Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Thursday, December 31, 2009 10:16 am TWN, AFP

Sponsors
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.

U.N. seeks access to deported Hmong in Laos

BANGKOK -- The United Nations called for access to thousands of ethnic Hmong deported to communist Laos from neighboring Thailand as Bangkok insisted Wednesday that the returned people would be treated well.

Thailand on Monday completed the repatriation of more than 4,000 Hmong, including children, sending in troops to clear them from camps on the border despite international calls to halt the operation.

The Hmong, a Southeast Asian ethnic group, were seeking asylum in Thailand saying they risked persecution by the Laotian regime for fighting alongside U.S. forces in the Vietnam War during the 1960s and 1970s.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon voiced regret late Tuesday over Thailand's expulsion of the Hmong and urged the two countries to take steps to protect the rights of the deportees. Ban “regrets that these deportations have taken place in the face of appeals from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and despite the availability of third country resettlement solutions for those recognized as refugees,” said a statement released by his press office.

In Geneva, the UNHCR said it had filed a formal request with Laos for access to the Hmong and urged Thailand to provide details on a Thai-Laotian accord that governed how Hmong returnees should be treated.

“UNHCR has asked to be informed of steps taken by the Government of Thailand to ensure that commitments made under this framework are effectively honored,” it said.

Thailand on Monday also sent back a separate group of 158 Hmong with recognized U.N. refugee status, in a move the UNHCR said was a breach of international law.

In Bangkok, Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya Wednesday tried to quell international concerns.

“Laos has promised Thailand that they will give good treatment to these people. They will not be jailed and they will be given passports and a chance to meet with third countries that could resettle them,” Kasit told reporters.

“We are confident that they will proceed as promised.”

Kasit said that the international community should also “help develop Laos to strengthen Laos” if they wanted to ensure the good treatment of the Hmong.

Both Thailand and Laos say that the Hmong were illegal immigrants and not political refugees as they contended, but the deportation has drawn fierce international condemnation.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

Comments

February 20, 2010 madcaddie@

Many of the deported Hmong will be killed, jailed or even tortured. It is important to note that Laos continues to stress that the Hmong are "not political refugees" and are "illegal immigrants". There is a clear reason this is being stressed by the Laos government. Some of the Hmong are able to become United States citizens and simply lack a signature from the government of Thailand however Thailand refuses to sign the paperwork. Why?