Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Montagnards await fate

Montagnards await fate

A van transporting asylum-seeking Montagnards arrives at the General Department of Immigration in Phnom Penh in December after travelling from Ratanakkiri province.
FILE: A van transporting asylum-seeking Montagnards arrives at the General Department of Immigration in Phnom Penh in December after travelling from Ratanakkiri province. Hong Menea

Montagnards await fate

Forty Montagnard asylum seekers from Vietnam’s Central Highlands are waiting for the Interior Ministry’s refugee department to register their claims in Phnom Penh after more arrived in the capital in recent days, the UN refugee agency has said.

Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), yesterday said that “more Montagnards have arrived in Phnom Penh … There are now 40 of them waiting to be registered by the Refugee Department.”

Since October, dozens of ethnic Jarai Montagnards have fled to Cambodia citing religious persecution.

Cambodian police deported 45 Montagnards in February, while 13 have so far been granted provisional refugee status after they were escorted to Phnom Penh by UN officials in December.

At least 23 others are thought to be hiding in the forests of the remote northeast in Ratanakkiri province, where armed security forces and sniffer dogs have been mobilised to track them down.

Kerm Sarin, head of the government’s refugee department, could not be reached yesterday for comment.

An ethnic Jarai villager in Ratanakkiri who has been assisting the asylum seekers there said the new arrivals had not entered the country via the usual cross-border routes out of fear after about 1,000 troops were dispatched to the area on Thursday to combat “illegal immigration”.

“They did not come to Ratanakkiri because of the soldiers deploying all along the border,” he said. “The deploying of these troops was aimed at the Montagnards.”

Some of the 23 Montagnards still in hiding in the province have been there for four months and are suffering from worsening conditions and a lack of food, he added.

In late March, the UN refugee agency met Cambodian and Vietnamese officials to “discuss solutions” to the influx of Montagnards, including repatriation.

Wan-Hea Lee, representative of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that her office was continuing to urge the government to allow the remaining asylum seekers safe passage to register their claims without fear of deportation.

“Unfortunately, dialogue with the government on these issues has not been possible in recent months. Any viable long-term solution, however, would need to be pursued on the other side of the border where developments are apparently causing persons to seek asylum.’’

The continued influx of asylum seekers comes as Cambodia is preparing to allow a small number of refugees held in an Australian-funded detention centre on the Pacific island of Nauru to resettle here under an agreement signed last September.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said: “Instead of proving to the world that it welcomes refugees, Cambodia is busy proving the opposite by hunting them down in the jungles and locking them out of the interview rooms in Phnom Penh.”

“Hun Sen and his government are right out of a modern day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde show, where the kindly doctor happily treats refugees from Nauru whose pockets are stuffed with Australian assistance cash, while Hyde chases down and forces back impoverished Montagnards fleeing Vietnam government persecution.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KEVIN PONNIAH

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

  • Tina rebuffs ‘false claims’ over falling paddy price

    Agriculture minister Dith Tina has shed light on the trade of paddy rice in Battambang – Cambodia’s leading rice-producing province – in a bid to curb what he dubs a “social media fact distortion campaign” to destabilise the market. While acknowledging that the prices of paddy

  • 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

  • Kampot curfew imposed to curb ‘gang’ violence

    Kampot provincial police have announced measures to contain a recent spike in antisocial behaviour by “unruly’ youth. Officials say the province has been plagued by recent violence among so-called “gang members”, who often fight with weapons such as knives and machetes. Several social observers have

  • PM outlines plans to discuss trade, policy during US visit

    Prime Minister Hun Manet is set to meet with senior US officials and business leaders during his upcoming visit to the US for the UN General Assembly (UNGA), scheduled for September 20. While addressing nearly 20,000 workers in Kampong Speu province, Manet said he aims to affirm