Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Calls for protection of refugees

Calls for protection of refugees

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
A group of Montagnards in Teuk Thla communce in the capital’s Sen Sok district in 2015. POSTPIX

Calls for protection of refugees

Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) chairman Arash Bordbar wrote an open letter to Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, urging the government to “safeguard the rights of all refugees inside its borders”.

In the letter that was posted on Monday on APRRN’s website, Bordbar particularly called for the protection of the “long-persecuted” Montagnard ethnic group, which comprises Christian minorities hailing from Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

Bordbar said most of the Montagnards “face severe persecution in their home country of Vietnam”.

He said that returning Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia back to Vietnam would “place them in serious violations of their fundamental human rights by the Vietnamese government”.

By repatriating Montagnard asylum seekers to Vietnam, Bordbar continued, “Cambodia undermined its commitment to national and international laws to protect the basic right of refugees”.

He was referring to the likes of Sub-Decree No 224/2009 on Procedure for Recognition as a Refugee or Providing Asylum Rights to Foreigners in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

The sub-decree stipulates that a refugee “shall not be expelled or returned in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his or her life, freedom or rights would be threatened on account of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group or particular political opinion”.

Moreover, Bordbar also reiterated that “Cambodia is a party to both the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the United Nations Convention Against Torture”.

Under these conventions, the Kingdom has “clear legal obligations not to return individuals to countries where they may be at risk of persecution or torture”.

“We encourage Cambodia to adhere to their obligations,” the letter reads.

Four Montagnard asylum seekers were reportedly repatriated to Vietnam in mid-June, said the network.

Bordbar wrote: “This action created significant anxiety and fear among others in the Montagnard community that they too could be forced to return.”

Human rights observers reportedly said that the Montagnards faced all types of persecution, including “intimidation, beatings, arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention and restrictions on practising their religion, while some refugees who were sent to Vietnam from Cambodia have disappeared without any traces”.

On why Cambodia repatriated the Montagnard asylum seekers to Vietnam, government spokesperson Phay Siphan said “the Kingdom did not interfere with other countries’ internal affairs”.

He reiterated that the Montagnards used to live in the mountainous areas and “were used by the US to fight against Vietnam’s communist government”.

Siphan also suggested that they did not seek asylum in other countries due to economic and freedom restrictions, but rather because they were used as “political pawns in the US foreign policy”.

“Cambodia’s laws prohibit interference with the internal affairs of other countries, and the refugees are the responsibility for the UN,” he told The Post on Wednesday.

Last year, a group of Montagnard refugees were reportedly granted asylum status by the US. They travelled across Cambodia to reach Thailand.

About 12,000 Montagnards live in the southern state of North Carolina in the US, the report said.

In March last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the Montagnards did not exist in Cambodia.

“We respect all minorities such as Jarai, Steang, Phnong, but we have never had Montagnards,” the prime minister said before supporters in Australia.

The APRRN is a network of 400 civil society organisations and individuals from 29 countries committed to advancing the rights of refugees across the region.

MOST VIEWED

  • Joy as Koh Ker Temple registered by UNESCO

    Cambodia's Koh Ker Temple archaeological site has been officially added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, during the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 17. The ancient temple, also known as Lingapura or Chok Gargyar, is located in

  • Famed US collector family return artefacts to Cambodia

    In the latest repatriation of ancient artefacts from the US, a total of 33 pieces of Khmer cultural heritage will soon return home, according to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. In a September 12 press statement, it said the US Attorney’s Office for the

  • Cambodia set to celebrate Koh Ker UNESCO listing

    To celebrate the inscription of the Koh Ker archaeological site on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the Ministry of Cults and Religion has appealed to pagodas and places of worship to celebrate the achievement by ringing bells, shaking rattles and banging gongs on September 20. Venerable

  • CP denied registration documents by ministry

    The Ministry of Interior will not reissue registration documents to the Candlelight Party (CP). Following a September 21 meeting between ministry secretary of state Bun Honn and CP representatives, the ministry cited the fact that there is no relevant law which would authorise it to do

  • Manet touches down in Beijing for high-level meetings

    Prime Minister Hun Manet arrived in Beijing on September 14 for his first official visit to China, where he is slated to attend the 20th China-ASEAN Expo and meet other leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping. Upon his arrival, Manet laid a wreath at the Monument

  • Cambodian diaspora laud Manet’s UN Assembly visit

    Members of the Cambodian diaspora are rallying in support of Prime Minister Hun Manet’s forthcoming visit to the 78th UN General Assembly (UNGA 78) in the US’ New York City this week. Their move is an apparent response to a recent call by self-exiled former