Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Thailand began at dawn Monday the forcible return of some 4,000 Lao Hmong refugees to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic from two camps in northern and northeast Thailand, prompting a swift, highly critical response from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres. Security personnel loaded Lao Hmong onto trucks for the journey back, according to Guterres. “UNHCR did not have access to the site, and has not been allowed to assess the international protection needs of those living there.”
Thailand has had a strong reputation as a country of asylum, but in the case of the Lao Hmong it has not allowed them to apply for asylum in a third country, nor is it willing to allow them to settle permanently, after three years in camps.
Links to other sites: UNHCR press release, BBC background story, May 2009, US State Department comment
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News story, GenevaLunch, 28 December 2009.
Filed under: International organizations
Tags: forcible return, Hmong, Laos, refugees, Thailand, UNHCR