A Hmong child pushes other children in a wooden cart in June 2004 through the village in Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Saraburi, Thailand. (SHARON CEKADA/GANNETT WISCONSIN MEDIA FILE PHOTO)U.S. residents worry about fate of those in Thailand
WASHINGTON -- The calls come in constantly to Vaughn Vang, but there's little he can do to comfort his Hmong compatriots worried about family members and friends at refugee camps in Thailand.
"A lot of families in Wisconsin contact me daily, asking me to help their families," said Vang, director of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council in Green Bay. "One lady called me from Sacramento saying she has three brothers there and doesn't know what to do."
The calls reflect growing alarm in the U.S. Hmong community and among humanitarians worldwide over the treatment of Lao Hmong refugees at the camps and the Thai government's effort to repatriate them to Laos.
About 4,800 Hmong are at the Huay Nam Khao camp in Phetchabun, and another 158 are being detained in Nong Khai. The Lao Hmong are an ethnic minority and were U.S. allies during the Vietnam War. Many fled Laos out of fear of persecution by the communist government.
"I've had members of my own family tortured and killed," Vang said. "Every single Hmong family has had that experience."
Human rights advocates say the Thai government and military have intensified coercive efforts to return the refugees to Laos, despite calls from the U.S. State Department and lawmakers for an open and voluntary repatriation process. The Thai government contends the refugees fled for economic reasons and have become a burden on the country.
"The Thai government has been threatening to close the camp located at Phetchabun for a year now, but they keep changing the deadlines," said Bill Frelick, refugee policy director for Human Rights Watch. "It's been tense all the way, because the Thai government simply has not been open."
In June, a bipartisan group of 31 House members, including Wisconsin Democratic Reps. Tammy Baldwin, Steve Kagen, Ron Kind and Gwen Moore and Wisconsin Republican Rep. Tom Petri, signed a letter urging Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to intervene to stop the forced repatriation.
The letter noted that Doctors Without Borders, the lone humanitarian organization working at the camp, had pulled out because of the Thai military's "coercive and restrictive tactics" to thwart the group's efforts to provide aid.
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"We continue to have a vital national security interest in and moral obligation to assist our former allies, especially those with bona fide persecution claims," the letter said.
In July, five members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, wrote to the Thai military seeking details about the repatriation process.
In July, five members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, wrote to the Thai military seeking details about the repatriation process.
"While officials of the government of Laos maintain that no harm comes to those Hmong repatriated from Thailand, the absence of transparency in the screening process in Thailand, and in the repatriation process in Laos, merely add to the uncertainty and concern surrounding this issue," the letter said.
Both Clinton and Samuel Witten, a senior State Department official, have spoken to Thai officials during recent visits. Witten also visited the camp and detention center.
"Mr. Witten noted the importance of an appropriate and transparent screening process to identify those detainees who may have protection concerns. Those Lao Hmong who are found to be in need of protection should not be forcibly returned to Laos," the State Department said in a statement.
The United States has no plans to resettle the refugees in America, the statement said, but the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program would consider case-by-case referrals.
Vang and Philip Smith, director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis, which has closely monitored the Hmong refugee situation, are not satisfied with the State Department's response.
Smith called it a "deceptive, deplorable and shameful statement, full of half-truths." He said the Thai government has used Witten's visit and statements as propaganda to try to get the Hmong refugees to agree to voluntarily return to Laos.
"The level of coercion has reached an all-time high in the camp and has intensified to the point where it appears they're really trying to break the Hmong," Smith said.
Vang says the Thai military and government have engaged in "psychological torture of the Hmong people, saying no country will take them, that they are illegal, and trying to make them feel guilty."
Chungsou Her, a Marathon County Parks Department employee whose nephew and family are at the Phetchabun camp, agreed the refugees are being subjected to various attempts to induce them to return to Laos.
"The Thai people are saying there will be a way to go to a different country if you want to go, but the door is in Laos," Her said.
Even though the U.S. has no plans to resettle the Hmong refugees here, it has an obligation to ensure the refugees are provided a safe haven, Vang said.
"We continue to have a vital national security interest in and moral obligation to assist our former allies, especially those with bona fide persecution claims," the letter said.
In July, five members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, wrote to the Thai military seeking details about the repatriation process.
In July, five members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, wrote to the Thai military seeking details about the repatriation process.
"While officials of the government of Laos maintain that no harm comes to those Hmong repatriated from Thailand, the absence of transparency in the screening process in Thailand, and in the repatriation process in Laos, merely add to the uncertainty and concern surrounding this issue," the letter said.
Both Clinton and Samuel Witten, a senior State Department official, have spoken to Thai officials during recent visits. Witten also visited the camp and detention center.
"Mr. Witten noted the importance of an appropriate and transparent screening process to identify those detainees who may have protection concerns. Those Lao Hmong who are found to be in need of protection should not be forcibly returned to Laos," the State Department said in a statement.
The United States has no plans to resettle the refugees in America, the statement said, but the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program would consider case-by-case referrals.
Vang and Philip Smith, director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis, which has closely monitored the Hmong refugee situation, are not satisfied with the State Department's response.
Smith called it a "deceptive, deplorable and shameful statement, full of half-truths." He said the Thai government has used Witten's visit and statements as propaganda to try to get the Hmong refugees to agree to voluntarily return to Laos.
"The level of coercion has reached an all-time high in the camp and has intensified to the point where it appears they're really trying to break the Hmong," Smith said.
Vang says the Thai military and government have engaged in "psychological torture of the Hmong people, saying no country will take them, that they are illegal, and trying to make them feel guilty."
Chungsou Her, a Marathon County Parks Department employee whose nephew and family are at the Phetchabun camp, agreed the refugees are being subjected to various attempts to induce them to return to Laos.
"The Thai people are saying there will be a way to go to a different country if you want to go, but the door is in Laos," Her said.
Even though the U.S. has no plans to resettle the Hmong refugees here, it has an obligation to ensure the refugees are provided a safe haven, Vang said.
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