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Many international organisations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the London-based human-rights group Amnesty International, and the New York-based Human Rights Watch, have done their part in voicing concern over the fate of Hmong ethnic minorities from Laos detained in Thailand.

Human-rights defenders in Thailand, however, are doing little to provide rights protection for these abandoned people.

Of course, they are not Thai citizens qualified for legal protection under the constitution and other Thai laws. They did not come here as fighters to topple an undesirable political regime in Bangkok, or to exercise their political rights under the constitution at Government House. They have never asked for the same protection available to those groups.

From a Thai human-rights' perspective, they might not be subject to protection - but as human beings they definitely deserve it.

The Hmong from Laos have already come to the attention of Thailand's National Human Rights Commission, following information given to commissioners by them and from journalists. At least one commissioner met some Hmong years ago while they were detained in Phetchabun's Khao Koh police station.

A group of 158 Lao Hmong refugees, of whom 92 are children, have been held in the Immigration Detention Centre in Nong Khai since November 2006 without proper legal grounds.

They were among some 8,000 Hmong from Laos being sheltered in Phetchabun's Ban Huay Nam Khao. They sneaked out of the camp to seek protection of the UNHCR and were processing their asylum papers for resettlement in third countries when they were arrested in November 2006.

The original group of 147 UN recognised refugees was moved to the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Centre, just across the Mekong River from Vientiane, on December 8, 2006. With 11 babies born while their parents are in detention, their number now stands at 158.

Amnesty International said in its latest report that conditions in the detention were harsh, badly affecting the health of many refugees. They were locked inside the building, living in overcrowded and windowless cells for more than 22 hours a day.

The Hmong claimed to have been associated with the CIA's secret fighters opposing the Communist Pathet Lao movement before the fall of Vientiane in 1975. Government oppression forced them to flee their home.

Authorities in Laos and Thailand reject their stories, saying they are merely illegal migrants who left home voluntarily to seek better lives in foreign countries. They hired human traffickers to facilitate their crossing into Thailand, waiting in Ban Huay Nam Khao for a chance to go on to third countries where many have friends or relatives.

They now have no chance for resettlement as Thai and Lao authorities have agreed to repatriate them to their places of origin. More than 1,600 Hmong have been returned home from Ban Huay Nam Khao so far.

The story of the 158 Hmong in Nong Khai is more complicated as some arrived under UN protection, a status close to resettlement qualification. Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the US pledged to consider allowing some to settle in their countries. Australia made clear it would take 20 eligible refugees.

Thailand failed in attempts to deport this group in January 2007 as they resisted strongly, asking for help from international human-rights groups to halt the forced repatriation. That's why they are still there.

The Hmong were not guilty of any crimes. A two-year jail term for illegal entry is too severe and Thai authorities have no legal grounds to detain them any longer. The best solution is to allow the UNHCR and other concerned international agencies access to them to process resettlement schemes for those who are qualified.

Again, Thai human-rights defenders should support the refugees during the process of resettlement and help them gain better living conditions. Even Ban Huay Nam Khao camp is better than being locked in Nong Khai's detention centre with no clear future.