30 families had to witness the demolition of their homes (Photo: Jerome Becquet, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)Thursday 15 October 2009
By Jerome Becquet and Nhim Sophal
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French
On Thursday 15 October morning, an area of Russei Keo district along the Tonle Sap River, 30 families were evicted from their homes which were later destroyed.
Once you cross the Japanese bridge at the exit of Phnom Penh in the direction of Kampong Cham, a troubling scene is attracting a large crowd of onlookers. In fact, the cops were directing a demolition gang busy at work. Distinguishable by their bright green T-shirts, the demo workers went on from one house to another, tearing out the tin roof, emptying the houses of all the furniture before loading them into moving trailer trucks.
70-year-old Phalhiot live here for the past 15 years. His family is respected by the authority, nevertheless, he couldn’t believe what he saw: “We negotiated with the city hall twice. They proposed to give us a 32-square-meter plot located next to the purification station in Meanchey district, in exchange for the plot of land that my family is living on right now. Our plot here is about 3 times larger than the one proposed to us,” he said with indignation.
Nevertheless, Phalhiot is one of the privileged residents because he was able to take down his house to rebuild it elsewhere. Meanwhile, several others did not have this opportunity. Phirom is among the unlucky ones: “They destroyed my wooden house with a bulldozer. Everything went by very quickly. Nobody listened to my complaints about my rights for relocation. I no longer have a roof to live under.”
According to a representative of the authority, 10 families out of the total of 30 families involved accepted the relocation proposal. “There were 5 warnings, and the eviction ultimatum was set on 7 October, it has been extended by one week,” he claimed. According to the latter, the cops intervened today because the road widening project must start as soon as possible to make way for a round-about.
Naroth, an investigator for Licadho, stressed that these new evictions – which are taking place after the recent evictions in Oddar Meanchey and Ratanakiri – are adding more fuels to the current land dispute chapter that is highly criticized by the civil society.
Once you cross the Japanese bridge at the exit of Phnom Penh in the direction of Kampong Cham, a troubling scene is attracting a large crowd of onlookers. In fact, the cops were directing a demolition gang busy at work. Distinguishable by their bright green T-shirts, the demo workers went on from one house to another, tearing out the tin roof, emptying the houses of all the furniture before loading them into moving trailer trucks.
70-year-old Phalhiot live here for the past 15 years. His family is respected by the authority, nevertheless, he couldn’t believe what he saw: “We negotiated with the city hall twice. They proposed to give us a 32-square-meter plot located next to the purification station in Meanchey district, in exchange for the plot of land that my family is living on right now. Our plot here is about 3 times larger than the one proposed to us,” he said with indignation.
Nevertheless, Phalhiot is one of the privileged residents because he was able to take down his house to rebuild it elsewhere. Meanwhile, several others did not have this opportunity. Phirom is among the unlucky ones: “They destroyed my wooden house with a bulldozer. Everything went by very quickly. Nobody listened to my complaints about my rights for relocation. I no longer have a roof to live under.”
According to a representative of the authority, 10 families out of the total of 30 families involved accepted the relocation proposal. “There were 5 warnings, and the eviction ultimatum was set on 7 October, it has been extended by one week,” he claimed. According to the latter, the cops intervened today because the road widening project must start as soon as possible to make way for a round-about.
Naroth, an investigator for Licadho, stressed that these new evictions – which are taking place after the recent evictions in Oddar Meanchey and Ratanakiri – are adding more fuels to the current land dispute chapter that is highly criticized by the civil society.
9 comments:
Good job Cambodia Government! We need to move the slums of Phnom Penh City out of the city so Cambodia's capital can look nicer and cleaner, basically more presentable, so more investments can follow. Once these eyesore slums are removed, move jobs will come to the people, mainly in the construction sector. Whoever is being evicted should beaware that these evictions are good for the development of the country.
this plot of land will give to some rich billioniar tycoon .the rich getting richer the poor don't even have the roof to cover the head so unfear.
Development my ass! IF they want to develop the area, they should do phase by phase one at a time giving residents proper home and equal compensation. But then again, there are those residents who is not the owner of the land, they're only renter, they should at least given the chance to find a rental home. If all the area is turn into a business building, where the hell can Cambodian people live? Once they are finish with that constructed area, they move on to the current evictees home and these people face eviction again, over and over. How many more developments do they need to make Cambodia more pretty? Don't the destroyers have any feeling for the own people? soon their families will face the same situation and then they would cry out. Sick man sick man! Don't worry Cambodian, I will rescue you soon with my millions dollar plan.
Does Hun Sen government will be take care Phnom Penh city, or they clean up for sale to Youn or other.
The poor khmer people they have nothing at all, only they have their two hands and asking Hun government for help. What kind of life for those poor people they living every days.
People, if you look at most slum area, espcially those are along the river banks, it's being occupied by illegal vietnamese immigrants...most khmer don't like to live in the slum area anyway. They rather stay in provinces country side where they can farm and cultivate the lands from their ancestors. These are the people that the government should be taking care off...because they took care of the current government during the Khmer Roug era...
squatters are not acceptable. there are laws now that everyone must obey, or else!
Democratic Kampuchea Pol Pot Khmer Rouge Regime had committed:
Tortures
Brutality
Executions
Massacres
Mass Murder
Genocide
Atrocities
Crimes Against Humanity
Starvations
Slavery
Force Labour
Overwork to Death
Human Abuses
Persecution
Unlawful Detention
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime had committed:
Attempted Murders
Attempted Murder on Chea Vichea
Attempted Assassinations
Attempted Assassination on Sam Rainsy
Assassinations
Assassinated Journalists
Assassinated Political Opponents
Assassinated Leaders of the Free Trade Union
Executions
Executed members of FUNCINPEC Party
Murders
Murdered Chea Vichea
Murdered Ros Sovannareth
Murdered Hy Vuthy
Murdered Khim Sambo
Murdered Khim Sambo's son
Murdered members of Sam Rainsy Party.
Murdered activists of Sam Rainsy Party
Murdered Innocent Men
Murdered Innocent Women
Murdered Innocent Children
Killed Innocent Khmer Peoples.
Extrajudicial Execution
Grenade Attack
Terrorism
Drive by Shooting
Brutalities
Police Brutality Against Monks
Police Brutality Against Evictees
Tortures
Intimidations
Death Threats
Threatening
Human Abductions
Human Abuses
Human Rights Abuses
Human Trafficking
Drugs Trafficking
Under Age Child Sex
Corruptions
Bribery
Illegal Arrest
Illegal Mass Evictions
Illegal Land Grabbing
Illegal Firearms
Illegal Logging
Illegal Deforestation
Illegally use of remote detonation on Sokha Helicopter, while Hok Lundy and other military officials were on board.
Illegally Sold State Properties
Illegally Removed Parliamentary Immunity of Parliament Members
Plunder National Resources
Acid Attacks
Turn Cambodia into a Lawless Country.
Oppression
Injustice
Steal Votes
Bring Foreigners from Veitnam to vote in Cambodia for Cambodian People's Party.
Use Dead people's names to vote for Cambodian People's Party.
Disqualified potential Sam Rainsy Party's voters.
Abuse the Court as a tools for CPP to send political opponents and journalists to jail.
Abuse of Power
Abuse the Laws
Abuse the National Election Committee
Abuse the National Assembly
Violate the Laws
Violate the Constitution
Violate the Paris Accords
Impunity
Persecution
Unlawful Detention
Death in custody.
Under the Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime, no criminals that has been committed crimes against journalists, political opponents, leaders of the Free Trade Union, innocent men, women and children have ever been brought to justice.
Phnom Penh city will become modern city and these slums must be cleans, people should take Gov't offer and understood...
Yeah lots of jobs for building workers-On three bucks a day!
No guarantee of being paid,shocking conditions-incredible dangerous.
Making millions for someone and treated like a buffalo.
Fair compensation should be paid,not a pitance.
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