Thursday, December 3, 2009
By John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writer
Twenty-two members of a Chinese ethnic group who participated in violent demonstrations against China last summer have surfaced in Cambodia, sparking concerns that Cambodia will ignore their requests for asylum and return them to China.
The 22 Uighurs, including three children, trickled into Cambodia over the past several weeks, according to Omar Kanat, vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, a group that advocates for the rights of Uighurs in China. He said that two additional Uighurs have been detained in neighboring Vietnam and that five others, who were known to have fled China into Vietnam, have disappeared.
Violent anti-China demonstrations led by Uighurs rocked Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region of northwest China, on July 5.
At least 200 people died in the bedlam that involved Uighurs attacking Han Chinese and then bands of Han Chinese retaliating against Uighurs. Last month, China's state-run media reported that nine Uighurs had been executed for taking part in the riots. Kanat and other sources said that seven of the men who fled to Cambodia were wanted by the Chinese.
The Chinese government blamed the unrest on Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur businesswoman who had been jailed in China and then exiled to the United States after pressure from the Bush administration.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that Beijing wanted the Uighurs to be returned to China and that only a "handful of Uighurs in China are engaged in national splitism, religious extremism and violent terrorism."
A State Department spokeswoman said it is department policy not to comment on asylum cases.
Uighurs constitute a mostly Muslim ethnic group that speaks a Turkic language. For years, Uighur separatists have conducted a sometimes violent campaign against China's rule of the resource-rich Xinjiang region.
Cambodia has a troubled history when it comes to refugee rights. Human Rights Watch criticized Cambodia in a report this year for sending asylum-seekers back to Vietnam.
"Cambodia is not a good place to be a refugee these days," said Sophie Richardson, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division.
The 22 Uighurs, including three children, trickled into Cambodia over the past several weeks, according to Omar Kanat, vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, a group that advocates for the rights of Uighurs in China. He said that two additional Uighurs have been detained in neighboring Vietnam and that five others, who were known to have fled China into Vietnam, have disappeared.
Violent anti-China demonstrations led by Uighurs rocked Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region of northwest China, on July 5.
At least 200 people died in the bedlam that involved Uighurs attacking Han Chinese and then bands of Han Chinese retaliating against Uighurs. Last month, China's state-run media reported that nine Uighurs had been executed for taking part in the riots. Kanat and other sources said that seven of the men who fled to Cambodia were wanted by the Chinese.
The Chinese government blamed the unrest on Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur businesswoman who had been jailed in China and then exiled to the United States after pressure from the Bush administration.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that Beijing wanted the Uighurs to be returned to China and that only a "handful of Uighurs in China are engaged in national splitism, religious extremism and violent terrorism."
A State Department spokeswoman said it is department policy not to comment on asylum cases.
Uighurs constitute a mostly Muslim ethnic group that speaks a Turkic language. For years, Uighur separatists have conducted a sometimes violent campaign against China's rule of the resource-rich Xinjiang region.
Cambodia has a troubled history when it comes to refugee rights. Human Rights Watch criticized Cambodia in a report this year for sending asylum-seekers back to Vietnam.
"Cambodia is not a good place to be a refugee these days," said Sophie Richardson, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division.
7 comments:
Stupid Sophie Richardson's comment:
Cambodia is not a good place to be a refugee these days.
Not just Cambodia.The same problem, about the "modern Refugee" also have every where on this planet.
Before coming in to Cambodia, these people sure crossed another country. Why they did not use the "refugee statute" in those country, where they first arrived ?
About Cambodia and Vietnam was a different story. You need to clarify more in all detail about the history and the real background.
Cambodia should not accept this kind of refugee if Cambodia do not want to be one day the place of refuge of Al-queda.
You're wrong! These people are in the same boat as khmer cham. They lost their lands to China centuries ago. Now they just want their independence back, but that will never happen. The spoils goes to the victor of war. Whoever lost the war have no right to complain.
Cambodia do not have the place for every people who lost their land to come like the Chams ,the viets, the tamils,the chineses , because we do not have enough for our-self. Anyone who want to help this people should go there and fight for them but not in Cambodia.
These are perhaps the extremist muslim. They already created problem in China. And the Chinese government are looking for them. Why accept the criminal? They could cause further damage to the country. Every refugees should have a good background check up before entering that country. Just for the sake of the country.
Those people are the ethnic minority like Khmer Krom. If they are sent back, a small chances for them to survive. They will be disappeared without a trace. Communist regime is merciless.
There were 56 nations combined to ONE CHINA, and these people had their own origins, but they lost their land.
There are about more than 2 million Chinese or Khmer origins in China. If anyone is interested then search in google. Those Chinese of Khmer origins speak Khmer at home and keep their culture as is today.
These refugeees can be those Chinese of Khmer origins, we will never know.
Those who participe in riot killing innocent people are criminals and they are not qualified as refugees.These criminals kill in terror are terrorists like the people of al-queda islamist.If we accept them,others terrorists will come to seek refuge in our country.The criminal mind may try to say they kill the chineses not americans so they are refugees not criminals.But Cambodia should check those who help these people to come a long way from East-turkistan to Cambodia and prosecute them as human trafficer.
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