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Published on August 5, 2007

The US, the UN and various international groups have criticised Thailand for deporting some of the Hmong across the border to Laos as part of a controversial resettlement process.

"We are writing out of urgent concern for the plight of some 8,000 Lao-Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers at Huay Nam Khao, Phetchabun, Thailand, who are in imminent danger of forced repatriation back to the brutal communist regime in Laos that they fled," the 13 congressmen wrote.

A copy of the letter was made available by the office of Republican Congressman Frank Wolf, a human-rights campaigner in the legislature.

The military reportedly said 8,000 Hmong would be sent back to Laos in two months, according to the 13 lawmakers.

The refugees "face horrific mass starvation and death by the Lao military regime if they return to their homeland", they said, urging the King to "personally intercede to ensure these and other Lao-Hmong rema-ined in Thailand until they can be resettled in third countries."

Thousands of Hmong have lived for years in and around informal refugee camps in Thailand, many of them hoping to eventually settle in the US.

Many Hmong in the 1960s and 1970s fought alongside US forces when the Vietnam War spilled into Laos. After the war ended in 1975, hundreds of thousands fled to Thailand.

The American lawmakers said thousands of Thai soldiers were saved "because of the frontline combat" the Hmong engaged in with US and Thai ground and air force operations during the Vietnam War."We are pushing for political asylum and that they be allowed to be resettled in third countries," said Philip Smith, director of the Lao Veterans of America.

The US State Department has criticised Thailand for the forced deportations, citing allegations of human rights violations in Laos combined with Vientiane's refusal to permit monitoring of returnees.

Junta leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin declined to comment on the US lawmakers' move.

However, he wanted the world community to consider Thailand, too. "We have to think about who will shoulder the burden of taking care of thousands of Lao Hmong while they are living here," he said.

He added the reason the Hmong did not resettle in third countries was not because Thailand did not want them to go, but because no third country would welcome them.

Sonthi said decisions on the future of the refugees would be based on human rights as well as bilateral relationships with the Laos government.