MONTAGNARD ALLIANCE

The Montagnard Alliance is a group of Australian qualified lawyers and human rights advocates who are committed to raising international awareness of the plight of the Montagnard people of the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
For further information, contact us at: montagnardalliance@hotmail.com

RECENT VIOLATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE MONTAGNARD PEOPLES OF THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF VIETNAM JUNE 2001

I. SUMMARY

Since the reunification of Vietnam, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ("Vietnamese government") has systematically abused the human rights of the indigenous Montagnard peoples of Vietnam's Central Highlands. These human rights abuses include:

1. Summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary arrest, interrogations, beatings and torture.

2. Expropriation of traditional lands without compensation and forcible relocation from traditional lands.

3. Montagnard women have been offered money to be sterilised, fined for refusing to be sterilised, sterilised without their consent and have suffered injuries and died as a consequence of such sterilisations.

4. Prohibitions on, and torture as a consequence of, practising religion.

In early February 2001, thousands of Christian Montagnards peacefully demonstrated in three of the Central Highlands's four provinces. In response, the Vietnamese Government deployed military forces into the Central Highlands and has since systematically arrested, interrogated, beaten, tortured and terrorised the Montagnard population. Martial law is now current policy in the region and the situation in the Central Highlands has deteriorated to such an extent that Montagnards are now fleeing across the border into Cambodia with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Refugees International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees calling for urgent action to protect them.

The Montagnard Alliance has compiled this report in association with Mr Kok Ksor, the Executive Director of the Montagnard Foundation Inc. ("MFI") (a United States-based non-government organisation), who is a member of the Jarai Montagnard tribal group and presently resides in the United States.

II. RECENT HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES: MARTIAL LAW

After the demonstrations by Montagnards in Gia Lai, Dak Lak and Kon Tum provinces in February 2001, the Vietnamese Government responded in a manner that Human Rights Watch described as "a crackdown".(1 Vietnamese police and military forces immediately cut off telephone communications to the Central Highlands and banned diplomats and international organisations from visiting the region. The Vietnamese Government only allowed a strictly controlled government-sponsored press tour of Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces on 16 and 17 March 2001.(2) Montagnards report that hundreds of their people have since been beaten, tortured with reports of unconfirmed jungle executions emerging.

Reuters news agency reported Protestant church sources as estimating that up to 60 Montagnard pastors and church elders had been detained after the demonstrations.(3) According to Human Rights Watch, Vietnamese police and military arrested at least 20 Montagnard leaders.(4) The MFI was informed by its contacts in the Central Highlands that the following Montgnards have been arrested and are presently being held in Buon Ma Thuot prison, Dak Lak province:

Y-Nuen Buon Ya, hamlet Buon Ea Sup, Dak Lak.
Y-Jan Eban, hamlet Buon Kdun, Dak Lak.
Y-Nok Mlo, hamlet Buon Ktla, Dak Lak.
Y-Bhiet Nie, hamlet Buon Krak, Dak Lak.
Y-Tum Mlo, hamlet Buon Mrao, Dak Lak.
Y-Saly Buon Ya, Dak Lak.
Y-Nong Buon Ya, Dak Lak.
Iom R'com, Dak Lak.
Sop Siu, hamlet Buon Ea Sup, Dak Lak.
Y-Muk Nie, hamlet Buon Ea Sup, Dak Lak.
Y-Kao Buon Ya, hamlet Buon Ea Sup, Dak Lak.
Y-Mriu Eban, hamlet Buon Ea Sup, Dak Lak.

The MFI's contacts in the Central Highlands report that arrested Montagnards are interrogated and routinely tortured with electric prods. The MFI has confirmed that Y-Jan Eban is now paralysed as a result of being tortured with electric prods. Also, the MFI has been informed that the following Montagnards were arrested in Pleiku, Gia Lai province - however, their prison location (if still alive) remains unknown:

Jana Bom, hamlet Plei Kueng Grai, Pleiku.
Poi, hamlet Plei Kueng Grai, Pleiku.
Ksor Kroih, hamlet Plei Sor, Pleiku.
Hoang Hnau, hamlet Plei Piom, Pleiku.
Krung, hamlet Plei Sao, Pleiku.
Hnoi, hamlet Plei Kueng, Pleiku.
Siu Tinh, hamlet Plei Tot Bioc, Pleiku.
Siu To, hamlet Plei Tot Bioc, Pleiku.
Siu Un, hamlet Plei Glung, Pleiku.
Hle, hamlet Plei Tot Bioc, Pleiku.

Human Rights Watch states that, "[p]ersons in Vietnam who are involved in non-violent political activity deemed by the authorities to be "anti-government" are subject to arrest and prosecution. Vietnamese criminal law provides for harsh punishment for a wide variety of offences, including vaguely defined political crimes such as undermining peace or subverting state unity. The courts in Vietnam are not independent, but [are] under the control of the ruling Communist party. In Vietnam, the peaceful expression of dissent is often treated as a criminal act, even though such expression of dissent is protected under international human rights law".(5)

Montagnards have been prevented from, and persecuted for, practicing the Christian religion. The United States' State Department has estimated that in 1999 approximately 200,000 members of ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands were Protestants. The State Department report noted that these groups increasingly practice their religion in house churches (being services held in members' homes) and "the secretive nature of the house churches, particularly among ethnic minorities, has contributed to greater repression against these groups".(6)

On 10 March 2001, according to the Associated Press news agency, Vietnamese police tore down a Protestant church in Plei Lao, a hamlet near Pleiku, Gia Lai province. At least 3 men were arrested for trying to stop police from doing so and members of the Jarai Montagnard tribe were wounded in the clash.(7) Also, a commune chief known by the single name Wanh told foreign journalists on a government-organised visit to a Montagnard village in Gia Lai province that local Vietnamese authorities opposed the conversion of Montagnards to Protestantism because the villagers then "have to abandon all their cultural values". He said that all Montagnard Protestants belong to illegal underground house churches because the Vietnamese Government has not given approval to build these churches.(8)

Since February 2001 the Vietnamese Government has sent thousands of soldiers and militia to the Central Highlands. A total of 13 regiments were sent and 20,000 households are now occupied, predominantly in Dak Lak province.(9) The MFI has been informed that Montagnard villagers, who call their relatives in the United States, describe how they are forced to house and feed Vietnamese soldiers who regularly abuse them, steal their food and prevent them from tending to their crops - the Montagnard Alliance notes that in 1998 75% of all ethnic minority people in Vietnam were below the poverty line, compared to 31% for the majority Kihn population.(10) BBC News Online confirmed that the SRV Government sent hundreds of soldiers to live with Montagnards as part of a plan of winning the Montagnards over to government policies.(11) A Montagnard woman in the village of Ban Don, Dak Lak province told foreign journalists during a government-organised tour that, "We are all very frightened of the security force presence and just want to be left alone".(12)

Since February 2001, numerous mass poisonings were also reported to have occurred in schools in Dak Lak province - dangerous chemicals were deliberately left out in classrooms, resulting in nearly 250 students being affected and some becoming seriously ill. (13). Montagnards are reporting that the Vietnamese government is conducting these poisonings in a terror campaign in retaliation for the February protests. The MFI reports that in February the Vietnamese soldiers distributed candies to Montagnard children in Pleiku district, laced with chemicals that burned their mouths and stomachs. The security forces reportedly told them that this is punishment for their parents taking part in the demonstrations.

III. REFUGEES: BOUNTIES AND FORCED REPATRIATION

In April 2001, at least 38 Montagnards who fled across the border into Cambodia were granted refugee status by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ("UNHCR") and subsequently accepted by the United States for resettlement.(14) Cambodia is a State Party to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees ("the Convention and Protocol").

The MFI reports that Vietnamese security forces are operating inside Cambodia offering rewards ie: "bounties" to those who capture Montagnard refugees. Further, the Vietnamese security forces are using threats of torture, punishment and execution in attempts to prevent refugees from fleeing the central highlands.

The use of bounties has been independently reported by:

Human Rights Watch: 20 May 2001, Report 2001 Cambodia: Deportation of Montagnard Refugees to Vietnam.
Amnesty International: 10 May 2001, Urgent Action: Fear of Forced Repatriation.
Refugees International: 25 May 2001, Open Letter to H.E. Samdech Hun Sen.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: 22 May 2001, UN Agency Voices Concern over Cambodia's expulsion of Vietnamese.

On 5 May 2001, Lt. Col. Chin Sarun, the deputy police commissioner for Mondulkiri province in Cambodia, told the AP news agency that United Nations staff had informed him a new group of Montagnards (possibly as many as 140), who had been located in Mondulkiri, were under United Nations' protection.(15) The BBC World Service reported that the United Nations was forced to move these Montagnards from at least 2 Cambodian jungle locations to the provincial capital of Mondulkiri, Xenmonorom, after reports that the SRV Government had offered "bounties" for the return of the Montagnards to Vietnam. Cambodian police were reportedly escorting their Vietnamese counterparts to Mondulkiri to locate the Montagnards.(16) The MFI received reports that the SRV military are patrolling the border with Cambodia using threats and reprisals to keep refugees from fleeing Vietnam into Cambodia.

On 20 May 2001, Human Rights Watch reported that Cambodia had forcibly returned at least 89 Montagnards to Vietnam. On 15 May 2001, high ranking Cambodian police official Hok Lundy assured UNHCR Regional Representative Jahansha Assadi that Cambodia would protect the Montagnard asylum seekers. However, on that same day and on 16 May 2001, Cambodian police officials in Ratanakiri province transported 63 Montagnards in two groups to the Vietnam border where they were subsequently deported.(17)

These 89 Montagnards were fleeing the systematic violation of their human rights by the Vietnamese Government, including persecution for reasons of religion. The Montagnard Alliance believes that in forcibly returning those Montagnards to Vietnam, the Cambodian authorities violated Cambodia's obligation under the Convention and Protocol not to "expel or return ("refouler") a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."(18)

The Montagnard Alliance is gravely concerned that Montagnards fleeing persecution by the Vietnamese Government will suffer similar treatment from the Cambodian Government in the future. News services confirm that over 200 Montagnard asylum seekers are presently in UNHCR custody in Cambodia.(19)

On 23 March 2001 the United States State Department called for independent Monitors and diplomats to be granted access to the region (20). The Vietnamese Government denied this request and continued with military intervention and a media blackout. Montagnards inside Vietnam report brutal retaliations and increased hardship and state that it is only a matter of time before this situation erupts into an even larger human rights crisis.

In addition, Chu Dong Loc, Attache at the Embassy of the Vietnamese Government in Cambodia, told the Phnom Penh Post that, "the UNHCR's continued involvement in the refugee crisis might precipitate a refugee crisis on a scale unseen in the region since the 1980's".(21) The Montagnard Alliance is of the opinion that the Vietanmese Government would be responsible for any future refugee crisis in Cambodia, as the Montagnards are fleeing Vietnam's brutal practices and policies.

IV. RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The Montagnard Alliance urges Vietnam to immediately cease martial law and all human rights abuses against the Montagnard population of Vietnam's Central Highlands.

2. The Montagnard Alliance urges the United Nations and international community to urgently:

(a) investigate and raise in discussions with the Vietnamese Government the human rights violations being suffered by the Montagnards and the potential for a humanitarian crisis if more Montagnards are forced to flee into Cambodia to escape persecution by the Vietnamese security forces.

(b) urge the Cambodian Government to comply with its obligations under international refugee law, and particularly the fundamental principle of refoulement.

(c) protect and provide adequate food and shelter to Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia.

3. The Montagnard Alliance urges those countries and intergovernmental agencies providing developmental assistance to and/or trading with Vietnam and Cambodia, particularly the United States, to make the provision of that aid and/or trade contingent on the Vietnamese government and Cambodian governments complying with international human rights law with particular regard to the Montagnard peoples.

4. The Montagnard Alliance particularly urges the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-commission on Minorities to investigate the human rights abuses being suffered by the Montagnards and to establish a presence in the Central Highlands to monitor the policies and practices of the Vietnamese Government towards the Montagnards.

5. Vietnam is a state party to, among other international instruments, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ("ICCPR") and, as a consequence, the SRV Government has an obligation to promote, respect and protect the rights set out in the ICCPR and its other international obligations.

END NOTES

1. Human Rights Watch, "Cambodia: Refugee Effort Commended", 19 April 2001.
2. Human Rights Watch, "Cambodia: Refugee Effort Commended", 19 April 2001.
3. Reuters, "After Unrest, Vietnam Reads the Riot Act", 29 March 2001.
4. Human Rights Watch, "Cambodia: Refugee Effort Commended", 19 April 2001.
5. Human Rights Watch, "Cambodia: Refugee Effort Commended", 19 April 2001.
6. 1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 25 February 2000 (at p12).
7. BBC News Online, "Fury at Vietnam church destruction", 28 March 2001.
8. BBC News Online, "Religion blamed for Vietnam Unrest", 17 March 2001.
9. AFP, "Vietnam settling soldiers, militiamen in restive central highlands", 27 April 2001.
10. BBC News, "Religion blamed for Vietnam unrest", 17 March 2001.
11. BBC News Online, "Vietnamese army woos hilltribes", 29 March 2001.
12. AFP, "Model village showcases depth of tension in the Vietnam highlands", 15 March 2001.
13. BBC News "School poisoning in Vietnam", 6 April 2001.
14. AP, "More Hilltribes People Flee Into Vietnam From Cambodia", 5 May 2001.
15. AP, "More Hilltribes People Flee Into Vietnam From Cambodia", 5 May 2001.
16. BBC World Service, "UN protects Vietnam hill tribe", 12 May 2001.
17. Human Rights Watch, "Cambodia: Deportation of Montagnard Refugees to Vietnam", 20 May 2001.
18. Article 33(1).
19. Phnom Penh Post, "Vietnam warns UNHCR over Montagnards", 25 May - 7 June 2001.
20. Phnom Penh Post, "Vietnam warns UNHCR over Montagnards", 25 May - 7 June 2001.
21. AP, "US Urges Vietnam to Grant Access to Central Highlands", 24 March 2001.