KKF: Growing International Support For Khmer Krom Issues in Geneva

KKF Delegations with Professor Yash Ghai and representatives from LICADHO and UNPO
KKF Delegations Thach Ngoc Thach, Venerable Berong and Thhai Makara with member of High Commissioner for Human Rights in Asia and UNPO

Fri, 2008-03-21
Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF)

Members of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) have traveled to Geneva, Switzerland for the 7th Session of Human Rights Council (HRC), arriving earlier this week.

Mr. Thach Ngoc Thach, KKF President, Mr. Thach Vien, KKF Vice President of Europe Chapter, Venerable Thach Berong, KKF International Affairs Officer and Mr. Thhai Makarar, KKF Youth Committee headed to Geneva to submit a report to the HRC about the ongoing human rights abuses and religious violations committed by the Vietnam government.

Starting from 3 March until 28 March 2008, governments, indigenous peoples and international agencies gather to speak about human rights.

It provided a great opportunity for organizations to network, share information and provide support to one another.

Upon arrival, the KKF Delegations were met with surprising support from different organizations also attending the conference.

KKF met with Professor Yash Ghai, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in Cambodia spoke about the religious violations in the Mekong Delta. During his speech to the HRC, Professor Ghai spoke about the issues KKF brought up.Click here to read his speech

The delegation also met up with representatives from Human Rights Watch, High Commissioner for Human Rights in Asia, Commissioner for Human Rights on Indigenous Peoples and Amnesty International.

They made an appeal to European Union delegations and ambassadors to support the Khmer Krom issues.

They also initiated a meeting Mr. Thun Saray, President of ADHOC and Dr. Kek Galabru, President of LICADHO.

According to the KKF delegation, the growing support by international agencies and organizations has provided a great moral boast and credibility to the work of the Federation bringing greater hope and a brighter future for the indigenous people of the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.

Hun Sen Again Chastised Yash Ghai

1st March 2008
By Kesor Ranniya
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer to English by Khmerization

Prime Minister Hun Sen has again publicly chastised the UN human rights envoy to Cambodia, Mr. Yash Ghai, who in the past has strongly criticised the Cambodian government for its human rights records.

In a speech during a meeting on Thursday Mr. Hun Sen has reiterated that all the issues that the UN envoy had raised about Cambodia are all happening in his own country and that Mr. Yash Ghai should solve the problems of human right violations in his native country rather than giving advice to Cambodia.

The prime minister said: “Please look! In Mr. Yash Ghai’s country, it is full of problems but he still preach to us. There are all sorts of problems in his native Kenya but he still preach to us on human rights. Now the bad Karma had spread very quickly. We all pray that the crisis in Kenya would end but it does not matter how hard everybody pray, it still didn’t end. The killings still continue, including the burning of people alive. It is his problems and he compared Cambodia’s issues to those problems. I don’t pray that his country suffers Karmic misfortunes but it is best that he go to solve the crisis in Kenya instead.”