MAY 2007 (part1) - Khmer Krom Recipes

YEAR.2_No.17 May 2007 www.khmerkromrecipes.com KU SRAH SREY Magazine
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12 May 2007
The US will send human rights activists to Kampuchea Krom
By Kim Pov Sottan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
The USA plans to send human rights activists to Kheang province (Soc Trang in Vietnamese),
Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam), in the near future after it was reported that recent jail sentences
were handed down to Khmer Krom monks.
Following his meeting with US Senate and the US Committee in charge of Human Rights,
Thach Ngoc Thach, the leader of the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF), said: “We met with
the committee, it will send another delegation committee to Khleang province within 6 months, in order
to meet with our monks and Khmer Krom people one more time, in order to obtain factual information
on the sentence and the oppression perpetrated on Khmer Krom monks and population in Khleang
province.”
The meeting was urgently set up following the 2 to 4-year jail sentences handed down by the
Vietnamese authority in Khleang province on Khmer Krom monks on 10 May. Khmer Krom monks
were demanding for their religious freedom.
Thach Ngoc Thach added that the US human rights office, and the US religious affair have
supported the activities of Khmer Krom monks, and that KKF in the world is also pursuing this case
with the European Union Parliament in order to obtain pressure on Vietnam.
On the same day, about 10 associations of Khmer Krom people in Cambodia have issued a joint
statement condemning the Vietnamese authority and called on the international community to review
this case.
Monk Yoeung Sin, President of the Khmer Krom monks Association, said: “Does the
[Vietnamese] authority have the right to take such action against religious belief? Any country
respecting human rights, and Vietnam, in particular, who adheres to the UN convention on human
rights, and in whose constitution stipulates in Section 67-68, the respect of individual rights to religious
freedom, and activities normally conducted by any human in the world, as a citizen of Vietnam.”
At the beginning of February, several hundreds of Khmer Krom student-monks at the superior
Pali school in Khleang province, held a demonstration against the Vietnamese authority which
prevented them from leaving the pagoda to go beg for their daily alms. Later on, the Vietnamese
authority arrested and defrocked several of the monks. Recently, 5 monks were sentenced to 2 to 4-year
jail for creating disorder.
In the upcoming 14-25 May 2007, a UN meeting for native people will also be organized.
Khmer Krom leaders in the world claimed that they will raised during this meeting the issues of land
grabbing from Khmer Krom people in Vietnam, and the oppression of Khmer Krom monks.
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