Persecutions against Ethnic Minorities in Indochina The Montagnards refugees are threatened in everywhere. They are victims of the policy of ethnic purification practised by the Vietnamese government, and now they are undesirable in Cambodia. The repatriation of these refugees back to Vietnam, place of their persecution, is committed in violation of the international laws.

It seems that the ethnic minorities can not find their place anywhere. In Laos, repressions against the minorities, in particular Hmongs, are also a recurrent practice. They are victims of discrimination and persecution in Vietnam and now considered by the respective governments of Phnom Penh and Vientiane as being an undesirable population, even more as illegal immigrants. In fact, are they more illegal than the few million of Vietnameses installed in Cambodia and Laos?

In the future, will the Cambodians and Laotians, once relegated to the category of the ethnic minorities, be undesirable in their turn in their own country ? ======================================================================= Les réfugiés Montagnards sont menacés de toute part. Ils sont victimes de la politique d’épuration ethnique pratiquée par le gouvernement Vietnamien, et désormais ils sont indésirables au Cambodge. Le rapatriement de ces réfugiés au Vietnam, lieu de leur persécution, se fait en violation des droits internationaux.

Il semble que les minorités ethniques ne trouvent leur place nulle part. Au Laos, les répressions à l’égard des minorités, notamment les Hmongs, sont une pratique également courante. Ils sont victimes de discrimination et de persécution au Vietnam et considérés par les gouvernements respectifs de Phnom Penh et de Vientiane comme étant une population indésirable voire même des immigrants illégaux. Au fond, sont-ils plus illégaux que les quelques millions de Vietnamiens installés au Cambodge et au Laos ?

A l’avenir, les Cambodgiens et Laotiens, une fois relégués à la catégorie des minorités ethniques, seront-ils indésirables à leur tour dans leur propre pays ?

Saturday, July 24, 2004

Cambodia PM provinces

opposes

‘refugee

camps’

in

the

border

PHNOM PENH — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has said that his country will not allow the establishment of refugee camps. Cambodia will not allow anyone to set up refugee camps along its borders with other countries, Hun Sen said. Speaking at a meeting of the prime ministers of Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam in Siem Reap on Wednesday, Hun Sen said the issue of illegal ethnic minority migrants to Cambodia from Viet Nam’s Central Highlands has been used as a pretext to conceal activities designed to undermine public security and stability in some border provinces of Cambodia, Viet Nam and Laos. Cambodia’s Constitution does not permit anyone to use its territory for destructive activities against other countries, he said. If anyone attempts to launch separatist activities or create an autonomous area on Cambodia’s territory, they will be acting not only against neighbouring countries but also against Cambodia’s security and sovereignty, he said. Cambodia will not allow these illegal migrants to stay in Cambodia for a long time, nor permit anyone to use its territory to establish refugee camps, PM Hun Sen said. — VNA/VNS Source:Vietnam News Agency.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION Laos:Fear of extrajudicial execution/Fear for safety PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 26/005/2003

UA 168/03 Fear of extrajudicial execution/Fear for safety

11 June 2003 LAO PEOPLE'S Yeng Houa (m), aged 9 DEMOCRATIC Ka Ying Yang (m), aged 18 REPUBLIC Bang Yang (f), aged 15 Mai Xiong Lee, aged one month – Bang Yang's baby Plus several unknown

hundred

men,

women

and

children

– names

Several hundred Hmong rebels and their families are surrounded by Lao and also reportedly Vietnamese army units in the Phoukout district of Xieng Khouang province, northeast of Vientiane, the capital. Many if not all of the group may be at risk of extrajudicial execution by the Lao authorities who publicly refer to them and other similar groups as ‘bandits’. The group, who are lightly armed with old guns and other antiquated weapons, are reported to be too frightened of official Lao government retribution to put down their arms. They live under a state of constant siege. Hiding in the jungle, many of them are suffering from serious health and nutrition problems due to a lack of access to medical care and other basic services. In May, the plight of the group was brought to the attention of the international community by two Bangkok-based journalists who visited the Hmong rebels and published a photo-essay in Time Asia magazine. The group were recently visited by two different foreign journalists, and an ethnic Hmong Pastor with US nationality. They were subsequently arrested on 4 June together with four Lao nationals (See UA 165/03, ASA 26/004/2003, 11 June 2003). Amongst the group are nineyear-old Yeng Houa, who has 18 shrapnel scars on his legs, a broken jaw and an open shrapnel wound on his neck as well as other infected sores. His parents were both killed in the mortar attack in which he sustained these injuries. Eighteen-year-old Ka Ying Yang was orphaned in 1999 when a landmine killed his father and his mother died from an illness. He cares for his sister but is reportedly unskilled at foraging for food in the jungle. The pair suffer from severe malnutrition and are not expected to live long. Fifteen-year-old Bang Yang's parents and husband were shot dead by soldiers while looking for food. She is reportedly unable to look after her one-month old baby, Mai Xiong Lee. Laos ratified Additional Protocol II to the four Geneva Conventions in 1980. This Protocol explicitly provides

for the protection of those not involved in fighting and those who choose to lay down their arms and forbids attacks on civilian populations as well as individual civilians. Persons who cease to take part in hostilities "shall in all circumstances be treated humanely". Article 5 sets out strict rules protecting those detained forreasons relating to the armed conflict. Children, especially, must be provided with the care and assistance they require. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Hmong ethnic minority group in Laos were allied to the US during the Viet Nam war and its spill-over fighting in both Laos and Cambodia. They have a long history of resistance and aspirations of independence from Lao government control. Following the creation of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 1975 and the fall of the former regime, as many as a third of the Hmong ethnic minority are believed to have fled the country. Most of these refugees resettled in the USA, but a large number spent many years in refugee camps in Thailand. Sporadic Hmong resistance continues, and there are also continuing allegations of serious human rights abuses against those Hmong perceived as still being opposed to the Lao government. AI Index: ASA 26/005/2003 - 11 June 2003 _________________________________________________ Sharing Information and Knowledge for Collective Progress