Laos confirms Hmong returnees treated well

The Lao government has confirmed that no Hmong returnees have been imprisoned or persecuted upon their return to Laos .



Chairman of the Lao-Thai border security sub-committee, Brigadier General Bouasieng Champaphanh, spoke to local and international media and members of the diplomatic corps to Laos at a press conference on Monday (January 25) at the foreign ministry.



"There is no secret jail at all in Borlikhamxay province. I can take you to visit the province tomorrow to find out the information first hand if you want," Brig. Gen. Bouasieng said.





The comments came in response to a Radio Free Asia reporter who cited rumours that the Lao government has set up a secret prison and jailed some returnees in the province.



Some audience members raised questions as to whether some returnees were prosecuted or convicted.



Brig. Gen. Bouasieng, who is also deputy director General of Army`s General Staff Department, reiterated that there is no prosecution or penalty at all for any of the returnees including those 158 people who were previously detained in the Thailand `s Nong Khai Provincial Immigration Detention Centre.



"We don`t make a distinction between the group returning from Nong Khai and the group from the detention camp in Thailand `s Phetchabun province," he told the audience.



"Prior to repatriation, we promised them that they would not be convicted or prosecuted at all. We will always keep our promises," he said.



Regarding requests from diplomatic corps members to visit the new resettlement village in Borlikhamxay province, Brig. Gen. Bouasieng committed himself to organise trips for international delegations to visit the village when resettlement work has been completed.



"Roads are in a bad condition and there is also no appropriate place for helicopters to land at the moment. Please give us two months more to get things done," he requested of the diplomatic corps members.



"When things are ready, we will invite you to visit."



Regarding resettlement of the returnees in third countries, which might be requested by those countries, Mr Bouasieng said that he was told by the returnees that they preferred to live in their motherland after learning the government did not prosecute or penalise them, but treated them with sound humanitarian policies instead.



"But if there are some that still want external resettlement and some country expresses willingness to receive them, we will consider such requests in line with relevant Lao laws," Mr Bouasieng said.



The chairman informed the audience that the repatriation of the returnees to their hometowns was completed based on their voluntary decisions.



Some decided to return their old villages while others chose to live in the government-resettled villages, all having freedom.



At the press conference he pointed out the Lao government`s humanitarian policy extended to all its returning citizens.



The returnees are now enjoying better living conditions and freedom in their motherland provided by the Lao government in line with its humanitarian policy.



He said the government provided them with food, clothes and medicines as immediately as they arrived in their motherland.



Those living in the government-resettled villages have also been provided with a one-year supply of rice and one-month supply was given to those returning to their former villages.



The government has built a house for each family in the resettled villages with allocation of a plot of land for agricultural activities.



It has also built gravity-water-fed systems, toilets, roads and schools for the enrollment of all school-aged children.



The government has also expanded electricity networks to resettlement villages and residents are permitted to use power free of charge for one year.



Medical dispensaries are also being built.



Beginning in 2004, the illegal migrants were duped by people smugglers to seek passage to Thailand , from which they believed they could organise onward passage to the United States .



The Lao and Thai governments, who deemed the victims as economic migrants, have cooperated in repatriating them to Laos since 2006.



The final group of 4,573 people were repatriated on December 28 last year.







By sakhone Vaenkeo

Vientiane Times/Asia News Network