Vietnam/Cambodia: Montagnards continue to be watched

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South East Asia | 25 July 2016

In a highly unusual move, Vietnamese police crossed into Cambodia to interrogate Montagnard Christians who had fled persecution in Vietnam, as Radio Free Asia reported on 8 June 2016. Thomas Muller, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, is surprised by this: "It is quite exceptional that the authorities of one state simply cross the border into another to interrogate, not to say intimidate, refugees who had fled their country on grounds of persecution. Even if the Cambodian authorities did not know anything about these steps, it is still unacceptable that Montagnard Christians are visited by their persecutors in an attempt to lure them back to Vietnam. Refugees and asylum seekers have a right of protection and this episode shows that the Vietnamese government seems to think it can do whatever it pleases - especially since Cambodia is so dependent on it."