UNPO Concerns over safety of 24 Khmer Krom Refugees in Cambodia

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Regional Office for South East Asia
6th Floor, United Nations Building,
Rachadamnern Nok Avenue,
Bangkok 10200, Thailand
Email: ohchr.bangkok@un.org

December 8 2009

Subject: Concerns over safety of 24 Khmer Krom Refugees in Cambodia

Dear Sir, Madam,

On behalf of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), I present to you my compliments and would like to bring the following urgent matter to your attention.

UNPO is an international membership organisation based in The Hague that provides a platform for under-represented groups to raise their concerns on an international stage. The Khmer-Krom people from Khmer-Kampuchea Krom, a region straddling the Vietnam-Cambodia border have been a Member of UNPO since 2001, represented by the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF).

UNPO has just received reports from the KKF stating that a group of 24 Khmer Krom individuals of Vietnamese origin has been deported from Thailand to Cambodia. The group includes minors.

This group consists of activists who had been vocal in calling for access to land and resources in An Giang, Soc Trang and Tra Vinh Provinces, Vietnam over previous years. Following multiple arrests and harassment at the hands of the Vietnamese authorities, part of the group fled Vietnam into Cambodia last year, with others joining them this year. Upon arrival, they sought help from the UNHCR in Cambodia but UNHCR lost their mandate to protect them when the Cambodian government claimed them to be Cambodian citizens. It is believed that conveying citizenship upon the activists would inhibit their movement and contain the outspoken Khmer Krom activists within the reach of Cambodian and Vietnamese authorities.

The group then fled to Bangkok where they applied for full refugee status. However, they were arrested by Thai police on December 3^rd and deported to Cambodia on December 4^th 2009. They are currently being protected by a small organisation called Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association in Poi Pet town, Banteay Meanchey province, but they do not have the resources to ensure their safety for long. As a result, Thailand may be in breach of their international obligations prohibiting them from sending asylum seekers to a country that cannot guarantee their safety.

We urge your consideration of the matter and remain ready and willing to assist.

Yours sincerely,


Marino Busdachin
UNPO General Secretary
UNPO Secretariat
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Email: unpo@unpo.org
Tel.: +31(0)70 3646504
Fax: +31(0)70 3646608
www.unpo.org
P.O.Box 85878
2508 CN The Hague
the Netherlands