By The Associated Press (CP)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A U.N.-run refugee centre in the Cambodian capital closed its doors Tuesday, meeting a deadline set by the government after settling the cases of its remaining residents.
The centre in Phnom Penh housed 75 refugees from Vietnam, most if not all members of the Montagnard ethnic minority, when plans for its closure were announced last year. Thousands of Montagnards fled to Cambodia after 2001, when Vietnam cracked down on protests against land confiscation and religious restrictions.
"Today is the last day, the day that the site has to be completely shut down," said Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong, adding that no new one would be allowed to open in the future. The government regarded the centre as a magnet for would-be refugees.
Cambodia says the situation in Vietnam has improved, so there is no longer justification for fleeing the country, alleging that its economy has improved and that the Montagnards no longer face repression in their highland home areas.
However, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch said Monday that it "continues to receive credible reports of persecution of Montagnards in Vietnam, where more than 300 have been imprisoned since 2001 for peaceful expression of their religious or political views, or for trying to seek asylum in Cambodia."
Cambodia originally gave the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, a New Year's Day deadline to shut the site, but extended it to Feb. 15.
Andrej Mahecic, a spokesman in Geneva for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said 50 of the asylum-seekers at the compound were sent for resettlement in Canada last week. Another five are headed for the United States.
Of the 20 remaining, 10 were determined by UNHCR not to qualify for refugee status and are expected to return to Vietnam. The last 10 will be housed in Phnom Penh until arrangements can be made to resettle them in a third country, said Mahecic, who praised the Cambodian government for its "good co-operation."
Cambodia last year drew criticism from human rights activists for sending back 20 members of the Uighur ethnic minority who said they were fleeing ethnic violence in their homeland in far western China and wanted asylum. Beijing had accused the Uighurs of involvement in the violence.
"The Cambodian government has a dismal track record when it comes to deporting recognized refugees and asylum seekers under UNHCR protection — particularly those from countries such as China and Vietnam, with whom it has close relations," Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said in a statement. "The U.N. and concerned governments should press Cambodia to make sure the Montagnards don't suffer the same fate as the Uighurs and others who have been unlawfully deported."
Human Rights Watch urged the Cambodian government to continue to provide safe asylum for Montagnards from Vietnam "and not force asylum seekers back to a place where their lives and their liberty will be at stake."
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Additional reporting by Grant Peck in Bangkok.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A U.N.-run refugee centre in the Cambodian capital closed its doors Tuesday, meeting a deadline set by the government after settling the cases of its remaining residents.
The centre in Phnom Penh housed 75 refugees from Vietnam, most if not all members of the Montagnard ethnic minority, when plans for its closure were announced last year. Thousands of Montagnards fled to Cambodia after 2001, when Vietnam cracked down on protests against land confiscation and religious restrictions.
"Today is the last day, the day that the site has to be completely shut down," said Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong, adding that no new one would be allowed to open in the future. The government regarded the centre as a magnet for would-be refugees.
Cambodia says the situation in Vietnam has improved, so there is no longer justification for fleeing the country, alleging that its economy has improved and that the Montagnards no longer face repression in their highland home areas.
However, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch said Monday that it "continues to receive credible reports of persecution of Montagnards in Vietnam, where more than 300 have been imprisoned since 2001 for peaceful expression of their religious or political views, or for trying to seek asylum in Cambodia."
Cambodia originally gave the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, a New Year's Day deadline to shut the site, but extended it to Feb. 15.
Andrej Mahecic, a spokesman in Geneva for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said 50 of the asylum-seekers at the compound were sent for resettlement in Canada last week. Another five are headed for the United States.
Of the 20 remaining, 10 were determined by UNHCR not to qualify for refugee status and are expected to return to Vietnam. The last 10 will be housed in Phnom Penh until arrangements can be made to resettle them in a third country, said Mahecic, who praised the Cambodian government for its "good co-operation."
Cambodia last year drew criticism from human rights activists for sending back 20 members of the Uighur ethnic minority who said they were fleeing ethnic violence in their homeland in far western China and wanted asylum. Beijing had accused the Uighurs of involvement in the violence.
"The Cambodian government has a dismal track record when it comes to deporting recognized refugees and asylum seekers under UNHCR protection — particularly those from countries such as China and Vietnam, with whom it has close relations," Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said in a statement. "The U.N. and concerned governments should press Cambodia to make sure the Montagnards don't suffer the same fate as the Uighurs and others who have been unlawfully deported."
Human Rights Watch urged the Cambodian government to continue to provide safe asylum for Montagnards from Vietnam "and not force asylum seekers back to a place where their lives and their liberty will be at stake."
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Additional reporting by Grant Peck in Bangkok.
1 comment:
Please, do not bring more problem to Cambodia !!!!!!
If Vietnam committed the crime, go after them !!!!
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