Vientiane(AsiaNews/Agencies) – More than 400 ethnic Hmong surrendered inLaosafter being on the run for three decades since the end of the war.Thailandmeanwhile wants to repatriate 152 Hmong refugees.
The surrendering group's chief accompanied 405 people, mostly children, to Ban Ha village before withdrawing back to the jungle with a few of his guerrillas, said a dispatch from a U.S.-based Fact Finding Commission based on information received by satellite phone.
The chief of the village where they surrendered served them a meal of rice and pork before troops took charge of them driving them to an unknown destination.
InLaostens of thousands of Hmong fought on the side US-backed government during the civil war (1969-1975). When the Communists of the Pathet Lao won, some 300,000 Laotians fled, especially Hmong. Many however chose to find refuge in the forests fearing retaliation or refusing peace and fought the Laotian army ever since. Increasingly isolated and hungry, many have sought refuge inThailand.
Amnesty International has repeatedly charged the Laotian government of serious human rights violations against the Hmong.Vientianehas always rejected the claims and insisted that the fighter were just “bandits”.
According to the Fact Finding Commission, a similar surrender in June last year of about 170 people took place, but foreign diplomats and international NGOs were not allowed to see them. Many fled toThailandafterward because of poor living conditions. But they are persona non grata inThailand.
NowBangkokwants to forcibly repatriate 152 Hmong refugees and asylum seekers. At least 104 members of this group have been recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The group also includes 77 children and eight infants. They claimed they fled persecution at the hands of Laotians authorities because of their alleged connection with ethnic Hmong resistance groups inLaos.
The 152 Hmong were arrested on November17 ina police round-up after they escaped from Ban Huay Nam Khao shelter in Phetchabun province. They were transferred on December 7 to a detention facility in Nong Khai province, near the border withLaos. And according to Human Rights Watch,Bangkokis getting ready to deport them.
“Thailandshould not forcibly return Hmong who may face persecution when they go back toLaos,” said Brad Adams,Asiadirector at Human Rights Watch.
In December 2005, the Thai government of Thaksin Shinawatra forcibly returned 27 Hmong asylum seekers—most of them children separated from their parents—toLaos. A similar deportation took place again after Prime Minister Surayud came to office. OnNovember 15, 2006, 53 Hmong asylum seekers were handed over to Lao authorities. The whereabouts of these returnees remains unknown, as no international human rights organisations has had access to them inLaos.
But given the reports by Lao official media that the groups would go through “re-education,” there are fears that they may be subjected to the kinds of human rights violations that have been a feature of “re-education” camps inLaos, such as arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment. (PB)
