DPA
Phnom Penh - About 300 Cambodians handed in petitions to government ministries and organizations in Phnom Penh Tuesday to protest the growing national problem of land grabs and forced evictions.
Organizers of the group action warned that landlessness is deepening poverty, and demanded an immediate end to intimidation and court action against people trying to protect their land.
Seng Sokheng, a spokesman for the community groups involved, said the petitions represent the concerns of 15,000 villagers in 19 of the kingdom's 24 provinces and municipalities.
He said the petitions were submitted to the National Assembly, the cabinet of Prime Minister Hun Sen, the Council of Ministers, the National Authority on Land Disputes and three government ministries.
'Some ministries were happy to receive the petition, and others were not,' Seng Sokheng said of the reaction the villagers had received.
Organizers said 200,000 hectares of petitioners' land are at risk in this predominantly rural society, where more than 80 per cent of the population live in the countryside. The petitions contained more than 15,000 thumbprints, a standard way of signing in Cambodia, where literacy rates are low.
A government spokesman said he could not comment on the issue until he had discussed the petitioners' concerns with other government departments.
The land seizures are carried out by foreign firms, companies with government connections, or by politicians and the military. Development is the standard reason the government gives for granting mining or land concessions.
The community group gave the example of one military official who took communal farmland in Battambang province, western Cambodia. The group said the official then used the courts to threaten 37 villagers with theft of property for trying to farm the land.
'There are food shortages. People take loans and cannot pay [them] back,' the group said of the affected villagers. 'Food shortages lead to sickness, and people cannot pay for medical treatment.'
The group warned that the litany of forced evictions, displacement and landlessness is reaching 'crisis proportions.'
'Evictions and land confiscation continue in Cambodia, despite calls by the World Bank, the ADB [the Asian Development Bank], the UN and Cambodia's donors for the government to enact a moratorium on forced evictions and land confiscation until it establishes effective conflict resolution mechanisms and relocation procedures meeting international standards,' they wrote.
The organizers said communities are being driven into poverty, and their efforts to find peaceful solutions are met with intimidation, court action and even violence from the police and military.
'When we try to protect our legal rights, we receive intimidation,' villager Pol Cheoun from Battambang province said in the statement. 'We want the government and the donors to know what is happening. We are losing our land, forest and fisheries we depend on. We are getting poorer and poorer, and the rich are getting richer.'
A community activist from the northern province of Oddar Meanchey told the Cambodia Daily newspaper that he is in favour of development, 'but I don't want to see development lead people to tears.'
Amnesty International wrote last year that 150,000 Cambodians are at risk of losing their land.
Organizers of the group action warned that landlessness is deepening poverty, and demanded an immediate end to intimidation and court action against people trying to protect their land.
Seng Sokheng, a spokesman for the community groups involved, said the petitions represent the concerns of 15,000 villagers in 19 of the kingdom's 24 provinces and municipalities.
He said the petitions were submitted to the National Assembly, the cabinet of Prime Minister Hun Sen, the Council of Ministers, the National Authority on Land Disputes and three government ministries.
'Some ministries were happy to receive the petition, and others were not,' Seng Sokheng said of the reaction the villagers had received.
Organizers said 200,000 hectares of petitioners' land are at risk in this predominantly rural society, where more than 80 per cent of the population live in the countryside. The petitions contained more than 15,000 thumbprints, a standard way of signing in Cambodia, where literacy rates are low.
A government spokesman said he could not comment on the issue until he had discussed the petitioners' concerns with other government departments.
The land seizures are carried out by foreign firms, companies with government connections, or by politicians and the military. Development is the standard reason the government gives for granting mining or land concessions.
The community group gave the example of one military official who took communal farmland in Battambang province, western Cambodia. The group said the official then used the courts to threaten 37 villagers with theft of property for trying to farm the land.
'There are food shortages. People take loans and cannot pay [them] back,' the group said of the affected villagers. 'Food shortages lead to sickness, and people cannot pay for medical treatment.'
The group warned that the litany of forced evictions, displacement and landlessness is reaching 'crisis proportions.'
'Evictions and land confiscation continue in Cambodia, despite calls by the World Bank, the ADB [the Asian Development Bank], the UN and Cambodia's donors for the government to enact a moratorium on forced evictions and land confiscation until it establishes effective conflict resolution mechanisms and relocation procedures meeting international standards,' they wrote.
The organizers said communities are being driven into poverty, and their efforts to find peaceful solutions are met with intimidation, court action and even violence from the police and military.
'When we try to protect our legal rights, we receive intimidation,' villager Pol Cheoun from Battambang province said in the statement. 'We want the government and the donors to know what is happening. We are losing our land, forest and fisheries we depend on. We are getting poorer and poorer, and the rich are getting richer.'
A community activist from the northern province of Oddar Meanchey told the Cambodia Daily newspaper that he is in favour of development, 'but I don't want to see development lead people to tears.'
Amnesty International wrote last year that 150,000 Cambodians are at risk of losing their land.
2 comments:
leadership in cambodia needs to call for a town hall meeting like the one they do in the USA to talk about certain social and society problem and find a solution to fix them. that's called take care of your people and lead by example and keeping the promises and a good leadership style as well. if a lot of people are protesting, it is probably an issue for them. of course, we all aware that it was the stupid KR that created this problem in the first place, however, everything can be fixed again and it is the responsibility of the gov't to do just that. otherwise what is the purpose of the gov't? gov't ought to serve the nation and its people's needs, not dictating people around and making life miserable for people. otherwise, they are doing a disservice to the nation. this is called smart gov't that look out for its national interest, not just their own all the time! please think smartly about it. we all can learn from everybody!
The thing to do is to look at Chapter 3, part 2 of the 2001 Land Law where it spells out a way that immovable property (real property) of Indigenous Communities (original ethnic minorities) who cultivate their land according to the rules of collective use can file with the MLM to have there land protected and not sold off. I don't know of any community that has done it yet, but it's in the law so you should talk to your attorney about it. Other than that the petition should be asking that the period of time i.e. another 5 years, for those who have occupied uncontested possession of immovable property (land) that can be lawfully possessed to perfect title by filing with MLM. (see 2001 Land Law, Title II, Chap 4, Art. 29
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