Forced to become Viet citizens

Nguyen The Tai (right) and his sister Le Ngoc Hai outside their mother's house near Viet Nam's Ho Chi Minh City. The ex-refugees from Cambodia were stateless until they received Vietnamese citizenship last year. (UNHCR/K. McKinsey)

Statelessness: Former refugees win citizenship, and now dream of home ownership

HO CHI MINH CITY, Viet Nam, September 15 (UNHCR) – When the coconut groves of this city's Thu Duc district became a refugee camp nearly 30 years ago, the area was so remote it was a five-hour commute from the centre – by rowboat.

Now called District Nine, today it's one of the most fashionable areas of the booming southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), where wealthy business people build villas and fanciful walled castles, which they reach in less than an hour over bridges and wide highways.

Luxury property has always been out of the reach of Nguyen The Tai, who fled Cambodia and came here as a refugee when he was just 11, and has been stateless all his life. In fact, he never even dreamed of buying the small cinder-block row house built by UNHCR where he lives with his 75-year-old mother.

But his dreams expanded exponentially after he finally got Vietnamese citizenship last year, along with some 2,300 other former stateless Cambodians. Thanks to UNHCR's efforts, he now has a chance to buy his rented house from the local authorities at just two per cent of the market price.

Cambodia: Ensure Montagnards’ asylum rights

2 March 2011
Source: ALIRAN

Cambodia should provide safe asylum for Montagnards fleeing Vietnam’s Central Highlands even after it closes the United Nations’ refugee centre in Phnom Penh for Montagnards on 15 February 2011, Human Rights Watch has said.

Ongoing government crackdowns in Vietnam against Montagnard Christians make it imperative for Cambodia not to deny Montagnards their basic right to seek safe asylum, Human Rights Watch said. As a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, Cambodia is obligated to protect the rights of all who seek asylum within its borders.

“Cambodia has a clear obligation to ensure that future Montagnard asylum seekers are permitted to enter a refugee screening process that is fair and based on international standards,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Closing the Montagnard refugee centre doesn’t change those obligations.”

In December 2010, the Cambodian government ordered the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to close the Montagnard refugee centre by 1 January 2011. The Cambodian government subsequently agreed to an extension of the deadline to 15 February to allow time to resettle or repatriate the Montagnards remaining at the centre.

Viet Nam ends stateless limbo for 2,300 former Cambodians

Some of the former Cambodian refugees at Friday's ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City proudly hold their citizenship certificates. (Photo: UNHCR/S.Vu Anh)

HO CHI MINH CITY, Viet Nam, July 19 (UNHCR) – In a joyous citizenship ceremony, Viet Nam took a ground-breaking step towards closing the last chapter in a 35-year-long statelessness saga for some 2,300 former Cambodians.

"I'm so happy," said a beaming Luong Ve, 77, the oldest among 287 former refugees to receive a Vietnamese naturalization certificate last Friday, a valuable document that will now entitle him to a huge number of rights others take for granted.

It is the culmination of UNHCR's efforts, together with the Vietnamese government, to resolve one of the lingering legacies of Cambodia's bloody 1970-75 Pol Pot regime. The 2,357 former Cambodians who will receive citizenship had fled in 1975 to Viet Nam, where they learned the language and fully integrated into their new country.

The 287 naturalized on Friday in the southern Vietnamese city formerly known as Saigon, live in what used to be two refugee camps set up by UNHCR in 1980. The rest are on track to get their papers by the end of this year.

"This sets an excellent example in the region for resolving statelessness and is a great way to start commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness," said Thomas Vargas, UNHCR's regional protection adviser, who attended the ceremony. He encouraged other Asian countries to take a lead from Viet Nam in finding solutions for statelessness.

Last year, Viet Nam also enacted a new law to plug gaps that had left thousands of women stateless after they married and divorced foreign men.

The valuable new citizenship documents – handed out on a flag-draped stage at Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Justice – will confer the all-important family registration book and ID card that will open the door to health and social insurance, buying a house, higher education and better jobs.

Ho Manh Cong, whose family came to Viet Nam in 1975, was born in Ho Chi Minh City 28 years ago but has never even been able to own a motorbike because he is not a citizen.

"Not having Vietnamese citizenship has created a lot of troubles in my daily life," he said. "I've been working for a company for more than five years but still cannot enjoy social insurance."

For Vu Anh Son, head of UNHCR's operations in Viet Nam, the ceremony was nearly as emotional as for the 287 receiving their certificates.

"I have known most of these people for 10 years," he said. "All they wanted was for UNHCR to help them obtain legal status so that they could live in Viet Nam permanently because there was no other solution that would give them a good future."

"This is what I have been working on with the government of Viet Nam for five years. I'm so thrilled to share the happiness with all the people with citizen certificates in their hands."

Appeal to Chinese government over missing asylum seekers

3 Jan 2010
By Agency reporter
Source: Ekklesia (UK)

Amnesty International has called on the Chinese authorities to reveal the whereabouts of 20 ethnic Uighur asylum-seekers who were forcibly deported from Cambodia to China on 19 December 2009.

The group, which includes two very young children, may be at risk of torture or even execution since their forcible deportation at the request of the Chinese government.

Since 2001, Amnesty has documented cases in which Uighur asylum seekers or refugees who were forcibly returned to China were detained, reportedly tortured and in some cases sentenced to death and executed.

"The 20 should either be charged with recognizably criminal offences or released," said Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi in a letter to the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Buzhang.

"Their trials should meet international fair trial standards, and under no circumstances should the death penalty be imposed.

"Our concerns are heightened by the fact that the Chinese authorities have already executed nine people and sentenced eight others to death in relation to the July 2009 unrest in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region," said Sam Zarifi.

Amnesty International has also urged the Chinese government to provide the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) with immediate access to the 20 individuals to monitor their well-being.

Thailand deports Lao-Hmong despite international concerns available

Dec 28, 2009
DPA

Bangkok - Thailand on Monday began deporting 4,000 ethnic Hmong refugees to Laos despite international appeals to the government to reconsider the involuntary repatriation to an uncertain future.

The first batch of 442 Hmong were taken from Huay Nam Khao camp in Phetchabun province at 9:30 am (0230 GMT) to buses that will carry them to Nong Khai province where they will cross the Mekong River on the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge into neighbouring Laos, said Thai Army Colonel Thana Jaruwat, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command.

The remaining 3,600 have thus far refused to leave the camp peacefully, he said.

'We will try to convince them to leave on their own will but if they refuse we will enforce the law,' Thana said.

Thailand has never recognized the Hmong at Huay Nam Khao, 280 kilometres north-east of Bangkok, as refugees but instead has classified them as illegal migrants, who, according to Thai law can be expelled without bringing charges against them, Thana said.

Officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), other human rights workers and journalists were held several kilometres away from the camp to prevent outsiders from observing the mass deportation operation.

'If the Hmong see journalists they will do themselves harm to make a scene and we don't want that,' Thana said.

The US government, the UNHCR and the European Union all urged the Thai government to reconsider its deportation plans but to no avail.

'This is unfortunate and indefensible and we're very concerned about it,' said Eric Schwartz, the US assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, in a telephone interview with the German Press Agency dpa.

Thailand and Laos agreed months ago that the Hmong at Huay Nam Khao camp must be deported by year-end. The Lao government announced on state TV Sunday night that the returning Hmong will be treated humanely.

'The government of Laos has a great opportunity now to demonstrate a policy of humanitarian treatment for those who have returned,' Schwartz said.

Preparation for the mass deportation began last week when the Thai army, which controls Huay Ban Khao, confiscated all sharp objects and mobile phones from the 4,000 Hmong residents, some of whom have lived in the camp since 2004 hoping to be resettled in third countries.

The Hmong, an ethnic minority which has inhabited the mountainous northern region of Laos for centuries, were recruited as guerrilla fighters by the US military in its 'secret war' against communist forces in Laos.

The communists prevailed in 1975, and the Hmong were left behind. Unknown thousands fled to neighbouring Thailand since 1975 and sought resettlement abroad.

In 2003, the US agreed to take 14,000 Hmong who had lived for years at Tham Krabok temple in north-east Thailand. Since then, some 8,000 more Hmong sought refuge in Thailand, claiming persecution at home.

About 3,000 refugees returned to Laos voluntarily in 2008-09. Thailand insists the remainder must be deported to prevent the country from being a magnet for more Hmong migration.

'There are ways to try to discourage economic migrants but you cannot decide by fiat one day that people are going to stop crossing the border when they need protection,' Schwartz said.

Besides Hmong, Thailand has attracted more than 1.5 million refugees from Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam over the past four decades.

The Thai government has been criticized for not allowing UNHCR to determine the Hmong's eligibility for refugee status. At least 158 former Huay Nam Khao residents, now in a detention centre in Nong Khai, have been classified as 'people of concern' by the UN agency.

Despite claims of concern, no foreign country has expressed interest in accepting the Huay Nam Khao community.

To date, the Lao government has not invited the UNHCR to work in the country, nor to monitor the Hmong repatriation process, although foreign embassy staff in Vientiane have been brought to resettlement camps where some of the 3,000 Hmong who returned have ended up.

Cambodia's 'plane of shame'

Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Christophe Peschoux
The Phnom Penh Post
COMMENT

Deporting Uighur potential refugees sets a terrible precedent

AS representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, but also as a human being who is profoundly attached to the principle of international protection of persons seeking asylum from persecution, I am dismayed by the deportation from Cambodia of Uighur asylum seekers to China. Anyone can become a refugee in today’s world, and may have to seek international protection under international refugee law.

Cambodia has ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and had the legal obligation to examine the asylum claims of these 20 individuals and to fairly determine their status. Up to this weekend, Cambodia was a safe asylum country for persecuted people and was applying a generous, humane policy. Although the authorities initially gave strong assurances that they considered these individuals asylum seekers and that they would complete the refugee status determination with regard to the 20, this was suddenly overturned over the weekend, when, obviously under pressure, the asylum seekers were for the first time labelled illegal immigrants.

Cambodia is also a party to the Convention against Torture (CAT) and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Both reiterate the fundamental principle of the Refugee Convention of “non-refoulement”, whereby no one should be forcibly returned to a place where he or she may be tortured, judicially or otherwise. This is a cardinal principle of international protection, which has offered safe asylum, protected against torture and saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of refugees worldwide. Such risks should have been assessed fairly and objectively before any decision was taken about these persons.

This deportation is all the more disturbing in a country that has known massive persecution during the wars and the Khmer Rouge regime, and which knows all too well the price and value of refugee protection. Thousands of Cambodians have had their lives saved thanks to the international refugee protection system, including many of the leaders of this country, past and present. The credibility and reliability of the system of refugee protection patiently built in Cambodia, with the crucial support and assistance of the UNHCR, is now seriously questioned. Critical to this process is the willingness of the Cambodian government to honour its own commitment to refugee protection, to respect the cardinal principle of non-refoulement and withstand outside pressure from more powerful countries; but also, and as important, is that these countries, including China, respect Cambodia’s international legal commitment under the conventions it has ratified (Refugees, CAT, ICCPR) so that they refrain from pressuring a smaller country. Unless the policy shift of last week is overturned, no asylum seekers from China will feel safe or be safe in Cambodia any longer.

This deportation has created a very unfortunate precedent not only in Cambodia, but more widely. With the plane of shame that took off Saturday night, it is our freedom from want and fear that has become narrower in this part of the world.
__________
Christophe Peschoux is the Cambodia representative of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

UNHCR deplores deportation of asylum-seekers before claims heard

Geneva, Saturday 19 December 2009
Source: UNHCR

The UN refugee agency expressed deep concern today about the involuntary return of asylum seekers before their claims have been heard. A disturbing pattern of such cases is increasingly evident around the world.

States are bound by the principle of non-refoulement, which applies to both those recognized as refugees and those seeking asylum.

The forced return of asylum-seekers without a full examination of their asylum claims is a serious breach of international refugee law.

UNHCR is deeply distressed at today's forced return of some 20 ethnic Uighurs from China who had filed asylum claims in Cambodia but whose cases had not yet been assessed.

On Friday, UNHCR communicated to the Royal Government of Cambodia its concern at reports of imminent deportation.

"What happened last night with the deportation shows a complete failure, a complete breakdown of the Cambodian government...": HRW's Sarah Colm

UN disturbed at Cambodia's deportation of Uighurs

Sunday, December 20, 2009
Radio Australia News

The UN says it's "deeply disturbed" that Cambodia has deported a group of 20 Muslim Uighurs to China, where human rights workers say they could face torture and possibly execution.

The group fled China's volatile north-west and travelled via Vietnam to Cambodia, where they lodged applications for refugee statutus with the UN office.

They said they had witnessed violence during the ethnic riots earlier in the year and feared for their safety.

But before the refugee assessment process could be completed, 20 of the Uighurs were taken into custody and eventually deported on an unmarked plane.

Sara Colm from Human Rights Watch, says the UN's trust in the Cambodian government to fulfil its legal obligations has been a dangerous gamble.

"What happened last night with the deportation shows a complete failure, a complete breakdown of the Cambodian government and the UNHCR to protect an extremely high risk group of asylum seekers ..in the end there was not adequate or appropriate protection provided and this came essentially at the risk of the lives of the people," Ms Colm said.

Government Awaits Answers on Uighur Reports

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
07 December 2009

The government is awaiting a report from the UN’s refugee office in Cambodia, which has a group of Uighurs from western China under its care, a government spokesman confirmed Monday.

UNHCR has declined to comment on whether it is holding the Uighurs, from an ethnic Turkic minority, despite media reports of their arrival and reports from government officials they are under the care of refugee agency.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said Monday he has spoken to a UNHCR official who confirmed that 22 Uighurs, including three children, are now under UNHCR care in Phnom Penh.

The ministry is now waiting for recommendations from UNHCR on their final decision for the 22 “persons of concern,” Koy Kuong said, adding that the government would cooperate with the agency.

The Uighurs fled unrest in the western province of Xianjiang in July, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Monday the government had not yet received any information from UNHCR. If the government learns the Uighurs have no legal documents, they will be returned to their port of entry, Khieu Sopheak said.

However, Cheng Sophors, an investigator for the rights group Lichado, said refugees seldom have legal documents. The Cambodian government must understand that they’ve fled to Cambodia for safety, he said.

Chan Saveth, investigator for the rights group Adhoc, said Monday the government must cooperate with UNHCR under its UN obligations.

The Uighurs must be safeguarded during their stay in Cambodia, Chan Saveth said. If the group is sent back to China, they could be executed, he said.

Chinese Embassy officials could not be reached for comment.

Khmer Krom in asylum talks

Khmer Krom monks at a ceremony on June 4, marking 60 years since the loss of Cambodia's southern territories to Vietnam. (Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN)

Monday, 22 June 2009
Written by NETH PHEAKTRA
The Phnom Penh Post

62 refugees arrested by Thai police on June 12 say they are holding discussions with UN officials and Thai authorities in order to avoid deportation .

KHMER Krom detainees languishing in a Thai detention centre since their arrest last week say they have held meetings with officials from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Thai immigration officials in an attempt to avoid being deported back to Cambodia.

On June 12, Thai authorities arrested 62 Khmer Krom who claim they were seeking political asylum after fleeing persecution in southern Vietnam.

"At the moment, UNHCR is interviewing Khmer Krom people who are detained at the Thai immigration centre," said Soeun Savang, 50, one of the detainees captured in the June 12 sweeps.

Originally from Vietnam's Ca Mau province, Soeun Savang took refuge in Takeo before fleeing to Thailand in March 2007, after being accused of fabricating legal documents in an attempt to form a Khmer Krom group in the province.

"I have already received refugee status from UNHCR, and I am looking for a third country that will grant me political asylum. But the Thai authorities don't recognise the UNHCR letter - they still arrested and detained us."

Ang Chanrith, executive director of the Khmer Krom Human Rights Association, said he would travel to Thailand in July to speak with Thai authorities and UNHCR officials about the detainees.

"We will request that the Thai authorities do not deport these people to Cambodia or Vietnam," he said Sunday.

"If they do, these people will not feel safe. They fled from Kampuchea Krom because of political pressure and human rights violations ... by the Vietnamese authorities."

Buddhist monk Tim Sakhorn, who fled to Thailand in April after being briefly released from his Vietnamese house arrest, said he was still awaiting the result of his own refugee application amid the crackdown by Thai immigration officials.

"After a mass arrest of Khmer Kampuchea Krom by Thai police, I am concerned about my security even though I have a grant from UNHCR to stay in Thailand. I am living under Thai law," he told the Post.

Kitty McKinsey, public information officer for UNHCR Asia, could not comment in detail, except to say that the Bangkok office was "closely following up this issue with the Thai government".

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SEBASTIAN STRANGIO

Thailand frees 18 Khmer Krom refugees [… 8 more still incarcerated]

17 March 2009
By Mao Sotheany
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

18 Khmer Krom refugees were released by Thailand after they were detained since Saturday. These Khmer Krom refugees were released from Bangkok jail on Monday, after an intervention from the UNHCR.

Son Savang, a holder of an official UNHCR refugee document, and 17 other prisoners who also received the UNHCR refugee status document, were released in the morning of 16 March under the watchful eyes of UNHCR lawyers, journalists and local civil society representatives.

Son Savang said on the phone from Bangkok that the Thai authority held a decent conduct during the release: “I noted that the cops were polite, and they respected us. They brought in packs of bottle water for us to drink. When I was released at about 2PM, they did not allow all of us to come out at once, they were afraid that the reporters will take our pictures, they let us out 6 at a time. After 6 prisoners are released, they are packed into a taxi and taken out, then another 6 prisoners are released. The Thai cops were puzzled as to who gave the information to the reporters about our release. ‘How did they get the cops phone number to come and interview you in jail like this?’ I told them that I don’t know, I told them to go ask Radio Free Asia because I don’t have any information, I don’t know anything, I am just a prisoner in jail.”

On Sunday, RFA attempted to contact the Thai police authority which was responsible for the arrest of 26 Khmer Krom people, however nobody picked up the phone.

Nevertheless, the UNHCR promised to RFA that it will intervene through its channels to resolve this issue and obtain the release as fast as they can.

Son Savang indicated that another 8 Khmer Krom refugees have not been released yet because they just arrived in Thailand, and they have not received any UNHCR documents yet.

Those who are still incarcerated include 5 men, 3 women including a 9-year-old girl with her mother.

Thach Ngoc Thach, executive director of the US-based Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF), appealed to the UNHCR to speed up its intervention to secure the release of the 8 Khmer Krom refugees still incarcerated by Thai authority: “Regarding the recent arrest of Khmer Krom refugees in Bangkok, we, at the KKF, are very concerned and we appeal to the UNHCR to resolve this issue immediately to secure the release of these 8 Khmer Krom refugees who are waiting to receive their interviews (from the UNHCR). We hope that our contacts with all these organizations will resolve the issue for our Khmer Krom brothers and sisters who took refuge in Thailand.”

He indicated that the KKF sent out letters to all organizations involved, asking them to intervene to help resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Cambodia on track to become refugee model for Southeast Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, October 20 (UNHCR) – Many foreigners seeking to be officially designated refugees in Cambodia are having their cases heard these days in a brand new Cambodian Refugee Office at the immigration department, rather than at the UN refugee agency's office as over the past 14 years.

The decision on whether or not to grant refugee status still rests with UNHCR officers, in consultation with Cambodian officials, but the change of location is an important move – symbolic of this country's determination to take on new responsibilities in protecting refugees' human rights.

Cambodia is one of only two Southeast Asian nations to have signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, and expects within the next two weeks to formalize the legal framework for establishing its own refugee status determination (RSD) procedures – although the timetable for legal adoption of the measure is not yet clear.

"The transformation has started," said Thamrongsak Meechubot, UNHCR's representative in Cambodia. "Things are moving since the government agreed in June that it was prepared to take responsibility for refugee status determination itself."

"It is a big challenge for us," agreed Police Major General Thong Lim, director of the Cambodian Immigration Department. "We really need UNHCR's full support."

As in many countries that have not signed the 1951 Convention, or have signed it but not enacted legislation to bring it to life, UNHCR conducts RSD interviews in Cambodia jointly with government officials.

Maj. Gen. Thong said the government is finalizing a draft that will be sent to legal experts and the Cambodian cabinet for discussion before being presented to Prime Minister Hun Sen for approval as a sub-decree with legal force.

The new refugee office already has a structure in place under the immigration department, with 40 officers to be deployed at border points around the country as well as in the capital, Phnom Penh. Of crucial importance, Maj. Gen. Thong stressed, will be training in refugee law so that Cambodia can live up to international standards.

Even after Cambodia takes over responsibility for RSD, the UN refugee agency will continue to give technical advice to officials and ensure that international norms are upheld.

Maj. Gen. Thong said Cambodia was embarking on a whole new set of issues – how to tell people with fake claims from genuine refugees, and how to weed out terrorists and those fleeing justice from people genuinely in need of international protection.

Still, he thinks it is an important step in Cambodia's maturity following the conflict and upheaval it experienced from 1970 until 1993, and a way of honouring the refuge that so many Cambodians received in other countries during this period.

The government has given signals that the sub-decree could be signed before the end of the year, and Thamrongsak said, "We don't expect legal complications. We expect a system that has flexibility. We don't want to burden the Cambodian bureaucracy. We want to reinforce the Cambodian bureaucracy to meet international legal standards."

Cambodia, which signed the 1951 Convention along with a raft of other international treaties when it was under UN transitional authority in the early 1990s, can be a trailblazer for much of Asia in this field.

Says Thamrongsak: "UNHCR hopes Cambodia can be a model for the region," along with the Philippines, which acceded to the Convention in 1980 and has both a legal framework and administrative regulations to implement it.

By Kitty McKinsey
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Phnom Penh serving Hanoi's interest to the detriment of Montagnard refugees?

Police Investigating Refugee ‘Trafficking’

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 May 2008

Police have begun an investigation into whether Montagnards from Vietnam are being trafficked to the UN refugee agency in Phnom Penh, authorities said Friday.

“There is no reason that Montagnards coming from the central plateau of Vietnam arrive at the camp of [the UN High Commissioner for Refugees] in the center of Phnom Penh with no indication of support,” Ministry of Interior Khieu Sopheak said Friday. “The ministry is investigating, and if we find evidence like this, it is a human trafficking case, not a question for UNHCR.”

Cambodian law carries a 10 year prison sentence for human trafficking.

The local daily newspaper Rasmey Kampuchea carried a story Thursday in which an alleged Montagnard claimed to have been brought to Cambodia with promises of resettlement in a third country and, cheated instead, brought to UNHCR.

Toshi Kawauchi, protection officer at UNHCR told VOA Khmer he was unaware of the story, but he declined to comment on whether it constituted a threat to the organization.

“The investigation is up to the [Ministry of Information]. The police are responsible for any possible crime,” he said. “Our duty is to provide assistance to those refugees who are in need of international protection.”

Refugees from the mountains of Vietnam have been flowing into Cambodia since 2001, claiming they were escaping oppression by Vietnamese authorities. Nearly 2,000 have been admitted as refugees and settled in third countries, many to the US, angering Hanoi.

At least 600 others are under the protection of UNHCR in Phnom Penh.

Hun Sen Blasts UN Office Over Refugees

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
29 February 2008

The UN's office for refugees has used Cambodia as an asylum without the consent of the government, Hun Sen said Thursday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees had put Afghans, Pakistanis, Nigerians and other Africans in Cambodia, he said.

"There is no Taliban in power. Why are there Afghans coming to request political asylum in Cambodia?" Hun Sen asked. "It's not proper."

In 1992 Cambodia progressively signed a UN convention and refugee protocol, but the stream of Montagnards from Vietnam has tested the country's relationship with the office, a UNHCR Web site says.

Cambodian leader slams UN for giving asylum to refugees without consulting government

Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia's prime minister slammed the U.N.'s refugee agency Thursday for using Cambodian territory to grant political asylum to foreign refugees without first consulting his government.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the Cambodian office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has granted asylum to refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.

"What right does it (UNHCR) have to use Cambodian territory to provide foreign nationals with political asylum without seeking permission from the Cambodian authorities," Hun Sen said in a speech at a development conference.

He did not say how many refugees were in Cambodia or how long they had been there. He said he ordered the foreign affairs and interior ministries to look into the issue with the UNHCR.

Toshi Kawauchi, a UNHCR protection officer, declined to comment on the issue, saying in an e-mail his office is "not in a position to discuss the numbers and other details of the refugees."

The relationship between Cambodia and the U.N. agency has been rocky in recent years, especially over the issue of refugees fleeing neighboring Vietnam.

Thousands of Vietnamese hill tribe people known as Montagnards have fled to Cambodia since 2001, when Vietnam's communist government cracked down on protests against land confiscation and restrictions on religious freedom. Many have been resettled in the United States, and a small number have voluntarily returned to Vietnam.

More refugees calling Cambodia home [... Yet Khmer Krom in Cambodia are called VN by Hun Sen and Tep Vong]

By Cat Barton
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 16 / 20, October 5 - 18, 2007

"There are thousands of Vietnamese spies here" - Pastor Au, Vietnamese refugee in Cambodia

The recent high profile case of the alleged abduction of monk Tim Sakhorn seems evidence that abductions [by Vietnamese spies] do happen...

In a calm, matter-of-fact way, Dia describes his unexpected arrival in Cambodia the day after New Year's 2007.

The impetus to move started in 2001 in Mogadishu, Somalia, when local warlord militia dragged his father from their home and shot him. Dia, then 12, tried to stop them, but someone wacked him across the face with the butt of a gun, badly breaking his nose. Six years later, Islamic rebels shot his brother and burned the family's recording studio to the ground.

"I ran away when I saw them kill my brother," he said quietly, his dark eyes alert above his still-crooked nose. "That was when my mother decided I had to go out of the country."

Dia's mother gave the family savings to a businessman to get her son to Europe. The two travelled to Kenya and Sudan, on to Bangkok, and arrived in Cambodia, where the trip ended last January 2.

"I had never even heard of Cambodia," Dia said. "The man stole my bags and left me with nothing - the clothes I was wearing and $9."

Dia has joined the 295 refugees and asylum seekers on record at the end of 2006, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Phnom Penh.

In recent years as the Kingdom's neighbours, such as Thailand and Malaysia, have tightened their entry requirements and imposed harsh penalties on illegal immigrants, Cambodia has become the region's haven for refugees. Comparatively lax visa requirements and humane treatment of refugees means that the nation is now playing host to some of the world's most vulnerable.

"The purpose of the convention on refugees is not to resettle but to provide safety," said Thamrongsak Meechubot, UNHCR country representative. "People can't stay in their own country, so they leave and seek asylum elsewhere."

For refugees like Dia, there are three recognized solutions, said Meechubot. First, they can go back to their own country when it is safe for them to do so. Second, they can integrate locally. Third, if neither of the first two options are viable, they can be resettled in a third country.

"It is not safe to go back to Somalia now," said Dia, who wants to go to Canada. "They have accepted me but now I am waiting."

In the middle of the interview with the Post on October 2, Dia received a call telling him Canada had approved his asylum application, Overjoyed, he said he will never forget UNHCR for helping him.

"It will be better in Canada than in Cambodia, there I can study and work. I promised my father I would study. I have to find my mother and my younger brothers and sisters - I think they are on the Somali/Kenyan border," he pauses, rubbing his scarred nose self-consciously. "I will fix it later if I can but I want to help my mother first, when I was leaving she was crying - I must help her."

But for other UNHCR-supported refugees in Cambodia, being resettled in a third country is a distant dream.

"If you're considered high risk - an unaccompanied minor, a family with young children - [UNHCR] will resettle you," said a representative from the Jesuit Relief Services (JRS), an organisation that works with UNHCR providing services to refugees. "If not, you have to settle in here."

Settling in has proved impossible for Mr Luong and Pastor Au, two Vietnamese refugees who have lived in Cambodia for 15 and three years, respectively. UNHCR has granted both refugee status but both said they live in constant fear of their lives. "I don't feel safe here. Even during the day, I lock my doors," said Pastor Au, formerly a lecturer at a university in southern Vietnam until his decision to convert to Christianity brought him into conflict with the Vietnamese authorities. In 2004 he was arrested in Vietnam, but escaped prison and fled to Cambodia where, after five months on the streets, he was granted refugee status in January 2005.

"The Vietnamese and Chinese refugees are never safe here," he said. "They know they could be kidnapped and taken back at any time. I think UNHCR should try and get more refugees to third countries."

"There are thousands of Vietnamese spies here," he said. "UNHCR thinks as there are one million Vietnamese here that it is easy to integrate, but the Vietnamese secret agents kidnap us."

In 1975, Luong was a captain in an ARVN unit that worked with US Special Forces. After the war ended in 1975 he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison. After 15 years in shackles that left big scars on his legs, he escaped and fled to Cambodia in 1992.

"UNHCR have helped me as I have had a series of operations; both legs have been operated on four times. I have been a refugee for 17 years and I am still scared they will come and get me. I don't know why UNHCR won't resettle me."

Au said the Vietnamese government hates having Vietnamese dissidents flee to Cambodia and sends agents to hunt them down. "If we stay out after 6pm we are at risk of being kidnapped," he said.

A representative from JRS confirmed that there is risk of "neighbouring countries swiping them [political or religious refugees] back."

The recent high profile case of the alleged abduction of monk Tim Sakhorn seems evidence that abductions do happen. But when UNHCR wrote to the government to demand an official explanation of what had happened to Sakhorn, the government denied any wrongdoing.

"They said he had chosen to return to Vietnam," said Meechubot. "This is the government version and if anyone has any evidence to disprove they should do so."

Soon after Sakhorn's alleged abduction, Au, the pastor, began receiving warnings from Vietnamese immigrants and refugees that he was an abduction target because he - like Sakhorn - helps new political and religious refugees from Vietnam to adapt to life in Cambodia.

"Now, I sleep in a different place every night," said Au. "At first, my faith helped me to deal with the fear, but now it doesn't help so much. I am always afraid, I live in fear."

For Yla Lhay, a Burmese refugee who has been in Cambodia for a year, the problem is not so much a fear of abduction, but frustration. The democracy activist fled Burma in 1996 after being threatened with arrest for participating in a student uprising. He lived in Thailand until last year when Thai authorities refused to give him a new visa. He crossed over to Cambodia, obtained UNHCR refugee status, and began studying.

"If I go back to Thailand I can reduce my loneliness and depression but it is difficult to get a chance to be educated," he said. "I would rather be in a Thai refugee camp with my people than on my own in Cambodia. But I don't have a passport - if I go back I have to cross the border illegally so there is a 50 to 70 percent chance I will be arrested."

He has applied for resettlement in a third country. He hopes to return eventually to Burma but in the meantime believes resettlement in the West would allow him to advocate for democracy in his homeland.

"I have the right to stay here, but I don't have the right to do anything - I can't speak, I can't have freedom of expression. UNHCR tell me not to speak as it will create problems for me and for UNHCR. I don't want to live forever in a secret, quiet way."

The names of the refugees whose experiences are included in this article have been changed to protect their personal safety.

Montagnard refugees arrive in Phnom Penh, rights group says

Sep 24, 2007
DPA

Phnom Penh - A group of 23 people claiming to be Montagnard refugees seeking asylum from Vietnam were transported to Phnom Penh and put under the care of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a human rights official said Monday.

Pen Bonnar of the Ratanakiri provincial arm of the local human rights group Adhoc said 10 refugees had been found by his group in that remote north-eastern province Friday, 12 more had been found Saturday and one had made his own way into a UNHCR camp later the same day.

'UNHCR applied to the Cambodian government for permission to bring them to Phnom Penh, and the government agreed,' Bonnar said by telephone. 'They are now in Phnom Penh.'

He did not release details of their ages or sex.

The Montagnard issue is a politically sensitive one, and Cambodia has strong diplomatic ties with neighbouring Vietnam, where the majority Christian ethnic minority live.

However, Cambodia has agreed to allow the UNHCR to assess Montagnard refugees who make it across the border for resettlement in a third country.

Rights groups and Montagnards have alleged human rights abuses against the community in Vietnam. Montagnards fought on the American side during the Vietnam War and are still viewed with some distrust by the Vietnamese government.

UNHCR saves 15 Montagnard out of the forest

29 June 2007
By Ratha Visal
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

A UN Official indicated that a group of people was saved from the forest located in the east of Cambodia. The group claimed that they fled from Vietnam to look for refuge in a third country.

Chuong Ravuth, a UNHCR official, said that the 15 Montagnard people from Vietnam were saved on Thursday after they hid in the forest of O’Yadaw district, Ratanakiri province in the past one month while waiting for help to get out.

Chuong ravuth said: “Based on the information, we had to cooperate with the authority and several departments to get help. When we arrived at their (hiding) location, they all came about according to the number we were told: 15 of them.”

The group of Montagnard people is believed to be part of a group of 27 people whom the UNHCR learnt that they fled from their villages in Vietnam last May.

The 15 Montagnard people will be sent to the UNHCR headquarters in Phnom Penh next week.

New groups of Montagnards have arrived in Ratanakkiri

19 March 2007
By Ratha Visal
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The arrival of two new groups of Montagnard people has been reported on Sunday 18 march 2007. One of the group has already reached the UNHCR office in Phnom Penh, whereas the other group is still in hiding in the forest of Ratanakkiri province, and it is looking for intervention help from international refugee organizations.

Chung Ravuth, the local UNHCR official, indicated that a group of 4 Montagnard people has reached the UNHCR office in Phnom Penh today, however, detailed information about the refugees is not available yet. “We have not yet received information over the weekend, and we just return back to work on Monday,” Chung Ravuth said.

Anonymous villagers from O’Yadaw reported that 10 refugees were spotted by the villagers in the forest. The refugees are looking for help from the UNHCR. “They are in the forest and they lack food,” the villagers claimed.

The local police authority denied they know the presence of the Montagnard people who have arrived recently.

Pen Bonnar, Adhoc investigator in Ratanakkiri, said that the villagers have reported recently the presence of the refugees whom they spotted in the forest. The villagers said that the refugees lack food and are being pursued by the local authority. “The refugees are arriving one after another. This time, the villagers are reporting that the authority went to look for the refugees. We have reported the information to the UNHCR so it can help these refugees urgently,” Pen Bonnar said.

UNHCR’s Chung Ravuth said that his organization will request the government’s authorization to visit Ratanakkiri province next week to look for refugees who have arrived recently.

On 22 Feb 2007, the UNHCR had rescued 11 Montagnard people from the O’Yadaw andPublish Bor Keo district in Ratanakkiri province. According to a UNHCR report, currently, there are more than 200 refugees located at the UNHCR refugee camp in Phnom Penh, who are awaiting for their interview to obtain their refugee status.