 on Think Tech Live, broadcasting from our downtown studio in Honolulu, Hawaii and Moana, New York. I'm your host, Joshua Cooper. The title of today's episode is the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Nations 21st Session, Indigenous Peoples' Rights in the Mekong Delta. The UN PFI is actually bringing together Indigenous Peoples from around the planet to discuss the most important initiatives in human rights. Today, the Khmer Kampachia Kham representatives from the Mekong Delta share their unique history and current challenges facing Indigenous Peoples in Southeast Asia. Moni, thank you so much for joining us. Can you share and tell us where the Khmer Khrom people originate from and how are the Khmer Khrom Kampachia Federation organizing to make sure the world is aware of the human rights of your people? Thank you, Joshua Cooper, for giving us an opportunity to talk at your program today. So, we are the Khmer Khrom people from the Mekong Delta, and originally the Alphom land would belong to Cambodia, but in the French colonization hand over French Alphom land to Vietnam during June 4, 1949, and Alphom Khrom people now living in Vietnam. So the people just know that South Vietnam only have the Khmer people those not all belong to Vietnam, not Cambodia. So for us as the indigenous people of the Mekong Delta, we have no voice. The people back home have no voice. Unfortunately, we have the Khmer Khrom people living around the world, and we've formed the Khmer Khrom Khrom Federation just to advocate for our people's voice in the Mekong Delta. And people may know about the Khmer people from the Mekong Delta, but not a lot of people know that the Khmer Khrom originally really made from Delta. So we as the indigenous people, we try to let the world know the issue, the problem that our Khmer Khrom people are facing. Unfortunately, the people back home, they cannot go outside of Vietnam to tell the world the issue. So our organization fortunate that attended the United Nations Forum on issues in 2004. So since then, the world no more about the Khmer Khrom issue. And thank you, Joshua, for helping our organization to bring this issue to the UN. And we've been absolutely attending UN since 2004. And the Vietnamese government always denied, does not recognize our people as indigenous people. And even though claim that our organization has no right to represent for our people, but without our organization, the Khmer Khrom issue, we're not known by the world. So hopefully through this program, you know, the world will know more about the Khmer Khrom and the issue that we are bringing to the UN for this year. Tony, thank you so much for the introduction to share about the rich history of the Khmer Khrom people in Kampuchea. And I see Priscilla, you're in the UN General Assembly Hall. We know yesterday that's where the opening took place. And of course, what's really important about the Khmer Khrom in this two week session that happens every spring is they usually pick a theme. This year's theme is indigenous people's business autonomy and the human rights principles of due diligence, including free prior form consent. Why is that theme so significant for the Khmer Khrom people in the Mekong Delta? And why did you come to New York this week? Thank you, Joshua. Yes. So this theme is very important to the Khmer people of the Mekong Delta for many reasons, because our Khmer people lack the legal recognition as indigenous people in Vietnam. And so this lack of awareness really creates systemic oppression and discrimination against our communities in order to improve their businesses and livelihoods of our people. So because we are not recognized as indigenous people, Vietnam also does not support the rights of indigenous people. That would also allow us to move forward in protecting us in terms of business and human rights and those guiding principles. And so one of the biggest issues is how Vietnam is one of the biggest rice exporters in the world. Yeah, our rice farmers continue to be left behind because one, the government of Vietnam has mandatory price controls on our rice exports, which really keeps our people in poverty. Another thing is that the Khmer people also face human rights abuses by the businesses in the area. So for example, in one of our provinces in the Mekong Delta, crude oil is being extracted from the shores of where our people live. However, there's no free prior or informed consent with our people. So unfortunately, our people are not only having their land being taken from them and not having equal access in terms of their market competition with their rice production, but they're also not getting any benefit or dialogue with the businesses in state when it comes to extracting resources from their land. Thank you so much, Priscilla. So Ti, you know, you've also been here at the UN permit forum often. Why is this theme so important? And what was it like to speak and address this annual assembly and being able to share the words of the people back home who aren't able to speak for themselves due to the political pressure? Yeah, so I think it's definitely an honor and a privilege to be a voice for our people because without the KKF here, our people wouldn't be able to engage in the mechanisms of the UN. And so I know that there is a big following on Facebook and they're just so proud and happy that we're doing something for them. So it's definitely, you know, I'm so honored to be a voice and we're excited to continue this mission to advocate for their rights. And so I think, you know, the work that we do is very important and in particular, I just also wanted to add kind of what Priscilla was saying, like this theme is super important because it covers so many different types of topics, you know, and it's interlinked in a big way because, you know, the recognition of us as Indigenous people is very important because it allows us to access the rights that is enshrined in the UND drip. And it's really time, you know, our people, I can show an example, for example, one of our youth that, you know, they basically printed a translated copy of UND drip and basically they got tortured, they got arrested. And so this Indigenous led initiative was met with a lot of violence from the government and that's something that we're very concerned about because it is alright according to Article 3 and 4 of UND drip to be recognized, to self-identify as Indigenous. And we want to make sure that the voices of our people are heard in the process and we are here today to make sure that that is happening. Thank you, Sotie. And it is exciting. We have Soquintia with us who is a sophomore in high school and while most youth are doing model United Nations, you're actually here to talk about this important issue of free crime and foreign consent. What's it like to be at the UN and what are some other points you think that the world should know about what's happening in the Mekong Delta? Thank you again, Uncle Josh, for allowing us to be honest though, this is such a great opportunity for us. Honestly, this has been such a phenomenal experience coming over here to New York and actually experiencing what firsthand what is going on in the United Nations. Yeah, what our people have gone through in the Mekong Delta is really disheartening and it's not really like exposed a lot. So it's such a great opportunity to be able to represent my people and talk at such an important and big conference room and be able to tell everyone that oh, these are our issues and this is why we need to speak up because if we don't do it, no one will. So being so young too is kind of intimidating because everyone here is so much older but everyone coming here with open hands and everyone's so inclusive. So I really do appreciate this opportunity and I really do. Thank you. It's an honor to have you here and for you to be able to share with the world what's going on and it's also just the opening but what's really important probably is also the theme that's the UN decade of Indigenous languages. Priscilla, can you share why that's so important? I think you'll actually be going to your homeland and trying to learn your Indigenous language. Why is this theme of the UN decade of Indigenous languages which begins in 2022 so important to you and what do you think is important that the UN can do going forward to protect the Indigenous peoples in the Mipang Delta to be able to make sure that your mother tongue will actually flourish and not be made extinct by horrible policies and detrimental actions against the Indigenous people just for practicing their own right to language. Yes, this theme on Indigenous languages is incredibly important to our people and to me especially because I grew up in the United States. It was difficult for me to maintain our native language because I always spoke English in the United States so for me I'm excited and privileged to have the opportunity to go back and learn my language but unfortunately for the people living in the Mipang Delta Vietnam they have endured a lot and really been prevented by speaking and learning their native language. For example, the only way that many of them can learn their language is through our micro and Buddhist temples but even then those temples have been monitored by the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and so monks at these temples have also been harassed and interrogated and detained for trying to teach and preserve our language. So I think that there are many things that the international community and the United Nations can help to do in order to preserve our Khmer language. We especially seek the help of the UNDP to assist in distributing and informing to help share and teach the UN Drift and the SDGs in our Khmer language and we also want our Khmer language to be recognized as an official second language of Vietnam because the Khmer names of our villages and districts and provinces should be widely used and our official documents should also be translated in distributing Khmer. So I also think that if Vietnam were to implement a national action plan that acknowledges and recognizes the Khmer people as the indigenous peoples of the Mipang Delta then that would allow our people to take part in discussions for how to sustain our language. One thing that we'd like to recognize is Canada's recently passed their Indigenous Languages Act and we urge Vietnam to help create an act similar to this in order to reclaim and revitalize our indigenous language in Vietnam. Thank you so much Priscilla and Soti. I know Indigenous language is very important for you as well and I know the UN UNESCO Specialized Agency program is funded also for could you maybe share why that might be helpful for assisting Khmer people to maintain their language and make sure that it's alive and flourishing not just like the jam on a jar or jelly just staying there static. Yeah so UNESCO is a very important agency. It's an agency that's leading actually the global action for the international decade of international indigenous languages and so UNESCO has a great I guess a great opportunity to help a lot of the indigenous groups like the Khmer people by helping to create a model what I say create a more inclusive and equitable education by developing a model for bilingual schooling in the Khmer language on kindergarten through to college and also expand to where we live so we definitely need more Khmer school but school's not just in Vietnamese and in Khmer but also in English because a lot of the work that we do is in advocacy in English and we have realized that that is you know that is very hard for our people and so we would also just like to reaffirm a right to learn our language and that you know it is used correctly and I think that UNESCO can really do a lot of great things to I think bring the importance of indigenous language and also create curriculum that is you know that is sensitive to indigenous indigenous people and I know that there is a we want a greater need like I know Priscilla just mentioned about like how the role of our monks in education it's it's through our monks our spiritual leaders that we have you know our culture identity and aspects of our language still intact because there's they're they're doing Khmer classes in the summer and so what we really want also with the this theme we want to ask the the UN and the help of the UN is to reaffirm the need for more independent you know indigenous institutions so to be creative and live without fear or influence from the state and that's so important moving forward in terms of preserving our language and identity. So T and we know today we're so honored to be met by a monk who was actually released from prison and he was just like many other monks the only thing they were doing was actually teaching the indigenous language in their temples after school and for that basic act for exercising sustainable development goal number four called the education they were then forced to be detained, disappeared and in this case serve out a prison sentence and it's pretty amazing so Quintia that you're here meeting these monks now why do you think that this decade of education is so important and how can UNESCO and these UNMCs help Khmer people inside the Mekong Delta? Thank you for your question I really do think that we can ask for like a special repertoire to come and invite them to ask Vietnam to invite the special repertoire to come to talk with the people and try to meet an agreement with like on how to be able to like teach like the Khmer language without like any like fear of being arrested or anything like that but I agree I think in learning indigenous languages is a big part of our culture and I've been through many like with my experience now in the UN I've listened to many like different reports of seeing how many languages are dying out like by the thousands every year hearing about like different stories about like during people like losing their culture and it's really disheartening to see this and we have the same issue the Khmer language is not like staying strong but because of you know monks spreading like they're being our spiritual leaders and everything I believe that we can still stay strong but we also have the fear of you know being arrested by the Vietnamese police and we need we need to act now to prevent this from getting any worse honestly it would be great to be like you see more people learning our language because it's such a beautiful language and like the the letters are so like decorative and really pretty and I think that we should be able to spread the language but currently in the current situation I remember reading that there was a school that only taught Khmer language for like one hour a week and that's like when you learn a language you need to learn how to practice it and have consistency because without having practice you won't be able to actually fully understand the language and one hour a week taking from personal experience growing up in when I was younger my parents dragged me through class school when I was like seven and I learned the gossips which is like the alphabet and it took me like three years to memorize all of it which is really bad but it's slow improvement but I think that with better education these kids can learn faster and like understand their elders too because the big generation gap from elders the younger generation is getting worse because there's like the language barrier and improving schooling right now can help you know bridge the gap and really allow us to talk more and have a better connection those are great points and for the UN decade on indigenous languages I've been learning aloha Hawaii every Thursday for just one hour a week and I can attest here it's so right it takes longer than an hour it takes many hours to build that foundation and it's not possible one of the other exciting aspects though of this two-week UN permanent form on indigenous issues is also the focus on the six mandated areas of the permanent form so one of the exciting areas that they look at is economic and social development culture environment education health and human rights maybe you can share a little bit Priscilla about some of these six mandated areas and what are the main concerns related to the human rights and the situation for Khmer Khrom people related to those six mandated areas these six mandated eight mandated areas are all incredibly important to our Khmer people especially in terms of economic and social development as well as culture and education and human rights as we've discussed one of them that we haven't been able to dig into as much with the human rights and so currently as we speak there was a one of the farmers in the Mekong Delta was has been arrested last year for trying to defend his land for farmers because the the vietnamese government has confiscated this land and so this is only one instance of there have been many other microbe activists that have tried to defend their land but they've been interrogated and harassed and even tortured and so this is probably one of the most crucial areas that our Khmer people need justice for and in addition we talked about the cultural aspects of our indigenous language and how we can improve that education by implementing it into primary schools through college however one aspect that isn't discussed in us regarding the economic and social development is their inequality in terms of the workers rights in terms of how our Khmer people are able to compete on an international level in terms of exporting their produce their rice especially because they are forced to sell at lower prices for the other industries and the government's profits so I think there's so much more for our people to do for us to go in order for us to advocate for them in order to get justice for these human rights abuses in order to improve the social and economic conditions of our people in the Mekong Delta and then as well as environmental sustainability thank you so much and so T how about you what do you think some of the parties are around education health human rights culture as well as economic social development yeah so I think definitely with the COVID pandemic we are very behind in terms of development in those areas I think it there was a lot of things that were happening that were put on hold so for example education a lot of our kids were unable to go to school and they didn't have access to the internet and so we are very concerned and worried you know in terms of the progression towards moving forward in terms of education and then there was also a lot of health related limited access to health during this time and so it's it's it's it's really really there's there's so much that needs to be done in address and so having the opportunity to be here to kind of provide recommendations to all the different agencies that can help us create projects it's vital to I guess to us moving forward and being engaged and being able to benefit right from from the work of the UN and making sure our people are represented so yeah thank you and so Contilla what do you think are some of the most important issues that could come under these six mandated areas related to education and health and human rights as well as economic and social development? I think so I think human rights and having the ability to like I okay I learned from my history teacher which is a bit out of topic but my teacher told me that oh I think that human rights is the best the most important right having the feeling of safety because well survival you have to find food water and stuff like that and schooling but if you're being murdered or like there's like constantly like enforcement is trying to like be on your back you can't find like the basic necessities before you keep yourself alive so the idea of having safety and making sure that your rights are protected is crucial to be insured that you are in a good environment in a good place um and I think that's one of the most important mandates out of this mandate that's wonderful and it's great to be with all four of you here at the Permanent Forum and so team it reminds me as we're closing I remember you coming from Australia for the first time and speaking on the floor of the Permanent Forum and you got a thunderous applause when you really spoke to to power about what was going on in the Mekong Delta reflecting on that how do you feel the progress that we've made I've heard Moni sharing that the people inside Compatio Comm are standing up more are watching things live on their telephones and gauging and even around the sustainable development goals maybe you can share a bit about that and your perspective yeah so I think having been doing this work and I've appreciate working with you all those years I remember like starting and not knowing and you having you to help guide us in all learning about the UN and things like that so um I think there we have come so much I mean we started off not knowing anything and now like the world knows everything knows a lot more about chamelecromes so if you did a google search of chamelecromes there's like pages and pages and pages about it and then it just shows the the work that we do is is is working right and so just recently the fact that our our youth is able it's courageous enough to you know put their lives on the line because they felt it's important to have this right that they're printing it out it doesn't matter if they're going to get harassed they know what they're doing it's right and they're trying to access that right I think that is just absolutely amazing it's very inspiring and we're we want to to promote this and improve but in those so the work that we do is so so important but like I said with with technology with Facebook we can directly connect with them we can share we can translate it it's it's phenomenal it's just changing the face of the work that we do and I think it's very exciting it's very important and we definitely I think the only other thing that I would add is that just amount of woman that has come through since since you know I think KKF is amazing in the sense that we are able to bring a lot of different people in we have the older we have the youth but we also have the woman so you know you can see here there's Priscilla and then there's so frontier and so much youth that have come through and that's something I'm really proud of to be part of this organization is the diversity of people that we've able to bring to be engaged on board not just inside of come to your ground which is most important but also the what we do outside but we're bringing communities together learning about our rights together it is exciting I remember in 2004 when we first met the KKF it was all suits and ties and it is exciting now as we're looking at a election for your organization coming up to see you and then even as you could almost say the next generation now that you're a proud mother and seeing college students and high school students coming and speaking form the feminist perspective for a strong foreign policy that reflects with women's rights at its core and I also remember the important work that you did at the UN committee on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and I know it's historic because Moni is preparing for the upcoming UN committee on the rights of the child that would be looking at children's rights inside the Mekong Delta and looking at article 17 29 and 30 of the UN convention on the rights of the child so so much is happening and it's so great to see the Khmer Crown people on the global stage and people knowing who you are and talking about the important issues in the Mekong Delta I know we'll have a couple seconds left Priscilla is there anything you'd like to add in these closing moments of Hooper Union Thank you yes I would just like to add how much of a privilege this has been to come to New York and be at the United Nations and stand inside the General Assembly for the first time in two years like all the other indigenous peoples and just meet these brothers and sisters from around the world that share so many of our struggles and also just coming from the US being able to speak on behalf of the Mekong Delta Federation and our Mekong people in the Mekong Delta has truly just been an honor it is exciting to exercise these human rights that we know of to then make a difference for peoples around the world and we'd like to thank you all for participating in sharing about the 21st session of the UN permanent forum on indigenous issues with the world thank you so much for watching think tech Hawaii if you like what we do please like us and click the subscribe button on youtube and the follow button on vimeo you can also follow us on facebook instagram twitter and linked in and donate to us at thinktechHawaii.com Mahalo