Original report from Phnom Penh
18 March 2010
Ethnic minorities from 15 provinces on Wednesday called on the government to suspend land concessions they say are hurting their communities and daily income.
The government has provided at least 1 million hectares of land in these provinces to concessions, according to Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum.
This has led to clashes between companies and residents and “human rights violations,” he said.
“We urge the royal government to suspend concessions that have caused an impact to ethnic minorities in 15 provinces,” said Ven Samin, a representative of the Suoy ethnic group in Kampong Speu province, as she sobbed in a press conference.
“The concession holder was not consulting with the local community, [and working] without the agreement of residents,” she said, as other representatives from the provinces of Kampong Thom, Mondulkiri and Rattanakkiri pointed to the impact on their traditional culture, especially forests where their ancestors are buried.
“Where there is investment, land and forest for wildlife will be lost,” Ven Samin said.
In February, ethnic representatives submitted a report to the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in which they said they were subject to violations and discrimination committed by Cambodian authorities and asked the UN to intervene.
On Thursday the UN committee issued a statement saying it was “particularly concerned about reports of the rapid granting of concessions on land traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples without full consideration or exhaustion of procedures provided for.”
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith, said developments in concessions were in the long-term interest of minority groups.
“Firstly we plan to preserve their cultures and keep their sacred places, and we already planned to allocate land for them,” he said.
Minority representatives say they want to be involved in concession decisions where their land is involved.
The government has provided at least 1 million hectares of land in these provinces to concessions, according to Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum.
This has led to clashes between companies and residents and “human rights violations,” he said.
“We urge the royal government to suspend concessions that have caused an impact to ethnic minorities in 15 provinces,” said Ven Samin, a representative of the Suoy ethnic group in Kampong Speu province, as she sobbed in a press conference.
“The concession holder was not consulting with the local community, [and working] without the agreement of residents,” she said, as other representatives from the provinces of Kampong Thom, Mondulkiri and Rattanakkiri pointed to the impact on their traditional culture, especially forests where their ancestors are buried.
“Where there is investment, land and forest for wildlife will be lost,” Ven Samin said.
In February, ethnic representatives submitted a report to the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in which they said they were subject to violations and discrimination committed by Cambodian authorities and asked the UN to intervene.
On Thursday the UN committee issued a statement saying it was “particularly concerned about reports of the rapid granting of concessions on land traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples without full consideration or exhaustion of procedures provided for.”
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith, said developments in concessions were in the long-term interest of minority groups.
“Firstly we plan to preserve their cultures and keep their sacred places, and we already planned to allocate land for them,” he said.
Minority representatives say they want to be involved in concession decisions where their land is involved.
4 comments:
Must end land concession to the VN now...
People must prepare to take up arms and be ready to die defendant their lands and their livelihood.
Question is: Are we ready to go for broke ?
The National Assembly passed the new Land Law of 2002 which allows for the protection of immovable property of indigenous communities (Art.22,part 2) this allows for the indigenous community to cultivate the lands in their possession according to the rules of collective use, and no member has the right to dispose of their allocated share of the property(art 27) No authority outside the community may acquire any rights to the land (Art 28.)
What the government can do under the present Land Law would for the cadastral authority to extend the titles of possession until these communities can apply for collective use of the land as indigenous communities. Whether or not these communities can get these concessions reversed would probably have to be done in the courts on the basis that the concessions were done contrary to the current Land Law. If a lawsuit is filed, and the foreign press follows the court proceedings, perhaps the court will render its' decision based upon the law. In my view, it's fine to criticize the government, but at least they wrote the new Land Law of 2002 and forwarded it to the National Assembly which passed it into law. Now the vehicle exists which allows people who have been wronged according to that law to file their disputes in the court. And while the courts have been rightly criticized from time to time, the new jurists are graduates of the National Law School and real Khmer lawyers in contrast to 10 years ago when many judges had little formal education. There's no reason to resort of violence- use the law that's in place to resolve such issues.
Anon #3: If you know a bit about the law, you should know how ineffective a shield it is for property rights. For one thing, judges can always be bribed. Lawyers are always expensive, and can also be bribed. Police officers, charged with collecting evidence, have already shown their allegiance is to the company involved. But most importantly, any remedy in the courts would take years -- by which time ancestral lands will be raped and stripped bare of their old-growth forests.
Open your eyes: our lovely and charming Cambodia is being ripped to shreds faster than anyone could have thought possible.
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