LAOS: More Illegal Migrants Volunteer to Return Home

VIENTIANE - A group of 837 illegal Lao migrants arrived in Vientiane on June 22 after spending years suffering in Thai detention camps.

Mr Kor spent more than two years in a camp in Phetsaboun province and was living there when it was set on fire last month.

“I don't know who set the fire,” he said. “More than 80 percent of the camp was completely burned and we didn't have shelter to protect us from the rain and hot sun, so I really wanted to return,”

Kor and the other migrants were deceived into believing the camp was a departure point for migration to the United States . Instead the illegal migrants were confined and did not have access to enough food.

He said more people wanted to return to Laos , but they were scared by rumours at the camps claiming returnees would be jailed by the government.

After arriving in Vientiane the migrants were sent to stay at the Borikhamxay province temporary accommodation centre, where they will be educated by government officials to prevent them from being exploited by human traffickers.

Returnees who are homeless and have no assets will be registered as residents of Phalak, a newly created village established in 2006 in Kasy district, Vientiane province.

The government will also allocate land to the migrants and give them initial assistance until they are self-reliant.

The return of the migrants was in accordance with an agreement of the Lao-Thai and Thai-Lao sub-general border committees made in September last year.

The committees agreed to facilitate the return of all illegal Lao migrants by the end of this year. (Source: Vientiane Times, June 24, 2008)