Vietnam refugee deal criticised
International human rights groups have
criticised an agreement between Cambodia and
Vietnam to repatriate a group of Vietnamese
asylum-seekers, which they say could trigger
forcible expulsions.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International said the deal reached on Monday
does not specify that the return of refugees
must be voluntary.
The refugees involved are ethnic Montagnards
from the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
More than 1,000 Montagnards have fled into
Cambodia after their protests over land rights
and religious freedoms were suppressed by the
Vietnamese authorities.
Human rights groups say the UN refugee
agency has been given only limited access to
monitor the safe return of the refugees.
They say that since last March, they have
documented examples of dozens of
Montagnards deported from Cambodia being
subject to abuse, imprisonment and beatings.
The US ambassador to Cambodia, Kent
Wiedemann, has expressed similar concerns.
BBC news service - January 25, 2002.
Rights groups air doubts on Vietnam refugee plan
HANOI - Two leading human rights groups said on Friday
they feared that a plan to repatriate asylum seekers who
fled to Cambodia from Vietnam's Central Highlands could
trigger forcible expulsions.
Adding their concerns to those of the United States,
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said an
agreement this week between the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Hanoi and
Cambodia to allow the repatriation of the more than 1,000 tribespeople, known as
"Montagnards", did not state that returns must be voluntary.
"We are concerned that this agreement may send a green light to both the Cambodian
and the Vietnamese authorities that it is now acceptable to forcibly expel Montagnards
seeking asylum in Cambodia," Rachael Reilly, refugee policy director at New
York-based Human Rights Watch, said in a joint statement.
Nor did the pact state that the right of individuals to continue to seek asylum in
Cambodia must be respected, besides appearing to grant only limited U.N. access to
monitor returns, the groups said.
The hill people are holed up in two U.N. camps in Cambodia after fleeing a crackdown
by Hanoi on protests over land rights and religious freedom that broke out in the Central
Highlands last February, the worst in communist-ruled Vietnam for years.
The rights groups called for repatriations to be completely voluntary and for UNHCR to
have full, unhindered access before and after returns to ensure safety of the returnees.
They said that since March 2001, they had documented abuse, imprisonment and
beatings of dozens of hill people deported from Cambodia and gave an example of a
man who was detained for a week and then put under surveillance after returning in
September.
"There do not appear to be sufficient safeguards to protect the returnees and their
families," said Lars Olsson, refugee officer of London-based Amnesty International.
"Permission to visit the Central Highlands of Vietnam for UNHCR is not enough --
UNHCR must have freedom of movement there and must fully assess conditions in the
area and monitor the safety of any returnees."
The rights groups said there had been several incidents of forcible return of refugees to
Vietnam, most recently in December 2001, when 160 were forced back across the
border.
On Thursday, U.S. ambassador to Cambodia Ken Wiedemann said Washington would
contact UNHCR and the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments to express its
worries about the deal.
Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said there was no reason
for concern about the safety of returnees, although she repeatedly stressed Hanoi's line
that the people had left "illegally".
She said the U.S. criticism aimed only to raise concerns among the returnees and
obstruction of the repatriation process would stir instability.
Reuters - January 25, 2002.
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