AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HOLY FATHER
Spartanburg, December 19, 2003
The Holy Father Pope John Paul II
Segreteria di Stato
Città del Vaticano
SCV-00120 ROMA
CC: Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations
25 East 39th Street New York, NY 10016-0903
Tel: (212) 370-7885
Fax: (212) 370-9622
OPEN LETTER: APPEAL TO POPE JOHN PAUL II
REGARDING THE 2003 CHRISTMAS CRACKDOWN AND THE ONGOING REPRESSION
OF THE
MONTAGNARD DEGAR CHRISTIANS IN VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA
Attached: Story of Hu - a 5 year old Montagnard Christian refugee boy who was left to die in the Cambodian jungle after being forced to watch his father being tortured and forcibly repatriated back into the hands of Vietnamese authorities.
Your Holiness,
On behalf of the indigenous Montagnard Hill tribe peoples (Degar peoples) of whom approximately 300,000 thousand of our population are Christians, I ask urgently for your assistance regarding the anticipated Christmas crackdown this year confronting our people in Vietnam. My reason for this plea is to seek help for our people - the indigenous hill tribes of Central Vietnam (Degar people) also known under the French name of "Montagnards", who, over the last two years, have been fleeing increased religious persecution in Vietnam and ending up as refugees in Cambodia.
The goal of our organization I founded some 10 years ago, the Montagnard Foundation inc. (MFI) is to obtain the full respect of human rights and to live on our ancestral lands in Vietnam and Eastern Cambodia without fear of repression. We are an indigenous people recognized by the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, who desire to preserve our ancestral customs and villages.
MFI is an organization based on the non-violent principles of Christianity. We have been portrayed as secessionists, but we have no word for "independence" in our languages, only a word for "freedom". Contrary to the propaganda by the Vietnamese government we are not advocating independence but only seeking the freedom to live on our ancestral lands as indigenous people and to worship Christ in peace.
Our people have suffered greatly over the years and I refer to the famous anthropologist Dr. Gerald Hickey who reported that during the Vietnam war over 200,000 of our people died and that 85% of our villages were destroyed. Since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, we have faced a systematic policy by the Vietnamese government involving widespread violations of our basic human rights. I specifically refer to the quote by Human Rights Watch which produced a comprehensive 194 page report in April 2002 about us entitled "Repression of Montagnards" where the opening press release stated:
The Montagnards have been repressed by Vietnam for decades. "This has got to stop!"
Further in November 2003 the European Parliament stated in a Resolution on Vietnam that it:
Strongly condemns the new and more serious wave of repression of the religious freedom of the UBCV and of the Christian Montagnards in Vietnam and the deliberate policy of the Vietnamese regime of eliminating non-recognised Churches, especially the UBCV;
Calls on the Vietnamese authorities to halt immediately the policies of repression of the UBCV, the Catholic Church, Montagnard Christian groups and Hoa Hao Buddhists and to adopt without delay all the reforms necessary to guarantee all these churches legal status;
In May 2003, the US International Commission For Religious Freedom stated, "the increased repression of religious freedom has been reportedly sanctioned at the highest levels of the Vietnamese government."
One of the reasons for this persecution is that our people are increasingly converting to Christianity and the Vietnamese government is desperately trying to stop this through repressive measures. Other reasons include the fact that over 40,000 of our people served as allies to the United States during the Vietnam War and that Hanoi wanted revenge against us after invading South Vietnam. Another reason for persecuting us is that the Vietnamese government today wants to exploit our ancestral lands in the same manner as indigenous people all over the world have found their land and culture stolen.
Today our villages are under martial law where police and military forces conduct rampant human rights abuses targeting Christians and our followers. Virtually every week we receive reports direct from Vietnam where our people describe beatings, electric shock torture, arrests, and even murders conducted by Vietnamese authorities. Over 1,000 Montagnards women have reported to us they have been either forced or coerced to sterilization and we have hundreds of villages yet to be accounted for. We believe these human rights abuses are part of a sophisticated form of genocide directed against our people and some recent examples include the following:
q SEPTEMBER 15th, 2003 - Vietnamese police, in two jeeps from Mang Yang district arrested and tortured 8 Montagnard Degar Christians during a prayer meeting at Oai's house in the village of Bong Mor, commune of Ayun, district of Mang Yang, province of Gia Lai. Named Oai, Pral, Pet, Djip, Ruk, Dun, Jak, H'Nip. The 8 church members above were beaten along the journey to the local jail. The owner of the house where the meeting took place was beaten until unconscious while the others were kicked, struck and shocked into unconsciousness by electric batons. They were finally released on 17 September 2003.
q 15 DECEMBER 2003 - at approximately 8pm Vietnamese police entered village of Bia Bre in Dak Doa province and arrested Montagnard Christian named "Croc" at his house. Croc had previously tried to flee to Neighboring Cambodia but was arrested prior to leaving. It is unknown what the police have since done with him.
q 12 DECEMBER 2003 - at 7am Vietnamese police arrested Montagnard
(Degar) Christian named Mon (born 1963) Amik (born 1946) in their village of Aluk Prong, Dak Doa province, and Kdang village, Dak Doa province.
It is unknown what the police have since done with him.
To escape this unbearable situation, thousands of our people have fled to neighboring Cambodia, where some camps were established. These camps have were unfortunately closed down in 2002, and hundreds of our peoples have been forced to hide in the jungle, while both Vietnamese and Cambodian police hunt them down.
In a public letter on 21 July 2003 Mr Son Chhay a Member of the Cambodian Parliament called on the President of the National Assembly, Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh to investigate and put an end to these human rights violations. Mr. Son Chhay also confirmed that the Vietnamese government is offering Cambodian authorities bounties of $66 each for turning over our refugees to Vietnamese authorities. He also received reports that Montagnard corpses were found floating with their hands tied in the Se-San River in June 2003. Human Rights Watch also reported Montagnard refugees being shot, and that one was killed after having his skull crushed after arrest by Vietnamese police this year.
Thanks to the support of the Transnational Radical Party - an NGO in Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council - we have been able to be represented at the UN Human Rights Commission in 2002 and 2003, where I was able to expose these serious human rights abuses. In July 2002 the 75th session Human Rights Committee responded to some of TRP concerns, with its Concluding Observations on Vietnam (UN doc: CCPR/C/SR.2031) recommending that human rights monitors be allowed into the central highlands. Point 19 states:
19. While noting that the State party denies any violation of the Covenant rights in this respect, the Committee remains concerned at the abundance of information regarding the treatment of the Degar (Montagnard) indicating serious violations of article 7 and 27 of the Covenant. The Committee is concerned at the lack of specific information concerning indigenous peoples, especially the Degar (Montagnard), and about measures taken to ensure that their rights under article 27 to enjoy their cultural traditions, including their religion and language, as well as their agricultural activities, are respected. The State party should take immediate measures to ensure that the rights of members of indigenous communities are respected. Non-governmental organisations and other human rights monitors should be granted access to the central highlands.
In June and July 2003, the TRP sent a delegation to Cambodia, who raised the issue of the refugee camps in a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen and entertained meetings with UNHCR Representatives as well as European diplomats to address the lack of compliance with the 1951 Convention on Refugees.
Last week the UN Human Rights Envoy Peter Leupretch criticized the Cambodian government for forcibly sending our refugees back to Vietnam in clear violation of the Refugee Convention.
Thus I ask if you can please assist our people in the following areas.
q Can you call on urgent action to ensure that Vietnam abides by the concluding recommendations by the UN Human Rights Committee namely by permitting international monitors access to the Central Highlands?
q Can you help ensure that the bounty schemes offered for the capture of Montagnard refugees fleeing Vietnam are stopped and the UNHCR are allowed to operate freely again in Cambodia?
q Can you help us from being kicked out of the United Nations as the Vietnamese government has falsely accused our organization to be a terrorist organization?
Finally we also respectfully request that the Holy Father offer Merry Christmas blessings in our own language this Christmas in San Pietro Square.
"Merry Christmas" in Rhade Montagnard Dialect is: "Hok Moak Hrue No-el"
In the spirit of Christianity I also extend our prayers to you and even to the Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities, hoping they may show some compassion for our people.
At the end of this letter I have also attached one of the many recent examples of what has happened to our refugees who suffered religious persecution in Vietnam and who are suffering now on the Cambodian border with Vietnam - the story of a 5-year old Montagnard Degar Christian boy.
On behalf of the Montagnard Degar people I sincerely thank you for any assistance you may offer us.
Kok Ksor
Mrs. Ksor H'Col Montagnard Foundation, Inc 2003
