It has been nearly three months to the day that 27 Hmong refugees - one adult and 26 teenagers aged 13 to 16-who were taken in by the provisional displaced persons settlement of Ban Houai Nam Khao (Phetchaboun province, Thailand), were expelled by the Thai authorities and sent back to Laos, according to concordant information received by the Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR).

This group of teenagers comprised of 21 young girls and 5 boys, was challenged by the Thai police on 28 November 2005 as they were returning from a choir practice in preparation of the Christmas celebrations.
They were taken to the border city of Nongkhai by bus in the beginning of December, and expelled towards Laos without any notice to their parents.

According to the international media, the fate of these teenagers is still unknown to this day in spite of the numerous steps taken by the UN authorities, the European Union, the United States and Australia, to approach Bangkok as well as Vientiane.

Beyond the politico-diplomatic mess surrounding this tragic matter, the LMHR goes up against the conditions of the expulsion of these teenagers, and calls on the authorities of the Lao People´s Democratic Republic (LPDR) to give without delay news of these youngsters to their families, and to guarantee their security, their physical and psychological health, as it has been two months since they reached Lao soil.

To the LMHR, it is rather unlikely that the expulsion of about thirty people, and what is more members of the Hmong ethnic minority, could have been conducted without the knowledge of the LPDR authorities, which remain for the observers a monitored country where nothing ever occurs without the consent of the authorities of the State-Party.

Consequently, it is more than time for the leaders of the Lao regime to stop hiding behind cynical prevarications and set language, and to cooperate fully with the international organizations so as to put an end to the ordeals of these teenagers, and allow without delay their return to their parents in Thailand.

On this occasion, the LMHR reiterates its call to the international community, asking it to help these thousands of Lao-Hmong men, women, and children who are being chased and eliminated day after day by the LPDR soldiers in the Saysomboun and Bolikhamsay jungles, and to put pressure on the Lao regime so that freedom, democracy and human rights are respected in that country.

The list of the persons arrested on 28 November reads as follows:

1 adult: Mme Zoua Yang - 21 young girls: May Nhia, Pakou Vang, Ia Lor, Pahia Yang, Hnou Xiong, Pahoua Yang, Yangyoua Vang, Maymoua Vang, Mee Yang, Choua Vue, Pakou Vue, Yer Vue, Zong Vue, Ker Vue, Yia Vue, Kia Thao, Youa Thao, Sheng Yang, Kia Vue, Pahua Yang, Xee Yang - 7 young boys (two of whom have not been expelled): Dang Vang, Chay Vang, Neng Yang, Meng Xiong, Meng Yang, Chan Thao, Pao Yang.

Press Release,
Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l'Homme ( MLDH)
Lao Movement for Human Rights ( LMHR)
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