By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia
BANGKOK, Thailand – According to witness’ accounts, Thai soldiers forcibly removed a group of Hmong asylum seekers from their refugee camp. The Thai government, however, alleges that the group left voluntarily and should be models for other Hmong in Thailand.
Witnesses told reporters that the Thai soldiers used force and dogs in order to coax a group of Hmong asylum seekers onto trucks. The Thai soldiers arrived at 1 PM at the Huay Nam Khao Camp and began to drag refugees to the trucks. Three to four soldiers were needed for each person in order to physically drag them and then collect their belongings from the camp. One witness reported to Radio Free Asia that “Some of them [Hmong asylum seekers] hung on to bushes or small trees and had to be pulled free and thrown onto the trucks—bushes were uprooted.” However, when two young men refused to be taken away on the truck, the soldiers use even more threatening measures. An unnamed witness told Radio Free Asia, “Two young men in their 20s jumped off the trucks after they started to move. The soldiers sent dogs out to find them and they were badly mauled, and those men are now in Khao Kao hospital.”
Both the United Nations [UN] and Medecins Sans Frontieres [MSF] have serious doubts that the group removed from the Huay Nam Khao camp was done voluntarily. One of the women “voluntarily” removed was separated from her five young children. After the mistake was discovered, Thai authorities refused to send her back to the refugee camp, and instead she was sent to an adjacent facility in order to use its loud speaker. At the adjacent facility, she was to “call her children to come to Laos with her,” according to MSF National Director Gilles Isard. Kitty McKinsey, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], stated, “We have received a number of reports that call into question whether everyone actually volunteered to go back. Such returns should be strictly voluntary, conducted with dignity and in accordance with international standards.” Additionally, MSF warned that many in the camps had authentic claims for refugee status because of their physical scars from clashes with the Lao and Vietnamese military.
Despite the entirely different accounts from witnesses and doubts from the UN and MSF, the Thai government alleges that the return was voluntary. In an interview, Department of Border Affairs Deputy Director Maj Gen. Voravit Darunchoo said, “The Hmong you saw being returned to Laos this morning could be considered lucky. It was a good opportunity for them because they are the first group who wholeheartedly volunteered to go back to their country, without any kind of pressure.”
The Hmong in Thailand fled Laos after the Communist takeover in 1975. The group alleges that it fears political persecution because it fought on the side of the pro-United States Laotian government. Although the UNHCR has recognized the Hmong in Thailand as refugees and in need of protection, the Thai government regards the Hmong as migrants and alleges they have entered the country illegally.
For more information, please see:
The Nation Multimedia – MSF and UN Question if Hmong Going Back to Laos Voluntarily – 29 February 2008
Radio Free Asia – Thai Soldiers Forced Lao Hmong Back to Laos – 28 February 2008
Thai News Agency – Hmong Migrants Returned from Thailand to Laos – 28 February 2008
