By Rungrawee C. Pinyorat The Associated Press
Published: August 13, 2007

BAN KHEK NOI, Thailand: It was the fear of persecution that drove Yang Pahua to flee her native Laos - twice.

Yang, 17, is one of 21 girls and five boys whose stories have drawn new attention to the plight of the Hmong, an ethnic minority. Their families first fled Laos in 2004 for an informal refugee settlement in the Thai province of Phetchabun. The youths were sent back to Laos in December 2005.

In June, it emerged that a dozen of them had run away again. They have now made it back to Phetchabun.

The youth share the tragedy of thousands of Hmong who are hiding in the jungles of Laos or living in limbo in Thailand. The Hmong are viewed with suspicion by Laos because they fought in the CIA-backed "secret war" of the 1960s and 1970s against the communists who are now in power. The plight of the Hmong is exacerbated by the fact that some of them are Christian, and the Vientiane government views proselytizing as a challenge to its authority in the country, which is mostly Buddhist.

Yet the Hmong who escape across the border risk a hostile reception in Thailand, which has deported more than 300 of them over the past year. Thai officials have reserved the right to send back all the Laotian Hmong, whom they no longer consider political refugees.

"Now, I am being sought after by both the Lao and Thai governments," Yang said. "I would like to plead for help from humanitarian agencies. I can't continue to live like this."

Read the complete story here:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/13/news/laos.php