UN calls for release of Hmong detained in Nong Khai

"As of today, these traumatized people have wasted two years of their lives. They have been deprived of any freedom and detained in very difficult conditions," said UNHCR Regional Representative Raymond Hall.

The group was a part of some 8,000 Hmong ethnic minorities from Laos being sheltered in Phetchabun's Ban Huay Nam Khao camp. They were arrested for illegal entry after snaking out of the camp and being held pending for repatriation.

"They are not guilty of any crime. Their detention serves no purpose, as resettlement countries have come forward to offer all of them places if they could just be allowed to leave Thailand," Hall said in a statement.

Australia said in July that it would take some 20 Hmong refugees for resettlement.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith reiterated that his country would take the Hmong ethnicities who are assessed by the UNHCR as the eligible for humanitarian protection or refugee status in Australia.

There was no clear time line when the process of resettlement would be done.

The original group of 147 recognized refugees was rounded up in Bangkok for deportation on 17 Nov. 2006 and was moved to the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Centre just across the Mekong River from Vientiane on 08 Dec.2006. With 11 babies born while their parents have been in detention, their total number now stands at 158.

"UNHCR fully understands the political sensitivities that surround the Lao Hmong in both Thailand and Laos.  It also recognizes the complex reasons for which Hmong and others move across the border into Thailand.

This group, however, urgently needs a humanitarian solution.  We are particularly concerned for the 87 babies and children among the group," Hall said.

Hall said no child should have to grow up in prison. These children should be growing up in freedom and getting a proper education.

Over the past two years, the UN refugee agency has called on the Thai government to release the Lao Hmong from Nong Khai, Hall said. "We very much hope the Thai government will release the group and allow them to take up the offers already made to leave Thailand and start to live productive lives in other countries."