Laos Sea Games Crisis: Refugees Appeal To Not Be Forced Back to Laos LPDR

SEA Games Human Rights, Refugee Crisis in Laos, Thailand Faces Lao Hmong Appeals

25.11.2009 08:18:02 Lao Hmong refugees, are again appealing to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, The King of Thailand as well as United States President Obama, U.S. Secretary of State Clinton, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva, Members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate including U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, U.S Senator Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator Al Franken and others.

(live-PR.com) - Washington, D.C., Ban Huay Nam Khao, Petchabun Province and Nong Khai, Thailand, Green Bay and Madison, Wisconsin, November 25, 2009

With the start of the SEA Games looming in Laos, Thailand has readied more troops and undertaken military preparations for the mass forced return of thousands of Lao Hmong political refugees back to the communist regime in Laos from where they fled persecution. In the last week, three (3) new razor wire and barbed wire circular-fenced holding areas have been built at the Lao Hmong refugee camp at Ban Huay Nam Khao in an apparent effort by the Thai military to begin the mass forced repatriation of over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers in the coming days and weeks. Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, Army Chief General Anupong Paochinda have repeatedly defied international appeals by humanitarian organizations and a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Congress to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, the King of Thailand, to grant political asylum to the Lao Hmong refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai, Thailand until they can be screened by the the United Nations and resettled in third countries that have agreed to take them, including Canada, France, New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands and the United States.

Vaughn Vang, Director of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council (LHHRC) in Wisconsin has issued a statement and appeal regarding what appears to be the mobilization Thai troops for a violent mass forced repatriation of Lao Hmong refugees from Thailand to Laos over the American Thanksgiving holiday and prior to the start of the Southeast Asia (SEA Games) Games in Laos.

The Former U.S. Ambassador at Large and Coordinator for Refugee Affairs, The Honorable Howard Eugene Douglas, has issued an international statement and communique in response to recent emergency appeals to Thailand and its Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI), the Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR) and others to end the forced repatriation of Lao Hmong refugees to Laos.
media-newswire.com/release_1106500.html
www.pr-inside.com/anupong-abhisit-s-laos-thailan ..
media-newswire.com/release_1106263.html

Edmund McWilliams, a Distinguished U.S Foreign Service officer who served in Laos and Thailand, has also made recent appeals and statements urging that the Lao Hmong refugees at Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai not be sent back to the communist regime in Laos where they face persecution.

“Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, Army Chief-of-Staff General Anupong Paochinda and Ministry of Interior (MOI) Minister Chavarat Charnvirakuland have come under growing international criticism for using increasingly brutal and coercive measures against the Lao Hmong refugees in Thailand to seek to force them back to Laos by the end of this year. Laos is slated to hold the Southeast Asia Games (SEA Games) in December and efforts to force the Lao Hmong refugees back to the Stalinist regime in Laos have violently intensified in recent weeks,” said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) in Washington, D.C.

“Unfortunately, Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, Army Chief General Anupong Paochinda and Ministry of Interior (MOI) Minister Chavarat Charnvirakuland have repeatedly defied international appeals by humanitarian organizations and a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Congress to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, the King of Thailand, to grant political asylum to the Lao Hmong refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai, Thailand until they can be screened by the the United Nations and resettled in third countries that have agreed to take them, including Canada, France, New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands and the United States,” Smith concluded.
www.pr-inside.com/his-majesty-bhumibol-adulayade ..
media-newswire.com/release_1101602.html

“The over 5,000 Lao Hmong refugees in Thailand are very afraid that there will be bloody, deadly mass forced repatriation in the middle of the night this Thanksgiving holiday or in the coming days and weeks and refugees lives will be endanger as they can tell and now see from the current movements of Thai military at Huay Nam Khao. It is clear that the Thai Army and MOI soldiers are preparing to force the Lao Hmong refugees back to the communist regime in Laos they fled; The refugees know that it could be at any time time now and they are appealing to the world community and their families in Wisconsin, California, Minnesota and around the United States to know thee terrible truth of the current situation,” said Vaughn Vang , Director of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Mr. Vang continued with the following statement:

“We are alarmed because we know that there are now three (3) new circular barbed wire holding areas that the Thai soldiers and military have built in the last week outside the perimeter of the razor wire and fences of Huay Nam Khao in the last week, and hundreds of heavily armed new soldiers have been deployed to the camp. The Thai military is clearly preparing to lock the refugees in three difference smaller groups like cattle and animals and herd them into holding these barbed wire holding areas before they force them back to Laos.

There is growing concern that Thai military and Ministry of Interior troops are ready to force the over 5,000 Lao Hmong refugees, or significant groups of them, back to Laos at any minute now., possibly during the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States or shortly thereafter. Hmong refugees sources are eye witness to Thai soldiers now openly carrying large numbers of electric taser and electric cattle prod guns, tear gas masks and other chemical agent equipment. The soldiers have also cut over a dozen new doors and openings into the Huay Nam Khao camp in an apparent effort to attack the refugees with these weapons and troops from all sides in the coming days.

We, and the Lao Hmong refugees, are again appealing to His Majesty, Bhumibol Adulayadej, The King of Thailand as well as United States President Obama, U.S. Secretary of State Clinton, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva, Members of the U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate including U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, U.S Senator Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator Al Franken and others.

We are also making an emergency appeal to the United Nations, the International community, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Thai Human Rights Organizations and Lao and Hmong organizations and communities around the world to help save the lives of these over 5,000 Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers at Huaj Nam Khao, Petchebon Province and Nong Khai, Thailand.

We are very concerned about the safety of the Lao Hmong political refugees and asylum seekers at Huaj Nam Khao, Petchabun Province and Nong Khai, Thailand. The live’s of these Lao and Hmong men, women and children are very much endangered by the over one thousand new heavily armed Thai soldiers who are currently preparing to launch a deadly and bloody plan in the next several days and weeks to force the refugees back to Laos using heavy tear and poison gas, electric taser guns and cattle prods, night sticks and clubs to beat the refugees and machine guns and automatic weapons.

The Lao Hmong refugees at Huay Nam Khao and Nong Khai are human beings. They are political refugees and asylum seekers that have the right under international law to not be forced back to the military regime in Laos, the one-party communist regime that persecuted and hunted them with their military and security forces. The Lao Hmong refugees, they have the rights to live, to be protected from persecution, torture and human rights abuses against them. These Lao Hmong refugees they have not committed any crimes and have not violated any law. They only want to be alive, live in peace, free from persecution, torture and the ongoing killing by the Lao communist government and military regime, These over 5,000 Lao Hmong refugees must be protected by the United Nations, the United States, Thai government and the international community.”

(-- End Statement Mr. Vaughn Vang, Director Lao Hmong Human Rights Council, Inc. Green Bay and Madison, Wisconsin-- )

The SEA Games are slated to start in December in Vientiane at a time when the Thai and Lao armies have increased their attacks, persecution and forced repatriation of Lao and Hmong dissidents as well as political refugees and asylum seekers.


###

Contact: Mr. Juan Lopez
info@centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org
Tele. (202) 543-1444

www.cppa-dc.org
Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA)
Washington, D.C.


Press Information:
CPPA - Center for Public Policy Analysis

2020 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite No.#212
Washington, DC 20006

Contact Person:
Ms. Maria Gomez or Mr. Juan Lopez
Deputy Communications Director (s)
Phone: 202.543.1444
eMail: eMail

Web: http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

Source