By Lee Berthiaume
The Cambodia Daily

Montagnards who have escaped to Cambodia should not be returned to Vietnam until international monitors are allowed into the Central Highlands to guarantee their safety, a Montagnard leader told the UN last week.

"Any attempt to return Montagnard refugees to Vietnam without guaranteeing their safety inside Vietnam will fail in the long term as returned refugees face reprisals," Kok Ksor, president of the Montagnard Foundation, told the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 11.

The Vietnamese government has refused to allow observers into that country's Central Highlands to monitor the return of asylum seekers whose applications have been denied.

"We ask that under no circumstances should the Montagnard refugees be returned to Vietnam unless international monitors are granted permanent residence to the region to guarantee their protection," Kok Ksor said, speaking on behalf of the Transnational Radical Party. He also blasted a trilateral agreement between the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Vietnam and Cambodia as "flawed and dangerous" because the UNHCR cannot guarantee the Montagnards' safety when they are returned.

The agreement was signed on Jan 25 and will be reviewed by the three parties in Geneva later this month. Officials met in Phnom Penh the same day Ksor made his presentation to discuss the agreement prior to the meeting in Switzerland.

Human Rights Watch also weighed in this week with their own concerns about the agreement, saying there is nothing in the document to ensure repatriation is voluntary and that monitors are not guaranteed but Vietnam and the UNHCR will "consult and cooperate."

The organization says it has recorded numerous cases of Montagnards who have returned being persecuted, made to appear before the state media and jailed.

A UNHCR representative, however, said the agreement complied with international laws and, while it may not be perfect, the refugee organization has to work with governments, not against them.

She said the agreement will be reviewed at an upcoming meeting in Geneva later this month.

As well, the representative said plans for a monitoring trip to Vietnam are in the works. "We are hoping a mission will be conducted soon," the representative said. "It's on its way."

Seventy-five Montagnards whose refugee applications have been rejected, are scheduled to be returned to Vietnam in the next month. They are being kept together at a government site in Phnom Penh under military police guard.