Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation at the Third Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on the Indigenous Issues, May 10-21, 2004 in New York City Item 4 (c): Health Date: May 19, 2004 Speaker: Kha Diep Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates: My name is Kha Diep. I am honored to speak today on behalf of the Khmers-Kampuchea Krom Federation representing millions of Khmer Krom people who are suffering under the colonization by the Vietnamese government of Kampuchea Krom and to present the health issues that our unfortunate people are facing. Today, for the first time in world history, the Khmer Krom has the privilege to present these issues to the United Nations. We thank you for giving us this opportunity to be here with all our indigenous brothers and sisters from around the globe. I would like to speak to you about the appalling health conditions suffered by the Khmer Krom under the brutal oppression of the Vietnamese occupation of Kampuchea Krom. The Khmer Krom people are the indigenous owners of Kampuchea Krom ever since the first century until our homeland was illegally ceded to Vietnam in 1949. It is the genocidal practice of the Vietnamese to deny even the most basic health care for the Khmer Krom in their efforts to eradicate the Khmer Krom people and the last vestiges of their culture. I would like to point out the following: 1. There are virtually no health care facilities, as the modern civilized world understands the term, for the Khmer Krom. 2. Clinics and hospitals exist only in the cities where the Vietnamese live and none in the villages and rural areas where the Khmer Kron live. 3. If a Khmer Krom does go to a hospital in a city, they are refused treatment because they do not have the money to pay for the service. 4. There are no medical doctors or nurses in the villages and rural areas of Kampuchea Krom where most of the Khmer Krom live. 5. If a Khmer Krom is fortunate enough to graduate from medical school (There is only one medical school graduate in all of Kampuchea Krom and he graduated decades ago!), he is ethnically discriminated against by not being allowed to have an internship to qualify as a medical practitioner. 6. There are no public health nurses in the villages and rural areas. 7. Children are not vaccinated for contagious diseases nor taught the most basic hygienic practices to ward off diseases. 8. There is no prenatal care for pregnant women. 9. There are no medical personnel to assist in the delivery of babies and many women die in childbirth. Also there is a high incidence of infant mortality. 10. Currently there are over three thousand blind Khmer Krom who have no assistance dealing with the lost of their sight. This blindness is a new phenomenon in Kampuchea Krom. 11. The most primitive sanitary conditions do not exist in the villages and rural areas of the Khmer Krom. There is no public water system, sewer system, or plumbing. A river serves the triple purpose of water supply, laundry, and human waste disposal. To make matter worse the rivers have been dammed in such a way as to inhibit their natural flow, making the pollution even worse. 12. The use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers by Vietnamese agribusinesses damages the environment and endangers the health of the Khmer Krom. Also, polluting industries are placed in villages and rural areas further damaging the environment and endangering the health of the Khmer Krom population. I would like respectfully to suggest the following solutions to these problems: 1. The establishment of health a clinic in each of the 21 Khmer Krom provinces by the World Health Organization (WHO) or other altruistic organizations. 2. The staffing of these clinics by the World Health Organization or international volunteers such as the Peace Corps of the United States. 3. The staff of these clinics would train the Khmer Krom in health care practices so that they can become self-sufficient. 4. The establishment of a public health service in each village that would see that children are vaccinated against contagious diseases and taught hygienic practices to ward off diseases. 5. Each clinic would have a lying in facility for pregnant women for childbirth. 6. Assistance from some charitable organization to help our blind and a study by a scientific team to determine the cause of this new malady afflicting the Khmer Krom. 7. The establishment of scholarship funds for the Khmer Krom students to attend medical schools outside Vietnam, inasmuch as the Khmer Krom are ethnically discriminated against and denied admission to Vietnamese medical schools. 8. The establishment of nursing scholarships funds for the Khmer Krom students in nursing schools outside Vietnam for the same reason. 9. An exploration of the feasibility of establishing an independent nursing and medical school under the auspices of some altruistic organization. 10. A project by international volunteers to help the Khmer Krom establish public water and sewage systems in the provinces. 11. An investigation by an international environmental agency of the agricultural and industrial pollution of the Kampuchea Krom environment. Mr. Chairman, I hope that the United Nations and the people of the world will recognize and understand the reason for these appalling health condition suffered by the Khmer Krom and that this knowledge and understanding will move all people of goodwill to come to the compassionate aid of these suffering and oppressed people. Thank you Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates; Kha Diep
