Reallocation site NG7
Village 78 Phnom PenhNorwegian People Aid
The issue of forced evictions, displacement, and landlessness among Cambodia’s rural and urban poor is reaching crisis proportions.
Evictions and land confiscation continue in Cambodia. This is despite that The World Bank, ADB, UN and Cambodia’s donors have called for for the government to enact a moratorium on forced evictions and land confiscation until it establishes effective conflict resolution mechanisms and relocation procedures meeting international standards.
On August 11th, community representatives from 19 different provinces gathered in Phnom Penh to submit community complaint petitions to government offices. Complaints from approximately 30 cases have a total of over 15,000 thumbprints. The complaints cover an area of at least 200,000 hectares of land.
These community complaints will be filed directly by affected communities. They demonstrate a rising awareness among Cambodians about their rights under Cambodian and international law. The complaints also reflect a rising level of frustration with attempts to solve land disputes and evictions at the local level. The complaints come from 19 different provinces but have a similar theme: marginalized communities are being driven into poverty by forced evictions, economic land concessions, mining concessions and unlawful land grabs. Communities’ efforts to seek peaceful solutions are met with intimidation, coercion, court action - and sometimes violence.
On Wednesday 12th. community representatives from across Cambodia will conduct a forum for donors, NGOs and media to explain why they are lodging complaints to the national government.
Press statement from community representatives:
When we try to protect our legal rights we receive intimidation. We want the government and the donors to know what is happening. We are losing our land, forest and fisheries we depend on. We are getting poorer and poorer and the rich are getting richer.”
“We are told we have rights. It does not feel like that. When we try to protect the rights and our land, we are abused and intimidated by the courts”
Mr. Pol Cheoun, Kors Kralor
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