expeditious return of voluntary repatriates and
deportees to Laos; and
continued processing of qualified Laotian refugees for
third-country resettlement.
Final agreements and implementation of these proposals need to be
worked out through negotiations between Thailand, Laos and the
UNHCR.
Curiously, the draft wording of the proposed Comprehensive
Plan lacks any reference to steps for regularizing legal
departure channels for persons wishing to emigrate from Laos.
While some possibilities currently exist for immigrant visa
processing via foreign embassies in Vientiene, the limiting
factor is that exit permission is not easily obtainable.
many Laotians then, clandestine entry into Thailand continues to
be the principal means of exit from their own country.
For
Having lost as much as ten percent of its population since
1975 to migration, the Laotian authorities may be understandably
concerned to prevent the further drain of talent which would be
risked by having a more liberal legal exit policy. However, it
would seem that wider access to legal migration would be seen as
a more acceptable alternative to the possible clandestine flight
of the same talent.
There is concern that while any new "comprehensive approach"
needs to be broadly based on international refugee rights
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