Last September, the family decided to cross the Mekong river into Thailand, hoping to travel on from there, perhaps to the US, and improve their standard of living.

But within 24 hours, Padao Tho, Neung Yang and their children were arrested in Udon Thani, in northeastern Thailand. From there, they were sent to a detention centre in Nong Khai, slightly further north, where they ended up "asking" to be taken back to Laos.

Since being repatriated in November, the family have returned to their house in a village north of Vientiane in an area known as "Kilometre 52," the couple tell the 20-odd diplomats and UN agency members who have come to see them.

The flourishing village is home to 15,000 people, 9,000 of them Hmong.

Between November and mid-January Thailand sent 69 Hmong people back to Laos, despite protests by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Late last month the UNHCR opposed plans to deport another group of 153 Hmong, saying the refugees faced "serious threat of persecution or death". The refugees barricaded themselves inside Nong Khai detention centre and threatened to commit suicide. Eventually, the deportation was cancelled by Thai PM Surayud Chulanont.

Laos, which has denounced the international community's "interference" in the case, wants Thailand to reconsider.

It hopes the visit to "Kilometre 52" will help "alleviate the pressure" on Thailand, according to foreign ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy.

More than 8000 Lao Hmong are languishing in a camp in Phetchabun, waiting to either be returned or - for those who refuse to go back - perhaps be resettled abroad. At issue is a sensitive mix of heritage, human rights abuses and economic problems.

Some Hmong were allied with the United States during the "Secret War" in Laos that was part of the wider Vietnam conflict. Hundreds of thousands fled the Vientiane regime to settle in the US.

The difficulty for the international community is determining the status of the Hmong being held in Thai camps. "We don't know how many are refugees and how many are there for economic reasons," said one diplomat.

One foreign diplomat expressed the hope that the visit organised by Vientiane last week was "a first step towards more durable international monitoring and access to people who have been resettled".

Nonetheless, Sunai Phasuk, a Thai consultant for Human Rights Watch, expressed concern that "there is no independent mechanism to verify that they [the repatriated Hmong] are well and safe".

Agence France-Presse,  The Nation

Vientiane