The 6th Session of Human Rights Council was an opportunity for Khmer Krom to meet with the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Khmer Krom are an ethnic minority in Cambodia and Vietnam that have faced human rights violations for decades.
(Bangkok) During the last session of the Human Rights Council 10-28
September 2007, Khmer Krom people from all over Europe gathered in
Geneva to publicise their human rights concerns. Their representative
living in France was able to meet with the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights (UNHCHR), Ms. Louise Arbour, to present documented human
rights abuses.
In Cambodia Khmer Krom people are not recognized as citizens, even if
they were born in the country, and are deprived of their right to vote.
In Vietnam, Khmer Kroms face great pressure from the Vietnamese state
to assimilate. The statement reiterated to Ms. Louise Arbour included
the desire to live in peace on traditional lands, the right to speak
Khmer and the right to be able to travel between Cambodia and Vietnam.
Major problems for the Khmer Krom began during the decolonisation
process of the Mekong. Lands that they traditionally occupied,
historically part of the Khmer empire, were seeded to Vietnam. The
Khmer Krom then sided with the Americans during the war in Vietnam,
leaving them as enemies of the state at the conclusion of the war. In
Cambodia, Khmer Krom, just the other Cambodians, experienced violent
persecution during the Khmer Rouge period. Today Khmer Krom are viewed
with great distrust and as foreigners in both states, facing
persecution and discrimination.
Bringing the issues of Khmer Khrom to the UNHCHR is a huge step toward
international recognition of scarcely acknowledged human rights
violations.
Human Rights Tribute: http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/article.php3?id_article=2329