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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
From 1975 to 1985, after the communists had seized
power and
were consolidating their hold, some 350,000 persons fled
across the
Mekong River to Thailand and, in most cases, resettled in
third
countries. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, this outflow
had
declined substantially. In 1990, for example, an estimated
1,000 to
2,000 lowland Lao and 4,000 to 5,000 upland Lao departed
illegally
for Thailand. The Thai government refused to admit these
refugees
as immigrants. Third-country resettlement has grown more
difficult
with the end of Cold War solidarity with emigrants who
claim to be
"victims of communism." Moreover, Laos has become more
liberal in
granting exit permits to those desiring to emigrate.
By the early 1990s, almost as many Laotians were
returning to
Laos as were leaving. Under a voluntary repatriation
program worked
out in 1980 by Laos and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR--see Glossary),
nearly 19,000 Laotians had
voluntarily returned to their homeland by the end of 1993,
and an
estimated 30,000 more had returned without official
involvement.
Most of the returnees are lowland Lao. Of the
approximately 30,000
Laotian refugees remaining in camps in Thailand in 1993,
the
majority are upland Lao. Approximately 1,700 Laotian
refugees
remain in China. Émigrés who had resettled in third
countries are
returning in increasing numbers to visit relatives and, in
a few
cases, to survey business opportunities in the more
liberal
economy.
Data as of July 1994
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