Topic: Land Issues
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Published on June 15, 2007; Five residents of Phnom Penh's Dangkor district were detained on the morning of June 7, 2007 after they photographed police while facing a land eviction. The residents were taking photographs of the police while they were executing orders from a letter claimed to be issued by the National Police Chief, Hok Lundy following a complaint made by the alleged land owner Ms Tei Vavanny.
Published on May 23, 2007; In 2003 it was touted as a great leap forward into developing a social housing program, an alternative to the widespread forced land evictions in Cambodia. Four years later, in May 2007, men, women and children are living under tarpaulins amid the rubble of their demolished houses. This is the plight of families living at Borei Keila in the heart of Cambodia's capital.
Published on May 3, 2007; As the construction excavator made its way towards the residents of Commune 4, police brandishing riot shields and guns marched behind it in its wake. The residents stood behind their make-shift barricades of barbed wire and household materials, steadfast in the path of the massive excavator and its entourage. This was the scene at Commune 4, Mittapheap District in Sihanoukville a municipality best-known as a beach holiday destination early in the morning of April 20, 2007.
Some 150 military police and police officers armed with guns, electric batons and tear gas were there to conduct an eviction raid on the disputed land which is home to over 110 families. No warning or official notice of the eviction had been given and a violent confrontation between police and villagers ensued.
Published on April 25, 2007; The Cambodian League for Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) condemn the sudden violent eviction of 117 families in Commune 4, Mittapheap District, Sihanoukville.
On the morning of April 20, 2007, some 150 military police and police officers armed with guns, electric batons and tear gas, raided the disputed land, burning down 80 houses and demolishing the remaining 26 houses. The evicted families were not permitted to remove possessions from their houses before they were destroyed.
LICADHO and ADHOC question the legality of the eviction, which was apparently based on an order by Sihanoukville Municipality despite the fact that the ownership of the land is disputed and at least some of the families have a good claim to the land under Cambodia's Land Law. In addition, the police action was based on a search warrant - but not an eviction notice - issued by the Sihanoukville Municipal Court.
Published on March 10, 2007; On the morning of March 10, 2007, approximately 300 indigenous people from the villages of Chrop, Sre Sranok, and Kbal Romeas in Kbal Romeas commune peacefully rallied in front of Bopeakta Yaram pagoda located in Chrop Village to call for an urgent resolution to the dispute. Community land used by the indigenous people has been grabbed and cleared by four companies (Sopheak Nika Investment Agro-Industrial Co. Ltd, Sal Sophea Peanich Co. Ltd, Siv Guick Co. Ltd, and Phou Mardy Co. Ltd) which have been given government concessions to plant trees in the area. The dispute was caused by unclear marking of the boundaries of the concessions.
CHRAC investigators monitoring this land dispute believe the authorities of Stung Treng province have failed to address the concerns of the indigenous villagers, instead supporting the concession companies. Furthermore, there were threats by local authorities and soldiers employed as security guards for the concession companies to arrest villagers before and after the peaceful gathering which would seriously violate the villagers' right to peaceful assemble to express their grievances.
Published on March 6, 2007; Sre Ambel community lives under threat of losing their land over concession given to a CPP Senator.
Published on February 21, 2007; The lease contract signed by the Municipality of Phnom Penh and Shukaku Inc. on February 6, 2007 is illegal and raises grave concerns for all residents of Phnom Penh, the Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF) and Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) said today.
"This contract, which threatens to displace at least 4252 families, was negotiated in a shroud of secrecy without even the pretense of participation from the tens of thousands of people who will be directly affected," said the Housing Rights Task Force. "If these families are forcibly removed from their homes, following recent precedents by the Municipality and the poor track record of Shukaku's director Lao Meng Khin, this would mark the largest single displacement of people in Cambodia since the privatization of land in 1989."
Published on February 15, 2007; LICADHO condemns the decision of the Battambang provincial court this week to convict and sentence five community activists involved in a land dispute in Bavel district.
On February 13, the court convicted the five villagers, including a 78-year-old man, of using violence to infringe against the private property of others. No evidence was presented at the trial that the defendants had in fact used violence against anyone.
"This case is a sad example of how the law is misused to unfairly punish poor villagers who desperately need land, while the interests of rich or powerful people are protected," said LICADHO president Kek Galabru.
Published on February 8, 2007; Many of the 250 families of Chi Khor Leu commue, Sre Ambel district in Koh Kong province have been living on their land since 1979 however their quiet existence on the land came to an abrupt end in May 2006. Since then the villagers have been fighting an uphill battle to save their land. They have petitioned the local authorities, faced bulldozers, excavators and armed military police, have been shot at and they even tried to petition the National Assembly. This week the villagers took their case to the courts.
Trouble began in the commune on 22 May 2006 when demolition workers with bulldozers and excavators, accompanied by armed police including military police, moved into three villages in the commune (Chhouk, Trapaing Kandorl and Chi Kor). The demolition workers cleared and flattened villagers' land, destroying rice fields and fruit plantations. The demolition was commissioned by the Agriculture Duty Free Shop Development Company (later known as the Sugar Industry Company Ltd) and the Koh Kong Plantation Company, which were readying the land for commercial sugar cane production. Both companies are owned by Mr Ly Yong Phat, a wealthy businessman and a Cambodian's People Party (CPP) member in the Senate.
Published on January 23, 2007; CHRAC, NGOF, CFI, CLEC, LAC and ILO-ITP express their full support for the reclamation of the indigenous land in Kong Yu and Kong Thom villages, Pateh commune, O'yadao district, Rattanakiri, who today are filing a lawsuit to reclaim land illegally taken from them by H.E. Keat Kolney, sister of Senior Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon. The NGOs hope that the case of Kong Yu will show that even the most vulnerable members of society are entitled to protection under Cambodian law.
Kong Yu and Kong Thom villages are located in a remote area in Ratanakiri. As with many indigenous groups, these families speak their own language, practice swidden agriculture, and maintain animist beliefs and traditional ceremonies. The surrounding environment and landscape play a critical role in indigenous life. In spring 2004, villagers endured a series of coercive tactics by authorities designed to force them to sell their lands.
Published on October 4, 2006; In addition to the noticeable impact of Phnom Penh's evictions, land disputes have also become disturbingly problematic in the provinces. What Phnom Penh has been witnessing is the new phenomenon of increasing numbers of communities traveling into the city from their home provinces some as far as Banteay Meanchey province 350km from Phnom Penh. The villagers, camped under the shade of a tree nearby the National Assembly, make the journey to Phnom Penh to lobby the government in the hope that they will address the land disputes in their home villages.
Published on September 7, 2006; Wednesday September 6, 2006 marked the three-month anniversary of the detention of two villagers - Chan Ra and Chhen Sovan - from Sambok Chab village and Hem Chhun, a journalist from Khmer newspaper Samrek Yuthetor (Scream for Justice). The three had been arrested and detained in connection to the Sambok Chab eviction which, on June 6 2006, culminated in an excessive display of force by the authorities to empty the village.
Assembling inside a pagoda nearby Phnom Penh's Prey Sar prison, family members of the three men, surrounded by over 200 supporters, spoke to the media and the crowd.
Published on September 5, 2006; Two of the villagers, Mr. Chhen Sovan, and Mr. Chan Ra, were arrested during the eviction of the residents of Sambok Chab, Sangkat Tonle Bassac, on June 6, by hundreds of armed policemen. The third person, Mr. Hem Chhun, who worked as a reporter for the newspaper Samrek Yuthetor, was arrested on July 7 close to the site in Dangkao District of Phnom Penh where the villagers were relocated. The three persons have been accused by the Phnom Penh authorities of having incited a riot at Sambok Chab Village on May 30 that lead to the destruction of private and public property. The authorities have accused the journalist of being the "mastermind" behind this violent event.
The AFEC rejects violence as a means of expressing opinions. However, the alliance points out that the riot was a spontaneous act by about 100 desperate villagers facing eviction and the destruction of their homes. The event took place after the dismantling of some of their houses had started and a girl had been wounded by falling debris. There is little indication of any kind of an organized plan or premeditation on the part of the villagers who participated in the riot.
Published on July 4, 2006; The Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) and the Cambodian League for the Promotion & Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) condemn the forced evictions by police authorities of 168 families living near Preah Monivong Hospital in Phnom Penh.
According to residents, three people suffered injuries caused by violence committed by the police while evicting some of the families on the morning of July 2, 2006. One person was reportedly removed from the scene by police and instructed to thumbprint an agreement to leave his house, and the police threatened other residents and demolished their houses regardless of whether they consented to leave or not.
Published on June 29, 2006; The Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), a coalition of 21 NGO members, is concerned about the eviction of 168 families who have been living in Preah Monivong Hospital.
CHRAC observed that the Ministry of Interior sent its forces of more than 200 personnel equipped with arms, tear-gas guns, electric shock batons and shields to surround and force people to move from their houses to a new location situated in Ang Snuol district, Kandal province, more than 30 km away from Phnom Penh. The armed forces prevented people from entering or leaving the area to communicate with each other, and disconnected water and electricity. In particular, they prohibited human rights monitors and journalists from monitoring the eviction process.
