped from the shelter in Phetchabun's Ban Huay Nam Khao are being held in the Immigration Bureau's detention centre in Bangkok.

Source: The Nation - 9 December 2006

There are many verbs that could have been used in that sentence - absconded / ran away / disappeared / left without permission etc - but use of the verb "escaped" says more about the type of camp (and the authorities intentions) than the report maybe intended to say.

.

[sriracha john]

For the naysayers of the current government... Sorry, but you've lost out yet again.

152 Hmong will not be deported from Thailand: Foreign Ministry

Thailand would not deport the group of 152 Hmong migrants being detained in northeastern border Nong Khai province to Laos before an agreement with Vientiane, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Concern of international organisations and human right groups would also be taken into account before the repatriation, said the ministry's spokesman Kitti Wasinondh.

The Nation

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