HANOI, VIETNAM (BosNewsLife)-- The United Nations refugee agency, has rescued 75 predominantly Christian Vietnamese Montagnards fleeing persecution in Vietnam by taking them into its care in Cambodia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported Monday, January 16.

Deborah Backus, spokeswoman of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cambodia, said "the 75" seeking asylum "are at a site in northeastern Ratanakkiri province" under the agency's protection. The developments came shortly after BosNewsLife covered reports that at least dozens of Degar Montagnard Christians were recovering this Christmas, after being tortured by Vietnamese security forces.

The Degar, referred to by French colonists as Montagnard or "mountain people" are the indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands, but have been accused by Communist authorities of following "an American religion" and of cooperating with American troops during the Vietnam War, human rights groups say.

The US-based advocacy organization Montagnard Foundation Incorporated (MFI), which has close contacts with Christians in the Central Highlands, told BosNewsLife that at least 27 people "were detained and tortured" there since November, including at least one woman, while Vietnamese troops reportedly occupied over 60 villages in the region.

MILITARY OPERATIONS

Vietnamese security forces have been conducting ongoing military operations in December to prevent Christmas celebrations in Vietnam's Central Highlands, church sources said.

Persecution of the group was reportedly stepped up in 2001 when mostly Christian Montagnards began fleeing to Cambodia after security forces crushed demonstrations in the Central Highlands over land rights and religious issues.

About 1,000 have reportedly been resettled in the United States, while an unknown number of others were sent back to Vietnam, where rights groups claim they faced arrest and harassment for fleeing the country. "The failure of Montagnards to gain the status of refugee often depends on the lack of information on their rights provided to them by UNHCR," the MFI warned recently.

NEW DEMONSTRATIONS

In April 2004, thousands again took to the streets, triggering another crackdown, and a second exodus that has seen hundreds of asylum seekers arrive in Cambodia, ABC reported.

Backus told ABC that the most recent arrivals are healthy and will be flown to the capital Phnom Penh later in the week.
Last year, 598 Montagnard refugees from Vietnam were resettled, mainly in the United States, as well as Finland and Canada, the network said.

Source: Bosnewlife