The Paris-based charity group, Medesins Sans Frontiers or Dortors Without Borders, appeals to the international community to step up efforts to assist the Hmong refugees currently living at Ban Huay Nam Khao detention camp in Thailand’s Phetchabun province, fearing they will be persecuted when they are repatriated to Laos in the near future.

The head of the DWB Thailand office says upon interviewing the Huay

Lao officials taking foreign diplomats on a tour of a resettlement site for Hmong refugees to be repatriated from Thailand

Nam Khao Hmongs, his group feels they are genuine refugees who fled persecution by the Lao government because their ancestors had CIA connections. The Thai and Lao governments, however, consider the refugees illegal immigrants and agreed to repatriate them all to Laos by the end of 2008.

Doctors Without Borders is the only charity group that has been providing help to the approximately 8,000 Hmong refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao.

Listen to our Laos Today report for more details.