Thailand used to be friendly to us. The fear of being killed made us flee to Thailand, to survive. Now it seems they detain us only so that they can deport us.''
These were the words of a Lao Hmong refugee who spoke to Amnesty International in late 2008, frightened of being forced back to Laos.
One year later, his fears came true. On Dec 28 and 29, 2009, Thai authorities forcibly returned to Laos around 4,500 ethnic minority Hmong. Among them were 158 recognised refugees who had been in arbitrary detention in Nong Khai for three years, despite four countries considering to resettle them. The others, who included asylum-seekers, had been living in a camp in Phetchabun province for several years.
Indeed, after more than three decades of widely recognised generosity in protecting asylum-seekers and refugees, Thailand reversed its course in 2009.
Despite assuring its respect for human rights and the rule of law, the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva ignored the rights of asylum-seekers and refugees in a manner both unlawful and inhumane.
The year began as shockingly as it ended. In January, after detaining and reportedly beating 200 ethnic minority Rohingyas from Burma for several weeks on an island, the Thai military placed them on an unseaworthy boat and pushed them back out to sea without adequate provisions. At least two people died. The unlawfulness of this action under international human rights, refugee, and maritime law is self-evident.
The government called the Rohingyas economic migrants but the Rohingyas themselves claimed they had fled persecution. And because the government denied the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, access to them, it was never known how many among them needed international protection. What was known, however, was that the Rohingyas in Burma are among the most persecuted ethnic minorities anywhere in the world. Prime Minister Abhisit admitted to CNN in January that Thai authorities made ``attempts to let these people drift to other Leg 1shores'' and that he would ``certainly bring them to account'', but not a single official was prosecuted.
The Rohingya push-back happened just as Thailand took over as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which readily acknowledged the Rohingyas' plight as one of regional significance. Thailand thus began its tenure _ ironically during a year which saw the birth of an Asean Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights _ by setting a textbook example of how not to treat asylum-seekers and refugees.
It chose to end the year the same way, in a manner contemptuous of international law and opinion: the forcible return of the 4,500 Hmong to Laos.
Condemnations were quick, clear, and plentiful yet the government ignored all such pleas, whether from governments, the UN, or human rights organisations.
The Abhisit government attempted to explain and justify its actions as somehow lawful, even humane. They were neither. Everyone has a human right to seek asylum. The Thai government denied this right to thousands of Hmong in Phetchabun, and to the Rohingyas from Burma. Moreover, people seeking asylum _ especially those granted protection by UNHCR, such as the 158 refugees in Nong Khai _ have a right to ifnotnf be sent back to their place of persecution. The forcible return of these people was thus an unequivocal violation of the principle of non-refoulement, a rule of international customary law.
Thailand also violated its obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which provides that state parties must not send people to countries where they risk torture. The government also claimed, after holding them for three years in arbitrary detention in constant fear of forcible return, that the Hmong agreed to return to Laos voluntarily. In fact, the Thai authorities told them that they would be resettled to third countries only if they first agreed to go back to Laos.
Amnesty International visited the refugees in Nong Khai _ including Leg 2around 90 children _ and can attest to their strong fear of the Lao authorities and desire to resettle somewhere safe. The Hmong in both Nong Khai and Phetchabun also expressed their resistance to returning to Laos through hunger strikes, protests, and acts of civil disobedience. And the Thai authorities' own actions highlight the Hmong's opposition to returning: the deployment of roughly 5,000 troops, denial of access to media and civil society, and jamming mobile phone signals for two days.
Thailand's disregard for its international legal obligations should not go without a response by the international community. As the annual sailing season for the Rohingyas fleeing Burma is again well under way, the international community must pressure the Abhisit government to bring to justice those responsible for last January's push-back to prevent further abusive actions.
Concerning the Lao Hmong, the international community should seek access to the returnees inside Laos and respond to any reports of ill-treatment. Bilaterally, the United States, one of the countries that was considering the Hmong refugees for resettlement, should review the conduct of the Thai military during the forced repatriation of the Hmong refugees. There are strong reasons to believe that Thai military units violated human rights law in their operations, which would place them in violation of US laws that condition US funding and assistance to foreign militaries on their compliance with human rights law (``the Leahy law'').
Asean's new Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights should address the unlawful actions of both Thailand and Laos, and urge Laos to permit immediate and unimpeded access for UNHCR to the 4,500 Hmong. The UN should also raise these violations if Thailand seeks a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. Last year saw the Abhisit government roll back Thailand's protection of asylum-seekers, tarnishing the country's human rights record
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