 Aloha and welcome to Cooper Union, what's happening with human rights around the world on Think Tech Live, broadcasting from our downtown studio in Honolulu, Hawaii and Moana, New York. I'm your host, Joshua Cooper, and today we're looking at the Children's Rights Movement in the Mekong Delta, an indigenous youth demanding dignity through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child serves as the most important international human rights instrument and most widely ratified in the world. It's an honor for me to be able to share the stage today with three activists, advocates, that are here at the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child taking place in Geneva, Switzerland. I'd like to first talk with our amazing youth at 16 years of age. So Conte, can you share with us what is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and why is it so important to you and to the Khmer people living in the Mekong Delta? Thank you for the question. So the Convention on the Rights of the Child is basically an opportunity for other countries or NGOs to send in questions, not questions, but like what issues they're facing in their homeland and the countries get to review those questions and follow up with statements and they also get given recommendations for them to work on later on. As a Khmer youth, I'm 16 years old and this really relates to me because this can affect my people and to imagine kids around my age to be affected by this, it really hits home. And as a Khmer youth, we struggle with a lot of self identity and being able to identify ourselves as indigenous people. So coming to this convention for the first time in Geneva, this really does mean a lot to me because being able to relate to the people and these issues that these children are facing around the world really does hit home. Putini, what does the CRC mean to you and what's it like being here in Geneva participating as it's going on? The 18 experts are reviewing the countries and maybe share a bit on why you're here and what you're able to contribute. The reason why I'm here first and why I'm contributing it is because I've been doing some research on the convention on the rights of the child and I found out that the phenomena law on article one is just not right because they are defining childs, every human being under 16 years old and article one of CRC is defining every human being under 18. So that was the first, let's say not mistake but the first thing when I thought, this is weird and then I did some more researches and I felt really big injustice towards the kids who are there in the micro-makam delta but also in the whole country of Vietnam. That's why I'm here to learn more about the convention on the rights, on the review on it and how the experts were thinking about this one article and also on the other aspects like Buddhism, our relation and educational system there in the makam delta and I'm sorry, what was the question again? So I've answered the contribution and also why I'm here, right? Yep thank you so much for your participation. Moony moving on to Moony, Moony what's it like to be here at the committee on the rights of the child and why do you think it's so important to participate and bring the voice of the Khmer Krom here to the grounds in Geneva? So thank you for giving us these opportunities as I'm representing for the Khmer Krom federation through this review and as you know that the people in the makam delta they don't have the opportunity to come to Geneva to attend review or read the issue through the nation so as an organiser in the broad we advocate for the right of the people especially the Khmer Krom children. So this is the second time that our organisation participates in the review and this is crucial for us to come here because our organisation actually split the report but in order to make it be fair to you we have to come here to meet the committee member to present the issue in a way that the committee members can have bring the issue during the review. So the important of the review is to let the committee member know the issue that our people are facing especially in many areas that the Khmer Krom children are facing in the Khmer Krom Delta. Thank you Moni and I appreciate you sharing that perspective. We know the convention on the rights of the child is the most widely ratified that every country in the world except for the United States has ratified and that it creates a committee of 18 experts to engage and review the rights in the best interest of the child and children youth participate in the UN CRC process to secure the full spectrum of human rights from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Could you share with us what it's like being here because what was so significant is this committee on the rights of the child all 18 experts actually review countries that have ratified the instrument and then engage with them. Can you maybe share a bit with how your work began here on Monday meeting with the CRC task force and the rapporteur and then me some of the highlights where you've been able to see the results of the important advocacy work that the Khmer Krom youth as well as the Khmer Krom Board of Directors have been able to bring forward by sharing the voice of the Khmer Indigenous children from the Mekong Delta here in Geneva. Initially when I came into coming to the convention of the rights of the children growing up my father had always told me about this here and there about like how the government works in like essentially this convention in general but I was able to like face this firsthand through this week on Monday we were able to talk with the session of time and speak to him about our current issues and then later on during the session with the experts and the Vietnamese government while as they addressed their their progress it was very interesting to see how they would like respond to certain questions or remarks and to see the experts specifically nailing down different topics and then pushing forward like asking for specific data or like numbers or like anything it really shows like how like specific and how how much they want to make a difference and see like our improvement like as a Vietnam's improvement as a country to hopefully reach these better rights and from Monday to Tuesday Tuesday we were able to get a follow-up for the questions from the previous day and it was a lot more interesting to sit today to see how how they respond to the questions because sometimes they were like a bit vague or sometimes they were like off topic but overall it was um it was like a very phenomenal experience and it's really as you describe it it's it seems like a lot on Monday morning it was a meeting with the committee on the rights of the child task force as well as the repertoire being able to meet with that expert from Bhutan and also be able to have a breakfast briefing with them directly to share and then as you talked about yesterday on Monday after the breakfast briefing they actually take those questions and recommendations the three that they asked about and then you could see some of the research that you had done actually coming into action when the experts take your information you've shared and then directly question the government and Bhutan maybe you can share some of the research you brought up around article one and other aspects that really stood out to you about this review of Vietnam at the committee on the rights of the child either in the three hour section yesterday from three to six or this morning looking at the 10 o'clock to one o'clock session in these six hours of review what stood out to you about how the CRC committee can have an impact um the thing that stood out for me during my research on the articles on their law was first saying the article one because like I said before they are defining um they are defining children being underneath 16 being a child but so six between 16 and 18 there are divine as adult adolescents so they don't have the same rights they will have as the other kids and I feel like that's not fair at all um in terms of the education and health because during the session they gave answers on the health questions um saying they are providing health packages for every age so under six and under seven and between eight and ten and so they're being fake about the age they did not give us a clear explanation why they are defining children um under 16 and not under 18 as the article one of CRC is given so and also they're just defining ages as if it's just our numbers just numbers like I mean ages are just numbers but it's really important to protect the children from illnesses and other more diseases but at this moment they're being really fake about it and also about the violence against children they are also being fake about it because um also in terms of that they're just separating every age every age um cap and category category um and they have there were questions about chmichro as an indigenous people and why they were not called as indigenous people the phenomies the locations they were and they answered the question with chmichro are not being discriminated and they are ethnic minorities so the thing about that is they were not mentioning us as indigenous people they are still seeing us as ethnic majority and the thing we want to to hear is that we are indigenous people and we have the freedom to express ourselves like we will do um in terms of speaking our own chmai language and um practicing buddhism through traditional ways but they did not um say that we are for them we are just ethnic minorities those things were really standing out for me thank you so much putini moving back to monie monie what were the main issues that the committee on the rights of the child raised to the vietnam government delegation and why are those issues so important to chmachrom children thank you um so um so very some important issue that uh we brought it up during the private meeting with uh committee member and the issue we mentioned will will be asked at during the debut so the first one is like uh the cell uh and then identify as a chmachrom and we um and we saw that uh the committee member it asking about you know um these the peoples they should have the right to identify who they are not and then uh secondly about to get my my education right get my education meaning like uh for the chmachrom children uh can be named as what they want to be or not or they can be called the village in the the way they want to be or um especially about religious freedom as well like uh the chmachrom children uh do they need to ask for for permission to be then as a buddhism or not so this important issue to uh to you mentioned and uh committee member actually um asked in a way even though sometimes they don't ask directly but the question will phrase in a way to ask the chmachrom children have to respond to it and um just like um and the question about uh our identity they always say that they do not discriminate it and uh you know even they do say they do don't discriminate but who would uh they just answer in a way really way Sukunti and Bhutan maybe you could share one of the highlights today I think the court justice from Samoa Buwi Nelson actually posed a question regarding indigeneity and maybe some of the other aspects that I think that are important that were raised around birth certificate and bilingualism to make sure that the Khmer language could flourish and that people could name their children based on their own language and cosmology and belief system could you maybe describe both of those aspects Sukunti um so regarding this Samoan expert he specifically asked about the Khmer people and the injustices we faced as um we're not able to fully identify ourselves as indigenous and um have the right to religion basically uh because he specifically called out the people the Vietnamese government uh had was uh shown spotlight internationally and was forced to um to speak out about this uh like usual they declined that we've we faced discrimination and that was uh ethnic minority but uh but it's the fact that they did call us to make it on shows that there uh there is some improvement which is not a lot but there is so some progress and um I'll let me talk about the certificates yes so um he was doing a great job asking that question because that way the Vietnamese delegates they were um pushing in a corner where they need to answer that question without being um without discriminating the Khmer indigenous people because it ironically they said we are ethnic minority that way they were indirectly saying we are just one of the other ethnic minority groups but we are just indigenous people like we live there way longer than they are it's um our language our cultures and that they are just taking away every year more and more and more and I'm going to quote this um they are saying we would like to reaffirm that Vietnam does not have any kind of discrimination against ethnic minorities so um what they are saying is they can keep their language and their writings but what we hear from the locals inside the country is that they are getting controlled by the government asking what their school curriculum is like school needs to show them what kind of books they are showing it to their students and also the students there the Khmer Chrome are um learning Khmer for just two or three hours a week which is really limited it's really not that much especially when you have the roots of Khmer you just want to communicate with other Khmer people but this way they cannot maintain the Khmer language and also the Buddhism the um voice if they want to be monk they need to ask permission to be monks that's just it's not right at all I mean it's weird to get permission of the government if you want to practice your um relation and lifestyle but that money Mao can explain way more he knows a lot about this issue way more thank you so much and it allows us to look at the issue of the victimization of the Khmer indigenous culture really from birth naming all the way until the end of life throughout that entire process but also only maybe you can share about the decolonization and how indigenous peoples are naming their children still with indigenous names and also combating this racism and discrimination yes um you know uh for us in our cultural like it's really important for us to you know have our own name and in our culture sometimes the the parent bring the children to the temple and the buddhist monk will name them and that's the name that we we all proud of right because uh was it the name by the parent or we named by the head monk in our local community but when we go to um from the parent go to register for but uh but submitted you know the when it came into the uh the local office they asked the parents and you know the name is really hard to write or you know you had to uh write in a way that you know the many people can pronounce or you change your Chinese name to the Vietnamese name so if you live in a society that you don't even have a right to give the name to your children and the children grow up they they don't even know that you know when they look at their name oh my name is a really neat name and um uh and then uh they they may got confused or maybe if you're humiliating because you know um they don't have their own identity right so that's why when we brought up this issue with uh the community member and they say this is a good organization because um you cannot force the people to change the name or you know write a name in the way uh you're you want to uh to be not not the original name that the parent won or they try to be proud when they grow up so um yeah this is one angle of rhythmization right and then secondly like we we talk about the language we learn and then the people your children learn the language and then when they cannot view in the public uh document or or like you know the tv channel they just uh pay one one hour per week or all the problems of the program that they broadcast in you know not in Vietnamese or don't have much in in the my language for the children to master or you know to learn about more about their culture and eventually you lose your language then your culture will be died out too right so that um that is the major concern and that's why we we we brought this up and we say we should start from the children if the children lose the language the children don't know who they are and you know that that that we are genocide. Thank you Moni and that's so important because really as the world commemorates the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples it's exciting to see indigenous children create campaigns for the realization of indigenous children's rights and especially in the Mekong Delta the government said during the CRC that the CRC is widely distributed but of course today inside Campuchia Kham the students were wearing the same t-shirts maybe you're wearing and they were commemorating the declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples but what happened when they organized inside the Mekong Delta just simply to address and commemorate the adoption of this important declaration So Conti what was going on there? So essentially what happened was we organized with the youth in Campuchia Khrom for us to wear these t-shirts to form in solidarity of the celebration for the 15th anniversary and unfortunately the Vietnamese government did come through their celebration but at the celebration itself no one was arrested it's hate they were just there but as soon as we were leaving there there were some individuals that were harassed with the police and they were the police gave them excuse the saying like oh your motorcycle mirror is broken or like damaged and claiming that that was the reason they pulled them over but in reality they had their phones out recording him showing that it wouldn't they wouldn't record someone just because of their motorcycle their mirror being broken there's there's another stone to it which even though as bad as that sounds that is progress because previously there were some people that were detained showing that this now instead of being detained they were questioned which is still bad but it shows that there's still some progress and it's showing that the government is actually realizing the efforts of our people and realizing slowly that oh we should actually adopt the the declaration of rights of indigenous people and recognize it with our people that's a great point and it reminds me also of the International Women's Day on March 8th women wearing t-shirts but then having huge situation as well as even sustainable development goals where people who just were distributing the global goals 17 global goals were harassed and even arrested but what does this mean that the youth though are so brave even though they know what could happen to them that they will do anything to use their human rights to be able to improve human rights for the rest of their community that ripple across the Mekong Delta for me personally it means a lot because they are there inside the country which is more dangerous to stand up for their rights because the cops can arrest them and arrest and harass them any sign and even get like get them in jail because they're fighting for their rights I am outside of the country and I don't know if I was in the country I didn't I don't think I will have the courage and the strength to stand and fight up for our rights because it's really dangerous and it can be scary so it means a lot for me to do this to advocate for them to and like support each other so we can one day be all free and just be ourselves without being scared it is an amazing act of compassion creativity and courage to organize at the UN convention the committee on the right side child in Geneva but simultaneously on the ground with people in both places wearing shirts with the same message Moni what was that like to create such a campaign and what are we doing going forward so I think this is a crucial for for us at this moment because it's a clear message to our people back home or people around the world that you know when you stand up for your right even a member state like Vietnam is like you know carrying on the policy of oppressing people but they have to step back to do it twice right because the people just ask for the basic right and the authority try to stop them and this will hit the people who stand for up for their right you know more thinking about bravely to continue working on their demanding for their basic right so this is the the first step for our people back home to realize their right and demanding for it because they should deserve it because those right are inside international pretty that uh uh Vietnam side with the uh right side with the UN thank you all three of you for your amazing advocacy this week uh to participate at the UN committee on the rights of the child as well as commemorating the 15th anniversary of the UN declaration the rights of indigenous peoples and another TV show we can focus also on the committee on the rights of persons with disability where today we shared with them that indigeneity is not a disability it's actually a strength and more diversity inside Vietnam recognizing the indigenous host culture can actually create a culture of a better world rooted in human rights so thank you all three for the work that you're doing here at the UN committee on the rights of the child and we hope that the recommendations that are issued we can see some improvements by the time of international day of children's rights on november 20th mahalo and thank you all for joining 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 think.kawaii.com mahalo