Stateless Ethnic Vietnamese Children in Cambodia

Vietnamese Stateless Children Report (by MIRO - 2019)

Vietnamese Stateless Children Report by MIRO (2019)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from VDF

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Giáng Sinh vui vẻ, an lành.

Năm mới thành công, thăng tiến!

ViDan Foundation Inc.

Ethnic Vietnamese, some living in Cambodia for generations, see documents revoked & useless...

Under a controversial new plan by the Ministry of Interior, ethnic Vietnamese – some who whom have been living in Cambodia for generations – are beginning to have official documents revoked

Vietnamese migrants could be on borrowed time in Cambodia

Asia Pacific

The Cambodian government is threatening to deport any “newcomers” unable to produce correct and legal documentation.

The Diplomat: Cambodia's Anti-Vietnam Obsession

2015 Neak Loeung Field Trip Photoset

Some pictures of Neak Loeung (Prey Veng province) 2015 Field Trip conducted by Mr. Nguyen CongBang.

As of April 2015 there are 426 students for Vietnamese classes at 4 locations.

The Neak Loeung Free School Program sponsored by the Donors of ViDan Foundation.

2015 Kampong Chhnang Field Trip Photoset

Some pictures of Kampong Chhnang 2015 Field Trip conducted by Mr. Nguyen CongBang.
As of April 2015 there are 120 students at Samaki School for Khmer and Vietnamese classes.
The School Attendance Support Program sponsored by the Donors of ViDan Foundation.

Human Rights Committee Considers Report of Cambodia

It was reported that many ethnic Vietnamese people living in Cambodia were stateless, even those who had been living in Cambodia for generations and met the requirements for nationality. Many children born after 1996 had not been not given birth certificates. There was a problem with an anti-Vietnamese sentiment in Cambodia, said an Expert, asking the delegation to comment.

Cambodiadaily.com: Without Citizenship, Vietnamese Remain Adrift

“We don’t have citizenship, so we don’t have rights like Cambodians,” he said.

“People think we are illegal immigrants and they look down on us.”

Foreigner round-up rolls on with arrest of 38 Vietnamese

TELETHON FUNDRAISING EVENT ON JAN 11, 2015

TELETHON FUNDRAISING EVENT

TO SUPPORT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS IN CAMBODIA

On January 11, 2015 a fundraising event will be held at VAN-TV 55.2 function room located at:

9798 Bellaire Blvd., Houston, TX 77036

to raise fund for ViDan Foundation’s educational projects in Cambodia which are currently teaching about 300 students from needy families in 3 different provinces.

It will be aired from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm as a Telethon fundraiser. During the progress supporters will be able to make donations or pledges via phone calls or text massages.

The program includes an introduction to VDF’s programs in Cambodia and Vietnam presented by Mr. Nguyen CongBang, the organization’s President.

A special music entertainment arranged by Ms. Anh Trinh will follow the one-hour presentation which includes about 20 love songs in Vietnamese.

Supporters who cannot attend the event can send checks to:

ViDan Foundation: PO Box 92601, Austin, TX 78709-2601

Donations can also be accepted by PayPal company via email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

All donations are tax deductible as permitted by law.

To give a helping hand please contact ViDan Foundation at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 713-391-9843

Volunteers are needed. Please join us to make a difference to these unfortunate children!

Field trip on 31 October and 01 November 2014

Report

“The situation of stateless Vietnamese families in communities in Prey Veng and Kampong Chhnang provinces: Access to school for children from poor Vietnamese families”

Report compiled by Ang Chanrith, Judith Kunze, Noun Sovanrith and Tuong Nang Tien and released in November 2014.

A team of the ViDan Foundation and Minority Rights Organization (MIRO) visited two Vietnamese communities on 31 October and 01 November 2014, respectively. One community is located in Prey Veng province and the other in Kampong Chhnang province.

The participants from the ViDan Foundation were President Nguyen CongBang and Tuong Nang Tien. From MIRO, Judith Kunze and Noun Sovanrith as well as former MIRO Director Ang Chanrith joined.

Visit humanitarian programs in Cambodia

Houston, TX – At the end of 10/2014, Mr. Nguyen Cong Bang represented ViDan Foundation and returned to Cambodia to visit the educational assistance programs that the Foundation collaboratively implemented to assist about 300 poor children to learn literacy. Writer Tuong Nang Tien, who has been a sympathizer to Hoa Mai Club (ViDan Foundation's predecessor), accompanied the trip.

In more than two weeks in Phnom Penh, Prey Veng and Kampong Chhnang, Vidan Foundation delegation exposed to and conducted volunteer work with a number of NGOs.

They first visited the Vietnamese language school, sponsored by the Foundation, of Hố Lương ferry district (Neak Loeung, Prey Veng), which teaches 150 local Vietnamese poor students.

Phnom Penh Post: A Vietnamese village in limbo

MIRO: Training Workshop For Parents of the Needy Children

HOPE FLOATS:Cambodia's ethnic Vietnamese forced to live on the water

With a smile, 62-year-old Sreng Talong remembers being deported from his home country. The expulsion saved his life. It was in late 1975, a few months after the Khmer Rouge had taken power in Cambodia, and the ultra-Maoist regime was sending ethnic Vietnamese, such as Sreng Talong, to neighbouring Vietnam.

“I saw so many people die during the Pol Pot regime era that I was really happy to be sent out,” he says.

The Phnom Penh Post: Vietnamese wary of planned census

Report of fundrasing event to help two former prisoners of conscience

Houston, TX (05/10/2014) – On May 1, 2014 the ViDan Foundation (VDF) transferred emergency support funds which raised for two former prisoners of conscience: Mr. Nguyen Huu Cau who had been jailed for 39 years for his non-violent against corruptions, and Mr. Dinh Dang Dinh who was environmental activist, blogger and former prisoner of conscience, was unjustly jailed in 2011 after starting a petition against a mining project and was diagnosed with cancer while in prison. Mr Dinh died at the age of 50 years old, shortly after his sudden release from jai.

After deducting organizing costs ($2,424.50), funds benefactors donated for Nguyen Huu Cau is $ 12,460.81 and for families of Teacher Dinh Dang Dinh is $12,740.81. Complete funding assistance for two families is $25,201.62 dollars was transferred on 01.05.2014 and received by a full report.

MIRO: Vietnamese stateless children’s education situation in Kampong Chhnang and Pursat Provinces

Research date: 18-20 January in Kampong Chhnang and 19-21 March 2014 in Pursat

Based on two active fieldtrip researches in Kampong Chhnang and Pursat provinces, Minority Rights Organization (MIRO) found out the following issues faced by Vietnamese stateless children with regard to their education at the state and private schools:
In Kampong Chhnang province, there are five state and private schools in Phsar Chhnang commune and 4 state and private schools located in Chhnok Truo commune.

In Pursat, Kra Kor district, Kampong Luong commune, there are five state and private schools. Most of them are located in the floating house communities. The research indicated that about ten percent of Vietnamese children in those floating communities can afford to attend state school because they have the necessary identification documents and about 30 percent of their
children can afford to study their own language (Vietnamese) at Vietnamese private schools.

The remainder cannot go to school for a number of reasons.

Rainsy courts Vietnamese

Fri, 18 April 2014

Kevin Ponniah and Vong Sokheng, Phnom Penh Post 

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday said that up to a quarter of a million ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia could be granted full citizenship rights via the Nationality Law if his Cambodia National Rescue Party were to come to power.

The CNRP president has sought in recent months, through a flurry of letters to newspapers and online postings, to cast off what he calls a groundless “foreign-entertained allegation” of anti-Vietnamese sentiment levelled at him and his party.

His most recent comments regarding the citizenship rights of some ethnic Vietnamese come after the Cambodian People’s Party-led government announced the creation of two new departments in the Ministry of Interior to control immigration and the issuance of identity documents.

The CPP’s platform for next month’s councillor elections also promises to address problems related to immigration and make it easier for identity documents to be obtained by those who require them.

The moves have led analysts to conclude that the ruling party is trying to catch up with public opinion regarding long-term unchecked illegal immigration from Vietnam, a hot-button issue for many who voted for the CNRP – which has talked about the issue extensively, despite it not appearing on the party’s policy platform – at last July’s disputed national election.

Speaking with the Post yesterday on the phone from Europe, where he is due to attend a political party conference in the Netherlands next week, Rainsy said he believed there were around 500,000 people “of Vietnamese descent” living in Cambodia, half of whom were eligible for Cambodian citizenship via birth.

“According to me I think that up to half of these 500,000 people of Vietnamese descent fulfil the legal requirement to be considered as Cambodian citizens. So the CNRP, we must treat those who meet the requirement to be Cambodian citizens, as Cambodian citizens,” he said.

The 1996 Nationality Law outlines that Cambodian nationality can be obtained by anyone born in Cambodia to foreign parents, if they too were “born and living legally” in the Kingdom.

But rights groups say it would be difficult for many immigrant parents to prove legal residence, given the state of Cambodia’s legal and administrative system.

In line with the laws, the CNRP wishes to “curb illegal immigration” but from a legal humanitarian standpoint, Rainsy said.

“We have to be nuanced [and] make the distinction between people of Vietnamese descent who must be treated as Cambodian [and illegal immigrants]. When the CNRP comes to power we will recognise that right officially.”

While many Cambodians are fearful and suspicious of Vietnam due to historical grievances, a feeling “hastily, unfairly and inaccurately” attributed to racism by many foreigners, the CNRP would work to educate the public to respect ethnic Vietnamese citizens, Rainsy says.

“We will educate Cambodian people as a whole to respect those people . . . Those who were wrongly considered as foreigners. We must educate Khmer people, these are Khmer citizens as you and I and we must respect their rights,” he said.

“But other people who come illegally without documents, we have to deal with them properly and the basis will not be different from [what] Europe or America uses to deal with immigration.”

According to Ang Chanrith, executive director at the Minority Rights Organization, most ethnic Vietnamese were born in Cambodia do not possess citizenship, “except those who are rich or well connected”.

In comparison to Rainsy’s figure of 500,000, Chanrith estimates that about 700,000 ethnic Vietnamese live in Cambodia, but he said there is no solid data on population figures or what proportion of the group were born in the Kingdom compared to those “who come for political and economic purposes”.

Chanrith said that he hoped the government’s new commitment to improving immigration oversight was genuine, and not just to gain votes.

According to its political platform for next month’s council elections, the CPP is promising to “resolve the problem of immigrants, control immigrants and more effectively resolve the problem of crimes [committed by foreigners] in accordance with the existing laws”.

Cheam Yeap, a senior CPP lawmaker, said his party is committed to implementing existing laws and controlling immigration flows “for the benefit of the nation”.

“We are the ruling party and the government is paying strong attention to control immigration in order to avoid criticisms from the people and the opposition party,” he said.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak last week said that a new general department of immigration would allow the government to increase its capacity to process migrant applications with greater oversight from the ministry.

Veteran political analyst Lao Mong Hay said yesterday that while it was clear the CPP was “trying to catch up with public opinion” and gain lost votes with the new measures, the opposition was also courting voters – ethnic Vietnamese ones – by promising citizenship for those who are eligible.

“They are considering this kind of support [from Cambodian-born Vietnamese].”

Contact authors: Kevin Ponniah and Vong Sokheng

Australian Parliamentarian Highlights Ethnic Vietnamese Issues

An Australian lawmaker has called upon his country’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, to address what he said is the mistreatment of ethnic Vietnamese people living in Cambodia.

In letters dated April 7, Chris Hayes, chief whip of the Australian Labor Party, wrote to Ms. Bishop and his own party’s shadow foreign minister, Tanya Plibersek, asking them to take an “active interest” in the matter in the wake of a March report detailing obstacles that prevent ethnic Vietnamese from enjoying the same rights as Khmer citizens.

“The Vietnamese community in my electorate are greatly concerned for the welfare of more than 700,000 ethnic Vietnamese whose fundamental human rights are being ignored,” in Cambodia, Mr. Hayes said.

“The Vietnamese community represents 5 per cent of Cambodia’s total population. Since 2006, there have been an increasing number of reports concerning ethnic Vietnamese being denied access to health care, education, social security, court justice and freedom of movement in Cambodia,” he added.

He said the Australian government and his own party should take note, because of Australia’s “promotion and protection of human rights,” and because Cambodia is beholden to the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a signatory.

Death of activist Dinh Dang Dinh should be ‘wake-up call’ for Viet Nam

Amnesty International has paid tribute to Dinh Dang Dinh, the Vietnamese environmental activist, blogger and former prisoner of conscience, who has died aged 50.

The activist was unjustly jailed in 2011 after starting a petition against a mining project and was diagnosed with cancer while in prison.

The authorities only allowed Dinh Dang Dinh to be treated in hospital from January 2014, where he was kept under constant surveillance. He was released temporarily on medical grounds in February, before being released permanently in March. 

Dinh Dang Dinh died of stomach cancer at his home in Dak Nong province in Viet Nam’s Central Highlands yesterday evening.

“We join human rights defenders in Viet Nam and across the world in mourning the loss of Dinh Dang Dinh and express our deepest condolences to his family,” said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director.

“It is a tragedy that the Vietnamese authorities stole the last years of Dinh Dang Dinh’s life, locking him up away from his loved ones.”

A former soldier and chemistry teacher, Dinh Dang Dinh was arrested in December 2011 after he had initiated a petition against bauxite mining in the Central Highlands. 

He was sentenced to six years in jail in August 2012 for “conducting propaganda against the state”. 

His trial lasted just three hours, before an unsuccessful appeal hearing was over in 45 minutes. His right to liberty was thus denied in proceedings that were as unfair and arbitrary as the charges against him. On leaving the appeals court, he was manhandled into a truck and security officials beat him over the head with clubs.

Scores of others remain imprisoned for speaking out in Viet Nam, with some prisoners of conscience locked up in harsh conditions for many years. 

“The tragedy of Dinh Dang Dinh’s passing should be a wake-up call for Viet Nam,” said Rupert Abbott

“Viet Nam must immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience who - like Dinh Dang Dinh - have done no more than peacefully express their opinion.”

URL: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/death-activist-dinh-dang-dinh-should-be-wake-call-viet-nam-2014-04-04

I, a poet and South Vietnamese soldier, found God and the Virgin in communist prisons

by HT

The 68-year old J.B Nguyễn Hữu Cầu spent nearly 39 years in prison in Hanoi. He is one of the longest serving political prisoners in the Asian nation. Released on presidential pardon for poor state of health. In prison he encountered faith in Jesus. Rosary and Way of the Cross, sources of strength to overcome pain and forgive his captors.

Ho Chi Minh City ( AsiaNews) - During his years in prison he encountered Christianity and decided to convert, receiving baptism, and later was able to transform the chains that kept him imprisoned, consisting of 90 rings, into a rosary recited up to five times a day. Faith alone enabled him to face and overcome nearly 40 years spent in prison in Vietnam, while his body was marked by deafness and almost total blindness caused by suffering. However, his spirit is still able to give thanks for the gift of faith received. And even forgive his captors : "The love of God and the Virgin Mary has changed me. I no longer hate my 'brothers and sisters' (of the communist regime )".

This is the story of 68-year old J.B Nguyễn Hữu Cầu (born in 1945), poet, musician, composer and captain of the army of the Republic of South Vietnam before the reunification in 1975.  He is one of the longest serving political prisoners in the Asian nation, since the seizing of power by the communists in the North. Arrested at the end of the war, he spent six years in a re-education through labor camp and in 1982 was  imprisoned, because of his work as a poet and composer critical at times of the communist regime.

In 1983 he was sentenced to death in a case against him for denouncing widespread corruption among senior army officials in Hanoi and for the crimes committed by soldiers against the people. Following this he was also charged with sabotage and of having damaged "the regime's image". He has always declared his innocence and authorities later commuted his death sentences to life in prison.

For years he lived in complete isolation, on the margins of a labor camp immersed within a forest. The years in prison have deeply marked him, leaving him almost incapable of hearing, blind in his left eye and with serious problems of vision in the right. On March 22 , 2014, after almost 39 years, he was freed, following an amnesty granted by Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang, an act of charity rather than a political move, given his health conditions, as confirmed by his son.

In recent days, he spoke of his experience in prison, to the newspaper Catholic News, in particular about the theme of faith and his conversion to Christianity during captivity . " Easter 1986, 28 years ago, I was baptized and christened in the prison by Fr. Joseph Nguyen of the Society of Jesus". The priest taught him the fundamentals of Christianity, prayers and catechism . He would recite seven Rosaries and make the Way of the Cross five times a day.

To those who approached him in prison, he used to repeat "I was shackled by a long chain of 90 links. I made the chain my Rosary with 50 links. This is my first Rosary. Perhaps the "most severe" Rosary in the world". A cellmate, brother Paul, gave him a small cross made with coconuts, and " I have also composed a song dedicated to the Holy Cross: The Holy Cross comes to me from the deepest depths in the world [...] it sustained men in this earthly prison". He adds: " I ​​have always believed in the love of God".

Free from the bonds and the chains of communist prisons, the Vietnamese poet and dissident confesses that "the love of God and the Virgin Mary have changed me . I no longer feel resentment for my 'brothers and sisters' (of the regime). We all have the same roots. We descend all from King Hùng Vương. This is why we must love one another. And once more I believe in the Trinity and the Virgin Mary. Which helped me to overcome the pitfalls of fate and prevented me from killing myself during the years in jail".

URL: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/I,-a-poet-and-South-Vietnamese-soldier,-found-God-and-the-Virgin-in-communist-prisons-30711.html

The Situation of Stateless Ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia

CLICK ABOVE IMAGE TO READ PDF FILE

An initial interview with Mr. Ang Charith

NOTE: Following is an initial interview with Mr. Ang Chanrith, Executive Director of the Minority Rights Organization (MIRO) by Mr. Nguyen CongBang, Director of The ViDan Foundation (VDF) in March 2014.

1.    What is the motivation for your dedication to the fight for the human rights of the Vietnamese and Khmer Krom people?

Human rights have been my passion since I started working in 1998 with a number of local human rights organizations, including Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Association (KKKHRA), Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC) and Minority Rights Organization (MIRO). My experience has driven me to consider the plight of marginalized groups both inside and outside Cambodia as one of the most important and underfunded human rights issues today. The terrible suffering of the Khmer Krom and Vietnamese stateless persons in Cambodia is generally overlooked and has been ignored by society for decades. They face severe racial discrimination, hostile political rhetoric, and are not able to benefit from the basic rights and freedoms that the majority of society enjoys.

I cannot ignore such extreme persecution and this inspired me to intervene in order to promote and protect the rights of these vulnerable groups. I believe as a human being and human rights defender, these groups need to be treated equally and fairly by Cambodian society.

RFA: Ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia Left in Limbo Without Citizenship

Ethnic Vietnamese who have lived in Cambodia for generations are deprived of citizenship, trapped in poverty, lack access to education, live under deplorable conditions, and are shut out from economic, social, and political life, a local minority-rights advocacy group says in a new report, seeking urgent government intervention.

About five percent or 750,000 of Cambodia's 15 million people are ethnic Vietnamese, the largest ethnic minority in Cambodia, but most of them are stateless and, according to the report, are "consequently deprived of their most fundamental human rights."
"The lack of identification papers is the root cause of all other difficulties faced by stateless Vietnamese in Cambodia and due to this lack of identity they face widespread discrimination and exploitation," the Minority Rights Organization (MIRO) said in the report “Limbo on Earth: The Situation of Stateless Ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia."

Ethnic Vietnamese not in school: study

Ethnic Vietnamese not in school: study

Only nine per cent of ethnic Vietnamese children in communities of almost 5,000 people in Kampong Chhnang province attend state schools due to a lack of birth certificates, a new report has found, with researchers saying that their findings reflect a situation that is all too common in the Kingdom.

According to Limbo on Earth: The Situation of Stateless Ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia. A Case Study from Kampong Chhnang, released yesterday by the Minority Rights Organization (MIRO), interviews with community leaders, residents and local officials at two floating villages in Phsar Chhnang commune found that 90 per cent of ethnic Vietnamese living there possess no birth certificates, family books or ID cards.

Despite all villagers having been born in Cambodia and not possessing any Vietnamese identification, the vast majority of the 931 families have “only … immigration cards and resident papers to prove that their residence in Cambodia is legal”, the report says, with citizenship out of reach for those who can’t afford to bribe officials.

Under Construction

Picture Collection of the event to support the unfortunate Youth in Cambodia

Picture Collection of the event to support the unfortunate Youth in Cambodia

in Houston, TX on January 5, 2014

Photo by: Mai Xuan Canh