Khmer Krom plead for citizenship

Khmer Krom asylum seekers, recently deported from Thailand, at their temporary shelter in a Phnom Penh pagoda on Thursday. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)

Friday, 25 December 2009
By Cameron Wells and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

A group of 24 deportees from Thailand have arrived in Phnom Penh to seek government assistance.

A GROUP of 24 Khmer Krom asylum seekers recently deported from Thailand arrived in Phnom Penh on Wednesday in a desperate bid to have their Cambodian citizenship confirmed by the government.

The group, part of an ethnic minority from the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam, were deported from Thailand on December 5 after fleeing Vietnam. They had been sheltered by the Independent Democratic Association of Non-Formal Economy in Banteay Meachey’s Poipet town.

Members of the group – which is currently staying at Wat Angtaminh near Phnom Penh International Airport – say they fear severe repercussions from the Vietnamese government if they are deported.

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