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Thailand: Dumping the Hmong refugees to the wolves

The high profile visit of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, his Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Army Chief General Anupong Paojinda to Laos from 22-23 January 2009 prepared the grounds for repatriation of nearly 5,000 ethnic Hmong refugees sheltered in the military-controlled Huai Nam Khao camp in Thailand’s northern province of Petchabun. These refugees from Laos had to flee their homes in 2004 to escape state-sponsored persecution. Unwanted by the Thai authorities, their conditions have been deplorable in the refugee camp. Their refoulement to Laos, despite imminent persecution they would face there, had been decided when the then military government of Thailand signed an agreement with the Laotian authorities to deport over 7,700 ethnic Hmong refugees on 20 September 2007. Prior to signing of the agreement, then Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont had clarified on 6 August 2007 that failure to send the refugees back to Laos would create a “never-ending problem” for Thailand.[1] Since then hundreds of refugees were forcibly sent back. The ouster of the only independent international humanitarian organization, the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from the Huai Nam Khao refugee camp on 20 May 2009 is the final assault ahead of preparations for deportation of the entire population of Hmong refugees, in contravention to international humanitarian law.

1. Refoulment : violation of international humanitarian law

The UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees is clear about prohibition of refoulement of refugees: “No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.[2]

But Thailand is neither a party to the Refugee Convention nor recognizes the Lao Hmongs as “refugees”. It plainly term them as “illegal economic migrants” and has refused the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or any other independent body access to screen the Hmongs which could have resulted in granting of legal rights to many of them. Hence, for years they have been living at the mercy of the Thai authorities including the military.

In the absence of any concern for the Lao Hmongs, Thailand has deported hundreds of them to Laos, without any guarantee for their safety and security, under the guise of “voluntary” repatriation. According to the statistics of MSF, there were 1,451 families consisting of about 7,850 Hmong refugees sheltered in military-controlled Huai Nam Khao camp in Petchabun province as of April 2008 but there were only some 4,700 left in the camps as of 20 May 2009.[3] In addition, 158 Hmongs have been granted refugee status and detained at the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Centre for the last two years.[4] This means that 2,992 persons could have been victims of refoulement to Laos since April 2008. In 2009 alone, a total of 642 Hmong refugees were reportedly repatriated to Laos. This included 190 Hmongs (from 44 families) who were handed over to the Laotian authorities at the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge on 2 February 2009,[5] and 452 Hmong refugees (from 112 families) who were handed over to the Laotian authorities at the Borikhamsay border checkpoint opposite Thailand’s Nongkhai province on 16 March 2009.[6] Both the Thai and Laotian authorities have claimed that these refugees volunteered to return but according to a report by independent media Radio Free Asia, 40 Hmong refugees who were to be refouled on 16 March 2009 managed to flee and they have since “disappeared.[7]

Very little is known about the fate of those who have been sent back as the Lao government refused to grant access to any independent third party to monitor the repatriation and post-repatriation process. There are credible reports and statements given by those who have managed to come back to Thailand, after being repatriated, that they were subjected to “repeated beatings, rapes, and other abuses during their detention in Laos” following repatriation.[8]

Yet Thailand, which is Lao’s leading trading partner and foreign investor,[9] is determined to hand them over to the wolves, without any assurance or guarantee for protection of the Hmongs after repatriation.

On 16 January 2009, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya announced that Hmong refugees living in Huay Nam Khao camp would be sent back by mid-2009.[10] An agreement to this regard was reportedly reached between the two countries on 24 March 2009[11] during the visit of Mr Piromya to Laos. According to Mr Piromya, Thailand has offered to provide 1.5 million baht (US$ 42,247.5) to support Hmong’s settlement at Pha Lak village outside the Lao capital of Vientiane.[12]

2. Use of coercive measures against Hmong refugees

The Thai authorities have consistently toed the Laotian government’s claim that the Hmongs are “illegal economic migrants” and, hence, needed to be sent back.[13] Since the visit by Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, his Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Army Chief General Anupong Paojinda to Laos from 22 to 23 January 2009 to “strengthen” their bilateral relations,[14] the pressure on the 4,700 Hmong refugees sheltered in Huai Nam Khao camp to accept voluntary repatriation increased many folds.[15] In a bid to force the refugees to go back home, the Thai military has been using various coercive measures in the relief camp. Not only the refugees, the Thai military has even used pressure and intimidation against the staff of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the only independent international humanitarian organization allowed to work among the Hmong refugees, to convince the refugees to accept repatriation.[16] The increased threats of refoulement have left the Hmong refugees traumatized.

The MSF alleged that the Thai military has been using “coercive tactics” such as the arbitrary detention of refugee leaders, blocking food supply, restricting access to health care services provided by the MSF etc. The MSF has further confirmed that Thai military had been restricting MSF’s activities and that “The Thai army has on numerous occasions attempted to involve MSF in its strategies to pressure the Hmong to return to Laos. At several points, the military have asked MSF to not distribute food to the population in order to punish the people.” Such restrictions and coercion put up by the Thai military forced MSF to finally withdraw from the Huai Nam Khao refugee camp on 20 May 2009.[17]

On the night of 28 March 2009, Thai authorities in Huay Nam Khao camp reportedly arrested Joua Va Yang, a Hmong refugee who in 2004 guided a BBC TV team to Laos to document atrocities committed against the Hmongs there. Mr Yang was allegedly beaten up during the arrest.[18] He faces danger of being deported to Laos. The UNHCR has sought a clarification from the Thai government about his status.[19]

3. Laos’ situation not conducive for Hmongs’ return

Both Thailand and Laos have claimed that the return of the Hmongs would be voluntary but reports suggest that the situation in Laos is not conducive for their return. In January 2009, human rights groups alleged intensified attacks by Laos military against the Hmong ethnic community in Xieng Khouang province in Laos. Human rights groups such as Hmong Lao Human Rights Council, the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc., and the Center for Public Policy Analysis alleged that several Hmong and Laotian civilians were killed and scores wounded in these intensified attacks by the Lao military in Xieng Khouang Province, in particular at Phou Bia Mountain and Phou Da Phao.[20]

According to Vaughn Vang, Director of the Hmong Lao Human Rights Council,
“Special Lao military units, in some cases led by ethnic Hmong commanders of the LPA, are now ruthlessly hunting down Hmong civilian groups in hiding using brutal and relentless artillery attacks; the Lao military is now moving forward with a new and intensified offensive at Phou Bia and Phou Da Phao surrounding Hmong civilian groups in hiding and forcing them out of the jungle and mountains where many have been killed or are dying without food or water.[21]

Under such situation, the Hmong refugees cannot be refouled.

The international community is practically doing precious little to stop the proposed plan of forced repatriation of Hmong refugees. While UNHCR appears helpless in the face of refusal by Thailand to grant it any access, neither the European Union nor the US are serious about the fate of the refugees. While some kind of pressure is being put by some US lawmakers on the Obama administration to call upon Thailand to abandon its plan to refoule the Hmong refugees and allow access to international third party to the refugee camp,[22] the recent decision of President Barack Obama to remove Laos from trade blacklist on the assumption that the communist country “ceased to be a Marxist-Leninist country”[23] does not help the cause of ethnic Hmongs – both inside Laos and in the Thailand refugees camp.

The fate of the Hmong refugees was sealed the day Médecins Sans Frontières was forced to withdraw its humanitarian mission.