We write to you about the ongoing and serious violations of human rights committed by Thai authorities against Lao Hmong refugees at Nong Khai immigration detention center.

US President Barack Obama should urge Asian leaders at the first ASEAN-US summit to unite in addressing the region’s most pressing human rights concerns.

As leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet at the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin this week, recent events on other Asian coastlines presents a challenge to the grouping. The plight of the ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority from Burma was revealed when several boats containing hundreds of exhausted men arrived on Thai, Indian, and Indonesian shores in January.

Thai authorities should end intimidation and forced deportations of Lao Hmong refugees detained in a camp in Petchabun province, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch expressed concern for the well-being of some 1,300 Lao Hmong who escaped from the Huay Nam Khao camp and did not return following a mass protest two weeks ago.

The Thai government should stop forcibly returning Hmong asylum seekers to Laos without independent monitoring or refugee screening, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch sent this letter to Japan's Foreign Minister, Mr. Masahiko Koumura, regarding the January 16, 2008, Japan-Mekong Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Tokyo.

Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong urging him and other ASEAN Foreign Ministers to establish specific deadlines for implementing a binding human rights mechanism as part of the new Charter.