A/HRC/7/56 page 7 14. In 2007, the Office became increasingly concerned at the treatment by the authorities of Khmer Krom activists living in Cambodia. The term Khmer Krom literally means lowland Khmers and refers to the Khmer minority living in southern Viet Nam. A sizeable Khmer Krom community lives inside Cambodia and the Government has stated that they are considered as Khmer citizens for the purposes of the Constitution. 15. In the year in which the General Assembly adopted a new international treaty outlawing enforced disappearances, the Office followed the case of Tim Sokhorn, a Khmer Krom Buddhist monk, resident in Cambodia since 1979, who headed a pagoda in Takeo Province. On 30 June, Tim Sokhorn was defrocked, by order of the Supreme Patriarch, Tep Vong, for having “committed violations of Buddhist rules by violating national and international relations, especially between Cambodia and Viet Nam, by using the pagoda as a place of propaganda affecting Buddhism and the honour of Buddhism”. The monk had provided shelter to Khmer Krom monks fleeing alleged persecution in Viet Nam and had disseminated information about Khmer Krom rights. At the time of the defrocking, the pagoda was cordoned off by police and Tim Sakhorn was reportedly driven away by men in civilian clothes. The Office wrote twice to the Government requesting information as to the whereabouts of Tim Sakhorn, but no response was received. After a prolonged period of uncertainty, the monk appeared in police custody in Viet Nam. His deportation is a prima facie violation of the constitutional prohibition of deportation of Khmer citizens, if indeed Khmer Krom have the status of Khmer citizens. If they do not, then Khmer Krom claiming persecution should be entitled to seek refugee status under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, to which Cambodia is a party. 16. The Office observed a small demonstration involving 48 Khmer Krom monks in front of the Vietnamese Embassy, requesting to be received to deliver a petition calling on the Vietnamese authorities to return land confiscated in 1978, at the time of the armed border confrontations which took place between the Khmer Rouge and Viet Nam. The demonstration, which was peaceful, was brutally dispersed by security forces, using riot batons and electric truncheons. Two monks were seriously injured. The Office is concerned that violent suppression of peaceful assemblies in the context of very politically sensitive issues relating to the relationship between Cambodia and Viet Nam has the potential to fuel more conflict and violence between Cambodian and Vietnamese communities in the capital. The Office has been seeking discussions with Cambodian authorities and Vietnamese Embassy officials to look for ways of peacefully resolving these conflicts. 17. The Office raised with court and police authorities in Ratanakiri the case of three members of the Kachok indigenous community who were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking. The men had provided humanitarian aid to montagnards (that is, indigenous peoples of north-east Cambodia and the central highlands of Viet Nam) belonging to the same ethnic group, after they had crossed the border from Viet Nam to seek protection. Montagnards frequently cross into Cambodia seeking asylum from alleged persecution by Vietnamese authorities. The three Kachok had assisted the montagnards in contacting officials from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Phnom Penh. The three men were sentenced to six months in prison. 18. The Office continued to monitor violations of the right to freedom of expression, particularly with regard to journalists. In June 2007, the Government banned dissemination of a report, published by the international NGO, Global Witness, detailing the alleged involvement of