Starvation, Repatriation of Laos, Hmong Refugees in Thailand Sparks Suicide Attempts
Washington, D.C. and Bangkok, Thailand, April 30, 2009, For Immediate Release
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's recent announcement to force nearly 5,500 Lao Hmong political refugees back to
the military regime that they fled in Laos has sparked a wave of suicide attempts by the refugees who now reportedly
face another major food cut off in Thailand.
"A series of recent food cut-offs, fresh water supply denials and heavy-handed attempts to pressure some 5,500 Lao Hmong
political refugees to go back to Laos by Thai Prime Minister Abasit and Thai Third Army commanders is causing a wave of
suicide attempts and terrible human suffering of the Lao and Hmong people," stated Philip Smith, Executive Director of
the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) in Washington, D.C. "Ironically, many of these 5,500 Lao Hmong refugees
fled political and religious persecution as well as mass starvation and military attacks in Laos to seek political
asylum in Thailand , according to Amnesty International and others; Now Thailand's new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva
is apparently ordering elements of the Royal Thai Army to cut-off food deliveries to the Lao Hmong refugees so they will
be forced to return to the brutal regime in Laos that they fled and where Lao Hmong refugees have disappeared or been
killed."http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e=ENGASA390022009
Smith continued: "On April 25, four Lao Hmong political refugees in Huay Nam Khao refugee detention camp, in Petchabun
Province, Thailand, Mr. Soua Lor, 35, Hli Yang 25, Nka tsua Lee, 30, and Lee Pao Vang, 26, reportedly attempted to
commit suicide because they did not want to be forced back to Laos where they fled persecution, and where they have a
well-founded fear of persecution. These Hmong refugees apparently cut their wrists and arms in protest of Thai Prime
Minister Abasit's recent new efforts to deny their families food and force them back to Laos. The refugees suffered
heavy bleeding."
Thousands of Lao and Hmong civilians and political dissidents have been starved to death or killed in military attacks
by the Lao government in recent years according to independent human rights organizations, journalists and others. The
Stalinist regime in Laos remains a close ally of the military regimes in Burma and North Korea.http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA26/003/2007
"If the 5,500 Hmong political refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao, Thailand, cannot be resettled in third countries such as
Australia or the United States, or granted political asylum in Thailand, these four Hmong political refugees want to die
in Thailand with dignity instead going back to Laos and being tortured and die slowly by the Laos Communist Government
regime, they said," stated Vaughn Vang, Director of the Hmong Lao Human Rights Council, Inc.
Vaughn Vang, of the Hmong Lao Human Rights Council continued: "There are about 5,500 Hmong asylum seekers who do not,
under any circumstance, agree to return back to Laos. They have clearly stated that they are former veterans and
descendent of veterans, who served with U.S. military and clandestine forces during the Vietnam War, including the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Many of the Hmong refugees have been hunted, persecuted, tortured by the Lao LPDR
regime. They will definitely face persecution and death if they are return to Laos."
On February 19, 2009, top officers of the Lao Armed Forces and Lao Communist Party officials, including Deputy Chief of
Staff Brigadier General Bouasieng Champapham as well as Mr. Yong Chanthalasy, and nine other Lao Officials, along with
Thai military counterparts, reportedly made an official visit to the refugee detention Camp at Ban Huay Nam Khao,
Thailand.
Vaughn Vang concluded: "The Lao officials, along with their Thai counterparts from the Thai Third Army, spoke out to
insult, intimidate, and threaten the Hmong refugees with repatriation back to Laos by saying that ‘the Hmong have no
other choice but repatriation.' After the Lao officials visited the Camp, Hmong refugees refused to volunteer to go back
to Laos; the Thai and Lao militaries then joined hands to post signs with both the Laos Communist and Royal Thailand
flags at the Camp stating that ‘the Hmong have to be repatriated to Laos by mid 2009 and the Camp will be closed by
August 2009,' and they have listed a group of the Hmong Leaders to be arrested and forced to repatriate back to Laos to
face persecution."
April 23rd, 2009, was reportedly the day to deliver food supplies to the 5,500 refugees in the Camp again, but elements
of the Thai military, including the Royal Thai Third Army, prevented the delivery. Many of the Lao Hmong refugees,
facing despair and starvation, may soon be out of food as a result of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit's new food cut-off and
starvation policy toward Lao Hmong refugees according to refugee and reliable sources in Thailand. More Lao Hmong
refugee suicide attempts are expected in Thailand in the coming days and weeks.
ENDS