Laos: Refugees forcibly returned to Laos

Document – Laos: Refugees forcibly returned to Laos

URGENT ACTION

refugees forcibly returned to laos

The Thai authorities forcibly returned around 4,500 Lao Hmong, including 158 recognized refugees, to Laos at the end of 2009. The Lao government is refusing to permit UN and other monitors access to them.

On 28 and 29 December, the Thai military forcibly returned to Laos around 4,500 Lao Hmong, in breach of international law, mostly from a camp in Phetchabun province. Some 158 recognized refugees arbitrarily detained in Nong Khai Immigration Detention Centre, near the Lao border, were also forcibly returned, despite offers from four other countries to accept them for resettlement. The Thai and Lao governments had given assurances that the 158 would be resettled in third countries once they had transited through Laos. However on 10 January, a Lao government spokesperson told journalists that "all of the Hmong decided to live in their homeland forever," and no longer wanted to resettle abroad. At the same time the government is refusing all requests to give UN monitors unfettered access to the refugees, to assess their wellbeing and ensure that their wishes to resettle in third countries are considered.

The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR had verified that the 158 have a well-founded fear of persecution in Laos, and granted them refugee status. As the Thai government refused UNHCR access to the Phetchabun camp, it is not known how many people there had fled persecution and should therefore have been recognized as refugees.

Since 2005, forcible returns of Lao Hmong from Thailand have led to enforced disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention. The Lao government have consistently denied this, but have not provided any comprehensive information to support their claims or allowed independent monitors to investigate these reports.

Around 20 of the 158 refugees have been seen at a designated resettlement village, Phalak, around 70km north of the capital, Vientiane. The whereabouts of the others is not known. However, hundreds of returnees have been seen in what has been described as an army camp north of Paksan town, around 20km east of Vientiane. The returnees, mostly women and children, were not free to come and go from the facility, which was fenced in with razor wire.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY, in English, Lao, French or your own language:

• Calling on the authorities to allow UN monitors unfettered access to the returnees from Thailand immediately, whether or not they have refugee status;

• Calling on the government to honour their agreement to allow any refugees to settle in third countries;

• Urging them to expedite and help with any preparations required for third country resettlement;

• Calling on them to allow those who choose to remain in Laos, rather than be resettled, to participate in decisions about their place of residence and livelihood;

• Calling on them to ensure that none of the around 4,500 returnees are arbitrarily detained, tortured or subjected to enforced disappearance.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 24 FEBRUARY 2010 TO: