As with previous years, The Vietnamese Communist (VC) government representative was shamelessly lying at the United Nations Permanent Forum on the Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) of their hard works to improving the living conditions of the 53 ethnics in Vietnam. On May 17, 2007, a KKF’s representative, Ms. Sothy Kien, delivered a joint statement with the Montagnard Foundation at UNPFII, on Item 4(a) regarding to the Economic and Social Development, to recommend the solutions to help Vietnam to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Instead of appreciating the recommendations from the Indigenous Khmer Krom and Degar peoples at this forum as the other countries do with the recommendations they received from their indigenous peoples, the VC government’s representative, Mr. Nguyen Tat Thanh, delivered a speech on May 18, 2007, to reject and accuse the KKF and Montagnard Foundation as “engaging in separatist activities against the State of Viet Nam, including through, inter alia, spreading false information”. One of the purposes of the UNPFII is to invite the Indigenous peoples and the governments from around the world to have an open dialog to present their concerns about the Indigenous issues and also to provide the recommendations to solve the issues. The VC government sent their representatives to attend this forum, but the VC government refused to recognize the Indigenous Khmer Krom and Degar peoples as the Indigenous peoples. They have also tried to stop the Indigenous Khmer Krom and Degar peoples, to exercise their rights in front of the members of this forum, to promote the Human Rights for their voiceless Khmer Krom and Degar people in their homeland. If the VC government has done as they mentioned in their speech, why do they scare and try to stop the Indigenous Khmer Krom and Degar peoples to present their recommendations in this forum? The intention of the VC government to prevent the Indigenous Khmer Krom and Degar peoples to bring up their concerns and recommendations in this forum show that the freedom of expression as mentioned in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Vietnam doesn’t exist at all. The intention of the VC government to eliminate the rights of the indigenous Khmer Krom and Degar peoples at this forum also shows that it does not only personally attack the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation and Montagnar Foundation organizations, but it also attacks other indigenous organizations around the globe who come to this forum to bring up the Indigenous issues to the UN. The KKF and Montagnard Foundation have no intention of involving in the separatist activities as the VC government accused. These two organizations have requested the VC government to have an open dialog with the assistant of this forum and International community to solve the confliction between the Indigenous peoples in Vietnam and the VC government, but the VC government has showed no sign of cooperation. This shameful gesture is showing that the VC government keeps practicing the devil acts. Because of their intention to stop the Indigenous Khmer Krom and Degar peoples to express their concerns in this forum, the members of this forum note that the VC government’s actions do not match its rhetoric, and actually show that the VC government is taking the steps backwards to achieve the MDGs. Since 2005, the KKF has been insulted by the aggressive natures of the VC government in this forum. In 2006, some of the forum members, such as: Mr. Pasharam and Mr. Littlechild, could not stand and made the intervention with the VC government’s speeches. The VC government still does not learn from the intervention lessons by the members of this forum last year. It is shameful that the VC government attends UNPFII to discuss about the Indigenous issues in their country, but they do not recognize the indigenous peoples in its own country as the Indigenous peoples. Moreover, when KKF and Montagnard Foundation bring up the real issues that the voiceless Indigenous Khmer-Krom and Degar peoples in their homeland have no rights to express, the VC government accused them as involving the separatist activities against its government. This shows that the VC government continues its Vietnamization Plan to eliminate the Indigenous peoples in Vietnam. After Viet Nam was removed from the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) list prior to become a member of WTO by the United States, there are countless people have been arrested because of standing up for their own rights to practice their own religions and the land rights. Some of those victims are the Khmer-Krom Buddhist monks and Khmer-Krom farmers. On behalf of KKF, I would like to ask all our Khmer-Krom people back home and around the globe to stand up together to show our unity and strength. We are here at this forum to bring our people issues to the UN and keep fighting for our people rights and freedom. “They scarified their lives and we must show our unity and love” Please make your donation today to support our KKF team who are working tirelessly at the UNPFII to fight for the justice for our people back home. Thank you for your support. T.Thach
