UPDATE ON OPTIONS FOR THE PETCHABOON HMONG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 007191 SIPDIS GENEVA FOR RMA E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2015 TAGS: PREF PREL TH LA SUBJECT: UPDATE ON OPTIONS FOR THE PETCHABOON HMONG REF: A. STATE 203111 ¶B. BANGKOK 6844 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR SUSAN M. SUTTON. REASON 1.4 (B,D). ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para. 11. ¶2. (C) Summary. During a November 15 meeting, UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative Raja Panday stated that he had made a new proposal to the Thai government on resolving the situation of the Petchaboon Hmong. The proposal is that the Thai would offer one-year renewable work permits to the group. UNHCR thinks this option would provide temporary protection for those who need it, help disperse the Petchaboon Hmong, and in the process enable the filtering out of those Hmong most in need of help, that is, those who fled to Thailand because of political persecution from the Lao government. Simultaneous with a work permit offer, the basic needs assistance being provided by NGOs to the Hmong would be ended. The Thai government has not yet responded to this new UNHCR proposal. While waiting for a Thai response, UNHCR is continuing its original planning and discussions with the Thai on identifying and screening those in the Petchaboon Hmong group who have valid refugee claims. End summary. ¶3. (C) Refcoord and visiting Embassy Vientiane political officer met with UNHCR Deputy Regional Representive Raja Panday on November 15 to discuss the situation of the Petchaboon Hmong. ¶4. (C) Panday stated that he was pursuing a new option for resolving the Hmong situation. He said that he had proposed to Thai National Security Council chief General Winai on November 13 that the Thai government offer the Hmong renewable, one-year work permits similar to the permits the Thai have provided to economic migrant workers from neighboring countries over the past couple years. Simultaneous with such an offer, the rice and basic HEALTH care currently being provided by international NGOs to the Hmong would be ended. ¶5. (C) Panday said that the logic behind this approach is that it would provide temporary protection for those who need it and help filter out the group most in need of help, that is, the Hmong who fled to Thailand because of alleged political persecution from the Lao government. For those Hmong at Petchaboon who are long-stayers in Thailand and went to Petchaboon in the hopes of gaining entry into any new U.S. resettlement program (UNHCR currently estimates this group at 1,300 persons),the offer of temporary work permits would not provide any new benefit and so this group would likely return to their homes elsewhere in Thailand. For those Hmong who are recent arrivals in Thailand but were otherwise well-settled in Laos and came to Thailand to access any new U.S. resettlement program, a work permit offer would allow them to stay temporarily in Thailand if they chose. UNHCR believes, however, that most of this group would make their way back to Laos because they were well-settled there and did not come to Thailand to find work. ¶6. (C) For the smaller group of Hmong who fled Laos because of alleged political persecution, work permits would provide a form of temporary protection. UNHCR would also gain time and be better able to identify the members of this group as the other two groups dispered from the Petchaboon site. The members of the political persecution group could then be screened to determine what durable solution, third country resettlement or local integration, would be most appropriate. Panday noted that some of those who fled Laos because of political persecution would likely be fighters from the forest and third country resettlement for them would be problematic. ¶7. (C) Panday said that General Winai was non-committal in response. However, Panday noted that Geneva-based UNHCR Asia Department head Janet Lim was scheduled to meet with Winai and Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai on November 18 and 23, respectively, and will urge them to accept the new option. Panday asked for U.S. government support. ¶8. (C) Given the uncertainty of the Thai response to this new proposal, Panday said that UNHCR was still continuing its original planning and discussions with the Thai, as outlined in ref b, on screening the Petchaboon Hmong to find those with valid refugee claims. He stated that UNHCR intends to use information from its own records, NGOs, and Petchaboon police officials to develop a list of 30-40 cases to be interviewed in a "pre-screening exercise." The objective will be to test/verify the accuracy and reliability of the various lists of the Petchaboon Hmong population and gain more knowledge of possible cases of concern. The pre-screening team would be made up of three UNHCR Thai staff and two interpreters. This exercise would be carried out as discreetly as possible to minimize any pull factor. After the pre-screening exercise, UNHCR would then identify a caseload to undergo refugee status determination. It expects this caseload would number about 1000 persons. This caseload would then have to be separated from the rest of the Petchaboon group and interviewed. A process for appeals would also have to be developed, as well as a plan of action for handling those who are screened in and those screened out. ¶9. (C) Visiting Embassy Vientiane political officer told Panday that he would supply names of Hmong-speaking Americans who might be good candidates to participate in the UNHCR refugee status determination teams. Embassy Vientiane will vet these names with the Department before providing them to UNHCR. ¶10. (C) Comment. It is uncertain what the Thai response to UNHCR's new proposal will be. The Thai seem to want to send a message that crossing illegally into Thailand will not be tolerated and so have continued to maintain the position that most of the Petchaboon Hmong will be deported to Laos. At the same time, the Lao government has not budged from its stance that it wants nothing to do with the Hmong and so any attempt by the Thai to ignore Vientiane's wishes and deport the Hmong to Laos would likely strain bilateral relations. ¶11. (C) Action request: Embassy believes that UNHCR's new option is worth pursuing and requests Department approval to approach the Thai government in support of it. ¶12. (U) Embassy Vientiane has cleared this message. BOYCE