All Khmers around the world must stand up together to demand our unalienable right to vote in Cambodia elections.
Khmers inside the country should have freedom to vote without returning back to their home town or constituents. The returning back procedure has distorted and made difficulty for the voters to caste their ballot.
Khmers outside the country can register to vote through their will and their birthplace, and they can vote in country they are currently residing in.
CEROC has put effort to achieve this collective interest for all Khmers around the world.
The CEROC has again received the support from high ranking officer of CNRP, HE Mu Sochua. HE Mu Sochua is the MP-Reelected and the Leader of Public Affairs of the CNRP.
Previous visiting of top leaders of CNRP in North America also advocated for the full rights of Cambodians Overseas to vote in the Cambodia elections.
The effort of Commission for Election Rights of Overseas Cambodians or The CEROC is for the collective interests of all Cambodians. We are grateful for HE Mu Sochua, for her vivid argument to having Khmers overseas to be able to vote in all Cambodian elections.
We are also grateful for CNRP-NA who has supported and backed the CEROC since the beginning. CNRP-NA is a significant long-lasting and strong democratic movement outside of Cambodia in the North America. Its triumph has dedicated for the Democracy and Human Rights in Cambodia since last 20 years.
(First, second and third photo is MP Mu Sochua and Ms. Janet. Last photo is Mr. Chea Kim Ly, present president of CNRP-NA. Photo Courtesy of Ms. Janet, a CEROC Member)
I would like to encourage our members who are living in Washington State (not Washington DC), Massachusetts and California to take few minutes of your invaluable time to respond to this Research Survey initiated by Dr. Serey. Your participation will help world’s academics understand more on how much Khmers overseas and Khmer diaspora have tremendously contributed to their home country, Cambodia.
There are some suspicion on personal data would be publicly leaked, of course, I can affirm that the set up system by the University of Washington is a professional and confidential site to protect privacy as well as to abide by the ethics of human subject that all researchers must be primarily approved.
Thank you very much Dr. Serey for your pioneering on this important subject. I am looking forward to reading the Research Finding. In the meantime, beside of both remitting money and engaging in social activism towards Cambodia, the Cambodians diaspora has recently advocated for the Right to Vote in Cambodia Elections. I would like to encourage the target sampling population of those 3 areas to aggregate this Election Rights Advocacy into the questionnaires.
The Commission for Election Rights of Overseas Cambodians with its abbreviation “The CEROC” and its website www.khmeroversea.info, is heading a collective effort to collect petition signatures as well as to educate the public for rights awareness of this unalienable right to vote in Cambodia elections, to destine the future chapter of this beloved country.
In Solidarity,
Sophoan Seng
CEROC Team Leader
Chumreapsour Brothers and Sisters
My name is Sok Serey, a visiting scholar at the University of Washington between April to July 2014. During my visit, I am conducting a research with Dr. Sarra Curran, Associate Professor of University of Washington on ‘The Migration-Human Capital Nexus: Skill & Resource Transfers from Immigrants Back to Cambodia’ in Washington, Massachusetts, and California.
The purpose of this research is to understand better how Cambodians in U.S contribute to the development of Cambodia and connect to their home country.
Participants’ criteria:
a. 18 years or older; b. some work experience in the U.S (any type).
All your answers are confidential and anonymous; we are using your information for the purpose of academic research only. If you agree to take part in this 15 minute survey, please kindly go to:
A major reason the issue has persisted since the passage of the Law on Nationality in 1996 is that the law itself is severely flawed. Superseding a more liberal law that had been in place since 1954, the new law was aimed at limiting Vietnamese access to Cambodian citizenship by requiring that a child born in Cambodia would acquire Cambodian citizenship only if both parents were born in Cambodia (the 1954 law required one parent) and living legally there (the 1954 law made no reference to legal status). It is well understood that when Vietnamese Cambodians returned to their homelands in Cambodia after having fled the pogroms of the Lon Nol regime (1970 to 1975) or having been deported under the Khmer Rouge regime in fall 1975, few returned in possession of documents proving their birth, let alone the birth of their parents. Requiring documentation for this population of former exiles was and continues to be an impossible hurdle for most to overcome. The result is now three generations of Vietnamese Cambodians who live as stateless individuals.
Revisiting Cambodia’s Laws on Nationality and Immigration
Since 1996, the Laws on Nationality and Immigration have governed the civic status of ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia. Increasingly, the CPP’s opposition has railed against the government’s administration of those laws in general terms, rarely offering any specific proposals as to what they would do differently in their treatment of the large ethnic Vietnamese population other than “enforce the law.” The CPP, meanwhile, has generally remained silent on the matter, being largely responsible for overseeing policies that have enabled both undocumented immigration and continuing statelessness on the part of large swaths of the Vietnamese community.
In recent days there have been signals that change may be afoot. This week’s swearing in of heads of new Interior Ministry departments of identification and immigration came on the heels of opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s surprising statements that 250,000 ethnic Vietnamese might be eligible for citizenship under a CNRP administration.
According to an interview by CMN Radio or Cambodia Media Network on April 21, 2014 during his official visit to Canada (see video clip or direct link), Yim Sovann who is a high ranking officer of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) highly valued and supported the demand to allowing and facilitating for Cambodians overseas to vote in Cambodia elections. He detailed the importance of election participation from Cambodians overseas and the relevant procedure by dispatching National Election Committee representatives to each location around the world. He said that each year, Cambodians overseas sent in remittance to Cambodia approximately 600 millions dollars or 17% of Gross National Income (GNI).
Answering to the stunt question from a Cambodian-Canadian senior during the public forum speech (question, answer), he was optimistically articulating that the current negotiation between CNRP and CPP in in-dept reform of NEC reached a plausible agreement to having split half and half of the NEC members, so that the aim to facilitate for Cambodians overseas to vote is realistic.
CEROC’s president, Mr. Sophoan Seng, who was at the forum as well argued that if the right to vote of Cambodians overseas have already been endorsed by the laws but it is still lacking implementation, it is still considered a lacking right for Cambodians overseas to be able to vote in each Cambodia election. He said that “UNs should ensure that the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) collectively adopt into law by stating clearly that Cambodians overseas are able to vote in each Cambodia election and the law should include its detail, relevant technical aspects of undertaking those election procedures.”
A Khmer oversea Senior asked HE Yim Sovann during his stop in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on allowing him to vote in Cambodia elections. He is demanding the right to vote and the accessibility to be able to vote in Cambodia elections.
Cambodians overseas need right and accessibility to vote in Cambodia elections. Thank you very much CNRP and we are looking forward to hearing from CPP for this prestigious unalienable right of Cambodians overseas worldwide.
