Tuesday, April 15, 2008

PETITION LETTER (please copy, paste and send!)

Please send petition letters to the King, the Prime Minister Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand (addresses below).

[Date]

Dear [title and name],

I am writing on behalf of the thousands of Hmong living in the jungles of Laos, as well as the thousands Hmong being forcibly repatriated to Laos from Thailand by the Royal Thai 3rd Army. The Hmong are victims of genocide, an ethnic cleansing war, persecution, state-sponsored human rights abuses, and starvation at the hands of LPDR and SRV Vietnamese forces. As is such, the forced repatriation of Hmong asylum seekers in Thailand by the Royal Thai 3rd Army is a direct violation of the internationally-accepted principle of non-refoulement, which explicitly states that no refugee should be forcibly returned to his or her country of origin if he or she will encounter any form of persecution or discrimination in that country.

We urge you to carry out the following actions in order to help save the lives of the thousands of Hmong civilians, women, and children whose lives are in danger:

1. Allow the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) to conduct a proper screening process to determine the Hmong people’s refugee status before repatriation takes place.
2. Honor Thailand’s obligation of non-refoulement under customary international law.
3. Intervene to stop the forced deportation of the 8,000 Hmong people detained in Huay Nam Khao.
4. Release the 155 UNHCR-recognized Hmong refugees at Nong Khai Immigration and Detention Center so they can be resettled safely in the third countries that have been waiting to take them.
5. Pressure the LPDR regime to immediately end all military attacks from ground and air troops against the innocent, unarmed Hmong civilians, women, and children who are hiding in the jungles of Laos.

Such efforts are the only ways to bring true peace, democracy, human rights, stability, and national reconciliation to Laos and the Laotian Hmong groups, including dissident and opposition groups, who seek an open and free society.

Sincerely,


[Name and Country]

FAX OR MAIL TO:The King of Thailand
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej
The Grand Palace
Na Phra Lan Road
Bangkok 10200, Thailand
Phone: (662) 224-9477-80
Fax: (662) 225-8787

Office of His Majesty’s Principal
Private SecretaryArsa Sarasin
The Grand Palace
Na Phra Lan Road
Bangkok 10200, Thailand
Tel (662) 225-5833-43: ext. 1113

MAIL TO:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Office of the Secretary to the Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Wang Saranrom, Thanon Sanamchai,
Phra Nakhorn, Bangkok 10200
Tel.: (662) 225-0096, 225-7900-43
Email: webmaster@mfa.go.th

PrimeMinister Samak Sunaravej
The Secretariat of the Prime Minister
Government House
Thanon Nakhon Pathom,
DusitBangkok 10300,
Thailand
Email: secretariat_PM@opm.go.th

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dear Blogger,

I work for a human rights organization and am deeply impressed by the touching pictures on the Hmong. Would it be possible to use your photos? If you could send me an email to k.wolff[at]gfbv.de I would send you more information.

Thank you so much for the publicity for the Hmong Lao refugees in Thailand!