International Office of Champa (IOC-Champa) P.O Box 28204, Anaheim, CA 92602, USA Email : ioccampa@yahoo.com — Web : www.champaka.info Fifth Session of the Forum on Minority Issues Implementing the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities: Identifying positive practices and opportunities Dates: 27 and 28 November 2012 Venue: Room XX, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland Mr. Chairman (or Madam Chair) Ladies and gentlemen, The Cham are the descendants of the ancient kingdom of Champa which was once located in central Vietnam. Today, there remains about 100,000 people living in the province of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. Since 1841, the Cham enjoyed a special status granted by the court of Hue designed to protect the territory for this ethnic group and promote its economic and cultural life. After 1975, the Vietnamese government abrogated this legal status and imposed the policy of proletariat by confiscating lands belonging to the Cham without a fair and just compensation. Living in a rural areas devoid of cultivable land and high un-employment, the Cham is descent into misery and poverty that affect their survival, dignity and well-being. Recommendations In the development of effective participation of the Cham people in the socio-economic life in Vietnam, the International Office of Champa re-iterates once again in Fifth Session of the Forum on Minority Issues, the following recommendations to the Vietnamese authority: 1. — Restore the status granted by the course of Hue in 1841 for the Chain minority. This will enable them to have the land ownership and to protect their social structure and livelihood. 2. — Compensate fairly and justly for the land of the Cham that were confiscated after 1975, the land they rightfully own, not by the expropriation of others.