Thailand Forcibly Returns Hundreds of Hmong Refugees to Laos

© Greg Constantine

Médecins Sans Frontières calls again for immediate halt of forced repatriations and access to the deported Hmong for medical assistance.

Bangkok/Paris – An estimated 800 ethnic Lao Hmong refugees were forcibly returned to Laos by the Thai government on Sunday, 22 June, and the Thai authorities have stated publicly that they intend to proceed in the coming days with further repatriations to Laos from among the remaining 6,700 refugees in the Huai Nam Khao camp in Thailand’s Petchabun province. Médecins Sans Frontières is calling once again on the governments of Thailand and Laos to immediately stop all forced repatriations of the Hmong refugees. Both governments should facilitate the access of independent monitors to all forced returnees in Laos and those believed to be held in detention
centers in Thailand in order that adequate medical and humanitarian assistance is provided to them.

Médecins Sans Frontières is also requesting that the Presidency and Secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and the governments of France, United States, and China ensure that Thailand and Laos resolve this issue in accordance with international standards for refugee protection.

The estimated 800 Hmong refugees were forced back to Laos after the military rounded up some 5,000 refugees who had engaged in a protest march against an agreement between the Thai and Lao governments to send them back to Laos. Médecins Sans Frontières, which has been assisting the Hmong refugees since 2005, estimates that as many as 1,300 people have not returned to the camp since the protest ended near the Thai village of Kek Noi. Their fate remains unknown to Médecins Sans Frontières.

“Thai authorities claim that these were voluntary repatriations. It is hard to believe. Families have been torn apart. One of our Hmong staff members who joined the protest has been sent back to Laos without her children and we know of other similar cases. Many of these refugees have expressed grave fears at the prospect of being sent back to Laos,” said Gilles Isard, Médecins Sans Frontières head of mission in Thailand. “In the camp there are more than one hundred fifty people who have suffered from bullet wounds that they claim they received a few years ago from the Lao army while staying in the jungle. Hmong refugees who were receiving treatment from Médecins Sans Frontières for mental trauma caused by the violence and persecution they experienced in Laos are among the missing. Those people do not trust the Lao government and demand real guarantees before going back.”

According to internationally recognised and fundamental rights of protection for refugees, repatriation cannot be forced or imposed on individuals fearing for their safety and any repatriation must remain linked to guarantees for safety upon return, including the provision of appropriate assistance.

“Médecins Sans Frontières believes that the total lack of transparency surrounding the management of this crisis only exacerbates the problem. If the government of Thailand and Laos would accept an independent monitor, then this issue might be resolved”, stated Isard.

Médecins Sans Frontières has provided assistance to the Hmong refugees in Thailand for three years, and is prepared to provide humanitarian assistance to the returnees in Laos if access is granted to our medical team.

Since July 2005, Médecins Sans Frontières has assisted the Hmong refugees in the Thai village of Huai Nam Khao in Petchabun province. Médecins Sans Frontières teams provide medical and psychological care, food, water, and relief supplies to the nearly 8,000 refugees.

For more information, contact Helen Pantenburg on 0438 677 166, (02) 8570 2613 or helen.pantenburg(at)sydney.msf.org

See the report Fearing a Forced Return: The Situation of the Lao Hmong Refugees in Petchabun, Thailand. Read here or download PDF here

See the Lao Hmong Refugees slideshow here