Gov’t U-turn on Montagnard refugees

[geovalin]

Daniel de Carteret and Chhay Channyda

In a seeming about-face, the government has backed away from its looming deadline to deport more than 100 Montagnards currently seeking asylum in Cambodia, instead pledging to “expedite” the process of assessing their refugee status. Following a meeting yesterday in Phnom Penh between Interior Minister Sar Kheng and the UN Refugee Agency, ministry spokesman Por Phak confirmed that the government would be working closely with the UN body to hasten asylum seeker processing.

“We will continue to work together with the UNHCR and the Montagnard refugees – with those that have been registered and those that are being processed in the near future,” he said. “In the meeting, we agreed to expedite the process of registering the refugee status of the refugee Montagnards.”

read more : http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/govt-u-turn-montagnard-refugees