August 16, 2007

 

Hmong Refugees in Nongkhai Province, Thailand have no hope

                                                                            

                                                                                Fact Finding Commission has learned that the 153 Hmong

                                                                             refugees who have currently been detained in the detention

                                                                             facility in Nongkhai Province could face serious health problem

                                                                             which could cause many of them die in the next several days.

                                                                             Recently on June 29, 2007, four people from the detention

                                                                             facility had run away.  After the incident occurred, the rest of

                                                                             the refugees have been locked up inside the cells.  No one is

                                                                             allowed to be outside the facility.  Many of them have experienced depression and personal anxiety; others have experienced paralyzed. 

 

They recently have been told by a high ranking Thai authority that they will be punished and continue staying in the facility and will have nowhere to go.  The government of Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR) wants to take them back to Laos, but the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee does not allow the deportation to take place.  Therefore, they will be kept inside the cells at all times. 

 

Since yesterday, they have not been eating anything.   They said they will stay without food until they all die inside the cells if there is no international diplomatic intervention.  They feel like they are not considered as political refugees; they are being treated by Thai authorities like they are prisoners.   Children are also not allowed to go outside the facility get fresh air and to see the outside world.  Children and adults are being treated with the same condition.   Many have become mentally and physically ill.  They have experienced psychological trauma from their personal experiences during and after the United States Secret War in Laos.

 

The United States government should not be silent.  They are part of the problems and as well as the solutions to the current Hmong refugee issues in Thailand.  If the Hmong and other minority groups in Laos were not recruited and paid by the United States government to fight against communist aggression in Southeast Asia from 1961 to 1975, then the United States government is not part of the problem and/or the solutions.  In this case, it is clearly indicated and documented that these Hmong refugees were and are the US Secret War veterans, spouses of the veterans, or children and grand children of the US secret War veterans. Therefore, United States government and other 1973 Peace Accords signatories are obligated work together to provide intervention and humanitarian supports to the Hmong refugees in Thailand and those who are still hiding in the jungles of Laos from communist retributions and genocide. 

 

 

The Fact Finding Commission is dedicated to exposing the plight of the veterans of the U.S. Secret War who have hid in the mountains and jungles of Laos for the past thirty years to escape the retribution of the communist Lao government for their loyalty services to the United States during the U.S. Secret War in Southeast Asia.

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