**The UN refugee agency has formally asked Laos for access to more than 4,000 ethnic Hmong who were forcibly repatriated from Thailand.**The agency also called on the Thai government to provide details of a Thai-Laotian accord regarding the treatment of the Hmong.
The Hmong say they face persecution in communist-led Laos because they backed US forces during the Vietnam war.
But the Thai government regards the Hmong as illegal economic migrants.
In a statement, the Swiss-based Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it recognised that some of those sent back had refugee status and needed “international protection”.
‘Honour commitments’
The agency, which has no formal presence in Laos, asked the Thai government to ensure that any commitments made under the accord were “honoured”.
Over a period of 24 hours, more than 4,000 people were removed from a camp in Thailand’s northern Phetchabun province, where they had been living for the past five years.
UN refugee agency staff were not allowed to visit them beforehand.
A second group of 158 Hmong, who were officially recognised as refugees by the UNHCR, were also forcibly repatriated, after three years in a detention centre.
The removal of the Hmong, who are sometimes known as America’s forgotten allies, has sparked criticism in the US and Europe.
Ariane Rannery, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Bangkok, told the BBC offers had been made by third countries to resettle those granted refugee status, but that Thailand had consistently rejected the idea.
Thailand says it has been given assurances by the government in Laos that the returnees will not be mistreated.