Tuesday, 20 July 2010

UN praises Vietnam for plan to give citizenship to 2,357 Cambodian refugees

via Khmer NZ

By The Associated Press (CP)

GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency has praised Vietnam for its plan to grant citizenship to 2,357 people who fled Cambodia's genocide under Pol Pot over three decades ago.

UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said Tuesday that many of the Cambodian refugees have lived in Vietnam since 1975.

He says Vietnam gave citizenship to 287 of the refugees during a ceremony last week in Ho Chi Minh City. The remaining 2,070 should get their ID cards and full rights by the end of the year.

Edwards called Vietnam a leader in ending statelessness.

About 1.7 million Cambodians died of torture, execution, disease and starvation under the rule of Pot's Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979.

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