09/14/2026
UNDRIP at 19: A Promise Still Unmet for the Khmer-Krom People
- Nineteen years ago, on September 13, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Around the world, people simply call it UNDRIP.
- So what does UNDRIP actually promise? It says Indigenous peoples have the right to keep and revive their own languages. It says we have the right to practice, develop, and teach our spiritual and religious traditions without interference. It says we have the right to our lands, our territories, and the resources tied to who we are. And it says we have the right to take part in decisions that affect our future, through representatives we choose for ourselves.
- What we are asking of Vietnam is simple: recognize what the international community already agreed to, nineteen years ago, that the Khmer-Krom are Indigenous Peoples, with the right to survive as a distinct people, with our language, our religion, our culture, our land, and our dignity intact.
- Our Khmer-Krom people need to stay strong, peaceful, and united. Our struggle hasn't been easy, but our identity has survived for generations. And as long as we keep speaking our language, teaching our children, praying in our temples, remembering our history, and standing up for our rights, the Khmer-Krom people will never disappear.
