Hundreds
of the Indigenous Khmer Krom people organised a demonstration in
Geneva, Switzerlannd, and Vietnam on 7-8 May 2009 to call for the end
of discrimination agaisnt them. The date coincides with the Universal
Periodic Review of Vietnam at the United Nations Human Rights council.
Hundreds
of the Indigenous Khmer Krom people organised a demonstration in
Geneva, Switzerlannd, and Vietnam on 7-8 May 2009 to call for the end
of discrimination agaisnt them. The date coincides with the Universal
Periodic Review of Vietnam at the United Nations Human Rights council.
Below is an abstract of their statement.

The
Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) in partnership with the
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) will hold a two
day demonstration on 7 May and 8 May 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 UN Human Rights Council.

On 8 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.

In a country
where a great number of the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights are only an abstract concept,
ethnic minorities find themselves in a particularly difficult
situation. Sharing the Vietnamese population's harsh fate, they must
also carry the full burden of their differences. The 8 million
indigenous Khmer Krom find themselves in this situation. An indigenous
people having lived in the Mekong delta (in southern Viet Nam) for over
3,000 years, they have since the country's independence been the target
of organised discriminations and expropriations. These state policies
have led to the marginalisation of this population.

In a country where religious practices are subject to
severe restrictions, their special bond to therevada Buddhism (a
minority branch of Buddhism in Viet Nam) catalysed tensions with the
regime. The instauration of Vietnamese as the country's sole language
combined with the restrictions imposed on Khmer Krom temples, the last
remaining institutions passing on the Khmer culture and language, have
contributed to exacerbate tensions between indigenous Khmer Krom people
and the regime. The legacy of the Cambodia -Viet Nam war and the
current rivalry between these two countries also weigh heavily on the
Khmer Krom. As Khmers (the majority ethnic group in Cambodia), they are
still often perceived by a fair share of the Vietnamese as "enemies
from the inside" and the authorities see any affirmation of their
identity as a threat to national integrity. Victims of colonialism and
of the partition of territories in the former French Indochina, the
Khmer Krom have been engaged in a non-violent struggle to assert their
rights and protect their culture for sixty years now.

Gathering
grassroots organisations as well as Khmer Krom in diaspora, secular and
religious people, personalities of various political affiliations, the
Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) works to give the Khmer Krom a
voice on the national and international levels. On 8 May 2009, as the
United Nations Human Rights Council convenes to examine for the first
time Viet Nam's whole human rights record, 400 indigenous Khmer Krom
will be present in Geneva, both inside and outside the UN buildings, to
remind the international community of the situation faced by ethnic
minorities in Vietnam.

To read the complete statement, please click here.