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| A woman pumps water from a well outside makeshift homes on the edge of Boeung Trabek lake Monday. More than 150 families have been evicted due to the construction of a canal at the lake. (Photo by: Pha Lina) |
Monday, 27 December 2010
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post
A senior government official on Monday expressed “regret” over the forced eviction and relocation of thousands of Phnom Penh residents in recent years, attributing problems to a lack of awareness in resolving government policy.
Speaking at a workshop in Phnom Penh, Im Chhun Lim, the Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, said that though the removal and relocation of residents’ homes was commonplace in developing countries, it was important that the government takes action based on the proper policies.
He said much confusion stemmed from residents who are living illegally on state land, but who claim ownership and market-price compensation for their properties.
“It is regrettable that [we] were not previously sufficiently aware of how to resolve issues such as the confusion between resettlement based on humanitarian policies and the resettlement based on market price compensation or unreasonably high compensation demands that could not be accommodated,” he said.
Im Chhun Lim added that some relocation cases were complicated by the involvement of politicians, which delayed compensation negotiations or caused standoffs between residents and the authorities. Often, the disputes did not end until the government took “administrative measures”, forcibly removing residents from disputed land.
He stressed that the government wanted to avoid these problems at all costs and would implement a “humanitarian” policy related to urban evictions and relocations.
Rights groups claim that thousands of families have been illegally evicted from valuable land in the centre of Phnom Penh and relocated to sites on the outskirts that often lack all but the most basic amenities.
Sia Phearum, secretariat director of the Housing Rights Task Force, said that from 1990 to 2010, 130,000 Phnom Penh residents – nearly one in 10 of the city’s residents – have been the victims of urban land grabs.
“The evacuation of people from the capital to the suburbs affects their standard of living. This forces them to lock their homes [in the suburbs] and come back to the capital to look for jobs to support themselves,” Sia Phearum said.
Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor of local rights group Licadho, said the evacuation of residents from the city to ill-equipped relocation sites on the outskirts seriously affected such communities.
“The regret [expressed by Im Chhun Lim] is justified, but the victims are citizens. The authorities should have thought about the welfare of people first before simply evacuating them,” he said.
13 comments:
He said much confusion stemmed from residents who are living illegally on state land, but who claim ownership and market-price compensation for their properties.
Oh. I can say most of CPPs are living illigal in Phnom Penh in the houses of the khmer people before 1975, Ist that correct???
the sight is an eyesore, must go soon! cambodia needs modernization for the whole country, you know! we don't see this kind of sight in the western country, so it's time for cambodia to change, ok!
អាយ៉ងក្បត់ជាតិ ហ៊ុន សែន ជាមេឃាតករឈាមត្រជាក់ ហើយក៏ជាមេគ្រោះថ្នាក់ធំជាងគេ បើមិននាំគ្នាកំចាត់
វាចោលទេ ប្រទេសខ្មែរគ្មានថ្ងៃបានសុខសាន្តឡើយ។
He didn't know that ? He must step down from his position and let someone else be in charge because he has no ability of doing his job .
graduate schools in cambodia should require all their student the spirit of volunteerism, etc... this way they see and experience first hand what life and work is all about, etc... it teaches them to help other like giving back to the community and improving the community, society, country, etc..., you know!
ក្រោកឡើងខ្មែរគ្រប់គ្នាដល់ពេលវេលាហើយត្រូវប្រើកាំបិត, ពូថៅ, ដាវ , ខ្វែវ, ផ្គាក់, ព្រួញ, សរ, ច្បូក, លំពែង, ធ្នូ, ដំបង, ព្រនង់, កាំភ្លើង, គ្រាប់បែក, បេសែសិប, បេសែមួយ, មីន, មីនកន្ត្រាក់, មីនបង្កប់, មីនក្លេម័រ, មីនតោន, កាំភ្លើងធំ, កាំភ្លើងត្បាល់, ក្រោកឡើងជាមួយយុទ្ធភ័ណទាំងអស់នេះ បាញ់និងកាប់ក្បាលអាឆ្កែកញ្ជះយួនសងសិក
អោយខ្មែរស្នេហាជាតិនិងដើម្បីការពារមរតកជាតិ
របស់យើង។
Almost everyone living illegally in someone's homes after Khmer Rough. What can this be done to correct for future victims? Government must look after the benefit of both sides, Cambodian people and how can that fit into the development policy which required them to establish firm rules and contract laws for the purpose of developing the nation, not removal by forces.
1:20 AM,
Shame on you who live in a western country and yet still have a mentality of a careless dictator of Cambodia.
In your western country where you are living right now, in case you have not yet realized, they don't use force to relocate their citizens; they negotiate and compensate in a fair manner. They indeed have compassion even though Buddhism is not their state religion.
"They must go" according to you, go where? If the western country had thought in the same manner as you do, they would not have accepted you and your families as refugees in their land because beside providing you and your family with housing, they had to feed you and your family as well till you could be on your own.
Therefore have some compassion and don't pretend to be a smart ass since you were once a poor refugee living in Thailand and was begging for everything from generous people and countries to give you a new chance.
From a son of a fellow Khmer in the suburb of Phnom Penh.
12:47 AM,
Very good point you have raised, my friend.
Thank you for hitting the nail right on the head.
Hun Sen's current house by the Monument of Independence belongs to a particular owner and definitely was not built by his poor father and yet he is still living there. Shouldn't that be returned as an example of a leader?
I guess NOT! A leader in Cambodia enjoys a different standard!
From a son of a fellow Khmer in the suburb of Phnom Penh.
Let make it a fair judgement,
Since after 1989, CPP members have grabbed a big parts of good land an all urban areas.
Now with land concessions all CPP members have taken millions of km2 of land from Cambodia and plus hundred of thousands of ha given to vietnamese army for rubber plantations. All houses left over from previous owners of 1975 were taken by CPP members and especially by Hun sen family.
All industrials warehouse from KM9 along National road No5 up to Monivong bridges were taken by CPP party and were registered as onwership of Mr Ngy, some part were registered as owbereship of Thai Bunrong.
Now with population explosion to 14 millions people, where can these people live?
Noone is living legally anyway. They are all occupying illegally in all properties left over by the mess of 1975.
To solve this problem, Cambodia must have a plan of distribution of all land and housing to all the people accordingly and make a law of illegal to sale and to buy land in Cambodia and they are all public lands. each family can only occupy one property or a block of land for their cultivation.
Areak Prey
The country like
Cambodia,if the govt
wants to build some-
things on private
or living on state
properties should
have:
-Houses to stay in.
-Clean water to drink.
-Markets to buy foods.
-Hospitals.
-Jobs to work.
-schools for children.
All these things,
the govt are responsible to help
her citizens.
Don't let them live like crocodiles.
Critical thinking!
Do your research Mr.Im Chunn Lim, and set out your policy to implement your goal successfully.
Corrupted officials to enforce the laws WON't achieve any desirable outcome.
Using forces inhumanely is only making matter worse,if you truly love and serve Cambodians.
Bear in mind that you were once mistreated by KR in many aspects that if you had lived in it and never forget this tragedy.
Mr Khek Pen,professor of literature in Siam riep,called Mith SOU reminded me that suffering of people leads to revolution at any stage .
If you are concious about those suffering,preventative measures are always at hand.
ABUSE and being abused does happen repeatedly in management of RGC.
Please start to listen to suffering citizens rather than jumping into your own conclusion in mistreating them.
Glad to hear that regret for your action.It is a sin by buddhism concept.
Good luck for new coming year!
Peasant
All too true.
What exacerbates the land situation in Cambodia is overall weak land governance and a very corrupt Land Ministry led by Senior Minister Im Chunn Lim and a very loud rent seeking Head of Land Sar Sovann. This pair of land pirates have been fully backed by donors - Finland, Germany and Canada, who add fuel to the fire by backing the rorts. Donors and Technical Advisors (TA) are well rewarded and even awarded medals by the government - akin to accepting the 30 pieces of silver. Frequently in professional fora and journals we see the TA presenting fictitious accounts of achievements all based on headline grabbing rather than reality. In particular the Finn TA team leader is a notorious purveyor of this fiction as recently presented in "Coordinates" magazine writing on "Improving land administration systems in developing countries".
http://mycoordinates.org/improving-land-administration-systems-in-developing-countries/
Donors like the incompetent Finn team consistently fail to provide a balanced, factual account of the land sector of Cambodia. Human rights abuses and violent land evictions are of no concern to these mercenary TA. Of course the land sector's weak governance has not improved in spite of NGO complaints to the World Bank and the subsequent screwed up World Bank Inspection case which was largely a cover and a failed attempt to lower the bar in order to re-engage with the government to keep its country program running.
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