UN envoy Yash Ghai (R) has voiced concern about land rights violations
The protest was held to mark International Human Rights DayMonday, 10 December 2007
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh
Several communities in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, are marking International Human Rights Day by protesting against forced evictions.
Thousands of families have already been moved from slums in the capital to sites outside the city, and other communities face the same fate.
The UN Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai, has strongly criticised the evictions.
He says he believes the country's human rights situation is deteriorating.
'Enormously corrupt'
On the banks of the Bassac River, members of more than a dozen threatened communities made a show of defiance.
They wore white T-shirts with the slogan "stop evictions" written in Khmer and English, and a young woman from the community read what they called the Tonle Bassac Declaration - a plea to have their rights respected.
The demonstrations coincided with the final day of the visit of the United Nations Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai.
It is Yash Ghai's fourth mission to the country, and this time he has been paying special attention to the issues of land grabs and evictions.
Mr Ghai says that poor people all over Cambodia are losing their land to the rich and powerful and that well-connected land-grabbers can operate with impunity because of the weakness of the judicial system.
He also accuses international donors of failing to use their influence and says he is concerned the situation will get worse.
"There's an enormous amount of suffering," he said. "People are extremely anxious and fearful of the police and the courts, who are very much part of this system for the appropriation of land. So the whole legal system has become enormously corrupt."
The government has acknowledged there is a problem with land-grabbing.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has stepped in on several occasions to order well-connected people to hand back land. He has also promised to sack any government officials involved.
Thousands of families have already been moved from slums in the capital to sites outside the city, and other communities face the same fate.
The UN Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai, has strongly criticised the evictions.
He says he believes the country's human rights situation is deteriorating.
'Enormously corrupt'
On the banks of the Bassac River, members of more than a dozen threatened communities made a show of defiance.
They wore white T-shirts with the slogan "stop evictions" written in Khmer and English, and a young woman from the community read what they called the Tonle Bassac Declaration - a plea to have their rights respected.
The demonstrations coincided with the final day of the visit of the United Nations Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai.
It is Yash Ghai's fourth mission to the country, and this time he has been paying special attention to the issues of land grabs and evictions.
Mr Ghai says that poor people all over Cambodia are losing their land to the rich and powerful and that well-connected land-grabbers can operate with impunity because of the weakness of the judicial system.
He also accuses international donors of failing to use their influence and says he is concerned the situation will get worse.
"There's an enormous amount of suffering," he said. "People are extremely anxious and fearful of the police and the courts, who are very much part of this system for the appropriation of land. So the whole legal system has become enormously corrupt."
The government has acknowledged there is a problem with land-grabbing.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has stepped in on several occasions to order well-connected people to hand back land. He has also promised to sack any government officials involved.
5 comments:
When I see the US Embassador joins in the parade... this is an unpresendented and milestone for those who's waiting for this moment, and yet, my friends, this is an abslutely rather strong message about the reality of our country. Moreover, this could be an agent of changing Cambodia.
small parades with 500 hundred individuals is not an agent of change. If we want change in Cambodia, many thousands of Khmer must participate in these event.
The country is molded after the policy of Vietnam, what Khmer need to realize is that it is our soveriegn that we must assert back. To current, this government models everyway out of the Vietnam system. Human rights level in these two country is like an osmosis effects, what happens in Vietnam, is absorded into the Cambodian policy. For example, curbing protest, dealing with non-violent demonstrations etc. Land grabs and deforestation.
We can only change our country when everyone gets up to assert our indepedence from Vietnam.
my friend 4:41pm,
the current cambodian gov't is NOT molded after vietnam, it is vietnam. the vietnamese controls cambodia. the current cambodian gov't is only a puppet.
it is nice to see foreign dignitaries join in the march. but, the truth is when khmer people march like that by themselves, they can get kill by the gov't. that is the reality.
however, stuff like this can really help change cambodia. cambodia needs all the small steps it can get. thanks the ambassador and un representative for taking interest in cambodia.
What is a shit load of crocks? Anyone who worked with Vietnam is Yuon Puppet.
Well FYI, 6:17, it is still a lot better than Ah Khmer-Yuon landless slaves in Vietnam.
I say let this imbecile Viet troller bitch that pretends to be Khmer speaking for Khmer @1:13 AM runs out of air and drops dead miserably because no Khmer in the right mind would never ever derogatorily calls Khmer names "Ah Khmer-Yuon" and no Khmer in the right mind would never ever be swayed or influenced by this Viet troller bitch
nonsensical, trash talking and writing.
[khmer unicode]មីសំផឹង យួនឯងនឹង ពូជអាយួន ឈ្លានពាន នឹងត្រូវខ្មែរ ស្នេហាជាតិ សំឡាប់អោយផុតពូជមិនខាន៕
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