Release Hmong in Thai refugee camps : UN

"These traumatised 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 refugees were 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 sneaking out of the camp and were being held pending their repatriation.

In January 2007, Thailand failed in its first attempt to repatriate the Hmong from Nong Khai after the refugees strongly resisted on the grounds they were qualified to resettle in third countries. They have remained in detention since then.

"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 in some 20 Hmong refugees for resettlement.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith reiterated that his country would take Hmong refugees assessed by the UNHCR to be eligible for humanitarian protection or refugee status .

Many other countries, including the United States, have also offered to take them but there was no definite time when the process of resettlement would be done.

The original group of 147 recognised refugees were rounded up in Bangkok for deportation on November 17, 2006 and were moved to the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Centre just across the Mekong River from Vientiane on December 8, 2006. With 11 babies born while their parents were in detention, their total number now stands at 158.

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

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