Displaced villagers isolated, emaciated

Residents in Sre Chhouk village have found themselves marooned between two large land concessions and have to bargain for permission to access their own homes. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

Wednesday, 08 August 2012
Phak Seangly and Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

Sarorn Phi, 39, cautiously stops his moto 20 metres away from the large, signless boom gate blocking his path in Sesan district. He shuffles toward the security guard’s hut at the entrance to a sprawling Chinese rubber plantation and negotiates with the guard to enter the concession.

For Phi, and the 18 other families that live in Sre Chhouk village, Kbal Romeas commune, bargaining with security personnel has become part and parcel of life in a village literally marooned by two land concessions.

“We used to be able to come and go, but two years ago, they made a Chinese concession on this side,” Phi says, sitting under a gnarled tree near his lean-to hut. “And a Vietnamese concession on that side. We cannot go anywhere without permission.”

A village elder, Khuon Chorn, 67, said the mixed-minority ethnicity villagers had been living in the surrounding jungle ancestrally but seemed to have been completely overlooked when concessions, completely fencing them in, were granted.

Villagers vs bulldozers

Monday, 21 May 2012
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

One hundred and thirty-five ethnic Kouy families from the Brame, Srae Preang and Bos Tom villages in Preah Vihear’s Tbeng Meanchey district gathered on Saturday and yesterday to protest the Lan Feng Company’s alleged bulldozing of their farmland.

Phan Suket, 23, the representative of the 135 families, said that Lan Feng Company employed 10 bulldozers to level their farmland – consisting of one roughly 600-square-metre plot per family – to make way for a sugar plantation.

“Their [the Kouy’s] living is dependent on cultivation, but now the company bulldozed their farmland,” he said. “So how do our next generations survive without farmland?”

Reckless mining in Prey Lang takes toll on environment

Villagers in Kratie and Kampong Thom provinces are experiencing health problems because of mining at sites such as this one in the Prey Lang forest, according to a local rights group. Photograph: supplied

Tuesday, 08 May 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Chemical substances used in about 3,000 mining drills operating in the Prey Lang forest in Kratie and Kampong Thom provinces are wreaking environmental havoc and making people sick, a report by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights released yesterday says.

Substances used by a number of Chinese-run companies, businessmen and villagers to mine gold have caused 70 per cent of the trees in the area to die, and the contamination of nearby rivers and lakes, according to the group.

“Starting a year ago, villagers and animals in the community began having a lot of health problems they never used to, and at least 50 buffaloes and cows have died from drinking river water,” the report states.

ដើមអម្ពិលទើប តែភ្ញាក់ដឹង អំពីចិនក្រឡឹងព្រៃឡង់ ឯពួកយួនមើលមិនឃើញទេ!

រយៈពេល៣ថ្ងៃ CCHR រកឃើញ សកម្មភាព អណាធិបតេយ្យ ដ៏ធំនៅតំបន់ ព្រៃឡង់ ដោយពុំមាន ការទប់ស្កាត់

Monday, 07 May 2012
ដោយៈសេង ផល្លាភ
DAP-News

ភ្នំពេញ៖ មជ្ឈណ្ឌល សិទ្ធិមនុស្សកម្ពុជា (CCHR) បន្ទាប់ពីបានធ្វើការ ស្រាវជ្រាវអស់ រយៈពេល៣ថ្ងៃរួមមក បានរកឃើញ នូវសកម្មភាព អាណាធិបតេយ្យ បំផ្លិចបំផ្លាញ ធនធានធម្មជាតិ ក្នុងតំបន់ព្រៃឡង់ ដែលបង្កឡើង ដោយក្រុមហ៊ុនចិន បានឃុបឃិតគ្នា ជាមួយកម្លាំង ប្រដាប់អាវុធ និងអាជ្ញាធរមូលដ្ឋាន ក្នុងតំបន់ នោះ ផ្ទាល់ ហើយករណីនេះដែរ CCHR សុំឲ្យមានការស៊ើប អង្កេតជាបន្ទាន់ ដើម្បីទប់ស្កាត់ សកម្មភាពទាំងនេះ។

យោងតាម របាយការណ៍ របស់មជ្ឈណ្ឌល សិទ្ធិមនុស្សកម្ពុជា ដែលមជ្ឈមណ្ឌលព័ត៌មាន ដើមអម្ពិលទទួលបាន នៅថ្ងៃទី៧ ខែឧសភា ឆ្នាំ២០១២នេះ បានឲ្យដឹងថា ក្នុងរយៈពេល៣ថ្ងៃ CCHR បានរកឃើញ សកម្មភាពអាណាធិបតេយ្យ ដ៏ធំនៅតំបន់ព្រៃឡង់ ដែលអាច និយាយថា ជាវិនាសកម្មធនធានធម្មជាតិ និងបំពុលផ្នែក បរិស្ថាននោះគឺ ការជីករុករករ៉ែមាស យ៉ាងអាណាធិបតេយ្យ ដោយពុំមានការ ទប់ស្កាត់។

សកម្មភាពទាំងនេះ គឺកើតឡើងនៅ ក្នុងតំបន់ព្រៃឡង់ ភាគខាងត្បូង ចំណុច ប្រសព្វពីរខេត្ត គឺខេត្តក្រចេះ និងកំពង់ធំ (២០គីឡូម៉ែត្របួនជ្រុង ជុំវិញតំបន់ភ្នំជី) មានចំណុច សោមដេប៉ូ ផ្សាតាកែវ រោងជប៉ុន រលួសតូច រលួសធំ ថ្មពួយ អន្សមផ្អូម អូរស្ពង់ អូរនាង អូរចោទ អូរអន្លុង និងកន្លែងដទៃទៀត។

The murder that shocked even Cambodia [-Chinese company ordered the murder of Chut Wutty]

THE FIGHT WILL GO ON: A woman holds a photograph of slain environmental activist Chhut Vuthy at his funeral last Monday. PHOTOS: WILL BAXTER/THE PHNOM PENH POST

Chhut Vuthy is harassed and detained by men wearing Royal Cambodian Armed Forces uniforms in Koh Kong province in December, 2011. On April 26, Chhut Vuthy was travelling in the same area with two journalists from ‘The Cambodia Daily’ when he was shot and killed.

Chhut Vuthy speaks to a journalist in the offices of ‘The Phnom Penh Post’ earlier this year.

ANOTHER VICTIM: Chea Vichea, above, was murdered in 2004, sparking outrage further fuelled by the jailing of two men for the crime who many believe are innocent. Cambodian trade unionists, above right, grieved at his funeral in Phnom Penh.

Mourners toss Cambodian riel notes into Chhut Vuthy’s coffin at his funeral last Monday.

The gunning down of environmental activist Chhut Vuthy, suspected to be in the service of business interests, is seen by many as another example of those in power forever silencing a voice of protest

6/05/2012

Luke Hunt

Bangkok Post

Yet Chutt Vuthy's death followed an order from CHC [China Huadian Corporation] - among China's top five energy producers - to stop him from taking unwanted photographs.

In Cambodia, the murder of a high-profile environmentalist has sent shockwaves around a country which has never shaken-off its reputation for violence, corruption and a culture of impunity among the ruling political and moneyed classes.

Understandably, the shooting of Chhut Vuthy, 45, in a remote southern forest has outraged human rights groups and despite 14 years of peace has also reinforced perceptions of Cambodia as a lawless country still at war with itself.

But his death has wider ramifications and what exactly happened may never be known.

Chhut Vuthy was founder and director of the Natural Resource Protection Group, a small NGO dedicated to saving what's left of Cambodia's forests.

According to his friend Seng Sokheng of the Community Peace Building Network, Chhut Vuthy had decided on a trip to Koh Kong to investigate "forest crimes". The pair had worked together often and they wanted to capture illegal loggers on video.

The target was a heavily forested area near a dam being built by the China Huadian Corporation (CHC) at Stung Ressey Chrum Krom. The dam is one of four hydropower projects to be built in Koh Kong, labelled by Prime Minister Hun Sen as "a battery province". CHC officials had not commented on the killing by the time Spectrum went to press.

Chinese bank to invest in Cambodia's TV, steel sectors

2012-05-05
Xinhua

PHNOM PENH - The Export-Import Bank of China has planned to invest in two mega-projects in Cambodia, the bank's vice president Zhu Xinqiang said on Friday.

Speaking in a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Peace Palace, Zhu said that the bank would partner with a local TV station in order to modernize its TV system to a digital one with internet and telephone system, Eang Sophallet, spokesman for Prime Minister Hun Sen, told reporters after the meeting.

Zhu said the project is estimated to cost about $235 million.

The other project is to build a steel plant by importing raw materials from overseas to manufacture in Cambodia and supply the finished products to local and regional markets, he said without giving the details of investment cost.

MP urges government to scrap Koh Kong dam project

People fish in the Stung Areng River in Koh Kong province, where a Chinese company intends to build a controversial dam. Photo Supplied

Friday, 20 April 2012
May Titthara and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

As for the villagers feelings about being forced to leave, Son Chhay said they were furious about the dam, but too scared to say anything.

A dam project set to flood thousands of hectares of protected forest and displace about 1,500 indigenous minority villagers in one of Koh Kong province’s most precious ecosystems should be scrapped, opposition Sam Rainsy Party MP Son Chhay said yesterday.

The 109-megawatt dam project in the Cheay Areng Valley is to be built by the Chinese state-owned firm Guodian Corporation and expected to flood up to 20,000 hectares, with about half of the reservoir in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest.

After returning from an investigation of the site, Son Chhay said the dam on the Stung Areng river would be a tragedy for the indigenous Chuong villagers – who have cultivated the area for centuries – and those who appreciated one of the country’s last, truly unique forests.

CPP MPs for the 2008-2013 mandate

Dear Readers,

Please keep the name of the 90 CPP MPs for posterity, they participated and supported (1) the sale of the country, (2) the evictions of people, (3) the 99 years economic land lease to Yuon and Chen. Please keep this document to show to the next Khmer generations so that they know these traitors. When the CPP got 90 seats at the 2008 national election, the country became worst and worst.

S.S.


http://www.box.com/s/4267580fe39a4363d308

Chinese Influence Under Scrutiny

Beijing’s sway in Cambodia causes controversy in the wake of a presidential visit.

2012-04-03

Radio Free Asia

“The Chinese and Cambodian friendship is a life and death issue for Cambodia. It provides us with a life of freedom, sovereignty and independence, and is extremely vital” - Sisowath Thomico

China’s vast influence over Cambodia has come under scrutiny following a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Phnom Penh on the eve of a major regional summit, during which Cambodia tried to exclude the South China Sea territorial dispute from the official agenda.

Hu on Monday concluded a four-day visit to the capital during which he met with King Norodom Sihamoni, as well as his counterpart, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

During the visit, ahead of Cambodia’s hosting of the 2012 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on April 3-4, Hu signed a total of 10 infrastructure cooperation agreements and pledged tens of millions of dollars in grants and loans. The two sides also agreed to double bilateral trade by 2017.

Cambodia is this year’s chair of the regional ASEAN body, which also includes Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Boeung Kak Lake residents prevented from truning petition to Chinese embassy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugsm6Obfjsk

Petition timed to Hu’s visit stymied by police

Monday, 02 April 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh

“Even though China is a communist country, it respects the rights of villagers. If Cambodia is a democracy, why were the villagers not allowed to speak out?”

Two villagers from Koh Kong province involved in a land dispute with a Chinese company were detained for questioning on Saturday afternoon, halting their plans to file a petition with the Chinese embassy during President Hu Jintao’s visit.

Thirty-three other villagers who had planned to deliver the petition protesting against Tianjin Union Development Group’s project were forced to catch a bus back to their home province, villagers told the Post yesterday.

The dispute between more than 1,100 families and the Chinese company began in 2008, after the government granted the company 36,000 hectares for a resort.

Tep Vannang, 49, a villager from the Botum Sakor district, said she and Chay Peng Hout, 57, were arrested by 10 police about 4:30pm at the bus station near Baktouk High School while seeking accommodation.

Hu pledges millions in aid [-Who will bpay back the Chinese loans? You, your children, you children's children and many more...]

(Photo: Xinhua)

Monday, 02 April 2012
Vong Sokheng and Shane Worrell
The Phnom Penh Post

“Sadly, China’s unstinting support and ‘no strings attached’ assistance continues to undermine international efforts to press PM Hun Sen and his government to respect the international human rights standards and contributes to poor economic governance by countenancing crony projects and big land concessions to well-connected Chinese companies” - Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division

A weekend meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Hun Sen concluded with millions in loans and aid agreed to and a clear message: neither nation is in a rush to deal with the prickly South China Sea dispute.

At the Saturday one on one, which included a vow to double bilateral trade by 2017, the Chinese president told Hun Sen that, while his nation favoured a declaration of conduct for the disputed sea, moving “too fast” would only serve to inflame regional tensions, Sry Thamrong, a spokesman for the premier, said.

Dodging dispute

Both countries agreed that the South China Sea dispute, which involves four ASEAN member states and won’t officially be a part of the summit’s agenda, should not be “internationalised”, Sry Thamrong said.

China reaps concession windfalls [-Neo-colonial China?]

Monday, 02 April 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

About half of the land concessions granted since 1994 are in the hands of Chinese companies, according to data released yesterday by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

Ouch Leng, CCHR land reform project coordinator, said that from 1994 to 2012, the Cambodian government granted 4,615,745 hectares in concessions to 107 Chinese-owned firms.

Of that total, 3,374,328 hectares were forest concessions, 973,101 hectares were economic land concessions and 268,316 hectares were mining concessions.

“Chinese companies control about a quarter of the 17 million hectares of agricultural land and forest available in Cambodia. Because of these concessions, many villagers have lost their homes and land,” he said.

In all, more than 8 million hectares have been granted to 368 companies, according to CCHR data.

Ouch Leng questioned the business sense of the concessions, saying that such leases only earn the government about US$10 to $20 per hectare per year, compared to a potential $100 to $150 per hectare per year if the land was rented to villagers.

A request from a Cambodian MP to Chinese President Hu Jintao

Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit Cambodia on a four day visit from March 30 to April 2. President Hu Jintao will visit Cambodia to strengthen bilateral cooperation between our two countries and talk on regional issues prior to Cambodia's hosting of the 2012 ASEAN summit.

The following is an open letter to President Hu Jintao.

Dear President Hu Jintao,

We welcome the news for your visit to Cambodia and see it as a time for optimism, hope and more importantly, change.

It is envisaged that 2012 will be the year when you will end your second five-year term as party head. Therefore may I take the liberty to suggest to you that this could be a great opportunity to propel China forward as a legitimate leader in the global context.

Because in spite of its rapid socio-economic advancement and modernisation, China continues to operate as an authoritarian one-party State that imposes severe restrictions on human rights both in China and abroad.

In particular, recent events in Tibet have involved the self-immolation of a number of Tibetans - the last count was 30 confirmed self-immolations since February 2009. President, this is their desperate attempt to gain the world's attention over the plight of Tibet and the lack of religious freedom, some as young as 18 years old!

The continuation of China's systematic repression of Tibetan people can not be ignored. Tibetans are gentle and peace loving people and they are seeking a level of autonomy to preserve their culture and their way of life. Surely it is not too much to ask. President Hu Jintao please use your authority to put an end to any further egregious human rights violations and begin to reconcile with the Tibetan Government-in-exile to settle the problem by beginning negotiations, without further delay, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

At the same time Chinese citizens, just like Cambodian citizens, face the same issues and challenges over livelihood issues, land seizures, forced evictions,abuses of power by corruption and economic inequalities. All these issues need to be resolved and we look to China to set a positive example in the region.

Controversial environmental projects funded by the Chinese government worldwide, including those in Cambodia, must also stop. The Kamchay dam in Kampot province and the Tatai dam in Koh Kong, are multi million dollar Chinese funded projects, which have destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest and farmland and negatively impacted on fisheries and on local people's livelihoods. Consideration of the environmental impacts in either project had no place in any decision-making process. Of course, there is some clear accountability here with the Cambodian government as well, but China is definitely the stronger influence. We ask that the President ensure the next environmentally disastrous hydro dam project, which involves another Chinese company, scheduled for Stung Araeng in Koh Kong, does not proceed.

Finally President Hu Jintao please consider seriously how you would like your legacy to the world to be remembered. Change is inevitable. The rate at which the world is changing is beyond all our control: climate change, political change, illustrated by the recent Arab Spring demonstrations through out Middle East.

Surely President you would prefer to be remembered as the wind of change and not the reason behind the violent clouds of protest!

Phnom Penh March 26, 2012

MP Son Chhay

Cambodia sells off national park for city-sized pleasure resorts

(Google Map)

March 19, 2012
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com

The Cambodian government has handed over nearly 20 percent of Botum Sakor National Park to a Chinese real-estate firm building a massive casino and resorts in the middle of pristine rainforest, reports Reuters. The city-sized resorts, costing $3.8 billion, will include a 64 kilometers highway, an airport, hotels, and golf courses. Botum Sakur is home to a number of endangered species including the pileated gibbon (Hylobates pileatus) and Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).

"Cambodia is giving away 36,000 hectares to a foreign entity with little if any oversight or obvious benefit to the people," Mathieu Pellerin, a researcher with Cambodian human rights group Licadho, told Reuters. Construction of the pleasure cities by Union Group is displacing local Cambodians, some who have lived there for generations.

Researchers have recorded 44 mammal species and 533 birds in the park. Other imperiled species include the white winged duck (Asarcornis scutulata), Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica), Asian slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis), Indochinese silvered langur (Trachypithecus germaini), hog deer (Axis porcinus), dhole (Cuon alpinus), the elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongate), the Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis), and the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus).

Cambodian Villagers in Homes Protest

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1492977918001

Villagers take case to capital

Lim Tong (right), a village representative from Koh Kong province, speaks yesterday during a press conference at the Phnom Penh office of NGO Forum. (Pha Lina)

Wednesday, 29 February 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Representatives from five communes in Koh Kong province engaged in a long-running land dispute with a private Chinese firm urged the government to issue them proper land titles during a press conference in the capital yesterday.

Representative Chhai Beng Hout asked the government to instruct the company – Union Development Group Co, Ltd – to allow residents to remain on their land. The area could easily be carved out of the company’s 45,000-hectare land concession, he said.

In 2008, Union Development Group received a 36,000 hectare land grant from the government to build a US$5 billion mega-tourism zone in Botum Sakor and Kiri Sakor districts. Such a concession breaches Cambodian land law, which limits government land concessions to private companies to 10,000 hectares.

Koh Kong Fishing Community Rejects Chinese Development [-Another forced eviction for an ILLEGAL land concession?]

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.

Abduction of Chinese workers in Sudan stirs criticism of Beijing

Wednesday, February 1, 2012
By Andrew Higgins
Washington Post

HONG KONG — When China evacuated some 30,000 of its citizens from Libya early last year, official media fell into patriotic rapture. Television screens and newspaper front pages filled with pictures of flag-waving returnees. Xinhua, the state news agency, issued a commemorative DVD. The People’s Liberation Army Daily vowed that “no Chinese will ever be left behind.”

A year later, patriotic pride has turned to anger amid growing frustration over the fate of 29 Chinese nationals abducted by rebels in Sudan on Saturday. The Chinese, employees of a huge state-controlled engineering and construction company, Sinohydro, are being held by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, a ragtag militant outfit.

The drama in Sudan’s remote, oil-rich South Kordofan region — the latest in a string of attacks on Chinese working overseas — poses a delicate problem for the ruling Communist Party: how to manage the growing nationalism that it has itself done so much to promote. Party propaganda, pride at China’s recent achievements and a deep sense of grievance over China’s mistreatment at the hands of foreigners in the past have combined to stir demands for robust action.

Sorrow of the family of miners killed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq1bJ1O8MMc