US suggests 'humane' response for Thailand's Hmong

December 27, 2009

BANGKOK (AFP) – The United States made a last-ditch offer on Sunday to help Thailand to find a "humane" solution for dealing with thousands of ethnic Hmong that the Thai army is ready to forcibly repatriate to Laos.

"The government of Thailand has indicated its intention to return the Lao Hmong," Eric P. Schwartz, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration told AFP.

"We would be deeply dismayed by this action, and the action would impose some very serious challenges for us," he said in a telephone interview from the United States.

"We have made it abundantly clear that we are prepared to roll up our sleeves and work with partners in Thailand for a solution that is humane and responsible. Even at this late date we're fully prepared to do that," he added.

Thai armed forces have been mobilised for the expulsion to begin on Monday from a camp in northern Phetchabun province, where the Hmong are being held, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The group of more than 4,000 are seeking asylum based on claims they face persecution from the Laotian regime for fighting alongside US forces during the Vietnam War.

But Thailand says they are illegal economic immigrants and has agreed to send them back to Laos by the year's end, refusing to grant the UN's refugee agency access to them to assess if any are political refugees.

Schwartz said that the United States was willing "to ensure that all those who merit protection, whether that number is a few hundred or several hundred or more, have the opportunity for third country resettlement."

It was also ready to help with the reintegration process of voluntary returnees to Laos, he said.

The US official was in Thailand last week and discussed a "detailed proposal" on the issue with Thai officials. "At this point we have not been successful in convincing the authorities to consider this path," he said.

He said he understood Thailand's concerns about people crossing borders illegally for economic reasons.

"But that doesn't mean that... the government should do damage to international refugee protection principles, and those principles dictate that people who are deemed to merit protection should not be returned against their will," he said.

If the group are returned, "the government of Laos has a critically important opportunity to demonstrate that it indeed will exercise humane policies towards the returning population," he added.