View of the outskirts of the slum village of Dey Krahom (Photo: AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy)Thursday, February 21, 2008
Amid the rotting trash, shards of bricks and floor tiles are the only evidence of the homes that once packed into the Cambodian capital's Dey Krahom neighbourhood, which is slated for demolition.
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - But a few dozen families are refusing to leave this slum, located on a wedge of once worthless property that is now part of a multi-million-dollar development scheme.
Their standoff with authorities has put them on the front line of an increasingly violent conflict over land in Cambodia that has seen dozens killed and tens of thousands evicted from their homes over the past few years.
Impoverished Cambodia is in the midst of a building boom that has caused land prices to skyrocket across the country.
Realtors estimate that the cost of prime pieces of property in Phnom Penh can top 3,000 dollars a square metre (yard), a six-fold increase from eight years ago.
Even the vast swathes of wasteland, where the city's poorest have lived for years in squalid camps, are up for grabs.
(Photo: AFP Tang Chhin Sothy)
It is here, rights groups say, that the human cost of this development is being counted in the loss of homes and jobs.
"There is this unprecedented development boom in Phnom Penh, but on the other hand there's more lawlessness, more landlessness," said an activist with a legal aid organisation that has worked extensively with the victims of landgrabbing.
"The people who are losing out are the poor people, despite the fact that they have certain rights," he said, not wanting to be named.
After years of complete breakdown, Cambodia's land titling system is in disarray and doubts over ownership -- in Dey Krahom and elsewhere -- are often at the heart of evictions.
While villagers often claim to have some legal title to their properties, developers and the government insist that most of these families are nothing more than squatters and say their removal is necessary as Cambodia lurches out of the chaos of the post-war years.
Kids play in the slum area Dey Krahom (Photo: AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy)
In their place, Cambodia's leaders -- trying to propel their battered country towards prosperity -- have envisioned vast complexes of modern office towers and luxury shopping, condominiums and public parks.
"There are absolutely no unlawful and forcible evictions in Cambodia," Cambodia's foreign ministry said in a statement released in mid-February, responding to accusations by the rights group Amnesty International that the government was pushing people from their land illegally.
"Cambodia in some cases has to re-establish public and social order, such as in the case of turning the streets into market places, living on the sidewalks and in the parks, and illegally occupying state land," the ministry said.
Although many families in Dey Krahom have voluntarily left, taking a payout of several thousand dollars each from developers, others are holding out for more money and refusing to abandon their homes.
"We just want to get a fair price," said Keo Navann, an articulate woman in her early 40s who has emerged as a de facto spokesperson for those threatened with eviction.
(Photo: AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy)
Around her Dey Krahom is gradually disappearing -- large, litter-filled gaps fill the spaces in between the remaining shacks, which stand like lonely sentinels against the developer's construction equipment parked nearby.
"Developers are offering some people 4,300 dollars for their land, but this amount is not acceptable when they can sell it for 3,000 dollars a square metre," said Keo Navann.
"We are Cambodian. Why do we not have the right to live in our city? They tell us, 'You live in a slum, you are dirty people'. So the poor people must leave the city," she said.
The standoff turned dangerous last year when villagers in Dey Krahom clashed several times with police and security guards working for developers.
In January, the violence escalated as security guards, escorting a bulldozer to Dey Krahom, began hurling rocks at residents trying to block their path to the village.
This strip of land fronting the Bassac River has been the scene of conflict in the past. Two years ago, authorities pushed thousands from slumland across the road from Dey Krahom.
Brittis Edman(L) of Amnesty International in the Dey Krahom neighbourhood (Photo: AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy)
The pre-dawn eviction to a remote resettlement site 22 kilometres (13 miles) away was one of the largest single forced moves from Phnom Penh since the communist Khmer Rouge evacuated the capital's population to the countryside after seizing power in 1975.
It was the start of a cycle of often violent landgrabs that has only worsened, rights groups say.
"Forced evictions are one of the biggest human rights violations that Cambodians are facing, both in the rural areas and the cities," said Brittis Edman of Amnesty International, who was in Dey Krahom recently to talk to residents.
"These people represent only a fraction of the 150,000 Cambodians who we are aware of who are facing eviction in Cambodia today," she said.
"This underscores the urgent need for these forced evictions to come to an end."
Amid the rotting trash, shards of bricks and floor tiles are the only evidence of the homes that once packed into the Cambodian capital's Dey Krahom neighbourhood, which is slated for demolition.
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - But a few dozen families are refusing to leave this slum, located on a wedge of once worthless property that is now part of a multi-million-dollar development scheme.
Their standoff with authorities has put them on the front line of an increasingly violent conflict over land in Cambodia that has seen dozens killed and tens of thousands evicted from their homes over the past few years.
Impoverished Cambodia is in the midst of a building boom that has caused land prices to skyrocket across the country.
Realtors estimate that the cost of prime pieces of property in Phnom Penh can top 3,000 dollars a square metre (yard), a six-fold increase from eight years ago.
Even the vast swathes of wasteland, where the city's poorest have lived for years in squalid camps, are up for grabs.
(Photo: AFP Tang Chhin Sothy)"There is this unprecedented development boom in Phnom Penh, but on the other hand there's more lawlessness, more landlessness," said an activist with a legal aid organisation that has worked extensively with the victims of landgrabbing.
"The people who are losing out are the poor people, despite the fact that they have certain rights," he said, not wanting to be named.
After years of complete breakdown, Cambodia's land titling system is in disarray and doubts over ownership -- in Dey Krahom and elsewhere -- are often at the heart of evictions.
While villagers often claim to have some legal title to their properties, developers and the government insist that most of these families are nothing more than squatters and say their removal is necessary as Cambodia lurches out of the chaos of the post-war years.
Kids play in the slum area Dey Krahom (Photo: AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy)In their place, Cambodia's leaders -- trying to propel their battered country towards prosperity -- have envisioned vast complexes of modern office towers and luxury shopping, condominiums and public parks.
"There are absolutely no unlawful and forcible evictions in Cambodia," Cambodia's foreign ministry said in a statement released in mid-February, responding to accusations by the rights group Amnesty International that the government was pushing people from their land illegally.
"Cambodia in some cases has to re-establish public and social order, such as in the case of turning the streets into market places, living on the sidewalks and in the parks, and illegally occupying state land," the ministry said.
Although many families in Dey Krahom have voluntarily left, taking a payout of several thousand dollars each from developers, others are holding out for more money and refusing to abandon their homes.
"We just want to get a fair price," said Keo Navann, an articulate woman in her early 40s who has emerged as a de facto spokesperson for those threatened with eviction.
(Photo: AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy)"Developers are offering some people 4,300 dollars for their land, but this amount is not acceptable when they can sell it for 3,000 dollars a square metre," said Keo Navann.
"We are Cambodian. Why do we not have the right to live in our city? They tell us, 'You live in a slum, you are dirty people'. So the poor people must leave the city," she said.
The standoff turned dangerous last year when villagers in Dey Krahom clashed several times with police and security guards working for developers.
In January, the violence escalated as security guards, escorting a bulldozer to Dey Krahom, began hurling rocks at residents trying to block their path to the village.
This strip of land fronting the Bassac River has been the scene of conflict in the past. Two years ago, authorities pushed thousands from slumland across the road from Dey Krahom.
Brittis Edman(L) of Amnesty International in the Dey Krahom neighbourhood (Photo: AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy)It was the start of a cycle of often violent landgrabs that has only worsened, rights groups say.
"Forced evictions are one of the biggest human rights violations that Cambodians are facing, both in the rural areas and the cities," said Brittis Edman of Amnesty International, who was in Dey Krahom recently to talk to residents.
"These people represent only a fraction of the 150,000 Cambodians who we are aware of who are facing eviction in Cambodia today," she said.
"This underscores the urgent need for these forced evictions to come to an end."
19 comments:
i think gov't should evict people who lived in the slum. it looks so dirty. it's not only bad for their health, it's also an eye sore to look at.
the people there have no concept of sanitation or have any manner to cleanliness. look at the pictures, they just throw their trashes everywhere. what an eye sore for phnom penh! i don't blame anyone who wanted to evict them to make room for a development or something along that line. clean up after yourself, people. you are human being, not animal!
can someone teach these people the concept of cleanliness and sanitation, please. apparently, a picture tells a thousand words. how dirty could it be? i say, evict all of them if they don't clean up after themselves or something, please!
Not in favor of the developer for the payout price but at the same not in favor of the squatters either due to lack of sanitation and cleanliness, eye sore in the heart of city.
Back in the late 60's the place was clean and no squatters at all.
product of war and conflict in cambodia, i guess. i say, it's time to rebuild the whole cambodia.
It's right, they're squatters. They don't own the land so they must leave. But it is also the government's responsibility to provide for adequate housing to lift these people from the direst poverty humans experience.
AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave mother fucker can afford many more evictions like Dey Krahom dirt poor Cambodian people because his fucken government fail to provide social services to Cambodian population such as clean water, running sewage, trash collectors, street lighting, upgrade building codes, pave roads, and streets, good schools, good healthcares, food supply, ....
Tell me how Cambodian people want to born to this fucken world as fucken dirt poor people and to live in a fucken slum in Dey Krahom! Do you think that these Cambodian people want to live in the fucken slum?
So next time when you see any other dirt poor Cambodian communities in Cambodia that mirrored Dey Krahom and it could mean only one thing and that one thing is the corruption within AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave mother fucker from the bottom to highest level! This is a sign of broken social services system which should be provided by the local government or AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave government!
I am fed up!
3:06 AM.
It's right, they're squatters. They don't own the land so they must leave. But it is also the government's responsibility to provide for adequate housing to lift these people from the direst poverty humans experience.
There were 2 relocation in the past with the establishment of new village located outskirt of Phnom Penh, but people decided to come back to the same area on ground of losing incomes, couldn't find work, the area was too harsh Etc..
Even if these dirt poor Cambodian people own the land and AH HUN SEN mother fucker doesn't give a fuck because money is his God! A good example would be Son Chhay case and AH HUN SEN used his monkey court system to suppress Son Chhay the right to land ownership every step of the way even if Son Chhay have legal document to prove that he is the rightful owner of the land!
Dirt poor Cambodian people and the opposition party members will always be a looser in any land dispute with AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave government!
Case closed!
it don't matter how the slum looks, if they are happy living there then allow them. they are people, they shouldn't have to move anywhere, that's all they can afford. that's their community, would you like if someone was to go into youe community and evict you? think about before talking about sanitation and all that crap. dey krahom residents should form their own army, grab their own firearms and roll with SRP to kill off all the CPP, kill em all
Let's not forget that after the overthow of the Khmer Rouge many Cambodians became squatters, occupying villas, appartments and other houses belonging to others. Late comers occupied public land.
How many present occupants of old, renovated or rebuilt villas, apparments or other houses in Phnom Penh for instance had built or rightfully owned them? How many buyers of all different houses or lands have bought them from their rightful owners?
I'm not so sure whether our top leaders have built or have bought from rightful owners, beautiful villas they are occupying at the moment.
This history of ownership and land tenure should be taken into consideration if we were to have justice and equity for evictees, actual and potential, and for the society as a whole.
We cannot just say that those evictees have unlawfully occuptied "public land" or other "people's private property" when law is the decision of a few who happen to be the sovereign of the nation. They just declared in the constitution of 1993 for instance that occuptation of property to that date was lawful. Some powerful and rich people, the land grabbers, have secured land ownership titles or concessions through questionable means, and use public force to evict those who are living on those lands. A year ago on 3 March, Samdech Hun Sen set out to wage a war on those land grabbers, whom he identified as "CCP officials" and "people in power".
Furthermore, those land grabbers do have influence on that public force and those courts of law, and, as a recent survey has shown, that force and those courts are "the most corrupt".
Lack of hygiene or dirtiness is definetly not a reason to evict those week and poor from their homes and lands, as some commentators above argued. This reason is not different from one of those, that is, corruption, that the Khmer Rouge had used to evict at gun point all, especially ownfolks, from their homes on 17 April and after.
It is incumbent upon our ruling elite, especially our leaders, to help them to have environment hygiene through education and other support. They could assist them to form housing association to secure loans, for instance from the Social Fund, to renovate their houses or build more modern housing estates with all the hygienic infrastructure.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
i think it's an eye sore for the beautiful city of phnom penh, though.
There is nothing to gain by blaming the victim. I just don't understand Hun Sen mentality and his leadership which all lack the compassion and the sensibility toward Cambodian poor people and what have they done in their past life to deserve this?
Please stop blaming the victim!
9:56 AM
Hey, fuck head!
You're nothing but a fucked up individual.
To 12:41AM
Hey! If individual have something to say and to offer a solution to the problem and that mean something!
What about you and what is your reasoning and solution to the problem?
By the way you are a fuck head yourself for see two wrongs and make it right!
Case closed!
Dear LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
My understanding, there were 2 relocation of people in disputed area in the past [once during Chea Sophara and Keo Chuptema] to the outskirt of Phnom Penh, were given rights to own the home site and land in the set up/ new establishment.
However, the same people came back to the disputed area and occupied the same home site or new home site that they can find there citing that the new establishment for them is too harsh, they are losing of incomes because they can't find work Etc..
Am not trying to blame them but trying to understand their mentality. Lead me to ask: why move back to the same place [disputed area] if their issue have been settled?
Lead me to think that
"May be I can have second chance for the payout or another blog of land somewhere that Government/developer would offer".
Certain individual is giving people the wrong impression about the issue?
Would appreciate if you can provide answer to that.
PS: we lost our rights until now to our house right after 1979 to the new occupant/owner of the premise .
Thank you
Mr.4:19AM
I'm very sorry I could not answer your question sooner.
If they are given enough resources and have enough professional skills, our police and courts of law should be able to identify bona fide residents and cheaters, and take action against the latter.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
Dear LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
Well noted your comment with thanks [for your busy schedule and valuable times to share your ideas].
It is my pleasure to read comment.
Dear All,
If we talk about development of slumin Cambodia govt should consider about this points before taking any action, Why don’t we change ‘eviction into grass roots development?
- Poverty -- > Comfort or richness
- Shanty town -- > Tidy town
- Informal Economic -- > Formal Economic
- Unemployment -- > Employment
- Drug addiction -- > Drug renouncement
- Crime -- > Innocent
So many way that can improve this condition if the Cambodain govt do want Cambodain people become better life.
Other hand, the govt should care about income generation activities before evict the people to relocated side.
Cambodian People
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