Khmer Loeu

Khmer Loeu
ជនជាតិខ្មែរលើ
Various Cambodian ethnic minorities in their traditional costumes
From left to right: Tampuan, Kuy, Bunong, Kreung, Suoy, Jarai and Por
Total population
179,193 (2008 census);[1] 142,700 (1996 est.)[2]

Significant groups:

Regions with significant populations
Cambodia
Languages
Khmer, other Austroasiatic languages
Religion
Theravada Buddhism, Animism
This article contains Khmer text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Khmer script.
Ethnic map of Cambodia (1972).

The Khmer Loeu (Khmer: ជនជាតិខ្មែរលើ [cunciət kʰmae ləː]; "upper Khmers") is the collective name given to the various indigenous ethnic groups residing in the highlands of Cambodia. The Khmer Loeu are found mainly in the northeastern provinces of Ratanakiri, Stung Treng, and Mondulkiri. Most of the highland groups are Mon-Khmer peoples and are distantly related, to one degree or another, to the Khmer. Two of the Khmer Loeu groups are Chamic peoples, a branch of the Austronesian peoples, and have a very different linguistic and cultural background. The Mon–Khmer-speaking tribes are the aboriginal inhabitants of mainland Southeast Asia, their ancestors having trickled into the area from the northwest during the prehistoric metal ages.[3] The Austronesian-speaking groups, Rade and Jarai, are descendants of the Malayo-Polynesian peoples who came to what is now coastal Vietnam; they established the Champa kingdoms, and after their decline migrated west over the Annamite Range, dispersing between the Mon–Khmer groups.[4][5]

The disparate groups that make up the Khmer Loeu are estimated to comprise 17-21 different ethnic groups speaking at least 17 different languages.[2] Unlike the Cham, Vietnamese and Chinese minorities of the lowlands, the Khmer Loeu groups haven't integrated into Khmer society or culture and remain politically unorganized and underrepresented in the Cambodian government. There have never been any treaties between a Khmer Loeu group and the government nor is Cambodia a signatory to the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention.[2] Cambodia's landmark 2001 land law guarantees indigenous peoples communal rights to their traditional lands,[2] but the government is accused of routinely violating those provisions, confiscating land for purposes ranging from commercial logging to foreign development.[6][7][8]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cite error: The named reference GPCC2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d Kleger, Heinz (2004). The Theory of Multiculturalism and Cultural Diversity in Cambodia – Final Draft. Germany: University of Potsdam.
  3. ^ Baker, Chris; Phongpaichit, Pasuk (2005). A History of Thailand. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-01647-6.
  4. ^ Graham Thurgood (1999). From ancient Cham to modern dialects: two thousand years of language contact and change : with an appendix of Chamic reconstructions and loanwords. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2131-9. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
  5. ^ http://countrystudies.us/cambodia/44.htm retrieved July-21-2015
  6. ^ "Cambodia Land Cleared for Rubber Rights Bulldozed: The impact of rubber plantations by Socfin-KCD on indigenous communities in Bousra, Mondulkiri" (PDF). International Federation for Human Rights. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  7. ^ Mu, Sochua; Wilkstrom, Cecilia (18 July 2012). "Land Grabs in Cambodia". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  8. ^ "Submission to the UN's Universal Periodic Review, Cambodia" (PDF). Universal Periodic Review 2013. LICADHO. 2013. p. 1.