Dec. 22, 2006
 
HMONG REFUGEE CRISIS: Hmong from the Jungle Forcibly Removed from Ban Huay Nam Khao Refugee Camp in Thailand
 
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
 
Around noon on Thursday, Dec 20. 2006, more than 100 Hmong Lao refugees were quickly surrounded by the new Thai military commandant of the makeshift Hmong Lao refugee shelter camp near the border with Laos.
 
The terrified ethnic Hmong refugees, who had crossed to Thailand and arrived at Ban Huay Nam Khao, after the official registration by the former military commandant had been completed, were told that they will be returned Laos.
 
The targeted Hmong refugee group of more 30 families are refugees who fled Laotian military aggression, and did not enter Thailand for economic reasons, or to be resettled to a third country -- as claimed by officials in Thailand and Laos.
 
In an interview with Rebecca Sommer, Society for Threatened Peoples International, who visited and interviewed this particular group two months ago, the group leaders said that they would prefer to stay in Thailand.
 
“They were extremely afraid to be sent back to Laos, fearing persecution and murder.” Sommer told HNN. ”They emphasized that they fled because they want to see a tomorrow, and had no wish to go to America.”
 
The refugee families reported that they had previously lived in-hiding, in isolated mountainous jungle areas, internally displaced, constantly on the run from unprovoked attacks, surrounded by Laotian military units, who shot at them with rockets, bombs and chemical weapons.
 
Some of the refugee families who were surrounded and were arrested on Dec. 20, 2006 by the Thai military stated that they came out of hiding and had surrendered to the Lao authorities - before they fled to Thailand.
 
Sommer added that those who had surrendered to the Laotian authorities were severely mistreated, beaten, some were tortured and several women revealed that they had been gang-raped on a daily basis by the Lao soldiers.
 
Interviews with members of the group that were arrested on Dec. 20 are part of Sommer’s documentary “Hunted like Animals”, short clips of them being interviewed by the military, or testimonies of women that were gang-raped by the Lao soldiers can be viewed here: http://www.rebeccasommer.org/HLA/index.php
 
clip: Military Interview Refugees
clip: Surrendered-raped by Lao
 
The Hmong refugees reported that they panicked and refused to enter the military trucks, after they had been told by the Thai authorities that they were to be ultimately deported back to Laos.
 
They told several U.S.-based Hmong organizations by satellite telephone that several men and women were severely beaten by the Thai soldiers. One women was allegedly reported to have been beaten to death; this was not confirmed by the Thai army major general in charge.
 
Instead, military sources informed concerned NGOs working on the ground that these refugees are late arrivals, who entered the camp after the formal registration procedure, and that they were therefore arrested as illegal migrants, not registered, and brought to the police station in Kha Kho, Sommer told HNN.
 
Among the arrested refugees is Hmong Leader Lee Xue Lee, who fled to Thailand with part of his group. They escaped from the Laotian military crackdown in area Phou Dapo, Xieng Khouang province. He was seen to be continuously beaten with guns in his face by the Thai soldiers.
 
“He can not speak, his whole face is swollen and bloody” said one refugee to Chue Chou Tchang, president of US based HAMAA, before the phone call was interrupted, “There is blood everywhere” “they beat the women and men, 10 of our men and 2 women are beaten unconscious, one women is 95% dead.”
 
The UNHCR Bangkok, among others such as the US Embassy reacted immediately, and raised their concerns about the alarming news, which were difficult to confirm at the time it happened.
 
A Thai official -- who wished to remain anonymous -- insisted that the refugees were not beaten, but instead forced into the trucks, as the refugees refused to obey Thai authorities’ orders. This anonymous official said nobody was hurt – in contrast to the situation as described by the refugees to US based Hmong organizations.
 
In the meantime, thousands of refugees in the camp showed solidarity. Women, children, old and young left their makeshift shelters, and laid down on the road, in a peaceful demonstration against the treatment of their unfortunate companions.
 
"We are Hmong - they are Hmong. We all have suffered enough, if they sent them back to Laos, they will die. We are willing to die with them," said one refugee camp elder who was lying on the road - to a missionary working on in the camp.
 
Sommer told HNN that the road block was dissolved, after intervention from highest levels ensured that the arrested and detained group of over 100 people were released from prison in Khek Noi, and brought back to the camp.
 
The two men and two women were reportedly taken to the hospital in Khek Noi.
 
Thailand, overburdened with the refugee crisis, is increasingly dismayed about the objections by governments, which on the other hand remain uncooperative to assist in a permanent solution, or financial aid to cover the humanitarian and housing needs of the over 8,300 refugees, Sommers told HNN.
 
”It is overdue that the international community should help Thailand and the refugees,” added Sommer. “We need governments to offer resettlement and to assist with financing the temporary Hmong refugee camp. We call upon governments to bring an end to this humanitarian crisis.”
 
For the most recent HNN Hmong refugee update, click here:
 
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/national/061221-kinchen-hmong.html
 
Continue to check with HNN for further developments in this under-reported humanitarian crisis in southeast Asia.