A woman carries her mother from their home in Dey Krahorm, yelling, "Help me, help me, my mother is dead," explaining later that her mother has fainted from fear and worry. The woman then screamed at intervention police officers, "You are Cambodian, but want to kill Cambodians. You destroyed my house. You're like gangsters." (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The News (Pakistan)
PHNOM PENH: The violent eviction of about 150 families from a slum in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh was an abuse of the country's law, the United Nations human rights agency said Wednesday.
Authorities used tear gas, rubber bullets and batons to evict residents from Dey Krohom slum Sunday after they failed to reach a deal to sell their property to a construction company planning to build a business centre on the site.
A statement by the Cambodian office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the eviction was "a breach of residents' right to their land" and "abuse of the land law."
"All families were brutally taken out of their houses and those who resisted and attempted to protect their property were beaten and pulled away," the UN human rights office said.
"This is the latest in a far too long series of violent evictions in the capital," it added.
The Cambodian government is facing mounting criticism for forced evictions throughout the country at the hands of army and police, which have increased as land prices have risen over the past few years.
Last year over 20,000 people were reported affected by forced evictions from their homes, according to human rights groups Amnesty International.
Authorities used tear gas, rubber bullets and batons to evict residents from Dey Krohom slum Sunday after they failed to reach a deal to sell their property to a construction company planning to build a business centre on the site.
A statement by the Cambodian office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the eviction was "a breach of residents' right to their land" and "abuse of the land law."
"All families were brutally taken out of their houses and those who resisted and attempted to protect their property were beaten and pulled away," the UN human rights office said.
"This is the latest in a far too long series of violent evictions in the capital," it added.
The Cambodian government is facing mounting criticism for forced evictions throughout the country at the hands of army and police, which have increased as land prices have risen over the past few years.
Last year over 20,000 people were reported affected by forced evictions from their homes, according to human rights groups Amnesty International.
16 comments:
It's heart broken when come to government is so incapable to provide hope and protection danger.
This reminded us in April 1975 when Sihanouk's liberation armies chased us out of homes, properties, schools and temples.
30 years later Hun Sen police forces are doing the same thing to poor.
Hun Sen is to be responsible for these folks future.
Well, you got to do what you got to do to move the country forward. We can't let a small troublemaker minority to spoil everything for the rest of the country.
LOL, Kem Sokha used to oversee the UN human rights office in Cambodia, and they were labeled as corrupted.
This is the government criminal act against its own people, the poor. It's a discrimination of the new rich, like Hun Sen's, Heng Samri's, Chea Sim's families and his clique who used to be the dirt poor in Prey Veng and Kampong Cham. Hun Sen, the modern dictator, and his cronies need to be taught some tough lessons in the near future. And those dirt poor evictees should remember this lesson too. Nothing is permanent. Things evol and change.
This isn't development 10.56, it's an abuse of power. If they're developing the Country so well why is inflation at over 20% and are the poor getting poorer. Dey Krahorm had land rights according to 2001 Cambodian Land Law, the govt don't even respect their own laws or their own people.
No other choice... when the poors were demanding millions of dollars (if according to the market rate) for their house in the slum.
They should have accepted the $20,000 offer. But they were greedy and wanted $50,000. Some of them didn't have legal residence there and moved in after the land was bought to get $20,000. You can do a lot with $20,000. You can rent a place for around $30 a month and use the rest of the money to start a business and earn a living.
But too many Khmer people are lazy. They don't want to work...just like the Khmer people on welfare in the U.S. I'm all for human rights, but people behaviors have to change too. Some areas in Phnom Penh are run down and dirty. Please just pile up garbage in front of their house rather than burn them. They'd rather drink and pick on each other's lice.
I'm sorry, but the truth is the truth. You have a lot of Westerners running around talking shit about government while they go around and screw our women and children. These white people are the real enemies of the Khmer people. They just want to keep us down by keeping us fighting each other. It's time for the Khmer people to unite against the Western imperialists.
Cambodian have law but gorvernment do not respect law.
Wrong, Ah Scam Rainxy is no government, but one way or another, he'll faced justice for bullying Khmer people and trying to steal the country from them.
UN human rights group less talk more action please ! Do something about it,Victims might have some hopes,talking meant nothing to these dummies.
ពួកក្រុម សទ្ធិមនុស្ស មិនគួតែមានវាចារ្យច្រើនពេកទេ ព្រោះពួកអាប្រែតអស់នោះគ្មានបានការទេ បើចង់ជួយខ្មែរ យកពួកវាកាត់ក្តី
ទើបសម អាពួកអាប្រែតអស់ហ្នឹង !
The world should be outrageous over hearth broken of helpless resident, result of saddestic act of 7NG.
That is Hund Xen's regime,We have ready test this regime about 35 years!!!Now is enought!!!!
We have to change!!!!
12:19 AM... agree..or not... i respect your opinion
True.. some peoples are really greedy !
beside someone like 1:05 AM... is retarded... I see a lots of these things in this forum..
Only with different's opinions can make us change !
Of course, if this person is willing to change !
Khmer Canadian
what is UN , what UN can do? LOL
HUN SEN having fun KILLING KHmer what UN can do NOTHING .. MO HASSSSHAssss
That’s because he’s a jungle boy knows only jungle laws with no real education and has no mercy for poor innocents or he wouldn’t having fun killing people.
Let’s not lose sight of those heads of state who terrorize and abuse the rights of their own people.
PARADE’s Annual List Of...The World’s 10 Worst Dictators
By David Wallechinsky
Publication Date: 01/22/2006
Meet the Contenders A “dictator” is a head of state who exercises arbitrary authority over the lives of his citizens and who cannot be removed from power through legal means. The worst commit terrible human-rights abuses. This present list draws in part on reports by global human-rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International. While the three worst from 2005 have retained their places, two on last year’s list (Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan) have slipped out of the Top 10—not because their conduct has improved but because other dictators have gotten worse.
1) Omar al-Bashir, Sudan. Age 62. In power since 1989. Last year’s rank: 1
Since February 2003, Bashir’s campaign of ethnic and religious persecution has killed at least 180,000 civilians in Darfur in western Sudan and driven 2 million people from their homes. The good news is that Bashir’s army and the Janjaweed militia that he supports have all but stopped burning down villages in Darfur. The bad news is why they’ve stopped: There are few villages left to burn. The attacks now are aimed at refugee camps. While the media have called these actions “a humanitarian tragedy,” Bashir himself has escaped major condemnation. In 2005, Bashir signed a peace agreement with the largest rebel group in non-Islamic southern Sudan and allowed its leader, John Garang, to become the nation’s vice president. But Garang died in July in a helicopter crash, and Bashir’s troops still occupy the south.
2) Kim Jong-il, North Korea. Age 63. In power since 1994. Last year’s rank: 2
While the outside world focuses on Kim Jong-il’s nuclear weapons program, domestically he runs the world’s most tightly controlled society. North Korea continues to rank last in the index of press freedom compiled by Reporters Without Borders, and for the 34th straight year it earned the worst possible score on political rights and civil liberties from Freedom House. An estimated 250,000 people are confined in “reeducation camps.” Malnourishment is widespread: According to the United Nations World Food Program, the average 7-year-old boy in North Korea is almost 8 inches shorter than a South Korean boy the same age and more than 20 pounds lighter.
3) Than Shwe, Burma (Myanmar). Age 72. In power since 1992. Last year’s rank: 3
In November 2005, without warning, Than Shwe moved his entire government from Rangoon (Yangon), the capital for the last 120 years, to Pyinmana, a remote area 245 miles away. Civil servants were given two days’ notice and are forbidden from resigning. Burma leads the world in the use of children as soldiers, and the regime is notorious for using forced labor on construction projects and as porters for the army in war zones. The long-standing house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and Than Shwe’s most feared opponent, recently was extended for six months. Just to drive near her heavily guarded home is to risk arrest.
4) Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe. Age 81. In power since 1980. Last year’s rank: 9
Life in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse: It has the world’s highest inflation rate, 80% unemployment and an HIV/AIDS rate of more than 20%. Life expectancy has declined since 1988 from 62 to 38 years. Farming has collapsed since 2000, when Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms, giving most of them to political allies with no background in agriculture. In 2005, Mugabe launched Operation Murambatsvina (Clean the Filth), the forcible eviction of some 700,000 people from their homes or businesses—“to restore order and sanity,” says the government. But locals say the reason was to forestall demonstrations as the economy deteriorates.
5) Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan. Age 67. In power since 1990. Last year’s rank: 15
Until 2005, the worst excesses of Karimov’s regime had taken place in the torture rooms of his prisons. But on May 13, he ordered a mass killing that could not be concealed. In the city of Andijan, 23 businessmen, held in prison and awaiting a verdict, were freed by their supporters, who then held an open meeting in the town square. An estimated 10,000 people gathered, expecting government officials to come and listen to their grievances. Instead, Karimov sent the army, which massacred hundreds of men, women and children. A 2003 law made Karimov and all members of his family immune from prosecution forever.
6) Hu Jintao, China. Age 63. In power since 2002. Last year’s rank: 4
Although some Chinese have taken advantage of economic liberalization to become rich, up to 150 million Chinese live on $1 a day or less in this nation with no minimum wage. Between 250,000 and 300,000 political dissidents are held in “reeducation-through-labor” camps without trial. Less than 5% of criminal trials include witnesses, and the conviction rate is 99.7%. There are no privately owned TV or radio stations. The government opens and censors mail and monitors phone calls, faxes, e-mails and text messages. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, at least 400,000 residents of Beijing have been forcibly evicted from their homes.
7) King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia. Age 82. In power since 1995. Last year’s rank: 5
Although Abdullah did not become king until 2005, he has ruled Saudi Arabia since his half-brother, Fahd, suffered a stroke 10 years earlier. In Saudi Arabia, phone calls are recorded and mobile phones with cameras are banned. It is illegal for public employees “to engage in dialogue with local and foreign media.” By law, all Saudi citizens must be Muslims. According to Amnesty International, police in Saudi Arabia routinely use torture to extract “confessions.” Saudi women may not appear in public with a man who isn’t a relative, must cover their bodies and faces in public and may not drive. The strict suppression of women is not voluntary, and Saudi women who would like to live a freer life are not allowed to do so.
8) Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan. Age 65. In power since 1990. Last year’s rank: 8
Niyazov has created the world’s most pervasive personality cult, and criticism of any of his policies is considered treason. The latest examples of his government-by-whim include bans on car radios, lip-synching and playing recorded music on TV or at weddings. Niyazov also has closed all national parks and shut down rural libraries. He launched an attack on his nation’s health-care system, firing 15,000 health-care workers and replacing most of them with untrained military conscripts. He announced the closing of all hospitals outside the capital and ordered Turkmenistan’s physicians to give up the Hippocratic Oath and to swear allegiance to him instead.
9) Seyed Ali Khamane’i, Iran. Age 66. In power since 1989. Last year’s rank: 18
Over the past four years, the rulers of Iran have undone the reforms that were emerging in the nation. The hardliners completed this reversal by winning the parliamentary elections in 2004 —after disqualifying 44% of the candidates—and with the presidential election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2005. Ultimately, however, the country is run by the 12-man Guardian Council, overseen by the Ayatollah Khamane’i, which has the right to veto any law that the elected government passes. Khamane’i has shut down the free press, tortured journalists and ordered the execution of homosexual males.
10) Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea. Age 63. In power since 1979. Last year’s rank: 10
Obiang took power in this tiny West African nation by overthrowing his uncle more than 25 years ago. According to a United Nations inspector, torture “is the normal means of investigation” in Equatorial Guinea. There is no freedom of speech, and there are no bookstores or newsstands. The one private radio station is owned by Obiang’s son. Since major oil reserves were discovered in Equatorial Guinea in 1995, Obiang has deposited more than $700 million into special accounts in U.S. banks. Meanwhile, most of his people live on less than $1 a day.
Contributing Editor David Wallechinsky has reported on world figures for PARADE, including an interview with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. For more on the worst dictators, visit parade.com on the Web.
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