European Parliament:
Written question of MP Marco Pannella to
Commission on "Montagnards tribes" in VN
Date: 14/06/2001
In February 2001 the Vietnamese Government deployed tanks, helicopters and over 13 regiments of soldiers into the Central Highlands of Vietnam to quell demonstrations by Christian Montagnard hill tribes. These indigenous hill tribes were protesting over the arrests of two of their church leaders as well as years of religious persecution and confiscation of their ancestral lands. The International Commission of Jurists (Australian section) distributed a report in February 2001 concluding that since 1975, Vietnam has committed gross human rights abuses against the Montagnards namely; torture, arbitrary arrest, sterilization policies that violate women’s rights, forced relocations and expropriations from their traditional lands and the increased repression of religious freedom.
Reports indicate the indigenous Montagnard population are now being terrorised by security forces. The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that Montagnards refugees are fleeing to Cambodia with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Refugees International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees calling for urgent action to protect them, as Vietnam has offered "bounties" for the capture and return. In June 2001 - martial law and a media blackout in the region continues. Vietnam has further cordoned off the region in an attempt to halt refugees. Has the Commission already investigated the reports of human rights violations facing the Montagnard population inside Vietnam’s Central Highlands and the potential of a humanitarian crisis if more Montagnards are forced to flee as refugees ? Has the Commission made provision of aid and trade to Vietnam contingent on the Vietnamese government complying with international human rights law ?