Some 200 Kampuchea Krom asylum seekers who fled Vietnam claiming persecution have called on the United Nations Refugee Agency to speed up their applications.
Advocates for the asylum seekers said the group, who are from a Khmer ethnic minority group living mostly in southern Vietnam, faced numerous challenges in Thailand, including living as undocumented immigrants while their applications were processed, risking refoulement to Vietnam.
Prak Sereivuth, president of the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF), a lobby group, led a delegation to Washington last week to advocate for the asylum seekers’ rights.
