Office of the President 24 January 2009 On behalf of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation, we would like to acknowledge and encourage all Khmer, Khmer-Krom, human rights organisations and citizens of every country to purchase and/or read the latest publication released by the Human Rights Watch, entitled, On the Margins: Rights Abuses of Ethnic Khmer in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. For centuries past, very few people knew the existence of the Khmer-Krom people and little to no documents have been written on the struggle of the Khmer-Krom people. The release of this book is the first of its kind to demonstrate the actual human rights situation in Kampuchea-Krom (Vietnam). It speaks of the culture of fear and total domination that continues to be fostered by the One Communist Party of the Vietnamese government. It also tells of the heart trenching situation of the Khmer-Krom refugees in Cambodia, caught between two hostile governments and rendered stateless because no one cares enough to accept their identity. The book shows the continue denial of the Vietnamese government to accept the harsh treatments of the Khmer-Krom Buddhist monks by its own authorities and highlights the lack of any real commitment to foster a society of democracy where human rights activists could free thrive. The book contains comprehensive information about the struggle of the few Khmer-Krom human rights activist in Kampuchea-Krom and Cambodia as well as testimonies of dangerous situation that Khmer-Krom people found themselves under a society that cares little for its ethnic minorities. We hope that by reading this publication, more governments, academics, NGOs and citizens of the world will consider making the Khmer-Krom case a priority and extend a much needed helping hand to the Indigenous Peoples of the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, the Khmer-Krom people. We urge Vietnamese government to take full responsibility to stop violating the basic rights of the Khmer-Krom people and to allow them to live in peace as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples, the UN Declaration on Human Rights, and especially the Vietnam constitution. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Human Rights Watch organisation for releasing this important document and for providing the fuel to keep the light burning for many Khmer and Khmer-Krom activists in their struggle for the basic fundamental freedoms and rights. Yours sincerely, Thach Ngoc Thach Email: thach.thach@khmerkrom.org
