OVER 1000 MONTAGNARD REFUGEES ASK FOR URGENT ASYLUM: VIETNAMESE ARMY KIDNAPS MONTAGNARD REFUGEES FROM UNHCR CAMPS AND THREATENS TO OVERRUN THE CAMPS UNLESS THEY RETURN TO VIETNAM

There are over 1000 Montagnard refugees suffering in Cambodian refugee camps, who fled the military crackdown by Vietnamese army and security forces which began last February 2001. Right now the indigenous Montagnard highlanders (Degar Peoples) of Vietnam’s central highlands are enduring persecution and martial law. The Degar people have been arrested, tortured, beaten and some killed. These Christian hill tribe people are officially persecuted for their faith and have had their ancestral lands confiscated. We do not know how many have been killed so far as the army strictly patrols the region. Vietnam has placed bounties for the capture of Degar people who try fleeing to Cambodia and Cambodian police have sold our people back to Vietnam – where they are tortured with electric prods. Recently the UNHCR suspended the repatriation plan as Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities entered the Mondulkiri refugee camp and used electric batons and beat 15 Degar Montagnards right in front of UNHCR officials.

On March 1, 2002 the Vietnamese authorities forced 200 Degar people from commune H'Bau, commune Dak Doa and commune B14 to get on trucks and took them to the province city.  Here, the authorities threatened them until they signed an agreement to assist the security forces in bringing back the refugees from Cambodia.  Those who did not know to sign their names were forced to put fingerprints on a blank piece of paper. The government authorities are reportedly doing this all over the Central Highlands in an effort to get the refugees back at all costs.

Dressed up in Cambodian uniforms Vietnamese security forces enter UN refugee camp and kidnap Montagnard Refugees 

The Vietnamese government sent 200 of their security forces in Mondukiri province of Cambodia under the command of Nguyen Dinh Xoi, Nguyen Truong Thuat and Y-Le Ksor.  In March a number of these Vietnamese security people dressed in Cambodian soldier's uniforms and aided by the Cambodian police, they entered the refugee camp and kidnapped 16 Degar refugees. There names are: 1) Nay Bo, 2) Nay Bioi, 3) Y-Khoi Nie, 4) Y-Dut Enuol, 5) Y-Hung Kpuot, 6) Y-Hon, 7) Y-Ko, 8) Y-Sok, 9) Y-Kok, 10) Y-Lieu, 11) Y-Nao, 12) Y-Em, 13) Y-Kra, 14) Y-Ka ep, 15) Y-Lun Enuol and 16) H'Dui Buon Ya (this lady just gave a birth to a child 2 days before she was kidnapped on March 12).

Are these peoples in Vietnamese prisons and being tortured like the others?

Inside Vietnam on March 15, 2002 the Vietnamese government aided by 110 Cong An (security forces) forced 70 Degars from Buon Ma Thuot including Christian pastors to go to Mondulkiri province of Cambodia in order to convince and force the 1000 Degar refugees to return to Vietnam.  The security forces told them propaganda lies and that the refugees really want to return back to Vietnam.  How could our people want to return to Vietnam knowing that they will then be beaten, tortured and imprisoned?  

Prior to the Vietnamese government’s crackdown in February 2001 there had been no Degar people fleeing Vietnam. What was our crime? We had peacefully asked the government to respect our religious freedom, human rights, to respect our ancestral land rights and to release two of our two Christian brothers, Rahlan Pon and Rahlan Djan, whom the police had arrested and sent to prison because of their Christian beliefs.  The Montagnard Foundation has never asked our people to go to Cambodia.  We ask why would our people want to go to Cambodia unless they were being persecuted?

1. The Degar people fled the military crackdown in Vietnam because the Vietnamese military are persecuting our race of people. The Montagnard Foundation cannot force people to flee Vietnam, like the Vietnamese government is claiming. The Vietnamese military has done this themselves.  

2. Degar refugees are not illegal border crossers or illegal migrants like the Vietnamese government is claiming -They are refugees fleeing religious persecution, martial law and inhuman treatment by the Vietnamese government .

During the Vietnam War, the media had once neglected the human rights abuses committed by the Vietnamese communists. Now the world is finding out how Vietnam treats its citizens and the extent of their human rights violations. The situation facing our people is reaching a crisis point where the very lives of these Christian hill tribe people is in serious doubt. In the last few days, Vietnamese army troops ignored International condemnation to cease harassment of Montagnards and again crossed the border into Cambodian. Here they kidnapped our people from the refugee camps.

The Vietnamese security forces sent letters to our refugees inside the UNHCR camp threatening them that are going to overrun the UNHCR camp and cut their bodies into pieces.

The Montagnard Foundation makes this urgent plea to the international community as a warning, because we fear further bloodshed will occur in the camps. We further stress that repatriation will not solve the refugee problem until the situation inside Vietnam’s central highlands is corrected. We ask that the International Community and UNHCR make every effort to: 

1. Solve the underlying problem in Vietnam, namely end the persecution of the Montagnard people in Vietnam by the Vietnamese authorities.