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Update: More Hmong refugees deported to Laos
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On April 10, 2008, Thai authorities deported a group of 67 Hmong from Huay Nam Khao camp, Petchabun province back to Laos. The leader of the group included a Christian Pastor, Nor Long Vue (aka: Long Vue), and many of his followers.
According to Hmong refugees who witnessed the deportation, the group voluntarily agreed to return. Though there was one 17-18 year old girl who had a change of heart at the last minute. She began crying saying she was afraid to return. Apparently, she has no parents but has a boyfriend in the camp who decided to stay. Thai authorities allowed her to stay with her boyfriend as they made it clear to the Hmong that this was a totally voluntary deportation.
The majority of the group deported where followers of Pastor Nor Long Vue, who had a following of some 200 Hmong families. Witnesses who asked him why he was returning to Laos claim that he replied “God had told him to return to Laos.”
Many of his Christian followers in Huay Nam Khao decided not to take part in the deportation as they had fled from military attacks in the jungle and fear returning to Laos.
It should be noted that those who voluntarily participated in this deportation were given 1000 baht each from Thai authorities.
In mid-March, due to the fact that not many Hmong were volunteering to return to Laos, Thai authorities announced that no third country would take any of the Hmong and that they must eventually return to Laos. They told the Hmong that they would give 10,000 baht (roughly $300, which is the average annual income for a Lao citizen) to each person who would return to Laos in the coming month. After that, for those Hmong who continued to refuse to return the Thai authorities told them they would get nothing.
During the actual deportation the Hmong returnees only received 1000 baht each, not the 10,000 baht which Thai authorities had originally promised them.
Back on February 28, 2008, a group of 11 Hmong were also “voluntarily” deported to Laos. They were promised 10,000 baht by Thai authorities but only received 3000 baht per family on the day they departed. A 26 year old man, Cha Lee, was among the group. He reportedly resisted deportation and Thai authorities had to use some force to put him on the deportation bus.
On March 4, less than a week after being deported to Laos, Cha Lee called a relative in Huay Nam Khao saying he was afraid of what would happen to him. He hasn’t been heard from since. In fact, his ex-wife Pa Nhia Thao, who was deported with him, called Cha Lee’s relatives in Huay Nam Khao just a couple days later saying that she hadn’t seen nor heard from him for a couple of days and was very worried. She asked the relatives if they had heard anything from him.
The Lao government’s state controlled newspaper Vientiane Times later reported (March 25, 2008) that Cha Lee (Mr Cheu Li, aka: Sa Li) escaped from the Paksan transit center on March 16 due to being afraid that he would face legal action for killing his wife in Luang Prabang, before originally escaping to Thailand. Relatives in Huay Nam Khao say this is not true and worry that the Lao government is trying to frame him for political reasons. On April 11, the Vientiane Times further reported that Cha Lee had “fled back to Thailand to evade arrest as a result of the criminal case against him for killing his wife prior to his first journey to Thailand."
Cha Lee had married to Pa Nhia Thao while he lived in Huay Nam Khao but had divorced her in April-May 2007 due to the fact that she was reportedly fooling around with one of the Thai soldiers or policemen in the camp. Cha Lee had divorced Pa Nhia Thao per Hmong culture but Thai camp records still had them labeled as a family unit so Cha Lee had to return with his ex-wife.
Joe Davy
Hmong Advocate
Chicago
April 14, 2008
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