Only nine per cent of ethnic Vietnamese children in communities of almost 5,000 people in Kampong Chhnang province attend state schools due to a lack of birth certificates, a new report has found, with researchers saying that their findings reflect a situation that is all too common in the Kingdom.
According to Limbo on Earth: The Situation of Stateless Ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia. A Case Study from Kampong Chhnang, released yesterday by the Minority Rights Organization (MIRO), interviews with community leaders, residents and local officials at two floating villages in Phsar Chhnang commune found that 90 per cent of ethnic Vietnamese living there possess no birth certificates, family books or ID cards.
Despite all villagers having been born in Cambodia and not possessing any Vietnamese identification, the vast majority of the 931 families have “only … immigration cards and resident papers to prove that their residence in Cambodia is legal”, the report says, with citizenship out of reach for those who can’t afford to bribe officials.
According to MIRO, just nine per cent of more than 2,000 ethnic Vietnamese children living in the villages attend state schools due to a combination of “overwhelming poverty” and because a birth certificate is required for school enrolment.
“This is the most important issue for the Cambodian government to address.… All children should be able to go to school. They should provide birth certificates for all of them,” said MIRO director Ang Chanrith.
A Jesuit Refugee Service report released last year found that the lack of legal clarity for laws governing access to citizenship has left many ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia at risk of statelessness.
It made several recommendations, including expanding universal birth registration.
Legal provisions allow immigrants to register their children’s births with commune officials where they legally reside, but “law enforcement is particularly weak” in this area, the report says.
“This contradiction highlights the arbitrary application of the law, lack of knowledge by authorities of the laws in place, and discriminatory practices at local levels.”
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the government recognised that problems existed with the implementation of relevant laws.
“I think in this term they are going to look into that better because any baby born on Cambodian soil deserves to be a Cambodian citizen,” he said, adding that the government recognised the constitutional right to universal education.
4 comments:
Kevin Ponniah, why don't you do your investigation, talk to them to find out the real cause?
Confiscate all books and materials from Viet!s school if they are not in Khmer language
If Khmer continued to allow the Vietnamese along the Provinces bordering Khmer-Yuon and land concession of the same areas. In the near future we will be in the same situation as Ukraine, in recent days, Crimea is part of Ukraine territory, the mid 19th century, many Russians migrated to the area, until recent day, the vast majority of people living in Crimea that made about 58% of Russian in Crimea.
Crimea, Ukraine is bordered along the southwest of Russia. Since Ukraine's Independence from Russia in 1991, the Russian considered Crimea is a very vital and only access way to Russia, especially during winter, because to the north of Russia is nothing frozen ice, Crimea access rout through the Black Sea is the only way. During the Declaration of Independence from the Russian in 1991, the Russian demanded that Ukraine agreed to lease the southeast part of Crimea for the Russian military base for a 50 years term until 2042 and extended for another 25 years.
The Russian's initial intention to annex the Crimea territory from the Ukrainian no matter what.
A couple of weeks ago, the Russian claimed that their Russian citizen living in Crimea, Ukraine were oppressed and treated unfairly by the Ukrainian majority, therefore the Russian troops must move in and invade Crimea and a few days later, the Russian created a "Referendum" and have their Russian citizen voted and overwhelmingly passed by 97% for Crimea to leave Ukraine and to joint Russia, the very next day the Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the Crimea Peninsula into Russian's territory.
The circumstances of the Crimea, Ukraine could very likely happened to Cambodia with the Vietnamese.
We must be very careful.
We need to send these smart youn back to shitnam as soon as possible. If not, they will infected Khmer society at every level.
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