Quando la deportazione era già in corso, Washington ha chiesto al governo thailandese di interrompere la deportazione definita una "seria violazione dei diritti umani": "Gli Stati Uniti chiedono urgentemente che le autorità thailandesi sospendano le operazioni", ha detto il Dipartimento di Stato.

(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit | AP Photo/The Royal Thai Army)

Thai Hmong woman walks by Thai Army soldiers outside the Hmong camp in northern Phetchabun province, Thailand, on Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009. The Thai government said it would not disclose the timing for its expulsion of 4,000 ethnic Hmong to Laos, but human rights groups warned it could begin as early as Sunday evening and degenerate into violence.
_____________________________________
Hmong refugees leave from Ban Huay Nam Khao camp to Laos as Thai soldiers on guard in Phetchabun province, northern Thailand, 28 December 2009. Thailand on on 28 December 2009 began deporting 4,000 ethnic Hmong refugees to Laos despite international appeals to the government to reconsider the involuntary repatriation to an uncertain future. The first batch of 448 Hmong were taken from Huay Nam Khao camp in Phetchabun province to buses that will carry them to Nong Khai province where they will cross the Mekong River on the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge into neighbouring Laos, said Thai Army Colonel Thana Jaruwat, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command.