(2004/C 78 E/0717)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3915/03

by Marco Pannella (NI), Maurizio Turco (NI), Marco Cappato (NI), Gianfranco Dell'Alba (NI), Benedetto Della Vedova (NI) and Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(17 December 2003)

Subject:   Forced repatriation to Vietnam of Montagnard refugees by the Cambodian government and the repeated violation of the UN Convention on Refugees

According to a report by Radio Free Asia, in mid-November 2003 the Cambodian authorities forcibly repatriated the last eleven of sixty Montagnard refugees in Cambodia, handing them over to the Vietnamese authorities when they left the malaria-infected forest last July after Cambodian fishermen were forced to reveal their whereabouts to the Cambodian authorities.

All sixty Montagnards belong to the Jarai tribe and the provincial police in Ratanakiri have confirmed their deportation although they have not said exactly when this took place and the inhabitants of the village of O Lvea have confirmed that the last refugees were rounded up and arrested by the police in the forest in Koh Nhek district between Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri provinces. No information concerning the fate of the sixty refugees has been provided either by the Cambodian authorities or by the Vietnamese authorities and reports from the local population confirm that all sixty had contracted malaria after living for months on a diet of tubers and bamboo, as the police had prevented local fishermen from providing them with any assistance since October. The Cambodian police authorities have issued contradictory statements concerning the presence of Montagnard refugees on their territory, failing to provide them with any assistance but handing them over to the Vietnamese authorities in exchange for food and money, as recently documented by various independent sources.

Son Chhay, a Cambodian Member of Parliament from the Sam Rainsy party, and even the King of Cambodia have pointed out in recent months that the government of Cambodia is repeatedly violating the Refugee Convention, under which it has a duty to provide assistance to refugees on its territory.

Cambodian NGOs have repeatedly condemned the impossibility of obtaining information from the government on the situation of the Montagnard refugees and providing them with humanitarian aid; the office of the UNHCR in Cambodia has supported the Cambodian Government's actions in an unacceptable way, suspending all assistance and support for the Montagnard refugees in the provinces bordering Vietnam despite knowing about the arrests, forced repatriation and brutality, as well as the illnesses contracted by hundreds of Montagnard refugees during the past year and a half;

The Commission:

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(5 February 2004)

The Commission is aware of the plight of Montagnard refugees crossing the Vietnamese-Cambodian border. While many of these exiles do not seem to have claimed refugee status under the Geneva Convention, effective monitoring of the situation on both sides of the border, including of the fate of those returning to Vietnam, is not possible due to the breakdown of 2001 Tripartite Agreement between Cambodia, Vietnam and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Commission is also aware of the deportations referred to in the question and is trying to obtain independent confirmation of these reports.

The Union is supporting efforts by the UNHCR to find a way out of the present quagmire, encouraging both Cambodia and Vietnam to return to the Tripartite Agreement, or some similar arrangement. The UNHCR has initiated discussions with the Royal Government of Cambodia on the preparation of a new system for dealing with asylum seekers in Cambodia in accordance with both Cambodia's obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the internal law and territorial integrity of the Kingdom. The Commission supports this approach and looks forward to the successful completion of these discussions. The allegations concerning UNHCR support to ‘the Cambodian Government's action in an unacceptable way’, referring to the forced return of refugees to Vietnam, are in our view neither substantiated nor confirmed by reliable sources.

The reference to the respect for Human Rights and democratic principles in the Community Co-operation Agreements with Vietnam and Cambodia enables the Commission to address human rights issues in its bilateral contacts with the Governments of these countries.

As regards Vietnam, the Union, in its Human Rights dialogue as well as during the Troika Heads of Mission visit to the Central Highlands in December 2003, has reiterated concerns about the situation in the Central Highlands and pressed for increased transparency, i.e. through allowing free access of UNHCR and other United Nations bodies.

Finally, the Commission would never ‘finance policies which violate human rights’. Respect for and defense of Human Rights remain at the heart of our dialogue and cooperation with third countries.