On January 21, more than 170 Montagnards (Degar Christians) were granted the chance to a fair asylum process by the Cambodian government. They had fled to Cambodia from religious persecution in Vietnam in late 2014 and 2015. Many had endured imprisonment, torture, harassment and violations of their land rights.
This government decision was welcomed by the Jesuit Refugee Service, which has been accompanying the Montagnards since they arrived in Cambodia.
“I am delighted that the Cambodian government is following its obligations under the international Refugee Convention and beginning to process their claims,” says Sr Denise Coghlan RSM, Director and one of the founding members of Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia. “Maybe the change of heart in Cambodian policy to the Montagnards was partly influenced by Pope Francis and his Year of Mercy. We hope the process leads to durable solutions and just decisions.”
A Sister of Mercy and a native Australian, Sr Denise Coghlan has served the displaced in Cambodia for the past 28 years. Sr Denise began working for JRS in 1988 in the refugee camps in Thailand near the Cambodian border – one of the most heavily mined areas of the world. Each day she met many people with missing limbs blown off by landmines, an experience that moved and inspired her to become actively involved in the international campaign to outlaw the weapons. In 1990, JRS and Sr Denise moved into Cambodia to promote reconciliation and peace in the wake of the brutal Cambodian civil war.
Sr Denise says that the Montagnards in Cambodia are a small mirror on similar situations in Syria, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, the shores of Europe and Australia. Geo-political issues prevent Cambodia from welcoming people from Vietnam or China just as geo-religious issues are part of the reason for harsh stances taken by Europe and Australia. In the meantime, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia and Jordan are forced to shoulder disproportionate economic burdens. Even tiny impoverished lands like Nauru and Papua New Guinea are drawn into the mire of becoming prison spaces for rich spacious Australia.
Mass migration is a complex issue, with people moving from country to country for various reasons—economy, politics, religion, or safety. “Others are trafficked and some, like the ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia or the Rohingya in Myanmar, are stateless,” she said.
Governments, she says, must provide proper reception places that welcome, listen, and suggest realistic options to people seeking refuge. This may even include suggesting that returning home is the best option available if there is no real safety concern. In particular, rich countries need to be willing to share their resources and not to build walls to keep asylum seekers and refugees out.
Implementing protection processes for those forcibly displaced by war, persecution or hunger is difficult. Sr Denise says that one way towards a solution is for people in the academe, in policy making and government to leave their glass castle and speak with the refugees and forcibly displaced themselves. Clever and compassionate minds are gifted to dream solutions.
“I think for a refugee to be listened to, understood and accepted is most important. Current biases and prejudices that are often expressed on the media and by politicians do not help. Once we know a refugee as person just like ourselves, but in different circumstances, our attitudes can be transformed,” she said. “Creating communities of love is the call of the Year of Mercy.”
Read the full interview with Sr Denise Coghlan in the Jesuit Refugee Service website.