The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has slammed the Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s fabricated report regarding the Khmer ethnic group in the country.
Asked to comment on the HRW’s recent report, which said that a Khmer Krom group in the Mekong Delta region suffered from repression and restricted rights to freedom of religion and speech, the ministry’s spokesman, Le Dung, on January 22 said it was a total fabrication, adding that this is not the first time the HRW published false information related to Vietnam .
He pointed out that in Vietnam, people’s basic rights, including the freedom of speech and religion, are clearly stipulated in its Constitution (Articles 69 and 70).
The spokesman affirmed that the Khmer ethnic group in southern Vietnam is an integral part of the community of 54 ethnic groups living in the country.
“The Vietnamese state follows a policy of equality, solidarity and mutual assistance among ethnic groups, not allowing any discrimination and separation acts,” he said.
“The policy is clearly stipulated in the Constitution and respected in reality,” he stressed, adding that ethnic minority groups, including the Khmer group, have been receiving the State’s equal treatment and care to improve their material and spiritual living conditions.
In 2008, some 358,000 new jobs were provided to Khmer people, up by 1.2% over 2007. A total of 4,000 Khmer people were sent to work abroad. The average GDP per capita was estimated at VND 14.8 million (US$890) and the ratio of poor families in the Khmer group reduced by 1.6 % to 11.2 %.
Provincial radios and televisions broadcast programmes in Khmer language. Provinces that have a large population of Khmer people also have Khmer-language weeklies.
In addition, local authorities have helped the Khmer community build and repair their places of worship. Ethnic groups in the region are confident in the Party’s policies, the spokesman said.
He went on to say that in recent time in several localities, there were complaints from some people who were unsatisfied with compensations for land that was taken to serve socio-economic development and infrastructure construction.
He added that the local authorities have been actively working to resolve all the complaints in line with the laws and the localities’ conditions.
“There are completely no repression or restriction of freedom to religion and speech for Khmer ethnic people in the Mekong Delta region,” Dung concluded.
