Khmer Krom and UNPO Protest Over Vietnam Human Rights Record
The Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) in partnership with the UNPO held a two day demonstration on May 7 and May 8 in Geneva to draw attention to human rights abuses taking place in Vietnam, timed to coincide with the very first time that Vietnam will undergo U.N Human Rights Council examination.
For a PDF copy of this Press Release in English, please click here:
For a PDF copy of this Press Release in French, please click here:
Indigenous Khmer Krom in Geneva to Call Upon
the International Community for Action
On 08 May 2009, as the United Nations Human Rights Council convenes to examine Viet Nam's human rights record for the very first time, 400 indigenous Khmer Krom people will assemble in front of the Palais des Nations in Geneva to denounce the distressing situation of ethnic minorities in Viet Nam.
In a country where a great number of the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are only an abstract concept, ethnic minorities find themselves in a particularly difficult situation. Sharing the Vietnamese population's harsh fate, they must also carry the full burden of their differences. The 8 million indigenous Khmer Krom find themselves in this situation. An indigenous people having lived in the Mekong delta (in southern Viet Nam) for over 3000 years, they have since the country's independence been the target of organised discriminations and expropriations. These state policies have led to the marginalisation of this population.
Gathering grassroots organisations as well as Khmer Krom in diaspora, secular and religious people, personalities of various political affiliations, the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) works to give the Khmer Krom a voice on the national and international levels. On 08 May 2009, as the United Nations Human Rights Council convenes to examine for the first time Viet Nam's whole human rights record, 400 indigenous Khmer Krom will be present in Geneva, both inside and outside the UN buildings, to remind the international community of the situation faced by ethnic minorities in Viet Nam.
Below is a statement issued by the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation:
This morning, May 8, 2009 approximately 10:00AM local time, hundreds of Khmer-Krom farmers are peacefully demonstrating in three different locations to demand returning their confiscated farmlands.
In Chau Lang village, Tri Ton district, An Giang province, more than 100 Khmer-Krom farmer families are peacefully protest to demand returning their confiscated farmlands, but they are being forced to go back to their home by the Vietnamese polices. At this time, they currently are being surrounded by the Vietnamese Polices at Che-Eng Krom Temple in Chau Lang village.
In An Cu village, Tinh Bien district, An Giang province, more than 40 Khmer-Krom farmers are peacefully demonstrating in front of the Vietnamese Local Authority’s building of An Cu Village to demand returning their confiscated farmlands. They are being surrounded by the Vietnamese Polices.
In Can Tho City, more than 50 Khmer-Krom farmers from Soc Trang and Tra Vinh provinces are also peacefully demonstrating to demand their confiscated farmlands.
In this regards, we would like to urge all foreign Embassies in Vietnam to closely monitor and provide any possible assistant to protect the Khmer-Krom farmers so they can freely exercise their land rights to demand returning their confiscated farmlands.