Hmong Lao Refugee Sites
Labels: Hmong Lao Refugee Camp 2 commentsFor those who are keeping tabs on the refugee outreach status and are mystified by the additional camps. Let me explain a little bit more about them.
1 ) Hmong Refugee Camp (Phetchabun)
This refugee camp was formed after thailand received a massive influx of refugees from Laos and they basically consolidated all the refugees here to await a screening process. To filter the economic migrants from the ones who are really asylum seekers.
2 ) Hmong Refugee Camp (Nong Khai)
This refugee camp is one which the military use as a temporary holding before the Hmongs are deported or resettled back in Laos. Some have called it the Nong Khai detention centre as well.
This week RADION will be doing a assessment mission to Nong Khai to determine the pressing needs of these people.
3 ) Hmong Refugee Camp (Site X)
This refugee camp is special because the refugees live in a confined area and not behind barbwires. A good 1/3 of them have been certified as authentic refugees while the remaining receive asylum seeker status from UN.
We know the location, but we are unable to release these details fully as we have been told that the location of this camp needs to be low profile as they are staying on special grant. If more refugees flood down to this area and signature gets too high, the government will be obliged to send them to the main refugee camp in Thailand.
We have done a needs assessment on this area and will publish the report shortly.
June 26, 2008 at 1:57 AM
My recent email to Air America group:
It is definitely genocide and has been ever since 1975 for the Hmong people who were left in the jungle to fend for themselves against all odds. The undeniable truth is that the "jungle" Hmong have suffered decades of inhumane treatment by the Laotian military and the fact that this situation has not improved in the past three decades is beyond comprehension.
They should've been rescued decades ago. How is it possible that they have been left to such a cruel fate for all of these years when the solution - as you wrote - is fairly simple. The Lao government and military chose to imprison, torture and kill them v.s. simply allowing them to assimilate into their society and live productive peaceful lives in Laos.
I'm uncertain if 100,000 other Hmongs are doing "OK" is a true statement. If this were the case, why were the 5,000 - 8,000 Hmong refugees (recently involved in the protest march in Thailand) terrified for their life upon learning of the Thai government's plans to repatriate them back to Laos?
The pictures that you attached were beautiful and do paint a vastly different picture of Hmong life in Laos, in comparison to hundreds of other reports, articles and documentaries produced in the past few years.
When I visited the refugee camp at Wat Thamkrabok in 2004, the day before the resettlement of 15,000 Hmongs, what I witnessed was a community of over 40,000 impoverished refugees desperate for a better and free life.
Please view my photos and other related articles at: http//:www.xanga.com/Hmong_Apsara
Your comment stating that: "The large number of the repats won't have much trouble, if any, other than finding housing, farms, jobs, etc, in their old village or village area. Some of the 800 are, tho, "jungle" Hmong and may have trouble, then there appears to be a few "leaders" in the group who may well be in deep shit."
They were simply dropped off on the roadside. It is hard to imagine that they won't have much trouble without assistance of some sort.
Thank you for your pictures and comments. The Hmong situation in Thailand and Laos is dire and needs our urgent attention and action. 5,000 - 8,000 Hmong left the refugee camp to protest to the UN, but they never arrived at their destination. Please help them by forwarding the news of their plight onward to media contacts, friends and associates.
Few Americans even know who the Hmong are except in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Nor do they know anything about their present struggle or their role in supporting the U.S. during the Secret War in Laos. Tragically, the Hmong gave the U.S. everything and in return they were left behind to die.
Kind Regards,
Prisana Nuechterlein
December 23, 2008 at 2:10 AM
Valuable resource of Hmong news summaries...