Missing Montagnards Caught, Deported to Vietnam


2015.03.02
MontagnardMap305.jpg The Montagnards are based in Vietnam's Central Highland provinces.
RFA

Three dozen Montagnards who mysteriously disappeared on a trip from northeastern Cambodia to the country’s capital Phnom Penh were arrested and deported back to Vietnam, witnesses and a human rights activist said.

The 36 Montagnards from Vietnam and a local Cambodian resident who was helping them were arrested in the middle of the night on Feb. 25, at Kon Mum district in Ratanakiri province in a joint action by Cambodian and Vietnamese police.

A Cambodian driver told RFA’s Khmer Service that he had dropped them at a Vietnamese police station across the border in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province.

The Cambodian helper, from the Charai ethnic group, was arrested with the 36 and sent to Vietnam, the man’s family told the Cambodian human rights group Adhoc.

Adhoc quoted a local official as saying that at least two plain-clothed Vietnamese police crossed into Cambodia and carried out the arrests and deportation with help from Cambodian authorities.

Asked by RFA about the case, Ratanakiri authorities said they had no information about the arrests.

The 36 Montagnards, Christian indigenous people from Vietnam’s Central Highlands who have fled to Cambodia and been hiding in the forest of Ratanakiri province, were the latest of at least 50 people seeking United Nations refugee status for alleged political and religious persecution in their homeland.

Although dozens of Montagnards have fled to Cambodia in recent months, authorities maintain they are not refugees but rather farmers who have entered the country for financial reasons. U.N. efforts to contact the refugees are often blocked by Cambodian authorities.

The deportation of the 36 raises to 45 the number of Montagnards to have been arrested and deported back to Vietnam in February alone in what rights groups say is a violation of international law.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

POST A COMMENT

Add your comment by filling out the form below in plain text. Comments are approved by a moderator and can be edited in accordance with RFAs Terms of Use. Comments will not appear in real time. RFA is not responsible for the content of the postings. Please, be respectful of others' point of view and stick to the facts.