ICC Note:

Asylum seekers who were fleeing religious persecution in Vietnam are being repatriated to the place they fled by Cambodia. The 13 Montagnard asylum seekers were either rejected or withdrew their applications for refugee status. According to the Cambodian government, the answers given in interviews did not prove they had experienced religious persecution in Vietnam. There are still 156 Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia fleeing Vietnam. Vietnam is a Communist country where Christians are regularly persecuted and imprisoned for their faith.

12/22/2016 Cambodia (Radio Free Asia) – More than a dozen Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia were repatriated to Vietnam this week after they failed to qualify for refugee status, and authorities in Phnom Penh say most of the nearly 160 other Montagnards living in capital city are likely to meet the same fate.

“Thirteen Montagnard asylum-seekers returned voluntarily to Vietnam earlier this week,” U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Vivian Tan told RFA’s Khmer Service.

“The members of the group had either received negative decisions on their asylum applications or had withdrawn their applications before they could be assessed,” she added.

The group left Phnom Penh on Monday and crossed into Vietnam on Tuesday under escort from UNHCR officials, who also planned to check back in on the group to assess their wellbeing, Tan said.

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