BANGKOK (AlertNet) - Aid workers and rights activists are worried about the fate of over 4,500 Hmong asylum-seekers who were forcibly returned to Laos from Thailand a month ago despite concerns voiced by the United Nations and United States that some could face persecution at home.
Lao authorities have refused the U.N. and aid agencies access to the returned Hmongs since their repatriation on Dec 28 and 29. The group included 158 people recognised as refugees by the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.
Here are some questions and answers about the Hmong.
WHO ARE THE HMONG?
The third largest ethnic group in Laos, the Hmongs are believed to originally come from southern China and make up 7 to 8 percent (around 450,000) of the landlocked nation's population.
The majority live in the highlands and are subsistence farmers engaging mainly in slash and burn agriculture and opium production.
Since the mid-1970s, the Lao government has resettled many of the hill tribe villages to lower altitude areas closer to roads. Discouraging harmful slash and burn practices and eradicating opium output are official reasons for the move which has led to higher poverty levels, but many Hmongs believe the real issue is the government's distrust in them.
WHY DID THE HMONGS LEAVE LAOS?
The deported Hmongs say they fled routine attacks by the Lao military and that they would face torture if they returned home.
The distrust between the two sides runs deep and stems from the Vietnam War, when the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited Hmongs to fight alongside U.S. forces. Led by Royal Lao Army Lieutenant Vang Pao, it became known as 'The Secret Army'.
The Communist Pathet Lao government's rise to power in 1975 sparked an exodus out of the Southeast Asian country. Some reports say around 300,000 people including many Hmong fled Laos during the next 10 years.
Almost 250,000 Lao refugees, among them Vang Pao, have settled in the United States, according to a 2000 UNHCR report.
Many of those who remained continued a low-level insurgency. While they no longer posed a threat to the Lao government, these Hmong have struggled to survive a life on the run with no access to basic services, human rights activists said.
Historians say the Hmongs were never a united group but divided among feuding clans. The mainstream Hmongs, allied with the Pathet Lao, have assimilated successfully under the current government and are now represented even at the highly influential politburo, according to a leading academic on Laos who declined to be named.
WHO ARE THE DEPORTED HMONGS?
Sydney-based Hmong anthropologist Gary Lee says some of them are believed to have connections with those who served in The Secret Army or have relatives in the U.S. while others fled Laos to escape
extreme poverty in one of Asia's poorest countries.
The group of 158 recognised refugees were held at Nong Kai Immigration Detention Centre near the Lao border, among them children born in the cramped detention facility. They were rounded up in Bangkok in 2006. The rest had been living in
Petchabun in northern Thailand since 2004 and later in the Thai military-controlled Huay Nam Khao camp.
WHY DID THAILAND DEPORT THEM?
For years, Thailand has been struggling to deal with an influx of asylum seekers fleeing instability in neighbouring countries. Some estimates have put the number of Hmongs in Thailand at 40,000.
Thailand called the Hmongs at Huay Nam Khao economic migrants with no legitimate asylum claims, and consistently refused to give UNHCR access to determine the Hmongs' claims.
"Our position is that even if there are 10,000 people and 9,999 of them are economic migrants and one a refugee, we have to find that one because it's a question of individual human rights and protection needs," a UNHCR official told AlertNet.
Thailand said Laotian authorities had promised to settle the 158 recognised refugees in third countries once they had transited through Laos. Australia, Canada, Netherlands and U.S. had offered to accept them, but on Jan 10, a Lao government spokesman told journalists that "all of the Hmong decided to live in their homeland forever."
Analysts say the deportations are Thailand's way of controlling the tide of immigrants. It is also a warning to the rest of Hmongs in Laos who may be considering finding refuge in the neighbouring country.
WHY ARE AID AGENCIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS CONCERNED?
Thailand has been forcibly deporting Hmongs from its shores since 2006 but the latest round triggered protests because of the inclusion of recognised refugees, the size of the group, and the vocal Hmong lobbyists in the U.S.
Amnesty International said it was an "outrage" for 158 refugees to be sent back to the country of persecution. UNHCR "condemned" the move, especially since Thailand had earlier said it would not deport the refugees, who had gained that status because they were able prove a well-founded fear of persecution.
UNHCR also said the deportation of people who have suffered multiple traumas in their flight from Laos was a violation of international law.
Although Thailand is not party to a 1951 global convention on the status of refugees, the principle of non-refoulement - where no refugee or asylum-seeker should be forced to return to countries where they face persecution - still applies.
Observers say the danger to the recognised refugees, people who have openly resisted the government, is obvious. Lee said historically Hmongs who were forcibly returned or surrendered to the authorities were subject to arbitrary detentions and mysterious disappearances.
A Lao government spokesman said such concerns were groundless.
WHAT IS EXPECTED TO BECOME OF THEM?
Few know for sure but concerns are high for recognised refugees because of the way Laos has dealt with previous returnees. A recent visit by two U.S. congressmen to Phalak, a resettlement village north of capital Vientiane, and their report of no ill-treatment there has done little to allay the fears.
Amnesty said only 20 or so of the 158 refugees had been seen at Phalak and the whereabouts of the rest are unknown. Laos continues to deny third-party access and UNHCR still has not received a formal response to its request to see the returned Hmongs.
Observers say ordinary Hmongs who left Laos for economic opportunities may not suffer brutalities but will most likely be scattered in different locations.
A Jan 13 report in the Sydney Morning Herald said hundreds of returnees were detained in a razor-wired army camp east of the Laotian capital, Vientiane.
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