Wall Street Journal Asia

Review & Outlook

Editorial
Repatriation, Redux
July 4, 2008

Thailand's return to democracy has brought positive change in many quarters, but for Hmong refugees from Laos the new government is turning out to be just as bad as its predecessors. Bangkok is again sending these friends of the U.S. back to the dangerous country they left. More than 850 were deported in June.

For decades, Thailand has attracted waves of Hmong, members of a fiercely anti-Communist minority group that fought alongside the Americans in the Vietnam War. The refugees are seeking a shot at a better life in a country where they won't face political retribution. Previously, many were resettled permanently in the U.S. and Australia.

But for five years Hmong fleeing Laos have been shunted into "temporary" shelters, with no way to lodge formal applications for asylum and in fear of periodic waves of deportations. As they wait for Thailand to resolve their cases, international law bars them from seeking asylum anywhere else.

June 22 witnessed the largest one-time deportation in three years. Now, humanitarian workers fear a plan is in the works to clear the Huay Nam Khao camp of its 7,000-odd inhabitants; a government spokesman told us he was unaware of any plans.

Bangkok says those repatriated in June went of their own free will. There may be some truth in that, but only to a point. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that the families of eight prominent Hmong leaders were forcibly deported. The other deportees had been protesting poor conditions in Huay Nam Khao. On their way to Bangkok to air their grievances, a military unit sent to intercept them gave them the choice of returning to the camp or returning to Laos. If this suggests a policy of neglecting the shelters in the hope the Hmong will just give up and go home, that's hardly a fair solution.

Thailand insists that almost all of the Hmong are economic migrants. Many continue to cross the border for economic rather than purely political reasons. But others show up in Thailand with bullet or shrapnel wounds, or other signs that they are seeking safety as much as economic opportunity. Thailand says it has instituted a screening process to separate economic from political cases, but it doesn't follow international standards and isn't open to international scrutiny, according to humanitarian workers.
The new civilian government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej could seize the initiative in implementing an effective and humane solution to this problem. As he seeks to establish his government's claim to be an improvement on the junta, a fair and humanitarian resolution to the Hmong issue would be a good way to build Thailand's human-rights bona fides.