PHNOM PENH, 17 December 2009 (IRIN) – Cambodia is facing mounting pressure over the fate of 22 Uyghurs who fled China to avoid prosecution for their alleged involvement in violent protests earlier this year.

Aided by an underground network of Christian missionaries, the group covertly crossed China’s southern border into Vietnam and then Cambodia in recent weeks, according to the Uyghur American Association (UAA), a US-based advocacy group.
In Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, the whereabouts and condition of the group remains unknown.

Besides the Philippines, Cambodia is the only Southeast Asian signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, committing it to protect people fleeing persecution who qualify as refugees. �

However, the government has remained tightlipped about the asylum seekers, who have apparently applied for refugee status with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Phnom Penh.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak told IRIN they were “under the responsibility of the UNHCR”, but would not elaborate on their case.
 
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