LIBRARY

24 May 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.

22 May 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.

22 May 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.

17 May 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.

6 April 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.

28 February 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.

26 January 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.

21 January 2012

On January 18, 2012, military personnel acting as security guards for TTY Co. Ltd opened fire on a group of villagers who had gathered to prevent clearing of their farmland by company's excavators in Kratie's Snuol district.

Four villagers were injured by bullets. None of the authorities present during the shooting proceeded to arrest the perpetrators.

12 January 2012

On January 3, 2012, the well-connected Phan Imex Corporation proceeded, with the help of armed state forces, to destroy the homes of some 300 Borei Keila families. This forced eviction was in violation of a legal agreement between the corporation and the Borei Keila residents that entitled all families living in the area to obtain on-site apartments.

12 January 2012

We, the ten undersigned civil society organizations, call for the immediate release of Borei Keila residents detained yesterday and since unlawfully detained at the Prey Speu Social Affairs Center. We also call for the permanent closure of the Prey Speu center, which has been proven time and again to be nothing more than an extra-judicial detention facility.

3 January 2012

HRTF, CYN, IDEA, BABC, CLEC, BKLW, ACRP, CCFC, FADP, PLCN and LICADHO strongly condemns today's violent destruction of the homes of some 300 families living in Phnom Penh's Borei Keila settlement.

The destruction of these homes marks yet another sad turn for a development that was once promoted as a model alternative to the eviction and off-site relocation of the Phnom Penh's urban poor.

29 November 2011

We, the undersigned civil society organizations, deeply regret the Phnom Penh authorities' decision to bring criminal charges against four Boeung Kak Lake residents following their participation in a protest on Nov. 28.

We do, however, commend Investigating Judge Chhay Virak's decision to release the accused under court supervision today.

The four female activists - Tep Vanny, Bo Chhorvy, Heng Mom and Kong Chantha - appeared before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court today, and were charged with insult and obstruction of public officials, respectively, under articles 502 and 504 of the new penal code. If tried and found guilty, they face up to one year in prison and fines of up to 2 million riel.

24 November 2011

On November 22, 2011, Boeung Kak Lake resident Chea Dara leaped to her death from a bridge in Phnom Penh. She was actively involved in the lake residents' struggle against their wrongful eviction from the site. Although a deal was reached earlier this year to resettle most of the remaining families, Chea Dara's family was arbitrarily excluded. After years of fighting for justice, she lost hope. This video commemorates her life.

21 November 2011

In early November, some 300 Prey Lang network activists traveled deep into the Prey Lang Forest to observe land clear-cut by the CRCK Development Rubber Company, which had been granted an economic land concession in the area. The activists' goal was to prevent further illegal logging of the area. The journey took several days on foot. This slideshow documents their walk.

20 October 2011

Through Cambodia's infamous Boeung Kak Lake land grab, this LICADHO video takes a look at three incidents showing the impacts on women within communities affected by forced evictions. These abuses are perpetrated in the name of "development".

18 October 2011

On the morning of October 18, 2011, over 200 Boeung Kak lake residents peacefully gathered in front of the Phnom Penh court to show support for six of community representatives who were summoned by the court. The summons were in relation to complaints filed by local authorities, who accused the six of defamation and of making unlawful threats and insults.

17 September 2011

Yesterday witnessed the most violent forced eviction of Boeung Kak lake residents to date. Early in the afternoon, a hundred “anti-riot” intervention police officers and Daun Penh district security guards positioned themselves nearby homes of lake residents. Two excavators, protected by the armed group, proceeded in destroying homes of families arbitrarily disqualified from the 12.44 hectares of land given to the remaining lake families.

Later in the afternoon, as the excavators were on the move to destroy more houses, lake activist Suong Sophorn was savagely assaulted by a mob of intervention police officers who left him for dead after kicking and beating him with bricks and batons.

16 September 2011

The Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF) strongly condemns Phnom Penh's wilful misinterpretation of the government plan to resettle nearly 800 families threatened by redevelopment at Boeung Kak Lake. The municipality has arbitrarily excluded of over 10 percent of the threatened families, while simultaneously granting nearly two dozen land titles to CPP senator Lao Meng Kim - owner of lake developer Shukaku - within the dedicated "resettlement zone."

18 August 2011

CCHR, CLEC and LICADHO condemn today's mass detention of peaceful activists in Phnom Penh, in which police detained over 100 villagers for distributing environmental fliers.

The activists, who mostly hail from Cambodia's Prey Lang forest, gathered in 14 provinces and Phnom Penh to raise awareness over deforestation and economic land concessions that have been granted inside the forest. The Prey Lang network maintains that the preservation of Prey Lang is critical to the preservation of wildlife habitat and flora that is sacred to indigenous communities. They also claim that deforestation would contribute to climate change and ultimately affect their livelihoods.

Approximately 300 Prey Lang members gathered in front of the Royal Palace to conduct a religious ceremony early on Thursday morning. The network members then dispersed in small groups throughout the city to distribute fliers advocating for the preservation of the forest. Police and local officials immediately descended on each of the locations, confiscated the leaflets and detained participants in local commune offices for questioning and "re-education."

26 July 2011

On the morning of July 26, 2011, the remaining three Chi Kreng detainees - including a 61-year-old Buddhist priest - were released from prison with the help of their lawyer. The trio were part of a group of 12 villagers who were all detained on spurious charges in Cambodia's Siem Reap prison after a violent intervention by police and military police in March 2009.