In August 2003 the Montagnard
Foundation Inc (MFI) published an urgent appeal concerning a group of
over 50 Montagnards/Degar people who were hiding in desperate
conditions along the Cambodian/Vietnamese border. MFI has just
received specific information that 7 of these refugees (listed below)
were arrested and sold to Vietnamese authorities by Cambodian police
for cash bounties. The remaining survivors are pleading for
help from the UNCHR and international community. (all victims
were from Cu Se District, Gia Lai Province, Vietnam).
|
R'mah Doan, born 1980 of Plei
Luh village. |
Arrested and sold 3 August 2003 |
|
Kpa Klao, born 1963 of Plei Luh
village. |
Arrested and sold 3 August 2003 |
|
R'mah Anong, born 1977 of Plei
Ring village |
Arrested and sold 3 August 2003 |
|
R'mah Ut, born 1971 of Plei
Ring village. |
Arrested and sold 6 August 2003 |
|
Kpa Ngiep, born 1986 of Plei
Djrek village. |
Arrested and sold 6 August 2003 |
|
Siu Jit, born 1967 of Plei Croh
Dut village. |
Arrested and sold 6 August 2003 |
|
Siu Thun, of Plei Croh Dut
village. |
Arrested and sold 6 August 2003 |
q 35
of the original Montagnards have disappeared and their fate is
unknown. They may have been arrested, imprisoned, starved to death or
shot by Vietnamese authorities. 17 still are in the jungles hiding
and 2 are under UNHCR care. These Montagnard refugees are in extreme
danger. Recently on 21 July 2003 Mr Son Chhay a Member of the
Cambodian Parliament demanded the Cambodian government stop this
inhumane abuse of the 1951 International Refugee Treaty by Cambodia
and also confirmed that Hanoi is paying bounties of $66 to Cambodian
police for turning over Montagnard refugees to Vietnamese police.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International, the Transnational Radical Party, United Nations, and
US State Department have confirmed these abuses of human rights. In
April 2003 Human Rights Watch reported an “escalation of
repression”, facing the Montagnards inside Vietnam and released
‘secret’ Vietnamese government documents ordering this repression
http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/04/vietnam042103.htm. In May 2003
the US International Commission For Religious Freedom stated, “the
increased repression of religious freedom has been reportedly
sanctioned at the highest levels of the Vietnamese government.”
The situation is at a crisis point and the Montagnard Foundation
urgently requests that:
q
The UNHCR and
international community please take urgent action and try to save the
lives of these remaining Montagnards. Food, water and protection is
needed for these unfortunate persons before the Vietnamese
authorities get hold of them.
q
The government of
Cambodia, the United Nations, the European Union and the United
States and other democratic Governments and foreign donors do
everything humanely possible to protect Montagnard refugees fleeing
Vietnam, namely by re-establishing the UNHCR refugee camps in
Ratannakiri and Mondolkiri Province and ensuring Vietnam does not
continue to defy the concluding observations issued by the 2002 UN
Human Rights Committee by refusing international monitors access to
the Central Highlands.
Please contact the Montagnard Foundation if you would like to
help. Unless urgent protection is granted these and other Montagnards
are going to be arrested, tortured or killed.
