Cambodia’s national parliamentary election
in July 2013 saw much debate about the place of the country’s ethnic Vietnamese
minority. Whilst the contemporary politicized discourse focuses primarily on
who should have a right
to vote, few address the underlying question of the social and legal
status of this minority group in Cambodia. The ethnic Vietnamese
in Cambodia is one of, if not the largest, minority group in the country.
Despite this, the ethnic Vietnamese population in Cambodia remains understudied. Whilst many ethnic
Vietnamese have Cambodian identification documents and have successfully integrated
into society, others continue to live at the margins of society and face
difficulties substantiating their legal status in Cambodia.
Any discussion about this group needs to start with a proper
differentiation, as "The
Vietnamese" in Cambodia are not comprised of one single group, but
comprise multifaceted and diverse sub-groups of individuals. Such
sub-groups include Cambodian citizens of Vietnamese origin; ethnic Vietnamese
in mixed marriages with Khmer spouses; long-term residents of Cambodia (some of
whom have resided in Cambodia during or before French colonial times); and more
recent immigrants
seeking economic opportunities.
One of the most vulnerable groups is Cambodia’s long-term ethnic
Vietnamese minority. In an attempt to shed light into
the circumstances of this specific group, a recent report – “A Boat Without
Anchors” – assessed the legal status of a focal group from Kampong
Chhnang province around the Tonle Sap Lake. The report explores the status of the focal
group under the applicable Cambodian and Vietnamese nationality laws, examines
available documentation among the group and considers how the national
authorities of Cambodia and Vietnam view and treat the group under the operation
of their respective laws.
Some communities belonging to this focal group have resided for
many generations in Cambodia, and many individuals have acquired Cambodian
citizenship under previous or current nationality laws. However, the minority
group has frequently suffered under the often-times contentious bilateral
relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam, and discrimination
and exclusion in Cambodia has complicated
their integration
into society. At its extreme, the group suffered
under the genocidal campaign of the Khmer Rouge regime, aimed at exterminating
the group from Cambodia. For this, accused
persons at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal have been charged with the crime of genocide against the
Vietnamese. For survivors who resided in Cambodia for generations, survival resulted
from their deportation to Vietnam in 1975. Upon their return during the 1980s,
most were treated as “immigrants” or “foreign residents”. As a consequence, many have neither proof of Cambodian nor Vietnamese nationality. These persons may
in fact be stateless.
Without
citizenship and other documentation, the specific ethnic Vietnamese in this
research do not have access to many basic economic, political, and social
rights. They face an array of legal, political, economic and social disadvantages,
including difficulty accessing employment, education, health care, legal
protection, limited freedom of movement, and an inability to open a bank
account or own land. Few
development activities have taken place in these communities. Expanding
much needed services, in particular in the education and health sectors, to
cover these and other communities would contribute to integrating them into
Cambodian society and upholding their basic rights.
Importantly,
the report found that these Vietnamese communities, by and large, have no
effective access to birth registration. According to Cambodian
law, birth registration is not linked to nationality and is available
to all children born on Cambodian territory.
The absence of birth registration documentation for
children in the focal group communities creates barriers for obtaining other
documents relevant to exercising future rights and entitlements such as
admission to school and access to Cambodian nationality, in accordance with the
Cambodian nationality law. In order to ensure that statelessness does not perpetuate through
generations within the Vietnamese minority populations in Cambodia, there is a
need to expand universal birth registration to the children of these
communities. The
commendable efforts undertaken in past years by the responsible entities under
the Cambodian Ministry of
Interior, often with support from UNICEF, should be continued and
expanded, including awareness-raising among affected population and local
authorities.
A careful balance needs to be struck,
which respects the right of the Cambodia state to regulate immigration, and the
rights of long-term residents in accordance with Cambodia’s national law and
international human rights standards. To achieve this balance, authorities need
to distinguish between individuals who have resided for many generations in
Cambodia and more recent immigrants. Cambodian laws should apply equally to everybody – both mainstream
Cambodians and members of the ethnic Vietnamese minority in Cambodia. As
rights and obligations go hand in hand, this can provide a more sustainable
basis for integration.
Christoph Sperfeldt and Lyma Nguyen, authors of JRS Cambodia’s
publication “A boat without anchors”
