February 14, 2011
Source: Human Rights Watch
Cambodia has a clear obligation to ensure that future Montagnard asylum seekers are permitted to enter a refugee screening process that is fair and based on international standards. Closing the Montagnard refugee center doesn’t change those obligations.
.Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch .(New York, February 14, 2010) – Cambodia should provide safe asylum for Montagnards fleeing Vietnam’s Central Highlands even after it closes the United Nation’s refugee center in Phnom Penh for Montagnards on February 15, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today.
Ongoing government crackdowns in Vietnam against Montagnard Christians make it imperative for Cambodia not to deny Montagnards their basic right to seek safe asylum, Human Rights Watch said. As a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, Cambodia is obligated to protect the rights of all who seek asylum within its borders.
“Cambodia has a clear obligation to ensure that future Montagnard asylum seekers are permitted to enter a refugee screening process that is fair and based on international standards,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Closing the Montagnard refugee center doesn’t change those obligations.”
In December 2010, the Cambodian government ordered the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to close the Montagnard refugee center by January 1, 2011. The Cambodian government subsequently agreed to an extension of the deadline to February 15 to allow time to resettle or repatriate the Montagnards remaining at the center.
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