International concerns will be taken into account over Hmong issues; FM
Thailand will not deport the group of 152 Hmong migrants being detained in Nong Khai province to Laos before reaching an agreement with Vientiane, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Concern of international organisations and human right groups would also be taken into account before the repatriation, said the ministry's spokesman Kitti Wasinondh. The Immigration Bureau transferred the 152 Hmong arrested in the middle of November to Nong Khai last week pending deportation across the Mekong River to Laos. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees who recognised at least 104 of them as "persons of concern" heavily lobbied Thai authorities to suspend the deportation. However, Kitti said the shipment of the Hmongs from Bangkok detention centre to Nong Khai last week was not a part of the move to deport them but aimed to give the group some more space as the jaillike centre in Bangkok was so crowded. "Thailand considers the group as illegal immigrants who need to be deported to their place of origin," Kitti said, "But we will handle the matter on a humanitarian basis taking all concerns into account." The Hmong issue, including the bigger group of more than 7,000 people being sheltered in Phetchabun, would be raised into a discussion between Thailand and Laos next week during a meeting of General Border Committee, he said. Thai authorities have already submitted to Vientiane background and detail of the 152 Hmong identity enabling the Lao authorities to cross check and take back those who clearly are Lao nationals. New Yorkbased Human Right Watch urged the Thai authorities not to force the Hmong to face grave danger of persecution in Laos due to their alleged connection with ethnic Hmong resistance groups. "Thailand should not forcibly return Hmong who may face persecution when they go back to Laos," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch in a statement yesterday. "Rather than breaching its international obligations, the Thai government should ensure that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is able to identify and protect those who have a wellfounded fear of persecution in Laos." The 152 Hmongs, including 77 children and eight infants, were arrested on November 17 in a police roundup after they snaked out of Phetchabun's Ban Huay Nam Khao shelter. The Hmong in Phetchabun claimed they were close associates of the US CIA's secret fighters during the anticommunist war in 1960s1970s and fled from suppression at home. Supalak Ganjanakhundee The Nation
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