92 Lao Hmong children seeking asylum detained, Act Now, Amnesty International Australia

92 Lao Hmong children seeking asylum detained

26 November 2008, 12:21PM

A group of 158 Lao Hmong refugees, including 92 children, have been detained in north Thailand since November 2006. The detainees were arrested after fleeing persecution in Laos. They live in fear of being forcibly returned as they risk facing serious human rights violations.

The conditions at the centre are hars including being locked inside overcrowded, widowless cells for 22 hours a day. The health of many refugees has been badly affected, including eleven children who have been born in detention and are seriously suffering.

The governments of Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the USA have considered resettling the detained asylum seekers. However, the Thai authorities have denied access to the UNHCR to enable them to facilitate the resettlement process.

The Thai government have attempted to forcibly return many of the refugees. Many of those who have been returned back to Laos where arbitrarily detained and tortured. The detainess continue to be threatened by Thai authorities with forcible returns which have added to their desperation and fear.

Points for your email

Please send an urgent letter to the Thai authorities calling on them to:

release immediately and unconditionally the 158 Lao Hmong refugees from the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Center, allowing them to stay in an open facility while they await visas for resettlement
allow UNHCR immediate and unhindered access to the 158 refugees
honour international obligations under the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights not to return these refugees to Laos where they may face torture or other illtreatment
take all necessary measures to ensure that the best interests of the children detained are a primary consideration in accordance with Thailand’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Child
ensure that the refugees have access to any medical care

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Background [-]

The Hmong are one of many ethnic groups in Laos. Although most Hmong are integrated into society, there are still communities that have been living in isolated pockets in the jungle since the Viet Nam war ended in 1975. Faced with violent attacks by the Lao army, which still regards them as members of a decades-old armed resistance force, they live in hiding from the authorities. Most Hmong refugees and asylum-seekers in Thailand claim to have some connection to these isolated groups.

There are thousands of ethnic Hmong Lao people in Thailand. An estimated 6,500 people, including asylum-seekers, have been living in a camp in Phetchabun since 2004. In 2007, the Thai government agreed with the Lao authorities to send them back to Laos by the end of 2008 – including those whose asylum claims have not been assessed in fair and satisfactory procedures. Subsequently, over 1,500 people were “repatriated” to Laos between February and September 2008. Some were apparently forcibly returned, including a mother whose children were left behind at the camp. Since December 2005, nearly 2,000 Lao Hmong, including an unknown number of asylum-seekers, have been sent back to Laos where some were arbitrarily detained and tortured.

Amnesty International believes that many of the Lao Hmong in Thailand are at risk of serious human rights violations if they are forcibly returned to Laos. Many of those already returned were sent to designated Hmong villages after “re-education”. The Lao authorities have arranged several visits to these reintegration villages for diplomats and journalists, but UN agencies and human rights NGOs have limited access to the sites and the whereabouts of most returnees are not known.

Your Message

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ommoi@moi.go.th

Salutation
Dear Minister

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I am writing to call on you to release immediately and unconditionally the 158 Lao Hmong refugees from the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Center and to allow them to stay in an open facility while they await visas for resettlement.

I urge you to allow UNHCR immediate and unhindered access to the 158 refugees.

I remind you that your government needs to honour your international obligations to not to return these refugees to Laos where they may face torture or other illtreatment. These obligations are enshrined in the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or  Punishment and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

I call on you to take all necessary measures to ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in the treatment of this group of refugees and that the children are treated in accordance with Thailand’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Child.

Furthermore, I call on you  to ensure that the refugees have access to any medical care they may require.

I trust that youu will do all that is within your power to rectify this serious and ongoing breach of human rights.

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