Topic: Land Issues
Pages: 
Published on July 22, 2012; This documentary takes a look at the recent campaign to free the 15 imprisoned Boeung Kak lake activists. The fifteen were arrested in late May 2012 during and after a peaceful protest highlighting a long-standing land dispute with Shukaku Inc. company, owned by a Cambodian ruling party senator.
One of the released activists presented this video at the fifth annual Summer Institute in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in Singapore in July 2012.
Published on July 2, 2012; Outside the Lines, a new report by local urban NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), proposes a viable and practical solution for the households excluded from the 12.44Ha concession in Boeung Kak. The report shows that the households arbitrarily excluded from the 12.44Ha concession could easily be included in the concession zone, by allowing some households to move inside the area as well as through a small revision of the concession’s boundaries.
We, the undersigned groups, call on the Municipality of Phnom Penh and the Royal Government of Cambodia to heed the community’s calls to physically demarcate the boundaries of the 12.44Ha concession and to enter negotiations with the community to include the excluded households.
Published on June 27, 2012; We, the above organizations, welcome the release today of the 13 jailed Boeung Kak (BK) representatives but strongly condemn police violence against BK residents trying to reach the appeal court and regret that the convictions against the 13 were upheld despite the government's failure, again, to present any evidence of the alleged crimes.
Published on June 21, 2012; Focusing on the Boeung Kak lake and the Borei Keila cases, this video explores the impact of land grabbing on poor Cambodians and exposes the risks facing housing rights activists. It was shown at the UN Sustainable Development Conference in Rio in June 2012.
Published on June 18, 2012; In May 2012, 15 activists from the Boeung Kak Lake community in Phnom Penh were arrested in relation to a land dispute that displaced thousands of families. Thirteen of them have been convicted and are now serving prison terms; the remaining two were released from pretrial detention on June 15 but still face charges. This photo album features photographs and biographies of each of the 15 activists.
Published on May 31, 2012; On May 31, the children and grandchildren of "the Boeung Kak 15" - former residents of the Boeung Kak Lake community who have been jailed following a land dispute - gathered outside the Ministry of Justice to sing songs in support of their relatives.
Published on May 30, 2012; We, Cambodian and International civil society organizations represented in this statement, condemn the use of armed force and escalating violence against citizens peacefully defending their land, labor and natural resources rights. We are referring to not only the events earlier last week on 22nd May, when dozens of peaceful Boeung Kak Lake (BKL) protesters were violently dispersed and two days later when fifteen (fourteen women and one male) BKL residents were sent to Prey Sar prison and charged and convicted of unfounded criminal offenses, but also the recent shooting incidents-the killings of environmental activist Chut Wutty in Koh Kong province and 14-year old girl Heng Chantha in Kratie province, and the shooting of three young women protesting for better working conditions in Svay Rieng province. These incidents are particularly disturbing because they indicate an increasing readiness on the part of security and military forces to use lethal force against civilians.
Published on May 24, 2012; Shortly after a joint statement condemning the violent and arbitrary arrest of 13 women from the Boeung Kak community, Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF), Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), Equitable Cambodia, Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), Community Legal Education Center (CLEC), Inclusive Development International (IDI), and Licadho Canada express their outrage at the baseless criminal convictions of the women and the utter travesty of justice that occurred today.
Published on May 24, 2012; Venerable Loun Sovath was forcibly taken away by religious authorities while the monk was supporting a peaceful gathering of Boeung Kak lake villagers in front of the Phnom Penh court. Venerable Sovath was driven to Wat Botum, where he was questioned over his activism by religious leaders.
The group had gathered to support 13 lake representatives who - hours after the monk's removal - were unjustly given prison sentences of 2 and a half years each, some suspended.
Published on May 22, 2012; Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF), Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), Equitable Cambodia, Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and Licadho Canada condemn the unjustified and violent response to a peaceful demonstration by Boeung Kak residents and call for the immediate release of the 13 detained women.
Published on May 22, 2012; Some 18 displaced families from the Boeung Kak area arrived at the sand-filled lake accompanied by fellow residents. One family tried to erect wooden poles. Police arrived almost immediately, confiscating the residents' tools and preventing them from going forward.
Unable to continue with their original plan, the Boeung Kak residents staged a peaceful demonstration, complete with singing and speeches. Shortly before noon, when only a small group of women were still singing, mixed forces moved in and began pushing the singers, provoking a confrontation. The group dispersed, but 13 of the women -- including a 72-year-old women pictured in this video -- were chased down by the authorities and arrested.
Published on May 17, 2012; LICADHO condemns the reckless and bloody attack on a Kratie village by soldiers and police on Wednesday, which resulted in the shooting death of a 14-year-old girl.
The authorities must conduct an immediate investigation into the shooting, and prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.
The military-style operation saw hundreds of soldiers, military police and police lock down the village a day prior to the shooting. The next morning, the armed forces, aided by a helicopter, stormed the village in Kampong Domrey commune. Authorities claim the operation was organized solely to arrest three ringleaders in an alleged "secession" plot. Villagers, meanwhile, say that the attack was motivated by an ongoing land dispute with Casotim, a firm that claims villagers are infringing on their land concession.
Published on April 6, 2012; Bridges Across Borders Cambodia (BABC), Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF), Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) and Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) condemn the violent and unprovoked attack on Trapeang Anchang relocation site residents by local authorities on the evening of April 5, 2012. The organisations also call attention to the eviction notice served to families along the railway tracks in Poi Pet - should the notice be acted upon, this would amount to forced eviction in the ADB and AusAID funded railways rehabilitation project.
Published on February 28, 2012; In mid-November 2011, approximately 300 villagers from four provinces surrounding Prey Lang forest marched through the endangered woods for more than a week. They were patrolling the forest to protect it from further illegal logging and deforestation, and to protest the escalating threat posed by economic land concessions and other exploitation.
Published on January 26, 2012; Cambodia's land-grabbing crisis has taken a disturbingly violent turn in the last two months, with at least five incidents involving armed forces opening fire during protests. A total of 19 residents were injured at the protests, including seven from gunfire.
Each of the incidents has been documented in video footage or photographs, but the perpetrators have to this day uniformly escaped punishment, exemplifying Cambodia's notorious system of impunity.
