LAOS, Laos, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Four thousand ethnic Hmong asylum seekers are being held in secret Laotian camps after being deported from Thailand, refugee advocates said.
On Dec. 28, the asylum seekers were moved out of a Thai refugee camp at Huay Nam Khao and 158 others were deported from a camp in Nong Khai. The Hmong refugees were forcibly repatriated to Laos, where their supporters fear they will face persecution and discrimination living in a camp near Paksan, The Age in Melbourne reported Tuesday.
The deportation from Thailand caused an outcry, including from countries that had already agreed to accept some of them, including Australia, which expected to take in more than 40, The Age reported.
The government in Laos said the Hmong will be reintegrated into Lao society, with access to normal amenities, and that concerns for their welfare were baseless. However, the Laotian government has said there will be no access to the Hmong until they have been resettled, and will not inform other countries or the United Nations where the refugees are being held.
Thailand has been harshly criticized for deporting the Hmong.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was ''deeply concerned'' by the move, and urged the Thai and Laotian governments to find a ''humane solution''.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Laos received a list of 47 people of special concern, some with humanitarian visas.
"We remain committed to resettling Lao Hmong from this group. We urge Laos to maintain and provide reliable information on the whereabouts of this group," as spokeswoman for the department said.
The Hmong, many of whom were recruited by the U.S. government to block supply lines into Vietnam, fled Laos when Communist forces took over the Laos in the mid-1970s.
