Montagnard Foundation, Inc.

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Montagnard Foundation, Inc. (Vietnamese:Tổ chức Quỹ người Thượng) is an anti-communist organization that is protecting the rights of the Montagnard people. It is a non-profit organization, founded in 1990 and based in South Carolina (USA), that has spoken out against the communist government of Vietnam's polices that affect the Montagnard people.

During the Vietnam War it is estimated that some 40,000 Montagnards served with the US military as scouts, interpreters and soldiers. American Vietnam veterans have numerous stories describing the heroism and loyalty these people had with their American comrades. By some assessments, over 200,000 Montagnards had perished during the conflict [1].

The Montagnard Foundation is led by exiled leader Kok Ksor who is a member of Transnational Radical Party and has brought the alleged persecution of the Montagnard people to the platform of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation.

The Foundation's goal is to protect the rights, preserve the lives and the culture of the Montagnard people through peaceful means and not an independent state.

[edit] References

• Sidney Jones, Malcolm Smart, Joe Saunders, HRW. (2002). Repression of Montagnards: Conflicts Over Land and Religion in Vietnam's Central Highlands, Human Rights Watch. ISBN 1564322726.
• United States Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign. (1998). The Plight of the Montagnards: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Relations, Original from the Library of Congress [2].

[edit] External links

• The Montagnard Foundation, Inc.
• Save The Montagnard People, a website dedicated to aiding Degar refugees and their descendants in the United States, primarily supported by American Vietnam veterans
• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people by Rodolfo Stavenhagen for United Nations Commission on Human Rights 6 March 2002. Submitted pursuant to Commission resolution 2001/57 Addendum. Selected summaries of communications examined by the Special Rapporteur in 2001/2002
• Repression of Montagnards: Conflicts over Land and Religion in Vietnam's Central Highlands by Human Rights Watch April 2002
• Montagnards Face Religious, Political Persecutionby Human Rights Watch June 2006