Mar 02, 2015

Degar-Montagnards: Deportation of 36 Refugees to Vietnam


The United Nations has announced that 36 Degar-Montagnards who were escaping religious and political persecution and seeking refugee status in Cambodia have been deported and handed over to authorities in Vietnam. Moreover, Cambodian security forces have repeatedly been hindering UN staff from getting in contact with the asylum seekers. 

 

Below is an article published by the Cambodian Daily:

The U.N. has confirmed that a group of 36 Montagnards who went missing on Wednesday night [25th February 2015] after attempting to escape their forest hideouts in Ratanakkiri province on a truck bound for Phnom Penh have been deported back to Vietnam.

Wan-Hea Lee, country representative for the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Phnom Penh, condemned the mass deportation along with that of four additional asylum seekers who were detained on Tuesday [24th February 2015] and have since been handed over to Vietnamese authorities. 

“OHCHR has learned that over 40 Montagnards were deported on 24 and 25 February [2015],” Ms. Lee said in an email Friday night [27th February 2015].

“OHCHR deplores these deportations–a sad reflection of Cambodia’s commitment to abide by the Refugee Convention and the United Nations Convention against Torture, both of which are legally binding on Cambodia,” she said.

The latest deportations come after Jarai villagers in Ratanakkiri said on Friday [27th February 2015] that 36 of the asylum seekers had “disappeared” after attempting to flee their camps in Lumphat, O’Yadaw and Bakeo districts late Wednesday night [25th February 2015] in a truck destined for the capital.

The group–who claim to be fleeing religious and political persecution in Vietnam–have requested the U.N.’s help in ensuring that their refugee claims are processed by the Interior Ministry’s refugee department in Phnom Penh.

Despite this, local security forces again blocked a U.N. mission last week attempting to reach the Montagnards who have been hiding out in the province, saying the mission was not approved by the provincial governor or Interior Ministry.

The latest wave of Montagnards–an indigenous group from Vietnam’s Central Highlands–into the country began in October [2014] and has seen more than 60 of the ethnic minorities cross the porous border seeking refuge.

The Interior Ministry’s immigration department in Phnom Penh is currently processing asylum applications of a group of 13 Montagnards, while 10 others are in the capital waiting to apply for asylum