Source: Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS)
After the closure of the centre for Montagnard asylum seekers, NGOs worry about the fate of new arrivals, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (AFP)
Human Rights Watch expressed concerns that after the refugee centre closes, the Cambodian government will screen future Montagnard asylum seekers under a procedure that does not meet international standards.
Phnom Penh, 28 February 2011– Following the closure of the centre managed by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on 15 February, human rights organisations have called on the Cambodian government to ensure it offers protection to asylum seekers.
Seventy Montagnards, part of ethnic minority tribes from Vietnam’s Central Highlands, had been housed at the facility in Phnom Penh. Late last year, the government ordered UNHCR to close the centre by 1 January, saying that the Montagnards would either need to be resettled in third countries or returned to Vietnam. This deadline was later extended to 15 February.
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