Press Release June 10

OVER 1000 MONTAGNARD DEGAR WOMEN REPORT BEING STERILIZED AGAINST THEIR WILL BY VIETNAMESE AUTHORITIES FROM 1995 TO 2002. REPRESSION ESCALATES IN 2003 AS SOLDIERS CONTINUE TO OCCUPY VILLAGES IN DEFIANCE OF THE UNITED NATIONS

(Over 1000 names, dates and in some cases the doctors names published on MFI website)

The Central Highlands of Vietnam remain a region under martial law where Vietnamese Security forces continue rampant human rights abuses against the indigenous Degar people or Montagnards, many of whom are persecuted for practicing Christianity. Indigenous Montagnards are beaten, tortured, arrested, and others have been murdered by Vietnamese authorities. Montagnard women report they have been targeted by governmental officials for coercive mandatory sessions demanding they get surgically sterilized. The Montagnard Foundation believes these human rights abuses are part of a sophisticated form of ethnic cleansing directed against the Dega by the Vietnamese communist government. Over one thousand Montagnard women have reported to the Montagnard Foundation that they have been either forced, coerced, paid incentives or threatened with fines to get surgically sterilized.

THE NAMES AND DATA OF THE MONTAGNARD WOMEN WHO SUFFERED STERILIZATION AGAINST THEIR WILL HAVE BEEN CAREFULLY SCREENED over the last few months BY MFI BEFORE BEING RELEASED. THE EXISTANCE OF THIS LIST OF OVER 1000 WOMEN CONFIRMS THE NECESSITY TO OPEN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF VIETNAM TO INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORS. SOME EXAMPLES INCLUDE:

H’ Yot Eban and H Lam of Dak Lak province who were both surgically sterilized on 5/8/2001 by Doctor Vo Thi Hue.
H’Yap Knul from Dak Lak province who was surgically sterilized by Doctor Huynh Cong Len on 4/19/2000.
R'mah H'Ayat, born 1972, hamlet of Plei Thoh Ga, village of Nhon Hoa, district of Cu Se, province of Pleiku, surgically sterilized April 17, 2000.
Kpa H'Phen, born 1970, hamlet of Plei Thoh Ga, village of Nhon Hoa, district of Cu Se, province of Pleiku, surgically sterilized April 17, 2000.
R'mah H'Ameng, born 1963, hamlet of Plei Thoh Ga, village of Nhon Hoa, district of Cu Se, province of Pleiku, surgically sterilized August 28, 2000.
Kpa H'Din, born 1960, hamlet of Plei Thoh Ga, village of Nhon Hoa, district of Cu Se, province of Pleiku, surgically sterilized August 2, 2000.
Kpa H'Bim, born 1968, hamlet of Plei Thoh Ga, village of Nhon Hoa, district of Cu Se, province of Pleiku, surgically sterilized April 17, 2000.
A Montagnard women named Hyon stated that the Vietnamese authorities made every women of child bearing age in her village attend meetings which repeatedly tried to force them to get surgically sterilized. The last meeting she attended was May 2000 before fleeing the country and coming to the US.
A Montagnard women named Hbon stated that her sister died after being sterilized in 1997. She states her sister was poor and the Vietnamese government promised her husband a good job with the police - if she got surgically sterilized. After her sister's death due to complications with the medical procedure however, the Vietnamese police then fired her husband from the job.

Last year in July 2002 the Concluding Observations of the 75th session Human Rights Committee noted the “serious violations” by the Government of Vietnam (Point 19, UN doc: CCPR/C/SR.2031) and recommended human rights monitors be allowed into the central highlands. Point 19 states:

While noting that the State party denies any violation of the Covenant rights in this respect, the Committee remains concerned at the abundance of information regarding the treatment of the Degar (Montagnard) indicating serious violations of article 7 and 27 of the Covenant. The Committee is concerned at the lack of specific information concerning indigenous peoples, especially the Degar (Montagnard), and about measures taken to ensure that their rights under article 27 to enjoy their cultural traditions, including their religion and language, as well as their agricultural activities, are respected. The State party should take immediate measures to ensure that the rights of members of indigenous communities are respected.

Non-governmental organisations and other human rights monitors should be granted access to the central highlands.

In spite of what stated by the UNHRC, the Government of Vietnam continues to persecute the Degar Montagnards in defiance of basic human rights recognized by the Government after having ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and keeps the region sealed off from journalists and independent monitors, who are not allowed free access there. In April 2003, Human Rights Watch reported an “escalation of repression”, facing the Montagnards and released “secret” Vietnamese government documents ordering this repression. In May 2003 the U.S. International Commission For Religious Freedom stated, “the increased repression of religious freedom has been reportedly sanctioned at the highest levels of the Vietnamese government.” In December 2002 Amnesty International also reported on the persecution of Montagnard refugees in its report “No Sanctuary: Plight of the Montagnard Minority” ASA 41/011/2002.

“Nearly every ethnic minority household has one soldier living with them” AFP, 10 June 2000.

The Montagnard Foundation confirms this quote above reported in the AFP article “EU Speaks out against Vietnam’s Human Rights Manipulation” and states Vietnamese soldiers are occupying villages throughout the highlands arresting, torturing and threatening villagers on a daily basis.

The Montagnard Foundation pleas for international assistance and urgently requests that:

An urgent public international and independent inquiry is conducted into how Vietnam has been repressing the indigenous Montagnards – including:
Whether Vietnam has violated, The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Article II (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, particularly regarding the list of 1000 women who report being sterilized.
What the Vietnam Minister, Mr. Tran Thi Trung Chien means by his statement that Vietnam intends to achieve a zero growth rate, especially in Montagnard areas as reported in - Asia Pulse, “Vietnam Plans Targets 0% Population Growth in Rural Areas by 2005”, December 27, 2001.
What happened to the 50 - 60 Montagnard girls of the villages Buan Tri, Kang, Cu and Hwig in Ea Hleo district, Dak Lak province on 5 February 2002 and what medical injections where they forced to take after arrest by Vietnamese soldiers?
The United Nations and democratic Governments ensure that Vietnam does not continue to defy the concluding observations issued by the 2002 UN Human Rights Committee by refusing international monitors access to the Central Highlands
Foreign donors namely the United States and European Union to reconsider the granting of aid to Vietnam until Hanoi ceases persecuting Montagnard Degar people and abides by international standards of human rights

Related Article:
The list of 1000 Montagnard women who report they were sterilized by the Vietnamese authorities against their will