WRITTEN QUESTION P-0590/03 by Marco Pannella (NI) to the Commission. Violation by the Cambodian Government of the UN Refugee Convention in the case of Montagnards (Dega) fleeing persecution by the Vietnamese government.
Date: 2003-02-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Cambodia, UN convention, Viet Nam, aid to refugees, cooperation policy, government violence, human rights, refugee, the EU's international role

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Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(2 April 2003)

It results from the Nice Treaty and the Treaty of Accession due to be signed on 16 April 2003 in Athens
that the number of members of the European Parliament to be elected in each of the present Member
States in 2004 shall be as follows:

(cid:1) Belgium: 24;

(cid:1) Denmark: 14;

(cid:1) Germany: 99;

(cid:1) Greece: 24;

(cid:1) Spain: 54;

(cid:1) France: 78;

(cid:1) Ireland: 13;

(cid:1) Italy: 78;

(cid:1) Luxembourg: 6;

(cid:1) Netherlands: 27;

(cid:1) Austria: 18;

(cid:1) Portugal: 24;

(cid:1) Finland: 14;

(cid:1) Sweden: 19;

(cid:1) United Kingdom: 78.

These figures will not change until further modification of the relevant Treaty articles. With a view to the
possible accession of more Member States at a later stage, the allocation of seats in a Union of more than
25 Member States will have to be determined in a future accession treaty, taking account of the provisions
and principles established by the Nice Treaty.

The Commission has not given any recommendation to the Member States as to the distribution of seats
within each Member State.

(2004/C 11 E/098)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0590/03

by Marco Pannella (NI) to the Commission

(24 February 2003)

Subject: Violation by the Cambodian Government of

the UN Refugee Convention in the case of

Montagnards (Dega) fleeing persecution by the Vietnamese government

Knowing that:

(cid:1) despite repeated requests and pressure from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and the US embassy in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian government is continuing to
violate the UN Refugee Convention and the fundamental rights of hundreds of Montagnards (Dega)
fleeing persecution by the Vietnamese government, after closure of the refugee camps in the Ratanakri
and Mondulkiri regions. In recent months there has also been evidence of forced repatriation of
hundreds of Montagnard refugees, of whom nothing more has been heard;

(cid:1) on 20 December the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signed Sub-decree 124 ordering a further
600 members of the police force to be posted to control the border between Cambodia and Vietnam.
The head of UNHCR’s liaison office in Cambodia, Nikola Mihajlovic, has said that this measure has

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‘serious implications’ for any Montagnards seeking asylum in Cambodia. ‘The fact is that the police are
out there searching for people and denying them access to asylum. We always hear people are being
deported, but we have no way of confirming that. But it is for UNHCR [not the government] to say
who is an illegal immigrant and who is in need of asylum’;

(cid:1) according to the Jesuit Refugee Service, about 50 Montagnards (men, women and children, mostly
Pnong) were stopped by the Cambodian police near Koh Nhek during the first week of January 2003
and taken back to the border with Vietnam by force, where they were handed over to the border
police. Subsequently, during the third week of January, a further group of 30 Montagnards (also
Pnong) were arrested by officers, also in the vicinity of Koh Nhek. However, this group was brutally
beaten before being escorted back to the frontier. Local sources also report summary executions and
refugees being detained in prison camps after being arrested in Cambodia and forced to return to
Vietnam, in violation of the UN Refugee Convention.

The Commission:

(cid:1) does the Commission intend to take action, and if so what, to make sure that the Cambodian
government honours its commitments under international law by immediately reopening the refugee
camps in the Ratanakri and Mondulkiri regions, as called for by Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch,
to give sanctuary to the hundreds of Montagnards who are continuing to flee
persecution by the Vietnamese government;

(cid:1) does it also intend to continue to fund the Cambodian government despite these continuing and
repeated violations of its international human rights obligations, in breach of the provisions of the
cooperation agreements with Cambodia?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf Commission

(20 March 2003)

The Commission’s Delegation in Phnom Penh, together with the Diplomatic Missions of the Member
States, continues to follow closely the situation of the Vietnamese Montagnards who seek refuge in
Cambodia and to participate in diplomatic démarches of the EU to the Government of Cambodia on issues
of concern. The Government of Cambodia has confirmed that it will continue to honour its commitments
assumed in the framework of International Covenants.

The representatives in Cambodia of the Commission and the Member States also maintain close contact
with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). At the present time, the UNHCR
supervised re-settlement of those Montagnards, who had sought refuge in Cambodia following the events
of February 2001 and who had expressed a wish to go to the United States is continuing. Some 102 of
these individuals are currently accommodated in appropriate transit facilities. Arrangements are in hand
for the resettlement of a further 41 Montagnards by the end of March 2003. In addition, a number of
Vietnamese Montagnards who have sought refuge in Cambodia in recent months have been placed
together with those still awaiting clearance for resettlement in the United States.

The UNHCR continues to have access to the provinces of Mondulkiri and Rattanakiri and to send ‘flying
teams’ to monitor the situation concerning new arrivals of Vietnamese Montagnards. The possibility of
organising reception centres has been raised with the Government of Cambodia. The Commission is aware
of the unconfirmed reports of deportation of some new arrivals. It has proved impossible to obtain any
confirmation of the allegations of mistreatment or of summary executions referred to in the question.

The Community-Cambodia Co-operation Agreement, which was signed in 1997, states in its first Article
that respect for human rights and democratic principles constitutes an essential element of the Agreement.
Questions related to the respect for and the promotion of human rights are addressed in meetings of the
Community-Cambodia Joint Commission established under the Co-operation Agreement. The Commission,
together with the Member States represented in Cambodia, monitors closely human rights developments in
order to encourage and support the continued commitment of the Government of Cambodia to progress
in the field of human rights. The Commission also participates with the Member States in all EU
démarches to the Government of Cambodia on human rights issues.

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The Commission’s approach towards Cambodia in the field of human rights, as it is towards all countries
in the region, is to encourage and support continued progress on human rights and democratisation, and
to raise concerns where abuses occur, in the framework of the international human rights instruments.
This approach was reiterated in the May 2001 Commission Communication on the EU’s role in promoting
human rights and democratisation in third countries (1).

(1) COM(2001) 252 final.

(2004/C 11 E/099)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0599/03

by Margrietus van den Berg (PSE)
and Dorette Corbey (PSE) to the Commission

(3 March 2003)

Subject: Setting-up of a pan-European River Water Task Force

Recent floods in the Netherlands and Belgium have, once again, highlighted the importance of transfrontier
cooperation between regional authorities in dealing with natural disasters. National protection measures
are pointless if regions upstream take no equivalent measures. The Mayor of Maastricht, Mr Leers, recently
stated that he wanted to set up a pan-European Task Force, consisting of
leading politicians and
authoritative flood-protection experts with wide-reaching powers, with a view to ensuring that security
measures are taken.

The Framework Water Directive (2000/60/EC) (1) requires Member States whose territory lies within a river
basin district to cooperate with each other and to coordinate their water policies. International river basin
districts must be identified and water management plans adopted. The Commission is to act at the request
of the Member States concerned in order to facilitate the establishment of programmes of measures.

Has the Commission, to date, received any requests to facilitate allocation to an international river

1.
basin district?

2. What aid can the Commission offer in such instances to border regions, such as the region bordering
the River Meuse to which Maastricht belongs, which want to coordinate not only the quality of the river
water but also the quantity of water supplied?

(1) OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(12 May 2003)

The Water Framework Directive (1) mentioned by the Honourable Members addresses selected aspects of
water quantity such as water quantity being a mandatory part of good groundwater status, providing for a
sustainable long-term balance between resources available and abstractions. Whilst it will contribute to
mitigating the effects of floods and droughts, it does not per se set operational targets for flood prevention
and flood protection.

Nevertheless, beyond the formal scope of this Directive a range of initiatives have been taken:

(cid:1) Firstly, International River Conventions such as those for Maas, Schelde, Rhine or Elbe do now have
flood prevention among their statutory objectives and are actively involved in addressing flood
prevention and flood protection (2). For the Maas basin addressed by the Honourable Member this
means high level political commitment by all the countries of this river basin to jointly address the
issue of flood prevention and protection. The new Maas Convention was signed in December 2002
and is now awaiting ratification by the Parliaments involved. The Commission representing the
Community in the bodies of these conventions is proactively supporting these efforts.