A dreaded homecoming
With the deadline looming for hundreds of Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia to return “voluntarily” to the site of their alleged persecution or be forced back across the border, a group who have spent months living in the shadows this week spoke out about their life in limbo and fears of impending abuse.
In a safe-house on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, four of the Vietnamese asylum seekers knelt on the floor of a dingy room where they recalled the beatings and arrests they say drove them into Cambodia.
Three of them arrived seven months ago, crossing the well-trodden path over the border into Ratanakkiri province’s vast forests with eight other asylum seekers.
The fourth arrived in July in a group of 13, crossing into Svay Rieng province. Like hundreds of others, they then travelled down to the capital in hopes that the United Nations would be able to help. …
Alice Cuddy and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dreaded-homecoming
