Rights groups ask VN to free Khmer Krom

Friday, 09 April 2010
Khouth Sophakchakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

“The Vietnamese government always tells the international community that they always pay attention to improving the lives of ethnic groups in their country, but it is not true ... They consider Khmer Krom as animals and then tortured us when we demand freedom” - Thach Sung, a representative of a group 22 Khmer Krom asylum seekers deported from Thailand in December

KHMER Krom advocacy groups have called on authorities in Vietnam to release ethnic Khmers being held in Vietnamese jails and to relax cultural and religious restrictions ahead of next week’s Khmer New Year holiday.

Thach Setha, president of the Khmer Krom Association, said that on the occasion of the annual holiday, which begins April 14, Vietnam should loosen government controls and respect the rights of the country’s ethnic Khmer minority.

“I asked for the Vietnamese government to provide freedom and release Khmer Kampuchea Krom who have been arrested and jailed due to land disputes and attempts to preserve their religion and culture,” he said.

Thach Setha said that “hundreds” of Khmer Krom are languishing in prison on political charges after advocating for the use of the Khmer language and the right to practise Theravada Buddhism, which differs from the Mahayana Buddhism practised by the ethnic Vietnamese majority.

A Human Rights Watch report released in January 2009 documented the “severe and often shrouded methods used by the Vietnamese authorities to stifle dissent” among the country’s ethnic Khmer minority, particularly “ethnic-based grievances” and demands for religious freedom.

“Wary about the possible nationalist aspirations of the Khmer Krom, the Vietnamese government is quick to suppress peaceful expressions of dissent,” the report stated, noting that the government prohibits most peaceful protests and bans the formation of independent human rights groups.

In a meeting in the Mekong Delta on Tuesday, President Nguyen Minh Triet said the Khmer minority was an inseparable part of the Vietnamese nation, and had contributed to Vietnam’s economic development despite the great difficulties stemming from previous wars, according to a state-run media report.

The report also quoted the president as saying that the Communist Party of Vietnam always “made efforts to stabilise the economy and consolidate national solidarity in order to support and improve the lives of ethnic groups including theKhmer ethnic minority”.

However, Thach Sung, a representative of a group 22 Khmer Krom asylum seekers deported from Thailand in December, said that he did not believe that the Vietnamese authorities had done anything to improve the lives of ethnic minorities in the country, especially the Khmer.

“The Vietnamese government always tells the international community that they always pay attention to improving the lives of ethnic groups in their country, but it is not true,” he said.

“They consider Khmer Krom as animals and then tortured us when we demand freedom.”

Ny Chakrya, a senior investigator for local rights group Adhoc, said that the Khmer Krom should be able to live “with the same peace and freedom” as ethnic Vietnamese living inside Cambodia.

Khmer Krom deportees lose NGO rent support

Khmer Krom deportees prepare food in a rental home Sunday, the last day they were to receive help with rent and food from local rights group Licadho. (Photo by: Pha Lina)

Monday, 01 March 2010
David Boyle and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

THE prospects of 22 Khmer Krom deportees denied identity documents by Phnom Penh police last month became a little bleaker on Sunday after local rights group Licadho stopped paying for their housing and food.

“We have cut off the food and rental payments, but we will continue to support them with health services and coordinate with authorities to provide legal documents that they need to live in Cambodia,” said Am Sam Ath, a technical superviser for Licadho. “But we need them to find jobs to pay for their food and rent during this period, because we cannot support them forever.”

In January, Licadho agreed to pay for the deportees’ accommodation and food for two months while they attempted to secure identity documents, after being deported from Thailand on December 5.

Thach Soong, the group’s unofficial spokesman, said Sunday that he expected the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to come to their aid.

“We do not know where we can live now that Licadho have cut off [payment for] food and rent for us, and the Phnom Penh authorities still haven’t made the identity cards and other legal documents,” he said.

However, Kitty McKinsey, UNHCR’s Asia spokeswoman, said that although the agency is sympathetic to the plight of the Khmer Krom, the deportees simply don’t fall under its jurisdiction.

“We don’t really have a role to play with the Khmer Krom because to a significant degree they have been recognised as Cambodian nationals, and we’re a refugee organisation,” she said. “We deal with refugees who have fled the country.”

The Cambodian government has previously said it recognises the Khmer Krom deportees as legitimate Cambodian citizens, but has also insisted it is unable to issue identity documents until they have a fixed address.

The Khmer Krom have repeatedly said over the past two months that they are too poor to rent property and are unable to secure property without identity documents.

When contacted on Sunday, Min Sothet, director of statistics and identification for the Phnom Penh Municipal Police, reaffirmed that the government could not issue identity cards without a fixed address.

KKC deplores and seriously concerns about the denial of Khmer nationality identification cards to the 22 Khmer people of Kampuchea Krom

KKC Press Statement

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, KKC, deplores and seriously concerns about the denial of Khmer nationality identification cards to the 22 Khmer people of Kampuchea Krom, who were deported and handed by the Thai authorities to the Cambodian authorities recently.

The denial of Khmer nationality identification cards to the Khmer people by the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia is a severe violation of their rights as inscribed in the Constitution in section 33 and Nationality Law in sections 2, 3, and 4. This act contradicts the legal principle and the proclamation made by the RGC that recognizes the Khmer people of Kampuchea Krom as the legal Khmer citizens [of Cambodia]. This is not the first time that the present Royal Government of Cambodia has shown her negative stance on the Khmer Kampuchea Krom people.

In this case, if the Royal Government of Cambodia recognized the Khmer people of Kampuchea Krom as Khmer citizens as inscribed in the Constitution and Nationality Law as the RGC representative had claimed more than one times in the past, the Royal Government facilitates the nationality paper work for the Khmer people with no condition. Even though the Khmer people in Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam) living under the power of colonial Vietnam in the past several hundreds of years and Kampuchea Krom had been colonized by France, then transferred this land to the authorities of [another] colonial Vietnam to continue colonizing [the land and the Khmers] until today, the Khmer people living there had not and have not surrendered their Khmer nationality, citizenship and identity in betrayal of their ancestors even once. Even the authorities of Vietnam issue the identification cards to the Khmer people still recognize them as Khmers. All royal Khmer governments, except the authoritarian communist Khmer government, had and continue to facilitate and encourage the Khmer Kampuchea Krom people in all aspects of their need.

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community appeals to the Royal Government of Cambodia to provide the legal nationality paper work to the Khmer people of Kampuchea Krom as inscribed in the Constitution and Nationality Law without condition.

Phnom Penh February 22, 2010
KKC President
[ Signed ]

Thach Setha

KK deportees lack govt support: NGOs [-What to expect from a regime installed by Vietnam?]

Wednesday, 08 July 2009
By CHEANG SOKHA
The Phnom Penh Post

THE 56 Khmer Krom refugees deported by Thai immigration police Friday have begun the long process of finding their feet in Cambodia, but rights groups say the state has so far provided no support to the group.

Chea Sokun, secretary of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association, an NGO that sheltered the deportees after their arrival at the Poipet border crossing, said they left the office Monday evening.

Some were bound for the Banteay Meanchey capital Sisophon, where there is already a small community of Khmer Krom exiles, while others stayed in Poipet.

"They seem to be safe now because no authorities came to interfere with them," Chea Sokun said.

But other rights groups said the authorities had done little to help the deportees find shelter or work, adding that they were still relying on the charity of NGOs and Khmer Krom exiles.

"We did not know about their future and we have not yet arranged any living for them," said Soum Chankea, a provincial coordinator for the rights group Adhoc.

Chao Veasna, the assistant to Yont Tharo, a Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker in Banteay Meanchey province, said 29 of the exiles had found shelter at Tuol Prasat, about 2 kilometres from Poipet, but that one monk in the group still lacks a place to stay.

"I don't know how long they will stay here... I asked them and they told me that they want to live in a third country ... when they fled from Vietnam," he said.

He added that another deportee was still missing following reports from Monday that he had been arrested in Battambang province.

Banteay Meanchey police commissioner Hun Hean said the government had no plans to give the deportees shelter, adding that they should return to their old homes, even though the deportees claim they are from southern Vietnam.

"We have no means to help them," he said. "Cambodia is very large - they can live wherever they want."