MORE ON MISSING CHILDREN

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENTIANE 000500 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS, PRM, DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/02/2016 TAGS: PHUM PREF PGOV KIRF TH LA SUBJECT: MORE ON MISSING CHILDREN REF: VIENTIANE 496 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Ambassador Patricia M. Haslach, reason 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Further to our cable earlier today regarding the joint demarche on the missing Hmong children (reftel),this afternoon UNDP ResRep Finn Reske-Nielsen informed us that UN New York had urged him to be "pro-active" about the case, and agreed to have him write the Foreign Minister to solicit a quick reply to the UN Secretary General's May 18 letter to President Khamtai on the children. UN New York also endorsed the suggested talking points conveyed in reftel, and gave the ResRep permission to participate in the planned joint demarche, even to lead it if he wished. Reske-Nielsen said UN instructed him to "proceed ASAP" with these initiatives. ¶2. (C) Separately, in a meeting with the Australian Ambassador this afternoon, Press Spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy said the Lao were not satisfied with the information that the Thai government had provided regarding the December 5 deportation of the group. Yong said the Foreign Minister had demanded that the Thai also provide the name, rank and badge number of the "unnamed Thai official" responsible for the deportation, and that he be punished. Moreover, the FM insisted on knowing much more about the details of the deportation to "help provincial officials in their search": the time of day of the deportation, the registration numbers of the boats used to send the children across, the number of officials involved, and other details -- information, by the way, that in most cases they already have. ¶3. (C) Finally, we learned today from a highly reliable Hmong source in Thailand that the 26 children are still being held at their respective locations (five boys in Phongsaly and 21 girls and their adult guardian in Bolikhamsai). However, our source had heard from a Lao official associated with the Phongsaly government that the five boys would likely be moved later this month to a new facility. This official related that a new prison was nearing completion in Phongsaly and all prisoners from the current facility would move there by the end of the month. HASLACH