Thailand is facing fierce international criticism after announcing it plans to deport over 4000 Hmong refugees back to Laos. The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, the United States and human rights group Amnesty International are among those protesting against the move.

The people the Thai government proposes to expel are from Laos' ethnic minority Hmong community. Thailand and Laos have made agreements about the group’s repatriation, and the government in Bangkok plans to carry out the move before 2010.

The Hmong say they face persecution in Communist Laos because members of their community fought on the side of the United States in the Vietnam War.

photo: Hmong mother and children (Wikimedia Commons)