Cambodia's islands up for grabs [-A country for sale ... down to the last island, if it is not given to Vietnam yet]

A view from the pristine beaches on Koh Rong island, off Sihanoukville. The island is one of 28 in Cambodia earmarked for development. Photograph: Will Baxter/Phnom Penh Post

Friday, 17 August 2012
May Titthara and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

Some of the most audacious Cambodian island developments have been connected to shady individuals, including convicted pedophile Alexander Trofimov, who allegedly drove to his resort on Koh Pos from prison regularly before he was pardoned by the king last year.

Adhoc’s list of soon-to-be concessionaires includes a veritable who’s who of controversial development including LYP Group (Koh Kong Knong), TTY Corporation Co, Ltd (Koh Koan) and Try Pheap Company (Koh Tonsay), all firms that have been involved in major land disputes.

More than 180,000 hectares on 28 of Cambodia’s 64 islands were reclassified as state private property for 31 companies seeking land concessions between 2008 and 2010, government sub-decrees reveal.

The reclassification sub-decrees, compiled by investigators at the rights group Adhoc, pave the way for firms to secure 99-year leases to develop hotels, resorts and casinos, mostly on islands dotted across the coasts of Preah Sihanouk, Kampot, Kep and Koh Kong province.

They include already popular destinations off Preah Sihanouk and Kep province such as Koh Tonsay (Rabbit Island), Koh Russey (Bamboo Island), Koh Rong, Koh Rong Somleom and Koh Takhieo, as well as far more obscure enclaves.

Experts in the investment and conservation communities have told the Post that on top of these land reclassifications, many of which have since gained final approval, plots have been earmarked for development by private firms on almost every single island in the Kingdom.

Ve Wong trick in Koh Kong stolen land?

New twist in Cambodian sugar firm saga

Thursday, 16 August 2012
Rachel Will
The Phnom Penh Post

Taiwanese food supplier Ve Wong, one of two sugar company owners locked in a long-running battle with villagers in Koh Kong’s Sre Ambel district, has made an eyebrow-raising offer – to give the disputed land back.

The company’s offer, posted to the non-profit Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’s website, comes with one major caveat: proof that the disputed hectares – part of a large economic land concession area granted to the firm in 2006 – were acquired illegally.

“If there is any evidence proving [VE Wong subsidiaries] illegally acquired the land from residents, the companies are willing to return [the land] and compensate all relocation costs of all affected families,” the statement reads.

However, supporters of the villagers in their more than six-year battle with the sugar conglomerate were not convinced.

“Unfortunately, we have heard similar promises from KSL Group before, to no effect,” retorted the Clean Sugar Campaign Tuesday on the “Boycott Blood Sugar” website.

Water meters lead ‘money down the drain’ [-Ly Yong Phat is a bloodsucker in addition to being a land-thief]

CPP bloodsucker and land-thief Ly Yong Phat

Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

The sole provider of water and electricity in Koh Kong province’s Khemerak Phumin town, LYP group, was demanding that all rental buildings install water meters at exorbitant rates for the region, residents said yesterday.

Building managers sent intervention papers to provincial governor Bun Leut on July 25 saying that LYP was demanding the purchase of a US$127 water meter, a “high expense for us”.

Managers must also pay for the cost of the pipe and labour, so the total installation cost ranges from US$200 to $500. Ruling party tycoon Senator Ly Yong Phat owns the LYP group, which has a monopoly on the region’s energy supply.

Koh Kong king bowed out of ‘blood sugar’ firm

Ly Yong Phat (L)

Friday, 03 August 2012
Gregory Pellechi
The Phnom Penh Post

A sugar company originally part-owned by ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat that has long fought villagers over a land dispute in Koh Kong province is now under the complete control of two foreign-owned companies, statements released by the firms last week reveal.

The Mitr Pohl Group, from Thailand, has acknowledged its 70 per cent ownership in the Koh Kong Plantation Co Ltd of which the final 30 per cent is owned by Taiwanese firm Ve Wong Corp.

The conglomerate operates a sugar plantation on a 9,700 hectare economic land concession granted to Ly Yong Phat in 2006 and another adjacent 9,400 ELC that was not registered to the senator, which rights groups allege are effectively a single lease.

A statement from Ve Wong Corp, released to the London-based Business & Human Rights Centre on July 24, said Ly Yong Phat sold his shares in Koh Kong Plantation Co Ltd in 2010, though no mention was made about ownership of the 9,700 hectare ELC.

Court date set for Koh Kong farmers

CPP Land-thief Ly Yong Phat (L)

Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

More than six years after a sugar company bulldozed their farms in Koh Kong province, some 200 families who have held out ever since, arguing the action was illegal, will finally get their day in court on Thursday.

Seng Kao, one of 24 villager representatives from Chikhor Leu village in Sre Ambel district, said 100 villagers will join them at the provincial court as they make their case.

“We are ready and have witnesses and evidence, such as family books, identity cards, election cards, local administration lists and letters recognized by commune authorities that we have occupied the land since 1979,” He said.

In August 2006, a joint venture now majority owned by Thai firm Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Public Co Ltd and then part-owned by Senator Ly Yong Phat was awarded a roughly 20,000-hectare economic land concession in Chikhor Leu commune.

Findings of the Subcommitt​ee on Civil and Political Rights of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand on the Koh Kong Sugar Cane Plantation case in Cambodia

Preliminary Findings

Evidence gathered from the SCPR’s investigation so far allows for a reasonable belief that human rights principles and instruments were breached in this case, and that the Thai parent company is involved in the operations of its subsidiaries in Koh Kong, where these breaches took place. We identify breaches of the right to life and self-determination, in particular. The SCPR also identifies a failure to uphold the people’s right to development, which includes their right to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, and through which most other human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized. The SCPR has completed the investigation and is in the process of drafting the final report which will be endorsed by the NHRC in due course accordingly.

The Commission is a constitutional organization pursuant to the Constitution of Thailand B.E.2550 (2007) committed, under the democratic regime, to ensure that communities and their natural resources remain protected, and that various human rights principles are applied in meeting the economic, social and environmental pillars for fairness and sustainable development.

https://www.box.com/s/28d864a5109a8e66e81d

Findings of the Subcommittee on Civil and Political Rights of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand on the Koh Kong Sugar Cane Plantation case in Cambodia

Dear All,

The NHRC has just endorsed the statement on Koh Kong today. It will expected to upload in the NHRC website and other local independent media by today. Sorry for the delay but still on time due to the several amendments of the statement. Hopefully this would benefit for your work, the court hearing tomorrow in particular.

Best,

Cook
-----
รายงานผลการพิจารณาของคณะอนุกรรมการดเ้านสิทธิพลเมืองและสิทธิทางการเมือง ในคณะกรรมการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งชาติ กรณีการมีส่วนร่วมของบริษัท น้ำตาลขอนแก่น จำกัด (มหาชน) ในการปลูกไร่อ้อยที่จังหวัดเกาะกง ราชอาณาจักรกัมพูชา
__________
Jirawat Suriyashotichyangkul
Thai Legal Associate
EarthRights International

Joint Statement on Sre Ambel case

https://www.box.com/s/7d22af41c11132d59c37



https://www.box.com/s/f24fe2df935eb4b338d1

Land Grabs in Cambodia

Chut Wutty: gunned down (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Heng Chantha: killed by government soldiers (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

13 Boeung Kak Lake residents unfairly arrested and jailed

July 18, 2012
By MU SOCHUA and CECILIA WIKSTRÖM
Op-Ed Contributor
The New York Times

PHNOM PENH — An anti-logging activist is murdered, a teenage girl is shot and killed by police during a forcible eviction, 13 women are sentenced to up to two-and-a-half years in prison simply for holding a protest on land from which they’ve been expropriated. These are recent examples of the all-too-familiar human rights abuses that result from the Cambodian government’s disastrous land policy.

Investment in Cambodia’s agriculture sector is long overdue. But instead of passing reforms that would help the country’s many farmers and villagers better use their land — 80 percent of the total population is rural — the government has signed off almost 11,600 square miles of Cambodia’s arable land to investors, including major Chinese and Vietnamese companies and local firms with ties to the governing Cambodian People’s Party (C.P.P.).

That’s more than two-thirds of all arable land in Cambodia, according to a senior adviser at the human rights group Licadho. What’s more, according to Amnesty International, in 2008 some 150,000 Cambodians were at risk of being evicted, meaning that some 420,000 Cambodians have been affected by evictions since 2003.

CAMBODIA: The Emperor wears no clothes

The Samdach wears no clothes

Long Panha (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

July 16, 2012
Contributors: Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Asian Human Rights Commission

It was not in my schedule to write an article for publication today. But I sensed anticipation by some readers – and perhaps by the Phnom Penh regime itself. To Cambodians cowed by authorities, this article stands to remind that rights and justice are worth fighting for, and dictators must know it is human nature to yearn for civil rights and freedom.

Following publication of my article, "Respect Ideals and Concepts, not Arbitrary Leaders," in this space on July 1, an open letter – marked For Publication – from the Kingdom of Cambodia's Ambassador for the United Kingdom Hor Nambora arrived in my e-mail box. AHRC published the letter along with editorial comment supportive of democratic ideals. Personally, I thought it a bit odd that the Ambassador for the United Kingdom sent me the open letter, rather than Hem Heng, Ambassador to the United States, where I reside.

But the young Hor, son of Hun Sen's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, is Hun Sen's elite diplomat: A holder of a doctorate degree from Budapest; advisor to the Cambodian government with rank of Minister; and Hun Sen's special envoy to promote Cambodia's candidacy to the United Nations Security Council for 2013-2014.

Claiming "it difficult to take seriously someone" like me who "snaps rudely from the sidelines," he wrote painstakingly, "One can only hope that you stop writing such virulent criticisms of the democratically-elected government of Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen and those organisations such as the Asian Human Rights Commission will stop pandering to you."

The open letter is an indication that my decades-long advocacy for open, fair and free elections in Cambodia, described in my essays published here and elsewhere, has irritated some officials of the Cambodian dictatorship. The bombastic rhetoric of Ambassador Hor is consistent with the present elite's authoritarian strand, the a'tma anh (the I-ism) that demands complete obedience, as did Pol Pot's Angkar-on-High. Yet, Cambodia endorsed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and integrated its principles into her Constitution.

Cambodians impoverished because of EU scheme

Landless Cambodians See Nothing Sweet in EU... by tvnportal
http://dai.ly/MwZIfL

10 Jul 2012
AAP

An EU scheme to boost trade with developing nations is fuelling land grabs in Cambodia, activists say, with thousands evicted from their properties to make way for a booming sugar industry.

Campaigners are taking their fight to European supermarkets, encouraging a boycott of Cambodian sugar, which they claim is often grown on land snatched illegally from rural farmers.

Yi Chhav said she had no choice but to return to her family plantation to work for the sugarcane grower that took her land, toiling for about $US1.50 ($A1.46) a day in the sea of swaying emerald green plants that swallowed her rice paddies.

"If we say there's no way we'll go to work in the sugarcane plantation then what will we have to eat? There's no work," said the 68-year-old widow in south-western Koh Kong province.

"How can we survive?" she said, adding that the irregular work makes her feel like a "slave" and her low income has forced her to pull her teenage daughter out of school.

Cambodians call for ‘blood sugar’ boycott

Shooting on land protesters in Sre Ambil (Photo: Licadho)

July 4 2012
DPA

Campaigners on Wednesday called for a boycott of Cambodian “blood sugar” over claims that increasing production had resulted in human rights abuses.

Representatives from the Cambodia Clean Sugar Campaign said crops had been razed, homes burned and animals shot after thousands of hectares of land concessions were set aside for industrial sugar cane production.

Cambodian sugar exports to Europe benefit from the Everything But Arms trade initiative, which allows low-income countries to export certain goods to the economic bloc with zero tariffs.

“Because of this policy, sugar plantations have been growing quickly,” said Eang Vuthy of rights group Equitable Cambodia. “We see people are losing their land instead of benefiting.”

Community representatives said villagers had lost farm- and pasture land.

“If you are buying this sugar, you are buying our blood,” said Phol Vannak from a community in Kampong Speu province in south-western Cambodia where about 2 000 families have been affected by the land concessions.

Tales of ‘blood-stained’ sugar

Ly Yong Phat (L) sitting next to Kith Meng (C) and Hun To (R)

Wednesday, 04 July 2012
Chhay Channyda and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

The European Union should immediately remove trade preferences it gives to Cambodian sugar companies accused of human-rights violations including land grabs, representatives of the affected communities told a press conference in Phnom Penh yesterday.

Community representatives from Koh Kong, Kampong Speu and Oddar Meanchey provinces said exemptions from EU import duties or quotas granted under the Everything But Arms principle were rewarding politicians and foreign businessmen exploiting the poor.

Their calls come after the Post reported on June 19 fresh exploitation allegations against ruling CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company by workers that fled one of the firm’s complexes in Kampong Speu province.

Boycott Cambodian Blood Sugar!

Click the link below to reach this campaign website:

http://www.boycottbloodsugar.net/

.

Landless Cambodians see nothing sweet in EU sugar deal

Land thief Ly Yong Phat (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Wednesday, Jul 04, 2012
AFP

"It is scandalous that the European Union permits this tainted sugar to be sold within its territory, but until the EU implements a ban on the import of goods produced on stolen land it is up to European consumers to say no to these products"

KOH KONG, Cambodia - An EU scheme to boost trade with developing nations is fuelling land grabs in Cambodia, activists say, with thousands evicted from their property to make way for a booming sugar industry.

Campaigners are taking their fight to European supermarkets, encouraging a boycott of Cambodian sugar, which they claim is often grown on land snatched illegally from rural farmers.

Yi Chhav said she had no choice but to return to her family plantation to work for the sugarcane grower that took her land, toiling for about US$1.50 (S$1.90) a day in the sea of swaying emerald green plants that swallowed her rice paddies.

"If we say there's no way we'll go to work in the sugarcane plantation then what will we have to eat? There's no work," the 68-year-old widow told AFP at her modest home in southwestern Koh Kong province.

"How can we survive?" she said, adding that the irregular work makes her feel like a "slave" and her low income has forced her to pull her teenage daughter out of school.

Press Conference on Cambodia Clean Sugar Campaign on 03 July 2012 at Meta House

*Cambodia Clean Sugar Campaign*

Media Advisory

On Tuesday, July 3, at 8:30am, leaders of communities that have been displaced and dispossessed by the sugar industry in Koh Kong, Kompong Speu and Oddar Meanchey and other "Clean Sugar" campaigners will hold a press conference at Meta House (*#37, Street Sothearos Blvd, opposite Phnom Penh Center*).

They will announce a call to consumers around the world to stop buying the 'blood sugar' sold by companies that have perpetrated or profited from land-grabbing, forced evictions and other violations of human rights. They will present a powerful online video that urges European consumers to boycott *Tate and Lyle Sugars* products until the company and its suppliers compensate the farmers whose land and crops were stolen to make way for their plantations.

Eang Vuthy

Representative of Equitable Cambodia

------

Equitable Cambodia

#55, St. 101, Sangkat Boueng Trabek

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Phone: (+855) 12 791 700

Office: (+855) 68 899 298

Email: vuthy@equitablecambodia.org/eangvuthy@gmail.com

www.equitablecambodia.org

SRP commune candidate in Omlaing - whom the CPP tried to buy out - won the election

កញ្ញា តឹក នីម ក្នុងវ័យ២៨ឆ្នាំ ដែលជាសមាជិករបស់គណបក្ស​សម រង្ស៊ី និងជាបេក្ខភាពលេខ រៀងទី១ នៅក្នុងឃុំអមលាំង ស្រុកថ្ពង ខេត្តកំពង់ស្ពឺ ដែលធ្លាប់បានទទួលការលួងលោមទិញទឹក ចិត្តពីសំណាក់ សមាជិករបស់គណបក្សប្រជាជន នៅមុនពេលបោះឆ្នោតឃុំ-សង្កាត់នោះ ឥលូវ​នេះកញ្ញា តឹក នីម បានទទួល ជោគជ័យ ក្នុងការ ដណ្តើម ជាមេឃុំ អមលាំង ពីគណបក្ស ប្រជាជន របស់លោក ហ៊ុន សែន ហើយ ។

បេក្ខភាពលេខរៀងទី១របស់គណបក្ស សម រង្ស៊ី ឃុំអមលាំង ស្រុកថ្ពង ខេត្តកំពង់ស្ពឺ ដែលត្រូវបានសមាជិកគណបក្សប្រជាជន លួងលោម ទិញទឹកចិត្តមុនបោះឆ្នោត បានជាប់ជាមេឃុំ

Tuesday, June 19, 2012
CKN-Media

ភាពជោគជ័យរបស់កញ្ញា តឹក នីម​ សមាជិករបស់គណបក្ស សម រង្ស៊ី គឺជាជោគជ័យ​របស់​ប្រជា​ពលរដ្ឋនៅ ក្នុង ឃុំអមលាំង ស្រុកថ្ពង ខេត្តកំពង់ស្ពឺ ដែលបានរើខ្លួនរួចពីការជិះជាន់ គាបសង្កត់​ពី​សំណាក់ មេឃុំចាស់ ដែល ជា មនុស្សរបស់ គណបក្ស ប្រជាជន ដែលតែងតែ ធ្វើបាប ប្រជាបលរដ្ឋ គ្មានពេលល្ហែរ ដើម្បី ផ្គាប់ចិត្ត ឈ្មួញ និងក្រុម ហ៊ុនទុច្ចរឹត ដែលបាន រំលោភ យកដី របស់ ប្រជាពល រដ្ឋទាំងកុំរោល នោះ ដោយគេ មិនបាន ខ្វាយខ្វល់ ពីអ្វីទាំងអស់ ។

កញ្ញា តឹក នីម បន្ទាប់ពីបានជាប់ជាមេឃុំហើយនោះ គឺតែងតែធ្វើសកម្មភាពយ៉ាងស្វាហាប់ដើម្បី បំពេញតំរូវការ របស់បងប្អូនប្រជាពលរដ្ឋនៅក្នុងឃុំ ដូចអ្វីដែលលោកស្រីមេឃុំបានធ្វើការសន្យា ជាមួយនិងប្រជាពលរដ្ឋកាល​ ពីអំឡុងពេលឃោសនាយ៉ាងដូច្នោះដែរ ។ លោកស្រីមេឃុំទើបជាប់ឆ្នោតបាន ប្រាប់ថា លោកស្រី មានការ សប្បាយចិត្ត ខ្លាំង ណាស់ ដែល ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ នៅក្នុងឃុំ បានផ្តល់ទំនុក ចិត្តមកលើរូបគាត់ ហើយគាត់ និងខិតខំ ធ្វើការងារគ្រប់ បែបយ៉ាង នៅក្នុងឃុំ ដើម្បីប្រយោជន៏ របស់​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ និងដើម្បី កេរ្តិ៏ឃុំអមលាំង មួយនេះផងដែរ ។ លោកស្រី មេឃុំ បានបន្តរ ទៀតថា សូមឲ្យ ស្មារតីរបស់ ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ ទាំងអស់នៅទូទាំង ប្រទេស ដែលត្រូវ ទទួល រង នូវការ រំលោភដីធ្លី ផ្ទះសម្បែង រួមជាមួយ និងការ រិះជាន់ ធ្វើបាប មួយចំនួនទៀត ពីសំណាក់ មន្រ្តី ខិចខូច ក្រុមហ៊ុន និង ឈ្មួញទុច្ចរឹតនោះ សូមចូលរួមជា មួយនិងគណបក្ស សម រង្ស៊ី ដើម្បីយើង រើខ្លួនចេញ ឲ្យផុតពីទុក្ខ លំបាកវេទនា នេះ ទៀត ដូចជាប្រជាពលរដ្ឋនៅក្នុងឃុំអមលាំង ស្រុកថ្ពង ខេត្តកំពង់ស្ពឺ ជាគំរូ បានធ្វើបង្ហាញឲ្យយើង ទាំងអស់ គ្នាបានឃើញស្រាប់ ។

Sugar firm faces bitter accusations

Ly Yong Phat (L) sitting next to Kith Meng (C) and Hun To (R) (Photo: AP)

Tuesday, 19 June 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

A married couple working at the Phnom Penh Sugar Company in Kampong Speu owned by tycoon and senator Ly Yong Phat said that poor working conditions, including withheld wages and orders forbidding them to leave, prompted them to flee the complex on Sunday.

They left under the cover of night, scaling a locked gate with what they said were dozens of other fellow employees.

According to 48-year-old worker Chum Phum and his wife, Teng Siek, a supervisor arbitrarily withheld salaries to the point where they had no money to save or spend.

“We came to work in April, but I could not even have 1,000 riel [US25 cents] in my pocket, because from week to week, he always reduced our salary and [the salaries of] other workers. And when we are sick, there isn’t medicine,” he said.

My Land, My Village: Omlaing community - Poem by Ven. Loun Sovath

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZZ211q83AI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9kiXfglP28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaA7BbEpKXU

Villagers turn to leaflets in hope of intervention

(Photo by Chundy Huon)

Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

More than 200 villagers locked in a years-long land dispute with a sugar company owned by senator tycoon Ly Yong Phat lined national road 48 yesterday, distributing leaflets to motorists and threatening to block the road next month if their situation is not resolved.

The villagers, who hailed from Chikor Leu commune in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district, have been protesting against Ly Yong Phat’s Koh Kong Sugar Company since their violent eviction in 2006, when their land was bulldozed, and two villagers were reportedly wounded by gunfire from security forces.

The villagers’ representative, An Hai Ya, said yesterday that the 220 families wrote the leaflet about their tribulations to alert the public to their situation.

“That is the way to share their problem with everyone after they tried to protest many times to ask for resolution from the government, the company and the authorities,” he said, noting that villagers distributed more than 500 petitions.