WUNRN
FORCED EXPULSION CRISIS FOR HMONG
WOMEN & GIRLS
31
December 2009
FORCED
EXPULSION OF HMONG FROM THAILAND TO LAOS
More
than 4,000 Hmong were forcefully repatriated from Thailand to Laos.The Hmong
did not want to return and were afraid of persecution in Laos.
_____________________________________________________________
29/12/2009
- Photos by the
The
army removed some 4,000 ethnic Hmong from their Thai camps on Monday and
trucked them to Laos.
Authorities lead a group of Hmong with their belongings to the trucks and
buses that took them to Nong Khai and across the border to
Hmong children were led and carried to the trucks by soldiers.
__________________________________________________________________________
31 December 2009
United Nations
Experts Urge Thailand to Stop Immediately the Forced Expulsions of Hmong to
Laos
GENEVA – Two independent experts of the UN Human Rights Council -
the Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, and the Special Rapporteur on
the Human Rights of Migrants, Jorge A. Bustamante- expressed their grave
concern at reports that the forcible return of large numbers of Hmong from
Thailand to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is on-going despite numerous
international protests.
“We urge the Government of Thailand to stop immediately all expulsions, to
grant access to relevant international organizations, notably UNHCR, and to
take all necessary measures to ensure that the human rights of the Hmong are
scrupulously respected,” said the experts in a joint statement.
The Special Rapporteur on torture stressed that “the fact that no independent
and reliable pre-screening mechanism is in place to assess whether these
individuals would be at risk of torture violates international human rights
norms.”
According to the non-refoulement principle, said Nowak, “no State should expel,
return, nor extradite a person to another State where he or she would be in
danger of being tortured.”
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants expressed his concern
that “among those expelled to Laos, were persons in need of international
protection, such as recognized refugees and asylum seekers whose applications
had not yet been assessed.”
“There is an urgent need to adopt a holistic approach to the management of
migration,” said Bustamante, “that takes into account the causes and
consequences of the migration flows implicating the Hmong and the full respect
of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all those involved.”
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