The Refugee Experience in Thailand
During the two decades after the communist takeover in Laos in 1975, several hundred thousand Hmong took the dangerous journey on foot through the Laotian countryside and across the Thai border, formed much of the way by the Mekong River. The fortunate who survived the trip ended up in one or more first-asylum refugee camps: Ban Vinai, Nong Khai, Ban Nam Yao, and Chieng Kham.
Three Waves
The early Hmong refugee movements have been divided into three waves. First-wave refugee groups are typically made up of those who have the most to lose by the change in governments, and the Hmong were no exception to this pattern. Lasting from 1975 to 1977, the first wave of Hmong refugees mostly included soldiers from the secret army and their families.
A second wave of Hmong arrived between 1978 and 1982, a period when both lowland and highland Laotians fled drought and crop failure, compulsory farm collectivization enforced by the Lao communist government, and attacks on the resistance movement. These were also the years of the largest exodus of Indochinese refugees, a period when 21 first-asylum, processing, and transit camps were set up in Thailand, in addition to some encampments for Khmer refugees on the Thai–Cambodian border that were not designated as camps.
The numbers of Hmong refugees increased as a third wave (1982 to 1986) brought additional asylum seekers. By 1987, about 75,000 Laotian refugees were known to be in Thailand. Of these, the majority—about 54,000—were hilltribe people, mostly Hmong in Ban Vinai and Chiang Kham camps.
Neither Western governments nor their Indochinese counterparts were willing or able to reach a political solution to the refugee situation. Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia remained relatively closed, and development assistance from the West was minimal. Repression of the Hmong in Laos, declining economic conditions in that country, and the availability of food and medical attention in the camps contributed to the steady flow of Hmong refugees into Thailand.
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cal.org
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Minority Politics in Thailand: A Hmong Perspective *. By: Gary Y. LEE This paper will attempt to examine some of these assertions, and to shed light on the main reasons why the Hmong are perceived to be more difficult to integrate than other hill tribes in Thailand. There are many accounts in Thai, English and French on this subject, but they are mostly from the perspectives of government officials or foreign researchers. Being myself a Hmong who have many years of close association with the issues involved, I will speak mainly from the point of view of the Hmong themselves. I hope that this may help bring a better understanding to the manners in which these tribespeople have interpreted their situations and reacted to it now or in the past. snip In conclusion, I wish to reiterate that the real issues in minority politics in Thailand still remain the question of citizenship and land tenure. Until these problems are solved, and not sidestepped as they are now, Thailand is likely to continue having tribal discontent and destitution (Hearn, op.cit.: 193). At present, there are few incentives for the highland population to co-operate in government projects, for whatever action is taken about their legal status will not immediately change the situation for the better unless the people "are included as full and equal partners in any development strategy that may be undertaken" (McKinnon, 1978: 14). Many villagers have been brought under the watchful eye of Thai authorities through its many dry season roads built up to the hills in the past few years. However, they will be influenced by anti-government groups as long as they are not given a direct role to play in the management of public resources and in the execution of programmes for the national interest. This is particularly the case when many tribespeople, despite their desire for a peaceful existence, are forever at the mercy of unscrupulous traders and officials or are serving as buffers between the Thai Government and insurgents in the remote areas of the country.
hmongnet.org
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