A visiting Vietnamese delegation wrapped up meetings with senior government officials in Phnom Penh on Sunday following a week of talks concerning Cambodia’s ethnic minorities, officials said.
During the visit, which began Dec 16 and ended Sunday, the Vietnamese National Assembly’s Ethnic Minority Council, chaired by Ksor Phuoc, met with Interior Minister Sar Kheng and National Assembly President Heng Samrin, said Koam Kosal, an adviser to Heng Samrin.
Heng Samrin told the delegation that Cambodia hopes to learn more about Vietnam’s successful handling of its ethnic minorities, Koam Kosal said.
“Ksor Phuoc said the conditions of ethnic minorities in Vietnam are better than before,” Koam Kosal said. “The situation of ethnic minorities in Cambodia is similar to the situation in Vietnam,” he added.
Asked if both countries discussed the flight of Montagnard ethnic minority asylum seekers from Vietnam’s Central Highlands to northeastern Cambodia, or the grievances of ethnic Khmers in southern Vietnam, Koam Kosal said, “no.”
Mass protests by ethnic minorities seeking land rights and religious freedom broke out in 2001 and 2004 in the Central Highlands and were followed by the flight of thousands of Montagnards to Cambodia, the majority of whom were granted asylum by the UN and resettled overseas.
In October, the European Parliament issued a resolution calling on Vietnam to put an end to the “current systematic violation of democracy and human rights,” with a particular mention regarding the issues facing ethnic Khmers.
Vietnam Embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam said by telephone Monday that the visiting delegation now plans to visit the northern provinces of Cambodia, including the provinces of Siem Reap and Pursat.
He declined to comment as to why neither the Montagnards nor the Khmer Krom were discussed during the visit.
