The current crisis, which involved with crime against humanity, committed by the Cambodian authorities on the Montagnards refugees, is of great concern. The refugees from the Central Highlands region of Socialist Republic of Vietnam who have escaped the prosecution and to seek asylum in Cambodia with protection of the UNHCR have become a critical issue and have caused great concern among the local and the International Communities.

In order to provide support to the refugees I, Thach Setha, a senator and the president of Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, wish to appeal the Royal Government of Cambodia as the following:

To comply fully with the United Nations Convention on Refugees to which Cambodia is a signatory

To honor, respect and implement to the declaration made by His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk on April 14, 2004 to protect the refugees. I would like also bring to the public that, this is not for the first time that the government of the S. R. of Vietnam has harassed these Montagnards and forcing them to flee their homeland, and not just the indigenous Montagnards who have been suffered under these brutal acts but also the indigenous Khmer Krom people in South Vietnam who have also suffered under the same crime in the past years with countless acts of torturing, intimidation, abusing the fundamental rights and freedom such as the practice of religion and learning our own language etc. In 1985, 1986, and 1987, the Vietnamese communist government has killed many Khmer Krom people and also closed down Khmer Krom schools and we can not even get the news of this crime out to the International Communities because of the restriction imposed by this communist government.

It is a shameful remark made recently by the Cambodian foreign minister, Mr. Hor Nam Hong, who called the Montagnard refugees as "the Illegal Economic Migrant" which is just not true, but these Montagnards who have fled Vietnam of the political reason and to have forced to repatriate them back against their will, is to send them to their death.

As a Buddhist nation with its international and moral obligations, I would like to see the Cambodian Government immediately establish the refugee camps along the Vietnamese borders so that the refugees can be cared for by the UNHCR, and the lives of these unfortunate indigenous people can be saved.

Phnom Penh, May 21, 2004