MONTAGNARD CHRISTIANS FORCIBLY REPATRIATED TO VIETNAM Observers Say 1,000 More Refugees Face the Same Fate Special to Compass Direct

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, March 4 (Compass) — Cambodian authorities forcibly repatriated on March 2 sixty-three predominantly Christian Montagnards from Vietnam who were seeking asylum in Cambodia. Sixty-one refugees from a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) camp who reportedly had “volunteered” to return were also repatriated. But Cambodian and Vietnamese authorities refused to allow the UNHCR any participating role, in violation of a January 21 agreement.

Observers fear that if international condemnation and consequences are not swift and meaningful, the fate of the remaining 1,000 Montagnard refugees in two camps is sealed and they will all be forced to return. Vietnam’s tribal peoples are collectively known as Montagnards.

One year ago, Vietnam’s tribal minorities shocked authorities when thousands marched on government buildings in Central Highland cities to protest a lack of religious freedom and the illegal loss of much of their traditional lands. Vietnamese authorities responded with a massive military and security crackdown. Many tribals fled their homes for the forest during the crackdown, some disappeared, and more than 1,600 — almost all Christians — crossed the border into Cambodia’s Mondolkiri and Ratanakiri provinces.

Vietnam immediately pressured Cambodia to return the refugees. Many were turned over to Vietnamese authorities by Cambodian police for a bounty. Several hundred were returned. Following strong international complaints about these human rights abuses, the UNHCR set up a camp in each of the two provinces and provided at least some protection. Refugees continued to come in modest numbers, fleeing persecution that was well documented.

Late last year, more than a dozen Montagnards in Vietnam received harsh prison sentences for allegedly leading the demonstrations or for organizing flights to Cambodia. Vietnamese authorities relentlessly interrogated many Christian leaders. They organized meetings at which Christians were told to sign affidavits renouncing their faith and reconverting to their animistic past. As a symbolic act to prove their sincerity, some Christians were reportedly made to drink a repugnant cocktail of blood from freshly sacrificed animals mixed with rice liquor.

On January 21, the UNHCR signed a tripartite agreement with Vietnam and Cambodia to repatriate the refugees immediately. Human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch objected to the lack of guarantees for the refugees’ security. The document does not use the words “voluntary” or “refugee” or “asylum seeker” or even “person of concern.” It did not guarantee the UNHCR free access to the areas of repatriation or follow-up visits.

Critics of the agreement said the UNHCR did not take seriously the evidence presented about religious human rights abuses against Vietnam’s minorities and had failed to live up to its protection mandate. Some observers close to the situation even accused the UNHCR of anti-Christian bias.

After being allowed one brief visit to the Central Highlands in early February, the UNHCR assured those who raised questions that Vietnam had promised no reprisals against returnees for illegal departure. In the meantime, the UNHCR, against its normal practice, allowed Vietnamese authorities to bring refugees’ relatives into the camps to try to convince their family members to return voluntarily. Once out of earshot of the authorities, some of the visitors reportedly told their relatives not to return under any circumstances.

Nevertheless, the UNHCR announced 109 “volunteers” would return on February 19. In fact, 15 were repatriated. Vietnamese authorities, apparently concerned about international criticism, allowed some international reporters to visit the repatriates. In spite of attempts to control meetings, the repatriates managed to express significant fears to the reporters.

On February 22, UNHCR staff members were prevented by Cambodian authorities from going where they needed to go in order to prepare for more repatriations. On the same day, Vietnamese authorities, who were allowed into the Mondolkiri camp by the UNHCR, threatened the refugees and announced an April 30 deadline for their “voluntary” repatriation. When some refugees objected, Cambodian police with electric truncheons waded in to subdue them in full view of UNHCR officials, sources said.

Finally on February 24, following the refugee beating incident in Mondolkiri, and after being restrained in their visits in Vietnam, the UNHCR announced that the actions by the Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities “seriously eroded” the repatriation agreement and asked these countries for “clarification.” Critics said the agreement seemed in danger of imminent collapse.

Attempts continued to convince the refugees to return voluntarily. However, the UNHCR did not allow the Vietnamese officials, who accompanied relatives from Vietnam, into the camps. Nevertheless, refugees were so frightened that they discarded the food brought to them as a gift from home, fearing it might poisoned.

On February 25, Hanoi announced that it was sending 2,300 troops into the Central Highlands to educate people “against plots to get young people to flee to Cambodia” and “maintain infrastructure in 258 villages.”

On the morning of March 2, UNHCR officials were turned away when they tried to move 63 new refugee arrivals from a district police station to the refugee camp at Ban Lung, Ratanakiri, Cambodia. In the afternoon, Cambodian forces bound these refugees and hauled them back to the Vietnam border. The same day, they also transported the 61 refugees who reportedly had “volunteered” to return to Vietnam, refusing any UNHCR involvement.

According to one international Vietnam observer, Montagnard refugees have lost faith in the UNHCR, and they refuse to believe recent assurances of Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ms. Phan Thuy Thanh, who told journalists that, “No nation cares more for its citizens than Vietnam.”

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