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Press Release
Human Rights Watch April 4, 2002
For more information contact:
Jim Ross 212-216-1251
Rachael Reilly 212-216-1208
For Immediate Release
Cambodia/Vietnam: Montagnard Asylum Rights Threatened
New York - Human
Rights Watch today expressed strong concern about Cambodia's announcement
that it will close down two refugee camps and cease protecting and providing
temporary asylum for indigenous Montagnard refugees from Vietnam.
While Human Rights Watch welcomed Cambodia's decision to authorize the
processing of Montagnards for resettlement to the United States, the
organization said that Cambodia's decision to close its borders and summarily
deport future asylum seekers was contrary to its obligations under international
refugee law.
On March 31, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that within a month the
two refugee camps for Montagnard refugees in Cambodia operated by the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would be closed and all newcomers prevented
from entering the country.
"Like any government, Cambodia has an obligation under international law to keep
its borders open to those fleeing persecution and to provide at least temporary
protection and asylum," said Rachael Reilly, refugee policy director at Human
Rights Watch. "Failure to do so could result in the return of refugees to a
country where their lives and freedom are at risk - a violation of the most
fundamental principle of refugee protection, non-refoulement."
Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese government to immediately address
the cause of the refugee flow and cease its repression of the indigenous
Montagnards. Reilly further called on Vietnam to allow UNHCR to station monitors
in the Central Highlands to check on refugees who have already returned to
Vietnam, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and to monitor future refugee
flows.
"While Cambodia deserves credit for trying to find a solution for the
Montagnards who are currently in the refugee camps in Cambodia, we have serious
concerns about the future protection of Montagnard asylum seekers fleeing
Vietnam," said Reilly. "And unless Vietnam addresses the cause of the refugee
flows by ceasing human rights violations against the Montagnards, there will be
no lasting solution to the refugee crisis."
Ongoing Repression
In February 2001 the Vietnamese government launched a harsh crackdown on
Montagnards in the Central Highlands after thousands joined largely peaceful
protests for land rights, religious freedom, and independence. Recent reports
received by Human Rights Watch indicate that ongoing human rights violations
include repression of Evangelical Protestants, travel bans, forced oath-swearing
ceremonies, police torture of suspected dissidents, and mistreatment of those
who have attempted to flee to Cambodia.
During the past year more than 1,500 Montagnards fled to Cambodia, where many
were sheltered in two camps operated by UNHCR in Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri
provinces. Cambodia's decision to authorize processing of the Montagnard
refugees for resettlement abroad followed the dissolution of a voluntary
repatriation program agreed upon in January 2002 in a tripartite agreement by
Cambodia, Vietnam and UNHCR.
On March 22, UNHCR announced that it was formally terminating its involvement
with the repatriation process after Cambodian officials permitted Vietnam to
send delegations of several hundred people to visit the camps to pressure the
refugees to return to Vietnam. In one incident on March 21, refugees and UNHCR
staff were threatened and roughed up when a delegation of more than 400 people,
which included as many as one hundred Vietnamese government agents, overran the
camp and conducted house-to-house searches of the refugees' huts.
On March 31, Cambodian authorities announced that they have increased the police
and military presence along its border with Vietnam and that any Montagnards
caught crossing the border will be considered illegal immigrants and immediately
deported.
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