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| A Cambodian evictee stands by her hut in Preah Sihanouk Province. She is among 100 families that were evicted from a disputed land in April 2007. (Photo: VOA Khmer) |
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
"In the past we never faced any difficulty."
Fishermen in the coastal province of Koh Kong have accused a Chinese-owned company of forcefully evicting more than 1,000 families from their land and businesses to clear space for new development.
Union Development Group Co., Ltd, from China was granted a 99-year contract in 2008 to develop for tourism 36,000 hectares of coastal area in Koh Kong province’s Botum Sakor and Kiri Sakor districts.
Villagers said they have been relocated 20 kilometers away to a site where access to the sea is limited.
"In the past we never faced any difficulty," a fishery community representative, Tith Tein, said Tuesday at a press conference in Phnom Penh.
Villagers complained that the new location lacks enough clean water, electricity, roads, schools and access to health care.
"If we want to go fishing at the sea, we have to spend money on gasoline," said Lim Song, a villager from Botum Sakor. "There, we can only hunt wild animals and grow vegetables."
Tens of thousands of Cambodians support themselves and their families by fishing, both freshwater and in the ocean, often using techniques little changed from 100 years ago.
A Cambodian human rights group condemned the land swap as lacking “transparency.”
"At the old location villagers’ living condition was good,” said an Adhoc rights group investigator Yi Sok San. "There were schools for their children but at the new location there is mainly forest, and no health care service and some areas are ridden by malaria."
However, provincial authorities said they are working on improving the recently settled area and each family has been given decent pieces of land for housing and farming, according to Sorn Dara, deputy governor for Koh Kong.
6 comments:
the huts look like a makeshift of people who took advantage of chinese investment. that's no permanent looking huts. these greedy people probably went there knowing that there are big investors coming there. i don't trust these greedy people at all, you know!
can people build a more permanent looking homes so they can convince people that they live there for life and not just move there yesterday or something. this makeshift in the picture above lookks like these squatters just move there yesterday, really!
12:50 PM - You are greedy yourself, CPP dog. Be nice to the innocent and helpless people. You are a coward and even a heartless person. Don't be so cruel and look down on the poor people.
What is the world that you think so selfish.
You always say such things like - you know!, ok!, blah, blah.....
You are very happy with Chinese firm, Yuon firm, Yuon CPP cronies, Vietnamese dog Hun Sen, etc who are greedy and so corrupted.
Khmer Yeurng.
1:22 PM is the same as 12:50 PM!
Can we call you Yuon thief on Khmer land?
its time to riot, if someone, company, or country tries to takes your land or home. Burn it down, before they can take it.
using violence gets you nowhere, really! don't be stupid forever, ok! there are other ways to ask for help, definitely not violence, ok!
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