Ten more Montagnard men have been brought to a makeshift camp outside the Mondolkiri provincial capital of Sen Monorom, bringing the total number of Montagnards staying there under UN protection to 177.
The 10, all of whom appear healthy, were warmly received by Montagnards already living at the camp, staff with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said Monday after escorting this latest small group to Sen Monorom from where they were picked up near the Vietnamese border.
It is unknown exactly why the men crossed from Vietnam’s Dak Lak province into Cambodia, a UNHCR staff member said, explaining that the UNHCR will begin interviewing the group today. More than 220 Montagnards in Mondolkiri and Ratanakkiri provinces are now under UN care after fleeing unrest in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.
While most claim state-sanctioned religious oppression drove them from their homes, a strict travel ban on Montagnard villages in the Central Highlands is reportedly beginning to affect the ability of hill tribe people to farm.
Three men who arrived at the Mondolkiri camp last week said Vietnamese authorities have kept them from tending their rice fields.
More than 50 Montagnard men, women and children are being housed near Banlung in Ratanakkiri province after UNHCR staff found them in the jungles last week.
Provincial officials there continue to work closely with the UNHCR in dealing with these asylum seekers, said David Welin, a UNHCR associate protection officer.
It is unclear what will happen to Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia.While there was an earlier push for asylum in Cambodia, the UNHCR’s regional representative, Jahanshah Assadi, said during a visit to the camp earlier this month that voluntary repatriation would be the goal of his agency, though no talks with Vietnamese had been held on the issue.
But diplomatic sources say that before this becomes a possibility, the Hanoi government will have to resolve the problems with Montagnards in the Central Highlands that have forced many to leave their homes.
Hundreds of Montagnards are reportedly still hiding in Cambodian jungles or just across the Vietnamese border, according to sources familiar with the situation.
At least 24 have been resettled in the US, but as many as 100 Montagnards have been allegedly deported by Cambodia authorities before the UNHCR could reach them to determine if they were asylum seekers.
These deportations have been sharply criticized by both the UNHCR and other international human rights or refugee groups, who have demanded that the Cambodian government stand by its assurances that no asylum seekers would be forcibly repatriated.
While threats against Montagnards under UNHCR care appear to have stopped, an agency staffer said Monday, there has been pressure put on local Cambodians to tell district authorities about possible asylum seekers hiding in jungle locations.
