Losing Ground - Human Rights Party.

Not Poor Enough
Kratie authorities removed the dwellings of 130 families living on land
earmarked as a social concession for poor people. The authorities are
removing all homes in the 4,000 hectare area in Chang Krang and
Sambok communes and are relocating the residents. District governor
Suon Nhak said 100 of the families had already agreed to move to 20 by
40 meter plots about 1.5 km away.
Families say they were given 10 to 15 days to vacate, though authorities
and GTZ (German development agency) say they were warned well in advance that the land had
been set aside for poor families. The social land concession is a pilot project intended to lift poor,
landless people out of poverty. It is being implemented by the government with a World Bank loan and
assistance from GTZ. The families being relocated were not poor enough to qualify for the program,
authorities and GTZ have been quoted as saying in media reports. Some families have complained that
their request for more time to move was ignored and that their homes and crops were destroyed.
Arrests in Kampot
Social Land Concession
Location: Kratie province
People affected: 130 families
in Chang Krang and Sambok
communes
Government, German
development agency GTZ
Six men were summoned for questioning in May 2009 by the Kampot
provincial court in a land dispute with the So Nguon agro-development
firm. The men want some of their 9,800 hectares of land granted to
the company returned to them. Provincial prosecutor Top Chhun Heng
confirmed an investigation is underway. The land dispute dates back to
2005 when the company was granted an ELC. So Nguon, director of the
company, says the men arrested were former employees of his who he fired for selling land belonging
to the firm.
Off the Rails
Type of case: Economic Land
Concession for eucalyptus
plantation
Location: Kampot
People affected: Farmers
Company: So Nguon company
The 18 families in Community B adjacent to the Phnom Penh train
station faced eviction on May 11, 2009, according to a directive signed on
April 29 by the District Governor Seng Ratanak. Residents were offered
compensation of 10 million riel (about $2,500) each and homes at a
relocation site in Dangkao district by a development company. However,
Train Station Communities A
and B
Social Land Concession
Location: Phnom Penh near
train station
People affected: 18 families
the community, along with Dey Krahom, Train Station Community A and Borei Keila had been chosen
by the Phnom Penh Municipality as sample sites for a land sharing project, according to a November
2008 report submitted by the Cambodian government to the UN Committee on Economic Social and
Cultural Rights. “These [land sharing] projects help the communities to build houses on their legally
owned land,” the report to the UN committee said.
Forced Evictions and Intimidation in Cambodia
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