Rights group fears Thai crackdown after arrests in US
Thursday, June 7, 2007
HUMAN rights activists yesterday warned the arrests in the US of a group accused of plotting to overthrow the Laos government could spark a crackdown on Hmong asylum seekers here.
Nine suspects, mostly from the Hmong ethnic minority group, were arrested in California, United States, on Monday on charges of plotting an armed uprising against the communist Laotian government.
There are currently about 7,000 Hmong living in a camp in Thailand's northern province of Phetchabun, while 153 with UN refugee status are being held at a detention centre near the Thai-Laos border.
"We need to remind the Thai government that if anyone comes through that has legitimate fear of persecution if they return to Laos, those people must have access to protection by the UN," said Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch.
"They cannot just be rounded up and sent across the border to the Laos authorities," said Sunai, Thailand consultant for the US-based group.
Thailand insists that the Hmong are economic migrants and it has the right to repatriate them, but many human rights groups and the Hmong themselves say they are persecuted in their homeland.
Amnesty International said in a report last month that Laotian authorities had attacked groups of Hmong, while it accused Thailand of forcibly repatriating refugees of the hill tribe.
Thailand said yesterday that it was looking into reports that the group arrested in the US was planning to transport weapons through the kingdom.
"Thailand will not allow any party to conduct any kind of activities which will affect the security of our neighbouring countries, either on Thai territory or using Thailand for passage for such activities," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Thai foreign ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said that a joint Thai-Laos border committee would discuss the US arrests, but said he did not think any extra measures against the Hmong were needed at the moment.
The scattered groups of Hmong, a highland people, are former fighters and descendants of a CIA-funded "secret army" which from the early 1960s fought communist Pathet Lao forces when the Vietnam War spilled into Laos.
AFP
Nine suspects, mostly from the Hmong ethnic minority group, were arrested in California, United States, on Monday on charges of plotting an armed uprising against the communist Laotian government.
There are currently about 7,000 Hmong living in a camp in Thailand's northern province of Phetchabun, while 153 with UN refugee status are being held at a detention centre near the Thai-Laos border.
"We need to remind the Thai government that if anyone comes through that has legitimate fear of persecution if they return to Laos, those people must have access to protection by the UN," said Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch.
"They cannot just be rounded up and sent across the border to the Laos authorities," said Sunai, Thailand consultant for the US-based group.
Thailand insists that the Hmong are economic migrants and it has the right to repatriate them, but many human rights groups and the Hmong themselves say they are persecuted in their homeland.
Amnesty International said in a report last month that Laotian authorities had attacked groups of Hmong, while it accused Thailand of forcibly repatriating refugees of the hill tribe.
Thailand said yesterday that it was looking into reports that the group arrested in the US was planning to transport weapons through the kingdom.
"Thailand will not allow any party to conduct any kind of activities which will affect the security of our neighbouring countries, either on Thai territory or using Thailand for passage for such activities," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Thai foreign ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said that a joint Thai-Laos border committee would discuss the US arrests, but said he did not think any extra measures against the Hmong were needed at the moment.
The scattered groups of Hmong, a highland people, are former fighters and descendants of a CIA-funded "secret army" which from the early 1960s fought communist Pathet Lao forces when the Vietnam War spilled into Laos.
AFP
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