Dear TLC list,<br>Fyi,<br>Tyrell Haberkorn<br>Thailand and Laos, Amnesty International USA<br><div class="gmail_quote"><br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>PUBLIC
AI
Index: ASA 39/005/2008
</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>
25 June 2008</b></font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>UA 184/08
<u>Forcible return/fear for safety</u></b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>
</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>THAILAND/LAOS
Up to 8,000 Lao Hmong asylum-seekers</b></font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">The Thai authorities returned 837 Lao
Hmong asylum-seekers to Laos on 22 June, claiming that the group were going
voluntarily. No independent monitors were present, and it is likely that
some of the group were coerced into returning. Some are at risk of torture.</font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">The 837 had taken part in a 20 June
attempt by up to 5,000 residents of the Huay Nam Khao refugee camp, in
the northern province of Phetchabun, to walk 390 km to the capital, Bangkok,
to protest their treatment. Soldiers and police stopped them about three
km from the camp and they spent the night on the roadside. The governor
of Phetchabun province came to see them the next day, and more than 3,000
of the protestors agreed to return to the Huay Nam Khao camp; according
to the Thai authorities, hundreds of others agreed to return to Laos after
receiving approximately US$500 per family. Around 500 to 600 did not agree
to either option and were taken to provincial jails, from where it is feared
they may be forcibly returned.</font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">The Thai authorities, who call Lao Hmong
asylum-seekers "illegal immigrants," have never allowed the UN
refugee agency (UNHCR) access to the camp, and the Lao Hmong are in constant
fear that they will be returned. The Lao and Thai governments agreed in
February 2008 to return them, ostensibly voluntarily, in Laos by the end
of 2008. There have been several protests in the camp, most recently on
23 May when a fire destroyed around 850 of the camp's 1,300 shelters, making
3,600 people homeless, including many children. </font>
<br>
<p><font face="Univers" size="2"><b>BACKGROUND INFORMATION</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Around 8,000 ethnic Hmong Lao people,
including an unknown number of asylum-seekers, have been living in a camp
in Phetchabun since 2004. Three groups have been repatriated since the
February 2008 agreement: 11 people on 28 February, 67 on 10 April and 59
on 30 May. Some of the first group were forcibly returned, including a
mother whose children were left behind at the camp. The second group appear
to have been migrant workers who returned voluntarily.</font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">The 8,000 were moved to the current
camp in June 2007 from a previous camp, about 3km away, which was set up
in 2004 when Lao Hmong started arriving in large numbers. The Lao Hmong
claimed they had been persecuted in Laos because of their connection with
Hmong groups living in the jungle, remnants or descendants of a decades-old
armed resistance which appears no longer able to pose a military threat.
They live in small groups struggling to survive, hiding from attacks by
the Lao military.</font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Over 370 asylum-seekers are known to
have been forcibly returned to Laos from Thailand since December 2005.
Some have been arbitrarily detained and tortured. Others have been sent
to Hmong resettlement sites after "re-education." The Lao authorities
have arranged several visits to resettlement sites for diplomats and local
journalists, but UN agencies and human rights NGOs have no access to them,
and the whereabouts of most are not known.</font>
<br>
</p><p><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals
to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b><u>To the Thai authorities:</u></b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">- expressing concern that more than
800 Lao Hmong asylum-seekers were returned to Laos on 22 May under stressful
conditions and lacking transparency, and that some may have been coerced
into returning; </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">- urging the immediate halt of returns
to Laos of the thousands of Lao Hmong asylum-seekers at Huay Nam Khao camp
in Phetchabun province, and the hundreds detained at provincial detention
centres; </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">- reminding them that under international
law they are obliged not to return anyone to a country where they would
be at risk of torture, ill-treatment or other serious human rights violations;</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">- urging that UNHCR be given immediate
and unhindered access to Lao Hmong asylum-seekers in Huay Nam Khao camp
and other detention centres in order to properly assess their cases and
identify those in need of international protection.</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="3"> </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b><u>To the Lao authorities</u>:</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">- seeking information on the whereabouts
of more than 800 Lao Hmong asylum-seekers returned to Laos from Thailand
on 22 June;</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">- seeking assurances that none of those
returned will be subjected to human rights violations including torture,
ill-treatment and arbitrary detention, and that their safety and well-being
will be protected;</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">- calling for immediate access to the
returnees by UN and humanitarian agencies so that their needs and well-being
can be assessed.</font>
</p><p>
</p><p><font face="Univers" size="2"><b>APPEALS TO:</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Lt General Nipat Thonglek</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Director, Department of Border Affairs,
Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Chaeng Wattana Road, Laksi, Bangkok
10210, Thailand</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Fax:
+66 2 575 6297</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Email:
<a href="mailto:thaiborder_ca@hotmail.com" target="_blank">thaiborder_ca@hotmail.com</a></b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Salutation:
Dear General</b></font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Chalerm Yubumroong</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Minister of Interior, Ministry of Interior,
Office of the Secretary to the Minister</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Assadang Road, Pra Nakorn, Bangkok 10200,
Thailand</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Fax:
+66 2 222 8866</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>+66 2 226 4371</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Email:
<a href="mailto:ommoi@moi.go.th" target="_blank">ommoi@moi.go.th</a></b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b><a href="mailto:om@moi.go.th" target="_blank">om@moi.go.th</a></b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Salutation:
Dear Minister</b></font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Douangchai Phichit</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Minister of National Defence, Ministry
of National Defence</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Rue Phone Kheng, Ban Phone Kheng, Vientiane,
Lao People's Democratic Republic</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Fax:
+856 21 911058</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Salutation:
Dear Minister</b></font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Thoungloun Sisoulith</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">That Luang 01004, Phonxay, Vientiane,
Lao People's Democratic Republic</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Fax:
+856 21 414009</b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Email:
<a href="mailto:cabinet@mofa.gov.la" target="_blank">cabinet@mofa.gov.la</a></b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b><a href="mailto:ict@mofa.gov.la" target="_blank">ict@mofa.gov.la</a></b></font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>Salutation:
Dear Minister</b></font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><b>PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.</b>
Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending
appeals after 6 August 2008.</font>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><br>
</font>
</p></div><br>