Thousands of stateless ethnic Vietnamese living in the floating slums of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap River have pleaded for assistance after the Cambodian government issued a notice on June 2 ordering the relocation of the 1,500 boats housing them within a week.
“I was born on the Tonle Sap, but I’m told Cambodia is no longer my home,” said Bach Bai, a resident of the floating slum. “We have no money, no medicine, and we are running out of rice ... Vietnam, please, show mercy, allow your children to return to the motherland,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, after being sent back from the Vietnamese border about two weeks ago.
Another evictee, Chin Vantan, said he did not feel safe leaving his boat in the current circumstances. “People here are afraid of us because of COVID-19. Some bring us food, but we don’t know how long that will last,” he said.
The hundreds of stateless families, who earn a living breeding fish and hosting tourists on the river, permanently live in boats on the riverbank, located about 100km south of Phnom Penh and a few kilometres from Vietnam. They are desperate to be allowed inside Vietnam, but Hanoi has shunned them.
Ten days after Cambodia’s decision was announced, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry requested Cambodian authorities “to ensure the welfare” of people of Vietnamese origin living on the river and expedite their repatriation process into Cambodia. However, it has neglected its responsibility in repatriating the stateless citizens living on the Tonle Sap. In 2019, Hanoi called on its neighbour to provide Cambodian citizenship to the stateless ethnic Vietnamese, but Phnom Penh rejected the plea, stating that “Cambodia cannot act based on feelings or sentiment.” Estimates of various ethnic Vietnamese minority populations in Cambodia range from 400,000 to more than 700,000.
The Cambodian government cited concerns that the floating slums were a health hazard, especially against the backdrop of COVID-19. “The floating village dwellers seriously affect water biodiversity, damage water quality, pollute the environment and affect the beauty of Phnom Penh, as well as affect the health of people who use unclean water,” wrote the Vietnam Times, quoting the Cambodian government. It is also speculated that the eviction aims to clean up the country’s image ahead of Phnom Penh’s hosting of the 2023 Southeast Asian Games.
“We’ve been telling them for years… They ignore the warnings and then complain that they have no place to go,” a Cambodian government spokesperson, Phay Siphan, told Reuters. The spokesperson added that the government could not wait until the end of the pandemic to enforce the law.
The mass eviction, one of the largest in years, has drawn condemnation from human rights groups. “Undertaking a rapid eviction at the height of Cambodia’s COVID-19 outbreak puts this community’s health and human rights at risk,” said Naly Pilorge, director of local human rights group LICADHO.
Until the governments decide to take responsibility for the situation jointly, hundreds of stateless families remain in limbo on the river.