Losing Ground - Human Rights Party.

Losing Ground
Moreover, the provincial government gives priority to
economic development: “The choice is between 100 village
people who lose their land or 1,000 people who get jobs.”
“The province is looking into the cases but the government
needs the development here. The people cannot ask for too
much. They have to compromise. Their rights are limited,”
the deputy governor said. “It should be 20, not 100 families.
I’m sure there can be a compromise for the ones with the
true story,” the deputy governor said, adding, “and for those
who vote for the right political party.” The official explained
that the involvement of the senator and his companies has put
the conflict “beyond the capacity of the province to decide”
and suggested that, “the prime minister has to decide.”
The senator has in the past apologized for company guards
shooting the people’s livestock and has said that although he
cannot return the land, he has set up a committee to deal
with the problems.
Koh Kong’s chief judge said “land cases” are the court’s
biggest problem. But after leafing through his case notebook
for several minutes, he told an interviewer that he had no
record of cases for Sre Ambel residents. “There’s no file. The
problem has been solved,” he said.
Asked whether the senator's company has the ability to
manipulate the court, he said, “No that’s impossible.” He
said villagers always jump on any chance to complain when
their land is taken. “You start out with five families living in a
place, and then there are suddenly 30 or 40 or 50 families.”
“The people cannot ask for too much. They
have to compromise. Their rights are limited ...
I’m sure there can be a compromise for the ones
with the true story, and for those who vote for
the right political party.”
According to CLEC the land concession violated villagers’
land rights. During the Khmer Rouge era all land titles were
destroyed and the village residents have not been issued legal
titles since then. However, they have lived on their land for
more than five years before 2001, giving them a right to
possess the land under Cambodian law. Possession rights are
a strong legal right, which can be bought, sold and used as
collateral for bank loans. The residents have family records
showing they have occupied the property for years, in some
cases since 1979. Some of the residents said they were born
on the land and so were their parents or grandparents.
Apparent homicide
A Koh Kong deputy governor
There have been other problems. In 2006 the farmers
spotted bulldozers clearing their land. They protested and
one farm wife, 38-year-old Mrs. Baet Nim, was shot in the
foot. In December that year, farmer An In, an outspoken
The court cases
The Economic Land Concession is most likely illegal, should
be overturned and the village residents either given their
land back or compensated for it, according to lawyers for
the Community Legal Education Center (CLEC) in Phnom
Penh.
A CLEC attorney represents them on two complaints in
provincial court: one on behalf of villagers whose buffalo
were slain or kidnapped by company officials, and the other
to overturn the land concession.
The lawyer said the ELC violated Cambodian Land Law
provisions limiting economic land concessions to 10,000
hectares. The senator got around that by setting up two
companies, which each received a concession. The shares in
the concessions have since changed but are in the names of
two companies. One is 49 percent owned by the senator
and 51 percent owned by a Thai businessman. The other
is owned by the senator, Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Plc of
Thailand and Ve Wong Corp. of Taiwan.
16 Forced Evictions and Intimidation in Cambodia