Native people living in Cambodia east along the Indochinese Triangle zoneFriday 12 March 2010
Free Press Magazine Online
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
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It has been almost 11 years since the Triangle Development zone (also known as the Indochinese Triangle) was initiated by the Khmer PM. This zone includes various regions where Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam meet, and the goal was to turn it into a special economic zone. As this zone is undergoing development as planned, it also attracts criticisms from human rights organizations, as well as from environmental protection groups.
For Cambodia, the Indochinese Triangle encompasses the province of Kratie, Stung Treng, Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri – provinces which are known to have fertile lands, filled with forest resources and are mainly populated by numerous ethnic minorities.
The Triangle development plan which was initiated since 1999 pushes investors, rich and powerful people alike to grab lands – including rice fields, plantations and sacred lands – from Cambodian ethnic minorities, even though such action is not condone by the Cambodian land law. Under this condition, Cambodian ethnic minorities became victims after losing their personal belongings, their community and traditional lands which they owned for several generations long. In all these cases, the government does not seem to provide any resolution to help protect the safety of the ethnic minorities as stipulated by the land law which was introduced by the government.
Nevertheless, on Thursday, officials from human rights groups indicated that the speed of the development is affecting both the communities involved and the environment. Crimé Bonne, a facilitator for the International Forest Community NGO, indicated that the development was conducted at a too fast pace and no thought was given to the rights of the ethnic minority people. He added: “These four provinces have the largest number of native people. Therefore, the developers should take into account this issue in their plan. We hope that the development plan will respect the human rights of the native people.”
In February a group of Cambodian ethnic minority people representing 20 groups participated in a meeting organized by the UN regarding the issues faced by native people. During that meeting, the group demanded that the Cambodian government immediately put an end to the violation of their rights.
For Cambodia, the Indochinese Triangle encompasses the province of Kratie, Stung Treng, Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri – provinces which are known to have fertile lands, filled with forest resources and are mainly populated by numerous ethnic minorities.
The Triangle development plan which was initiated since 1999 pushes investors, rich and powerful people alike to grab lands – including rice fields, plantations and sacred lands – from Cambodian ethnic minorities, even though such action is not condone by the Cambodian land law. Under this condition, Cambodian ethnic minorities became victims after losing their personal belongings, their community and traditional lands which they owned for several generations long. In all these cases, the government does not seem to provide any resolution to help protect the safety of the ethnic minorities as stipulated by the land law which was introduced by the government.
Nevertheless, on Thursday, officials from human rights groups indicated that the speed of the development is affecting both the communities involved and the environment. Crimé Bonne, a facilitator for the International Forest Community NGO, indicated that the development was conducted at a too fast pace and no thought was given to the rights of the ethnic minority people. He added: “These four provinces have the largest number of native people. Therefore, the developers should take into account this issue in their plan. We hope that the development plan will respect the human rights of the native people.”
In February a group of Cambodian ethnic minority people representing 20 groups participated in a meeting organized by the UN regarding the issues faced by native people. During that meeting, the group demanded that the Cambodian government immediately put an end to the violation of their rights.
2 comments:
life could be better in cambodia.
We're the poorest country in the WORLD and we lived below poverty line, which is .50 cents a day can't even buy $1.00 lottery ticket that was won in Long Beach, CA a week ago that worth about $133M also cash is taken as $82.9M. I believed Hun Xen had more than that.
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