Thailand Announces More Deportations to Come

On July 13, 2007, Lt. Gen. Jiradej Kotcharat announced that "those [Hmong] who came from Laos will be repatriated to their place of origin”. The next round of deportations would begin within the following two months. Thailand does not recognize the refugees as such but rather considers them to be illegal immigrants.

In June 2007 the about 7,700 Hmong in the refugee camp Ban Huay Nam Khao were moved to a new site a few kilometers away. In the new refugee camp the freedom of movement is even more restricted than before and the Thai military can supervise them more easily.

Submission of personal data to Laotian government

During the transition to the new refugee site all the Hmong were registered by Thai authorities. These data will be submitted to the Laotian government in order to check whether they are Laotian citizens – so that Laos will take the refugees back. With this, Thailand risks the refugees’ lives. According to international law Thailand has to guarantee the protection of refugees and must not send them back to a country in which they are persecuted.

The deportations of the Hmong refugees are against their will. As they desperately try to resist the repatriations the Thai military uses batons, stun-guns and tear gas to force them to sign documents in which they agree with their deportation and to drag them into the waiting vehicles.

No resettlement to third countries

A resettlement to third countries to protect them from possible dangers in Laos was strictly ruled out by the Thai military. With this attitude, however, Thailand loses credibility in the international community. On one side, Thailand complains that it is not able to take in the hundreds of thousands of refugees that come from Myanmar (Burma), Laos, North Korea and Cambodia every year. On the other hand, it rejects the offers by western countries to resettle the refugees.

When the forcible repatriation of 153 Hmong refugees could be stopped in the very last minute at the end of January 2007, the USA, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada offered to take the refugees. However, Thailand did not cooperate with these countries until the preparations for resettlement were finally halted. The fate of the 153 Hmong refugees is thus still at stake – just like that of all other Hmong refugees living in the refugee camp, in detention centers or elsewhere in Thailand.

No Access for UN High Commissioner for Refugees to Hmong refugees

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is not allowed to access the Lao Hmong in the Thai refugee camp or in the detention centers. Because of this the refugee status of the individuals cannot be determined.

Instead, Thailand’s military has its own process for the determination of the refugee status for the Hmong refugees. It can be assumed, though, – and first eyewitness accounts have confirmed this assumption already – that this procedure does not follow internationally accepted standards.

Guidelines by military for Thai media on how to report on Hmong issue

Meanwhile Thailand is putting strong pressure on the media of the country, providing guidelines on how to report on the Hmong issue. According to this guideline that was handed out by the Thai military the media should only report positively about the Thai staff in the refugee camp. For journalists, access to the refugee camp is not allowed any longer.

Furthermore, the media is asked to emphasize how the influx of the Hmong refugees has affected Thai villagers in the area. The legal status of the Hmong, their rights for protection or their rights according to international law shall not be discussed or made public any more.

More about this topic

You can find an English archive with articles and press releases on the Hmong gathered by Rebecca Sommer, our representative in New York, here