PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 39/007/2007

11 June 2007

Further Information on UA 142/07 (ASA 39/006/2007, 8 June 2007) Fear of forcible return/arbitrary arrest

THAILAND 48 Lao Hmong asylum-seekers

The group of 48 were forcibly returned to Laos in the early hours of 9 June, together with another 115 Lao Hmong asylum-seekers. Their whereabouts in Laos are not known.

The 163 had been held at four separate police detention centres in the northern province of Phetchabun. Most of them had been given no opportunity to apply for refugee status, through either the Thai authorities or the UNHCR.

Saturday’s forcible return highlights the precarious situation of Lao Hmong asylum-seekers and refugees in Thailand.

No further action is requested on this case, though Amnesty International is continuing to campaign through the UA network on behalf of Lao Hmong asylum-seekers and refugees in Thailand, who are at risk of forcible return.

Among those at risk are 156 recognised refugees, around half of whom are children, who have been held at the Immigration Detention Centre in Nong Khai, in the north of the country since early December 2006. See UA 324/06, ASA 39/018/2006, 8 December 2006, and follow-ups.