Corrections 14:05 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) has denounced Cambodia’s forced return to China of 20 ethnic Uighur asylum-seekers before their claims were heard. The Geneva-based organization said it was “deeply distressed” at the news and concerned that “a disturbing pattern of such cases is increasingly evident around the world.”
Human rights groups condemn deportation
The 20 were deported Saturday 19 December as illegal immirants, reports Reuters AlertNet, an information service for humanitarian organizations. The move coincides with a trade visit to Cambodia by Chinese Vice-president Xi Jinping 21 December. Reuters AlertNet quotes a faxed statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, received by Reuters: “Recently, Cambodia deported 20 Chinese citizens in accordance with immigration laws for illegal entry into Cambodia. China received these people in accordance with usual practices,” but the statement also links the immigration crime to smuggling.
Several human rights groups have condemned the deportations, and US State Department’s spokesman Gordon Duguid says the US is “deeply disturbed” by the decision and the lack of appropriate participation by the UNHCR which, he warns, will affect its relations with Cambodia.”Now that the group has been returned to China,” says Duguid, “we urge the government of China to uphold international norms and to ensure transparency, due process and proper treatment of persons in its territory.”
The prosecution in the trial of former Khmer Rouge prison chief, Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, asked the court 25 November to sentence him to 40 years prison for overseeing the torture and deaths of more than 12,000 people who passed through the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. An estimated two million people died in Cambodia during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime.
Comrade Duch has cooperated with the prosecution and expressed remorse for his actions. The prosecution described his “unrelenting brutality.” A verdict by the UN-backed court on the outskirts of Phnom Penh is expected early next year.
Links to other sites: BBC, Globe and Mail, Canada, Phnom Penh Post
