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Thailand postpones Hmong deportation after 'tense stand-off'

BANGKOK : Dozens of Hmong refugees barricaded themselves inside a detention centre in a "tense stand-off" on Tuesday, forcing Thailand to postpone a plan to deport them, the United Nations' refugee agency said.

Fifty-four men blocked themselves inside the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Center near the northeastern Laos border, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Some 153 migrants, including 86 children, were to be sent back to communist-ruled Laos despite risk of persecution there.

"This would be a major breach of international humanitarian law, which says that no refugee should be forcibly returned to a country where their life or liberty could be in danger," the UNHCR said in Geneva.

The agency called on Thailand to find an alternative solution for the refugees, including a newborn baby, who have been detained at the centre since December.

According to the Fact Finding Commission, a US-based pro-Hmong activist group, at least two women who refused to get on deportation trucks were severely beaten by Thai authorities on Tuesday.

The UN said ambulances carrying two serious medical cases were taking patients to a hospital.

Rights group Amnesty International called on the Thai government to call off the deportation permanently.

"These men, women and children have been recognised as refugees by the UN and would be at risk of serious human rights abuses if they were returned to Laos," said Brittis Edman, Southeast Asia researcher at Amnesty International.

"The Thai government must call off their deportation and allow them to be resettled in a third country."

Some Hmong, a hill tribe people, were allied with the United States during the "Secret War" in Laos that was part of the wider Vietnam conflict.

Some have fled persecution in Laos while others, particularly in more recent times, have sought to escape rural poverty.

Lao exile groups and human rights activists say unknown numbers of Hmong remain in mountainous jungle areas of Laos, hiding from attacks by the Lao military - a claim the Vientiane regime denies.

[url]www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/255670/1/.html[/url]


Thailand will not force Hmong refugees back


BANGKOK: Thailand said on Wednesday it would not go ahead with plans to send more than 150 Hmong refugees back to neighbouring Laos after dozens of them threatened to commit suicide.

The migrants, held at a detention centre since December for illegally entering the kingdom, had been due to be sent back on Tuesday – but 54 of them barricaded themselves in the centre and threatened to kill themselves.

Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont then decided not to force the 153 refugees to go back.

"We are extremely relieved that the deportation was called off," said Giuseppe de Vincentis, deputy regional representative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok.

The UNHCR, which has been denied access to the Hmong migrants since Monday, welcomed the decision and planned to hold talks with Thai authorities to consider resettlement options.

The United Nations is also in talks with the United States, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands for resettling the Hmong migrants, he said.

Some Hmong, a hill tribe people, were allied with the United States during the "Secret War" in Laos that was part of the wider Vietnam conflict.

Some have fled persecution in Laos while others, particularly in more recent times, have sought to escape rural poverty.

[url]www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/255766/1/.html[/url]