Cambodian police using electric batons against Montagnard refugees resisting repatriation
New York (AsiaNews/HRW) The brutality with which Cambodian police forcibly repatriated Montagnard refugees is at the heart of an appeal made by Human Rights Watch (HRW), whose plea joins a chorus of condemnation against the forced repatriation of scores of Montagnard asylum seekers to their native Vietnam.
The Montagnards are a predominantly Christian ethnic minority from Vietnam's highlands. In recent years, many of them have sought refugee in Cambodia to escape Hanoi's repression. Vietnamese authorities accuse them of secessionism and causing public unrest and have confiscated their lands.
Ninety-four ethnic minority Montagnards were deported last Wednesday after their refugee status claims were rejected. New York-based HRW said that at 6 am dozens of riot police, some armed with assault rifles, entered the facility housing the Montagnards, who sat gripping each others' arms to avoid being moved.
"After the asylum seekers ignored an order to board the buses, the police made no attempt at negotiation. Instead they began to slap, hit and use batons to beat the asylum seekers," the group said in a statement.
"They dragged people out of the facility by their arms, legs and, in several cases, by their hair, and pushed them on to buses. Police beat at least one woman with a baby strapped to her back, and kicked other Montagnards as they were seated."
Police also used electric prods to inflict shock, the group alleged after receiving eyewitness accounts of the incident, which journalists and human rights monitors were barred from viewing.
"There was no excuse for using electric batons or beating unarmed individuals engaged in peaceful civil disobedience," said Brad Adams, HRW Asia director.
HRW called for an independent investigation and punishment for those who authorised or used excessive force, which it said violated a January 2005 pact between the UN's refugee agency and Cambodian and Vietnamese governments.
This agreement provided that the agency would work with the governments to "bring back [to Vietnam] in an orderly and safe fashion" and "in conformity with national and international law" those Montagnards who do not agree to either resettle abroad or "voluntarily" return to Vietnam, HRW said.
HRW also expressed concern for the safety of those forcibly returned, saying it had documented cases of intimidation, detention and police abuse of Montagnards who had already voluntarily returned. It called on the Vietnamese government to provide the UN refugee agency and other independent monitors with free access to all returned Montagnards.
For years Montagnards have suffered religious persecution. During the Vietnam War, they sided with the United States in an attempt to set up their own autonomous state.
.png)
27/07/2004
26/05/2023 16:42
