Press Release for workshop on 10-11 May, 2011 on "the Current Situation of Land Issues and Resolution Mechanisms in Cambodia" at Cambodiana Hotel

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Press Release

Workshop on “the Current Situation of Land Issues and

Resolution Mechanisms in Cambodia”

Phnom Penh, 09 May 2011

On the 10th- 11th May 2011, The Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), the Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) and the NGOs Forum on Cambodia with support from the EU Delegation to Cambodia, are organising a workshop on the "Current Situation of Land Issues and Resolution Mechanisms in Cambodia".

The workshop aims at providing some 150 civil society, government, provincial authority/court, and donor agencies representatives with an open forum for discussion and exchange of views on land issues in Cambodia.

The 2 days' event will explore and debate themes such as the principles regulating the grant of economic land concession, their benefits and impact, the principles for granting social land concessions and their practical implementation, the root causes of land disputes and resettlement as well as the mechanisms for resolution currently in place, the land dispute-motivated arrests and access to justice. Group discussions will follow with a view of identifying the major problems at stake and target recommendations.

This event is funded by the EU Delegation and will be opened by Chargé d'Affaires of the EU Delegation to Cambodia, Mr. Rafael Dochao Moreno, together with H.E. Mr Om Yentieng, Chairman of CHRC and Mr. Thun Saray, Chairman of CHRAC. The EU institutions and the EU Member States have repeatedly expressed their concerns over land management in Cambodia. The EU advocates for a satisfactory implementation of the Royal Government of Cambodia's legal framework on land management.

"The EU has placed the respect for human rights as its core value, in Cambodia as elsewhere around the world, and calls all stakeholders involved, including the Cambodian authorities, to find ways to ensure equitable socio-economic development, manage the country's natural resources in a transparent manner and ensure the full implementation and enforcement of Land Management legislation", stated Mr. Dochao.

Mr. Dochao added that "The EU has given a large financial support to the Government of Cambodia as well as to civil society organizations through for instance our ECOSORN (Economic and Social Relaunch of Northwest Provinces) project and the EIDHR (European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights) programme to work together and promote land security. The EU stands ready to co-operate with all partners involved so as to scale down the increasingly widespread land disputes through an effective land dispute resolution mechanism yet to be in place."

Since the 90s Cambodia is struggling with the urge to a rampant economic development and the management of its natural resources particularly land. The EU acknowledges the complexity that land-policy development and the implementation of land-related legislation entail. The challenges posed by land disputes in areas where state or large private entities claim land that is occupied by the poor are huge, as this can involve expropriations, evictions and resettlement of the poor. Problems arise in the implementation of the land-related currently in place. For making Cambodia's land and subsequent economic development profitable and sustainable for everyone, some solutions exist, and have to be discussed, made public, and put in practice by the different actors involved.

This workshop aim at discussing and finding such solutions to land issues so to come up with concrete measures for a better implementation of Cambodia's legal framework on land management.

For more information about this workshop, please contact:

Mr. Suon Sareth

CHRAC Executive Secretary

Tel: 092 355 347

E-mail: chrac@everyday.com.kh

___________________________

Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC)

Address: # 9E0, St. 330, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kong III,

Khan. Chamcar Morn, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Tel/Fax: (855) 23 218 759, Tel: (855) 23 301 415, 305 609

E-mail: chrac@forum.org.kh or chracsecretariat@yahoo.com

Web: http://www.chrac.org