PRESS RELEASE: 09 September 2009
Pennsauken, NJ, USA
Krobao (Tinh Bien) District, An Giang Province, Vietnam – On September 8, 2009, the Vietnamese authority summoned Khmer-Krom farmers to meet the Vietnamese authority representatives at three different temples: Sang Ke Douch temple, Om Pei Swai temple, and Pothi temple.
On May 30, 2009, at 11pm (local time), the Vietnamese police, led by Duong Thanh Hung from Soc Trang Province went to arrest Mr. Huynh Ba (born in 1962) and his wife, Mrs Son Thi Kim Thu (born in 1962) while they were visiting their god-father at Ba Trai Commune, Binh An Village, Kien Luong District, Kien Giang Province. The police did not give a reason to why they had arrested Mr. Huynh Ba and his wife.
The police released Mrs Son Thi Kim Thu, but Mr. Huynh Ba is still being imprisoned at an unknown location. The current fate of Mr. Huynh Ba remains unknown.
On 08 May 2009, Viet Nam's human rights record was examined for the first time by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). While the country's participation in the new Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism is an important step, words are outweighed by facts. Disappearances, censorship, institutionalised discrimination, cultural "homogenisation", lack of fair justice, lack of religious freedom, lack of freedom of association, marginalisation of indigenous peoples are all abuses which characterise current-day Viet Nam. On this historic occasion, 500 indigenous Khmer Krom traveled to Geneva to make themselves heard. Staging a massive 10-hour demonstration outside the UN and organising a side-event inside the UN, right next door to the Human Rights Council, Viet Nam's indigenous Khmer Krom called upon the international community for action.
The Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) in partnership with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) will hold a two day demonstration on May 7 and May 8 to draw attention to human rights abuses taking place in Vietnam. The demonstrations are timed to coincide with the very first time that Vietnam will undergo their Universal Periodic Review at the U.N Human Rights Council.
On 08 May 2009, as the United Nations Human Rights Council convenes to examine Viet Nam's human rights record for the very first time, 400 indigenous Khmer Krom people will assemble in front of the Palais des Nations in Geneva to denounce the distressing situation of ethnic minorities in Viet Nam.
For the Protection of Khmer Krom Human Rights
In front of the Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland
The history between Khmer and Vietnam has been going on for one decade to the next until the world has forgotten the indigenous people. There are 370 million who are caught up in an uncaring war; a war of modern colonization that eliminates their heredity and religion. In our case, the Vietnam leaders have escaped world pressure and continue to oppress the Khmer people living in Kampuchea-Krom.
PRESS RELEASE: 14 December 2007
Pennsauken, NJ, USA
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA) broadcasted in Khmer and in Vietnamese, there are hundreds of the Indigenous Khmer-Krom farmers gathering in front of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam office located at 210 Vo Thi Sau, Phuong 7, Quan 3, TP HCM to demand the Vietnamese authorities return their confiscated farmlands.
PRESS RELEASE
On August 22, 2007, Radio Free Asia (RFA) broadcasted in Khmer that the Vietnamese authority summoned a Khmer Krom man, Mr. Chau In, living at Sake Deouch commune, An Cu village, Tinh Bien district, An Giang province, to meet the police authorities of Tinh Bien district, An Giang province. Mrs. Kim Pouv Saton, RFA reporter, interviewed Mr. Chau In while he was on his way to meet the police authority. Mr. Chau In told her that the Vietnam authority is trying to accuse him for receiving money from Venerable Tim Sakhorn who is a Cambodian Buddhist monk that was defrocked by Cambodian authority and deported to Vietnam on June 30, 2007.
PRESS RELEASE
Cambodian Buddhist monks and over fifty protesters will be conducting a demonstration in front of Parliament House in Canberra on 16 August 2007 to appeal for Australia's intervention to help secure the release a defrocked monk jailed by Vietnamese authorities in Vietnam for a crime allegedly committed in Cambodia.
Below is an appeal letter by KKF sent to organizations world wide.
PRESS RELEASE
June 30, 2007
To Whom It May Concern:
On behalf of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) representing the indigenous Khmer-Krom people of the Mekong Delta (South Vietnam) and the Khmer-Krom diasporas around the world, I would like to seek your immediate attention and support to end the Khmer-Krom prosecution of Khmer-Krom Buddhist monks by Vietnamese Communist (VC) government and Cambodian government.
The government of Hanoi pays no attention to deceitful land grabbing committed by the Vietnamese authorities in the province Mot Chruk. People in Svay Tong and Kro Bauv district have attempted to travel to Ho Chi Minh City in order to protest and appeal for the return of their lands from the communist authorities and their citizens. Victims of illegal land grabbing included Jika-ang village, Rolarng village, Ka’ngok Pon village, Peam Buon village, Dey Krohorm village, Pothi village, Songke Douch village, Ompeay Svay village, Padeng village, and Kok Ompirl village.
