Clarification for an irate KI-Media Reader

Message posted by an "anonymous irate reader":

KI Media, you son of a bxxx. I believed you but you betrayed my trust, you motherfxxx. I just found out this news about dey krohom situation. According to this news, 93% of the people at dey krohom left with the compensation and only 7% refused to leave without higher compensation.

You motherfxxxs made me believe it was the whole community being evicted. What the fxxx is wrong with you fxxxing people? Why are you manipulating your readers like this?

http://khmernews.com/view/new-solution-for-91-families-in/2533/

Dear Sir/Madam,

First of all, we would appreciate it if you would leave our mother out of this debate, the poor soul has done nothing wrong here, and she is not a four-legged woman either, for as far back as we can remember, she was and is still walking on two feet just like your dear mother or any other human beings on this planet. Should you want to blame/accuse us on any issue, the freedom is entirely yours. On the other hand, we are glad to hear that the forced eviction issue in Dey Krahorm caught your attention.

That being said, if you were to carefully read the articles posted on KI-Media, you would notice a press release by Amnesty International we posted on 27 January 2009, in which you can clearly read that “150 poor urban families” living in Dey Krahorm “were forcibly evicted”. A few paragraphs later, you can also read the following statement: “Local authority representatives sold the land to the company, 7NG, in 2005 without the knowledge, participation or consultation with the affected community. Some 300 families were coerced into moving amid threats, harassment and intimidation, while 152 families continued to dispute the validity of the sale and refused to give up the land without compensation.”

From the above article, it is quite clear that some families moved out of the Dey Krahorm community prior to the forced eviction, whether that number is 93% or not, is quite debatable. Furthermore, the above article is but one of the many articles we posted on this issue regarding how many families accepted the offer made by the 7NG company and how many did not. Therefore, Sir/Madam, we are flabbergasted by your assertion that we have misled our readers. Was there any misunderstanding somewhere in your readings on this issue? If there is anything we can help to elucidate you further on this issue, please let us know at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

(Flabbergasted) KI-Media team

Eating at Dey Krahom

05 March 2009
By Phil Lees
SBS Blog (Australia)

Progress or wanton destruction of Phnom Penh's street food?

It is strange to spend your Sunday evening watching somewhere that you occasionally picked up a cup of coffee be razed to the ground on television, along with the entire suburb that contained it.

On Sunday, SBS televised the destruction of one of the joints where I’d stop in for coffee while I was in Phnom Penh. The flattening of Dey Krahom, documented in last week’s episode of Dateline, was directly opposite my plush, air-conditioned office. I could stare out the window into the barely organised maze of houses while I worked. I still recognise the remains of those houses as they were being knocked down. Some mornings I’d drop into Dey Krahom for a coffee from one of the roadside vendors, more often than not, when I forgot to get petrol for my motorbike and ground to an embarrassing halt.

There was a small roadside breakfast vendor there who cooked the classic Cambodian breakfast of flame-grilled, marinated pork, pickles and rice (bai sach chrouk); and for a few cents also did overroasted black coffee thickened and sweetened with condensed milk.

I never really developed a taste for the coffee but a glass of the local brew was one brutal hit of caffeine and sugar in the early morning. The pork and rice in Dey Krahom was nothing special. But there was a well-stocked petrol stand next to it.

Dey Krahom also housed a concentration of mobile fruit vendors who parked their flatbed fruit trolleys there during the day. In the late afternoons, a truck would arrive and divide up a selection of seasonal fruit amongst the vendors who would then head out into the evening to hawk their wares along Phnom Penh’s riverfront until late into the night. Somewhere towards the centre of the suburb was a small, shambolic market – official reports document 200 stallholders – but I had only ever skirted around the edges of it. I probably missed something.

Apart from the “systematic lack of due process and procedural protections; inadequate compensation; lack of effective remedies for communities facing eviction; excessive use of force; and harassment, intimidation and criminalization of NGOs and lawyers working on this issue”, I wonder how much street food and street life is being squeezed out of the city in the process of evictions. Part of the charm of the Phnom Penh are the array of informal food vendors; the families eking out a living behind a pork-and-rice stand and small market stalls. Poverty is in no way charming but all of my favoured vendors had homes (and presumably, land title). Many were doing well from their trade. Many were in the suburbs like Boeung Kak and Dey Krahom which have been destroyed and their residents pushed out to the uninhabitable edges of town.
--------
Phil Lees grew up in rural Victoria, the first generation in his family to not have lived on the farm and thereby not slaughter their own meat.

In 2005 he moved to Cambodia and started the nation’s first food blog, Phnomenon.com, named after the best pun that he has ever made. It turns out that Cambodian food is delicious and unlike the warnings in most guidebooks, is not likely to kill you with any immediacy. Gridskipper called him a “national treasure”. Lonely Planet’s Greater Mekong guide called him “the unofficial pimp of Cambodian cuisine”. The New York Times laughed at a funny hotdog he saw.

Phil makes a mean sausage, a hoppy pale ale, a modest laksa. He owns three barbecues and is in the market for a fourth. He’s never eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant. There is more important food in the world to be eaten.

Opinion: 'Progress' means trash the poor in Cambodia

In Cambodia, even the smallest children are put to work, scavenging for 14 hours a day for plastic, glass, metal. These children are at incredible health and safety risk and earn barely a penny an hour. These children are exploited and abused in the extreme - the victims of overpopulation. (A Decent Life Charity)

By Paul Wallis
Digital Journal

The world needs to start setting standards for international aid. Things have to be achieved, not just said to be achieved. It’s not enough to simply allow another pack of vultures to set up shop in disaster areas. The message has to be, “Do the job right, run the place according to law, or we pull the plug on you.”

It’s called progress, anyway. Most crimes have at least some euphemisms. Teams of workmen arrive at a residential location near Phnom Penh. They’re carrying axes. At 6AM they move in and start demolishing the houses. With the people still in them.

The idea? High rises. You know, those obvious essentials to people whose annual income would perhaps buy a week’s rent in the average Western home.

Bulldozers move in, and hit people trying to find their possessions. At least one woman is hospitalized. The residents react, and throw things at the bulldozer. Fire extinguishers are turned on them. A cat is killed in the process, and people wander around what looks like Stalingrad.

The land, as you will have guessed, is prime land. The residents were offered compensation of about $20,000. They said it wouldn’t buy them another place to live, and they knew their land was worth more.

Australia’s SBS current affairs show Dateline got a first hand view of this blatant violation of human rights and property laws.

*** Please note, this is a pretty infuriating, upsetting video.

A moment of farce was achieved by an interview with the Australian ambassador, who was asked if she was embarrassed that was happening practically on the doorstep of the new Australian Embassy. She was diplomatically not embarrassed.

As an Aussie, I, however, was embarrassed. We led a peacekeeping mission in the 90s to try and get Cambodia back into the current part of human history. We, like many other countries including the US, donate a lot of money to support Cambodia.

It turns out that as usual with international aid, we’re supporting the rich, not the majority of the population. Obviously, Cambodia’s poor have no rights, and less future. We’re clearly not supporting human rights, international law, or anything resembling sanity.

Cambodia is a mirror of the truth of all the international aid. That’s progress, folks. If you happen to remember all the visions of global development, pulling the Third World out of poverty, building a better world, this is what happened to it, just about everywhere on Earth.

This is where 50 years of talkfests has got the human race. Four billion people living in the Middle Ages with cell phones. Wars, revolutions, genocides, political and business babble, followed by what is basically oppression in another form. It’s infallible. One collection of corrupt vermin is replaced by another. Aid becomes a matter of protecting people from the following sets of disasters.

All the good intentions seem to be paving others’ roads to hell.

The world needs to start setting standards for international aid. Things have to be achieved, not just said to be achieved. It’s not enough to simply allow another pack of vultures to set up shop in disaster areas. The message has to be, “Do the job right, run the place according to law, or we pull the plug on you.”

My guess would be that we don’t need saints running aid programs. We need cynical bastards who wouldn’t trust their own grandmothers with a baby.

I don’t think you can be simultaneously determined to save the world and equally determined to look under every rock to find out who’s causing what’s wrong with it.

Then maybe we'll see some real progress.

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com

"...what we're seeing here is exclusive development for the super-rich, while the poor get pushed ever deeper into poverty"

(Photo: Licadho)

Land grabs in Cambodia push poor out

Rights groups press government to end forced resettlement as parcels sold off `to highest bidder'

Feb 21, 2009
Bill Schiller
Asia Bureau
Toronto Star (Ontario, Canada)

Click here to learn more about Licadho Canada

PHNOM PENH–When military police sealed off the ramshackle, inner-city neighbourhood of Dey Krahorm at 2 a.m. one day last month – preparing to forcibly remove its remaining residents to make way for a plush, new commercial development – Lee Robinson, of Victoria, B.C., was inside.

"We knew there was going to be trouble," says Robinson, who runs a small non-governmental organization here called Licadho Canada.

Robinson and a handful of other Canadians, Americans and Germans had come to show their support for the people of Dey Krahorm, many of whom had been fighting for years to cling to what they believed was their rightful property.

Robinson and her foreign colleagues are part of a small but vocal throng of international youth that has converged on Cambodia, to press international donors and their governments to call Cambodia's government to account over its continued seizure of neighbourhoods populated by the poor and to press for civil rights.

But that day last month, they could do little when the neighbourhood of Dey Krahorm was laid to waste by the developer, with the backing of military police, the riot squad, and a band of about 100 "hired hands" clutching crowbars and clubs.

When the sun finally rose over Phnom Penh, the developer's group pushed its way through barricades of wood, metal and vendors' carts mounted by residents, and cleared a path for a massive steam shovel that swung its arm like a baseball bat, crushing every structure in its path.

Tear gas boomed, fires erupted and people were dragged screaming from their homes. Police endured a rain of rocks in retaliation.

"Everything kind of went into a war zone," Robinson recalls. "It was chaos."

By noon it was over. Dey Krahorm, a neighbourhood that began in the mid-1980s and was once home to musicians, actors, comedians and even a few civil servants, was no more.

The defeated were trucked off to a resettlement site some 20 kilometres outside the city, and once again, the development of Cambodia's capital marched on.

International human rights groups here say this is happening with increasing frequency across one of the world's poorest countries.

As international aid floods into Cambodia – aimed at reducing poverty and helping to build infrastructure – the rich elite are growing ever more powerful, while the poor are getting pushed aside.

"Cambodia is basically up for sale," says David Pred, one of the founders of Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia, a spinoff of a U.S.-based human rights organization.

"It's being parcelled up and sold to the highest bidder."

He says it's time the international community called a halt to it. And it's in a position to do so, he adds.

"International donors provide half of this government's national budget," he notes. "It's time they demanded accountability."

Pred and a growing number of non-governmental organizations and human rights defenders say aid to the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen should be made conditional on its respect for law and human rights.

Once counted among the Dey Krahorm community's staunchest defenders was former Canadian ambassador to Phnom Penh, Donica Pottie.

"People here still remember her," says Naly Pilorge, a French, Canadian and Khmer national who heads Cambodia's largest human rights organization, The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. "She stood up for the people of Dey Krahorm and for the poor."

While here, Pottie worked to free jailed human rights defenders and pressed the government to end forced removals and halt widespread land expropriation.

But Pottie returned to Ottawa in 2007 and Canada's mission here was downgraded from full-fledged embassy status following cutbacks from Ottawa.

This month, British-based environmental watchdog Global Witness issued a stinging report detailing what it alleges is the parcelling out of the nation's oil, gas and mineral reserves mainly to the family, friends and trusted associates of the government of Hun Sen.

Opposition parties here immediately seized on the report to demand an accounting from the government. But following national elections in July last year, in which Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party took 91 of 123 seats – elections that were criticized by the European Union and the United Nation's Special Representative for Human Rights as seriously flawed – the opposition is weak.

The government has promised to look into the matter, but with no stated timetable.

Meanwhile, as Cambodia's rich elite get richer, the nation continues to do without.

Cambodia has no national electricity grid.

Its highways are in a shambles.

And more than 60 per cent of Cambodians have no access to clean water.

The land on which Dey Krahorm once stood – the words mean "Red Soil" – was actually granted to the community by the government as a so-called Social Land Concession in 2003, one of several under a plan announced by Hun Sen himself to provide secure land tenure and on-site upgrading for Phnom Penh's poor.

But, as is so often the case in the developing world, the developer persuaded a tiny band of community leaders to affix their thumbprints to documents, turning over the entire parcel for their own lucrative private gain and a remote relocation outside the city. The deal was done without any consultation with the Dey Krahorm residents.

Some gave in. But a rump group of more than 150 families took a stand. They fired the leaders, elected their own and refused to move. Some 250 small retailers and renters stayed with them.

"In our view it (the land grab) was completely illegal," says German lawyer Manfred Hornung, who works for Pilorge's human rights organization and is now defending the leaders of the remaining residents who have been taken to court by the developers.

He warns, too, that forced removals like Dey Krahorm come with significant social costs, costs that may simmer now – and come to a boil later.

"Resettling people so far outside the city disrupts families, forces people to abandon jobs and takes children out of school."

And it's part of a pattern in recent years, he notes.

The forced removal of other Phnom Penh neighbourhoods like Sambok Chap, Mitheapheap and Russy Keo have all forced the poor from the city. And yet another target is Boeung Kak – a lake in the city's north end that developers plan to backfill and build on, pushing as many as 4,000 families in the surrounding area out of the city.

The plans for Boeung Kak constitute a social and environmental disaster in the making, says Pred of Bridges Across Borders.

"International aid is supposed to be about poverty reduction. But this epidemic of land theft is undermining the international community's best efforts.

"We're absolutely not anti-development," he says.

"But what we're seeing here is exclusive development for the super-rich, while the poor get pushed ever deeper into poverty. It's creating conditions for instability."

18-Month Sentences in Dey Krahorm Case [-Parody of justice at its zenith: The land-robber get away free, the victims are sent to jail]

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
16 February 2009

Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday sentenced three former residents of the Dey Krahorm neighborhood in Phnom Penh to 18 months in jail, for the destruction of property and assault on security guards.

Chan Vicheth, 31, Khieu Bunthoeun, 39, and Ly Youleng, 62, were each found guilty for taking part in the Dec. 3, 2007, vandalization of a bulldozer and the injury of two guards.

The incident followed plans by the 7NG company to evict villagers from Dey Krahorm and move them to the outskirts of the city. That eviction finally took place in force earlier this year, with hundreds pushed out of the Chamkarmon district neighborhood.

However, at the time, villagers had fought the company for their right to stay or be better compensated to move.

Judge Chey Sovan sentenced each man to 18 months, plus five years probation and payment of compensation of $200 to the company, $250 to one guard, Ing Var, and $50 to another, Sok Kosal.

“They were the victims,” the judge said.

Horm Sunrith, lawyer for the accused, called the verdict “unjust,” citing a lack of evidence and differing accounts among the company’s witnesses.

No 7NG representatives were present at the hearing Monday, and none could be reached for comment.

Evicted residents in final cash bid

Former Dey Krahorm residents protest outside the 7NG office on Tuesday. (Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG)

Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Written by Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

Families awaiting cash compensation say municipal officials failed to attend a Tuesday meeting, amid warnings they have until the end of the month to accept replacement housing.

FORMER Dey Krahorm evictees who are demanding US$20,000 in cash compensation from local developer 7NG say city authorities have broken a promise to meet with residents at 7NG's office near the former community's land in Tonle Bassac commune Tuesday.

Residents said that during protests outside Prime Minister Hun Sen's Takhmao home Sunday, Lim Leang Se, the prime minister's deputy Cabinet chief, promised residents that he would invite officials and 7NG representatives to meet and discuss the compensation claim of residents forcibly evicted from the site on January 24.

But former resident Dul Chantha, 52, one of those gathered outside 7NG's office Tuesday morning, said comments from the prime minister's staff had turned out to be empty promises.

"No representatives of 7NG or the Municipality are present this time, except police forces deployed outside the company's office," she said.

Residents left 7NG's office when no one arrived to meet them, continuing along to the municipality offices on Monivong Boulevard.

Resident Sam Ny told the Post that the cancellation of the meeting between the people and authorities had been postponed, according to one of Hun Sen's Cabinet officials, because city officials were not available.

"The City Hall representative is absent, so they cannot meet," he said, expressing scepticism about the government's commitment to finding a solution for the residents.

"This is not the first time that they have had an excuse not to find a solution for residents," he added. "We want them to put their promise in writing."

Lim Leang Se could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but 7NG General Manager Chheang Bona said that he did not expect residents to come to the company's office Tuesday.

"No one has broken their promise. We and the authorities have an appointment with them in Damnak Trayoeng village, where the majority of residents have moved, not at Dey Krahorm," he said.

In the weeks immediately preceding the January 24 eviction, the company offered residents $20,000 in cash compensation to relocate, a figure some local residents turned down, and residents claim 53 families remain to be compensated.

But Chheang Bona said only around 10 families had still not agreed to accept replacement houses from 7NG and appealed to them to accept housing by February 28.

"It is our last notice for residents. This means we are still generous with them," he said.

Evictees protest outside PM house

Protesters holding a sign reading: "The 7NG and the City of Phnom Penh demolished our houses in Dey Krahorm" (Photo: Ouk Savborey, RFA)

Monday, 09 February 2009
Written by Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

EVICTEES from the Dey Krahorm community in central Phnom Penh staged a second set of protests Sunday outside Prime Minister Hun Sen's house in Takhmao, demanding compensation for the destruction of their homes.

About 40 ex-Dey Krahorm families, most of whom are now living on the street or in pagodas, lamented the January 24 eviction that saw their houses flattened by teams of hired hands from developer 7NG.

Lim Leang Se, Hun Sen's deputy Cabinet chief, said by phone Sunday that he would call a meeting Tuesday over the issue.

"We will try to help them on Tuesday [February 11] by asking the municipality and 7NG officials to meet [evictees] at the 7NG office at Dey Krahorm," he said. "Families are unsure whether they are receiving a house [as compensation]. We will help them check whether they have their name on the list," he said.

He added, however, that any demands for cash would have to wait.

Originally housing between 800 and 1,400 families, the Dey Krahorm community had shrunk as residents accepted compensation offers and relocated. A final offer of US$20,000 was made, ensuring all but an estimated 90 families had left before the eviction. The developer terminated that last offer three days before the eviction. The company then offered the hold out families a house at a relocation site 16 kilometres outside the city, but many evictees say they would prefer cash to living so far away.

LICADHO/LICADHO Canada: Dey Krahorm Land Case Explained Briefing Paper

Click here to read the document in English (PDF)
Click here to read the document in Khmer (PDF)

Source: Licadho

This document aims to explain the land case involving the Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was compiled as an advocacy and legal tool to support the families who continue to live on the site and to challenge the legality of the contract which threatens to cost them their land.

The report was researched and written by LICADHO Canada. It is based largely on documents and other information provided by community representatives of Dey Krahorm, and NGO partners involved in the case. LICADHO Canada would like to thank the community representatives and NGOs for providing information, comments and advice throughout the research; specifically Community Legal Education Center [CLEC] and LICADHO.

Dey Krohom eviction: 53 families still demand financial compensation

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 04/02/2009: Dey Krohom evictees staging a demonstration outside 7NG company head office. 7NG received the land they lived in as part of a concession issued by the government. (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)

04-02-2009
By Ros Dina
Ka-set in English
This article is also available in French and Khmer

53 families from Dey Krohom are still struggling to obtain from the 7NG company financial compensation rather than a shophouse in the Damnak Trah Yeung village, Chom Chao city quarter, situated some twenty kilometres west of Phnom Penh. They met on February 4th outside the company head office, located to the side of the Building and metres away from the land where their homes used to stand before being destroyed on Saturday January 24th.

Among the holdout ones, 15 families whose names appear on the official list of inhabitants established by 7NG. Other families who were also listed have since accepted keys to an apartment in the Chom Chao quarter. Each of the 15 families demand a 20,000 dollar compensation, a claim shown on one of their banners: “We do not want to be rehoused on the outskirts because it is too far away from our workplace and our children's schools . What will we do out there? What will become of us?”, families explained.

As a reminder, the 53 families mentioned a report dated January 12th and produced a copy of it, signed by Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema himself and addressed to prime Minister Hun Sen. In the report, the two compensation options are summed up, namely a house in Damnak Trah Yeung or the sum of USD15,000, on top of which come house moving-related costs. They put forward the fact that the authorities and 7NG could not back out.

No representative of the 7NG company came to see them. Before the troop dispersed, a journalist enquired at the 7NG office, where he was told that the premises were an office for selling and renting and in no way the company's head office.

Homes Demolished in Cambodia Land Grab

Residents of Dey Krahorm watch as workers demolish their homes, Jan. 24, 2009. (Photo: RFA/Ouk Savborey)

2009-02-03
Radio Free Asia

A Cambodian property developer forcefully evicts residents to develop a commercial site in the capital Phnom Penh. Talks of compensations end in the midst of confusion over land rights.

PHNOM PENH—A property developer in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, has ended compensation negotiations after forcefully demolishing the homes of residents.

On Jan. 24, 7NG Construction company physically expelled 152 families from Dey Krahorm village in Phnom Penh’s Chmakar Mon district and tore down their homes to develop a commercial site consisting of townhouses and office space.

The residents are now homeless and living without basic necessities.

One resident, who did not provide his name, said community members were given no prior warning of the demolition, which began early in the morning.

“There were many authorities, police, and military police standing in front of my house, and they pointed to me and said, ‘There he is! There he is,’” he said.

“They suddenly grabbed me and beat me. They even pulled my seven month pregnant wife out and pulled her hair,” he said.

“They beat me until I could not see straight, so I do not remember [who attacked me], but they were in police and military police uniforms,” he said.

“They beat my arm with the butt of a gun and they hit me in the jaw, which is still swollen…They kicked me all over my body until I rolled over, handcuffed me, and then pulled me to the other side of the road,” the man said.

The resident said that in addition to being beaten, he was also robbed during the incident.

“Property was looted. 7NG Company sent workers wearing yellow, blue, and red shirts carrying new cloth bags to take property and carry it away on their shoulders. Everything has been looted—goods I purchased for stock worth more than 10 million riels (U.S. $2,500)—there is nothing left,” he said.

Inadequate Compensation

Most of the Dey Krahorm families have been residents of the village since the early 1980s, which legitimizes their possession rights under Cambodia’s 2001 Land Law.

However, authorities have not officially reinstated property rights for the majority of Cambodia following the Khmer Rouge era, leaving many citizens exposed to arbitrary land use decisions.

In 2003, the government gave the Dey Krahorm community an “in-situ social land concession,” which under the Land Law protects poor communities’ right to land. Both the Cambodian Constitution and the Land Law state that no one can have their land taken without fair compensation.

But more than three years ago, 7NG began negotiations with the residents, offering to build them alternative housing with utilities in Damnak Trayeung village, in Phnom Penh’s outlying Dangkor district.

But since then, the price of land in the area has sharply increased, and the residents who did not accept the initial terms have demanded compensation reflecting current market prices.

The families had been demanding at least U.S. $20,000 each, based on what they said was fair market value.

7NG Construction initially agreed to residents’ demands, but then rescinded the offer and carried out demolition plans.

It has since offered U.S. $185 each for their property, in addition to a four by 12 meter apartment without functioning utilities.

Srey Sothea, the CEO of 7NG, said that residents had been told through a representative to accept the offer of compensation or to expect nothing at all.

“We offered the remaining residents extra compensation and asked them to leave by the specified date to avoid an ugly incident,” Srey said.

“We couldn’t wait any longer—we had to take this [extreme] measure or the situation would get worse,” he said.

More than 1,400 families agreed to relocate to Damnak Trayeung, including as many as 90 following the forced eviction, but a remaining group of about 60 families are now homeless and have not received any compensation.

In the eight days since the demolition the evicted families have been forced to sleep in parks and to seek temporary refuge in the offices of human rights groups and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR.)

Calls go unanswered

On Jan. 27, the residents of Dey Krahorm seeking government help in negotiations held a demonstration across from the Cambodian National Assembly, but were removed that evening by security guards and armed forces.

The following morning, residents presented a petition to the office of Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Council of Ministers, but calls for government assistance went unanswered.

The deputy governor of Phnom Penh, Mann Chhoeun, said negotiations broke down due to the unwarranted demands of the Dey Krahorm residents.

“The negotiation could not find a middle ground…The bargaining terms kept shifting, with some home owners originally demanding U.S. $10,000, then asking for U.S. $20,000 in exchange for a single dwelling unit,” he said.

Mann Chhoeun acknowledged that the municipality still owed residents some 90 housing units following the initial terms presented by 7NG in 2005.

But he said that as negotiations continued, residents’ claims on units gradually increased to 150.

“The number of families also increased from 51 to 200, and the municipality could not afford to continue the negotiations,” Mann Chhoeun said.

Call for action

The Cambodian Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch in New York condemned the forced demolition, calling for the arrest of the men who beat residents and destroyed their homes.

In a statement, the Cambodian Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the eviction “runs contrary to the government’s policy of good governance, rule of law, human development, and poverty reduction,” which it said development partners claim to support.

“It is not too late for the municipality, the government and the company to demonstrate that the land law can be upheld and applied to protect the rights of all citizens, regardless of their wealth or social status,” the statement said.

Elaine Pearson, Asia office deputy director for Human Rights Watch in New York, said the Cambodian government should end evictions of residents in land disputes.

“There should be a talk with the community to discuss a resolution first. Last week, in a talk with the authorities, residents said they would agree to demolish their houses and leave the area if they received appropriate compensation for their land,” Pearson said.

“In the meantime, the government should provide the residents emergency aid. They have lost their housing, they lack food and water, and they seriously need long-term aid,” she said.

Confusion over land rights

The land issue dates from the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, which forced large-scale evacuations and relocations throughout the country. This was followed by mass confusion over land rights and the formation of squatter communities when the refugees returned in the 1990s after a decade of civil war.

Housing Cambodia’s large, young, and overwhelmingly poor population has posed a major problem ever since.

Original reporting by Ma Yarith, Pon Bunsong, Ouk Savborey, Hassan Kasem, and Borin Sam for RFA's Khmer service. Khmer service director: Sos Kem. Translated by Oun Chhin and Hassan Kasem. Written for the Web in English by Joshua Lipes.

Robbing the poor to give to the rich: Cambodia's upside down world under the rule of Samdach Robber Hood Hun Sen

Oknha Srey Sothea received honours from Mr. Hun Sen.

Dey Krohorm and the Robber Hood of Cambodia

31st January, 2009
Opinion by Khmerization

“These less fortunate slum-dwellers are paying the price for the developments, the lifestyle and the prosperity of the privileged few urban elites. Mr. Hun Sen’s policies of condoning, and in certain cases, abetting, forced and inhuman evictions, is a case of the “Robber Hood of Cambodia” robbing from the poor to give to the rich.”

It’s heartbreaking to see the hapless residents of the Dey Krohorm neighbourhood being evicted in an inhuman way by 7NG company in collusion with corrupt Phnom Penh officials.

More than 150 families were forcibly evicted at gunpoint in the early morning of last week, when residents, including the young, the sick and the old, are still sound asleep. Their houses were razed to the ground while their belongings are still full. They have barely the time to escape the pounding of the demolition bulldozers. They lost everything. The pictures and the images of the evictions that splashed around the world are disheartening and heartbreaking.

Now many of them are homeless - most sleep on the streets or camped in the parks. They lost their livelihood and now they are starving.

The land at Dey Krohorm is worth about $3,500 per square metre. A few day before the evictions, 7NG promised the residents of between $15,000-$20,000 in compensation but now that the evictions have been successfully carried out, the compensation promises have now been reneged. The company now say they will only provide a home a few kilometres outside of Phnom Penh - a worthless real estate.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has, in the past, promised that the government will strive hard to alleviate, and possibly eliminate, poverty in Cambodia. While Mr. Hun Sen had, to a certain degree, managed to raise the standards of living of some urban people, he has been seen as neglecting the less fortunate slum-dwellers and the people of rural Cambodia.

These less fortunate slum-dwellers are paying the price for the developments, the lifestyle and the prosperity of the privileged few urban elites. Mr. Hun Sen’s policies of condoning, and in certain cases, abetting, forced and inhuman evictions, is a case of the “Robber Hood of Cambodia” robbing from the poor to give to the rich.

Sombok Chap neighbourhood has been forcibly evicted a few years ago and most of the residents who had been resettled in the place provided by the company are still living in hardship. The evicted dwellers of Dey Krohorm will certainly face with the same fate or even worse, considering that all their belongings are demolished along with their houses. Next will be the “Building Neighbourhood” and the Bassac Theatre neighbourhood.

The forced evictions of Dey Krohorm dwellers have been carried out by 7NG ruthlessly and with impunity without any fears of any legal ramifications. And after the evictions, Oknha Srey Sothea, the owner of 7NG, has been quoted as arrogantly saying that, any monetary compensations are out of the question. As such, the evictions seemed to have the backing and the blessing of Mr. Hun Sen because the owner of 7NG is Oknha Srey Sothea who is very close to Mr. Hun Sen. In Cambodia, there is a saying that nothing can be done without the approval, or the blessing, of Mr. Hun Sen.

Mr. Hun Sen, and the court in particular, must condemn these forced evictions in the strongest term and force 7NG to make a reasonable compensation package to these rightful owners of Dey Krohorm neighbourhood. Anything less than the amount they are entitled to would be tantamount to a collusion of crimes punishable by Cambodian laws.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Dey Kraham's UN Special Rapporteur

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Forced evictions leave thousands homeless in Cambodia, says UN expert

Raquel Rolnik, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing

Source: UN News Center

30 January 2009 – The forced evictions of tens of thousands of Cambodia’s poor constitute a “grave breach” of human rights, a United Nations independent expert said today, calling for damages to be paid for lost homes and the provision of alternative housing.

In the middle of the night last week, over 130 families were forced to leave their homes without prior notice in the capital, Phnom Penh, so that a private company could redevelop the site. The shelters in the poor community were destroyed, and there have been reports that before the eviction, the community suffered intimidation and that the area’s representatives were subject to criminal charges.

“It is regrettable that the ongoing negotiations with residents were abandoned, casting aside a valuable opportunity to reach a just and lawful solution to this longstanding dispute,” said Raquel Rolnik, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, in a statement. “It is now of utmost importance that the rights of the residents to fair compensation for their lost homes and property and the provision of adequate alternative housing are fully respected.”

She noted that last week’s evictions in Phnom Penh are not isolated, but are “[alarmingly]” on the rise, with tens of thousands of people losing their homes and becoming even more destitute.

In the South-East Asian nation, the expert said, there has been a “consistent pattern” of rights violations tied to forced evictions, including the systematic lack of due process, inadequate compensation, and the excessive use of force.

“Given the disastrous humanitarian situation faced by the victims of forced evictions, I urge Cambodian authorities to establish a national moratorium on evictions until their policies and actions in this regard have been brought into full conformity with international human rights obligations.”

Ms. Rolnik, who reports to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, took up her post last May and serves in an independent and unpaid capacity, as do all Special Rapporteurs.

UN criticises forced evictions in Cambodia

"We did not use violence against them, but tear gas to disperse the people who resisted" - Touch Naroth, PPenh police commissioner

GENEVA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The Cambodian government is forcing tens of thousands of poor people from their homes in a grave breach of human rights, a U.N. investigator said on Friday.

Raquel Rolnik, United Nations special rapporteur on adequate housing, called for a halt to the evictions in the Southeast Asian country.

"The increase in forced evictions throughout Cambodia is very alarming," Rolnik said in a statement.

Cambodian police fired teargas to move more than 130 families last weekend from a Phnom Penh slum facing the Mekong River, without giving them prior notice, she said. It was the latest of a series of land disputes in the country where garment factories and hotels are springing up fast.

Rolnik, a Brazilian architect and urban planner, said those evicted from the site that the Cambodian government had sold to a private company should be compensated for losing their homes.

Witnesses said an elderly woman and a boy were hit by a bulldozer during the nightime eviction, and other residents were injured by clubs and stones, some seriously.

Police denied using excessive force against the group who had waged a 3-year battle against their eviction.

"We did not use violence against them, but tear gas to disperse the people who resisted," Phnom Penh police chief G. Touch Naruth told Reuters.

In her statement, Rolnik said Cambodia sould stop the practice that results in increased homeless and destitution.

"Forced evictions constitute a grave breach of human rights. They can be carried out only in exceptional circumstances and with the full respect of international standards," she said.

(Reporting by Laura MacInnis; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

UN Special rapporteur on adequate housing denounces forced evictions in Cambodia

30 January 09
Human Rights Tribune (Geneva, Switzerland)

UN, Geneva - The following statement on the latest in a series of forced evictions in Cambodia was issued today by the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik:

“More than 130 families were forcibly evicted during the night of 23 and 24 January 2009 from Dey Krahorm, in central Phnom Penh to make way for a private company to redevelop the site.

The forced eviction was carried out in the middle of the night, without prior notice and the shelters belonging to this poor community were torn down and destroyed. This situation has grave consequences for all the victims, but particularly the women and children. Reports also state that prior to the eviction, the community suffered intimidation and community representatives and members were also subjected to criminal charges.

It is regrettable that the ongoing negotiations with the residents were abandoned, casting aside a valuable opportunity to reach a just and lawful solution to this longstanding dispute. It is now of utmost importance that the rights of the residents to fair compensation for their lost homes and property and the provision of adequate alternative housing are fully respected.

Unfortunately this is by no means an isolated case, and the increase in forced evictions throughout Cambodia is very alarming. Reports indicate that tens of thousands of poor people have been forcibly evicted and displaced, pushing them into homelessness and further destitution.

In Cambodia, a consistent pattern of violation of rights has been observed in connection with forced evictions: systematic lack of due process and procedural protections; inadequate compensation; lack of effective remedies for communities facing eviction; excessive use of force; and harassment, intimidation and criminalization of NGOs and lawyers working on this issue.

Forced evictions constitute a grave breach of human rights. They can be carried out only in exceptional circumstances and with the full respect of international standards. Given the disastrous humanitarian situation faced by the victims of forced evictions, I urge the Cambodian authorities to establish a national moratorium on evictions until their policies and actions in this regard have been brought into full conformity with international human rights obligations.”

The former Special Rapporteur on adequate housing conducted a mission to Cambodia in 2005 and presented a mission report on his findings and recommendations (E/CN.4/2006/41/Add.3). Concerns on forced evictions in Cambodia have been shared through a large number of communications by the Special Rapporteur with the authorities. These communications remain unanswered to date.

Reactions on the Web to the Dey Krohom eviction range from emotion to rallying

Several websites have published articles, videos, pictures and songs to mobilise Internet users about the fate of the families evicted on Saturday 24th January from Dey Krohom, a neighbourhood in the capital of Cambodia.

30-01-2009
By Laurent Le Gouanvic
Ka-set in English

Cambodian police firing tear gas, an army of young workers demolishing frail houses with sledge hammers and axes, bulldozers crushing everything on their way at the risk of injuring tearful residents fleeing with the few possessions they have managed to save in the chaos... These images of the violent operation to evict the last residents of Dey Krohom, in Phnom Penh on Saturday 24th January, were not broadcast on CNN or any major international television network. Yet, for the last few days, they have been going round the world through the Internet and its new “social networking” tools, like Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Blogspot or Wordpress. Gradually, after the initial emotional reactions, outraged Internet users are trying – and somewhat struggling – to raise awareness about what happened with the widest possible audience, in Cambodia and abroad. One of their first actions is to launch an international appeal to draw mass protest against the Cambodian authorities and the 7NG company.

A message addressed directly to the authorities

“Dear Prime Minister Hun Sen, I am writing to express my shock at the violent eviction of the Dey Krahorm on January 24th, 2009 and to request that the evicted families receive adequate compensation for their losses.” So begins one of the two “sample letters” published on the website of the organisation "Bridges Across Borders" who invites Internet users throughout the world to copy and send these letters by email or fax to the head of the Cambodian government as well as the Minister of the Council of Ministers Sok An, the Chairman of the National Assembly Heng Samrin, the Governor of Phnom Penh Kep Chuktema, and the Chairman of the 7NG company Srey Sothea. The appeal is also relayed through emails and on a group page dedicated to land conflicts in Cambodia on the social networking website Facebook .

The page was created at the initiative of John Weeks, aka Jinja (or The Gecko in Khmer), an expat blogger in Cambodia who is very active in the Cambodian web circles and responsible for an important compilation of the different sources of information available on the Dey Krohom case . To this day, some 400 members have joined the Facebook group and publish statements, press articles, photos and videos on evictions in Cambodia. The messages posted on the Facebook page originate from Phnom Penh of course, but also from remote Colorado (United States), Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, Thailand, Hongkong, Philippines, India, or China... Some send a simple message to express their indignation, while others call for concrete actions, including donations of food or basic necessities.

Videos shot in the heart of the action

The group set up on this networking site also – and essentially – serves as a hub for all the written, photographic and audiovisual documents, which represent as much evidence on the eviction. It includes links to the multimedia slideshow and trilingual articles of... Ka-set , videos shot in the middle of the eviction, like the one co-produced by Platapus and Licadho Canada which was initially made available on-line on BlipTV and other “footage rushes” made public on the YouTube video broadcasting site or the human rights multimedia platform The Hub .

Also available on these websites, many archive documents, whether on the daily lives of the Dey Krohom residents , before their eviction, or on other cases of past or ongoing evictions, like at Boeung Kak lake.
“One eviction can hide another”

In parallel to the videos, photos taken during the eviction – but also before and afterwards – are also circulating on a large scale on the Web, whether on the sites of professional photographers (Peter Harris , John Vink ...), amateur ones (Chea Phal , a young Cambodian working for a Japanese NGO whose spends his free time taking pictures) or on photo-sharing sites like Flickr. A moderator on the Khmer Network forum invites people to hang these pictures on their walls to replace “useless” ones and comments “One eviction (forced displacement) can hide another... Watch this space.”

Also, voices are heard on blogs and echoed on the website Global Voices which offers a panorama and excerpts of bloggers' reactions.

Heated reactions

On her personal website, Jivy , a young Filipino living in Phnom Penh, breaks with her usual light messages on shopping and eating out. Still under the shock, she describes what she saw on the morning of Saturday 24th January. “Loud pounding noises woke me up this morning. (…) I looked out of my window and saw hundreds of men wearing green shirt, hammering the small houses in front of the building where my whole family live. It’s my first time to encounter scenes like this and it sent goosebumps all over me. There were lots of police men guarding the site and hundreds of spectators from their homes watched how their fellow Cambodians ruined other people’s houses in a small span of time. (…) I don’t know the whole story behind this horrifying scene, I don’t know if the land is under the government or under a private individual. All I know is that there are people out in the street this morning asking for some more time to discuss this matter before proceeding with the demolition. But people with no hearts didn’t listen.”

Other bloggers also share what they saw, comment on articles or, like Steve, Wendy, Isaac and Niam , the four members of an evangelist family working in Cambodia, express their anger and call to pray for the evicted residents of Dey Krohom.

Weak reaction among Khmer bloggers

However, one cannot but notice that only a few Cambodian bloggers (or Cloggers) express themselves on the eviction. Most of them, including those used to starting heated debates, are strangely silent on the Chinese New Year eve. Similarly, the issue hardly inflames discussion forums of Cambodians living in France. On Khmer Network, while a message on “paedophiles in Cambodia” has generated over a hundred responses and been read more than 3,000 times since 18 January, the one about Dey Krohom has only been commented on seven times and read by about a hundred visitors... Hence the reaction of BAC, one of the few people who reacted, “It [Dey Krohom] is a cause for concern. Why? Well, because it is not a topic for discussion or blathering. It is such a cause for worry that the government is not saying anything. And even people on this forum remain silent. When something is too troubling, people have little of interest to say. It is more fun to blabber.”
--------------
"Do Not Agree"

Discover on the website SendSpace "Do Not Agree ", a song written a few days before their eviction by one of the Dey Krohom community representatives, Chan Vichet, and performed among and with other residents. An English translation of the Khmer lyrics is also available on the same website in a PDF file.

Also see the Bassac project of Khmer-American rapper PraCh, which part of his blog Mujestic.com is devoted to.

Dey Krahorm residents protest in front of Hun Sen’s house

29 Jan 2009
By Mondul Keo
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the original article in Khmer

About 60 former residents of Dey Krahorm, representing 116 families who saw their houses demolished by the 7NG company and were evicted by force, held a new demonstration in front of Hun Sen’s house in the afternoon of 29 January.

Sam Ny, a representative of the residents who joined the demonstration, said that his group is determined to protest in front of Hun Sen’s house because they believe that only Hun Sen can find justice for them. Sam Ny said: “We have only one goal today, we came to Samdach [Hun Sen’s] house directly to ask him to find justice for us. I am confident that justice will be provided to all of us from Dey Krahorm because Samdach will help push for it.”

Chan Pho, another representative of the residents, said: “They shot fumes [fire extinguisher] on my children and grandchildren, their faces are now turning blue and black, they cough up blood. I am asking Samdach Dek Cho PM to help me, I cannot rely on anybody, but Samdach alone.”

It should be noted that 2:45 PM, an official from the PM office invited two representatives of the residents to go inside his office, and he accepted a petition handed over by the demonstrators, saying that he will directly hand over the petition to Hun Sen as soon as possible.

The content of the petition asks Hun Sen to intervene with the 7NG company so that it would pay a compensation of $20,000 for each evicted family.

Horn Sor, another representative of the residents who went in to hand over the petition, talked to RFA about the result of the meeting: “Samdach’s party just received our [petition] document, he said that when he receives words from Samdach’s intervention, he will forward the information to us. He told both of us, the representatives, to wait and he will intervene into this case as soon as possible.”

Srey Sothea, chairman of the 7NG company, and Mann Chhoeun, the Phnom Penh city deputy governor, said that the 7NG company’s intention is not to provide any monetary compensation, but it will only provide a plot of land and a house in Borey Santepheap II, located in Dangkao district, they also set a deadline for the acceptance of this land offer to the end of January.

Mann Chhoeun said: “This is an unconditional goal, as you (RFA reporter) just asked me, what happens to $20,000 (compensation offer)? That $20,000 was only valid during the negotiation for a middle road only, but there is no middle road, we cannot find one.”

It is not known yet what Hun Sen’s decision will do regarding the demands made by the residents.

Nevertheless, to Ou Virak, President of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), a compensation solution that is forced upon the residents is a right violation and a very serious violation of human rights.

'Children of the Khmer': Fêted in Scotland … bulldozed back home

30 January 2009
By Tim Cornwell
Arts Correspondent
The Scotsman (Scotland, UK)

SIX months ago they were being fêted in Edinburgh, cheered by crowds in the Festival parade and winning four-star reviews for their show of traditional monkey and peacock dances.

But the Cambodian teenagers, who performed as the "Children of the Khmer" in Scotland last August, are among hundreds of people who have lost their homes in a slum clearance in the centre of Phnom Penh, The Scotsman has learned.

Poor residents of Dey Krahorm had been fighting eviction for three years until police and bulldozers moved in this week.

Many of the dancers affected are orphans or from poor single-parent homes. Thoem Bunleng, at 21 one of the oldest performers, who played a monkey drummer in Edinburgh, watched while his home was razed.

"His father just died, and he couldn't afford to pay for the funeral, and he is basically homeless," said Richard Chappell, who helped bring the Cambodian group to The World venue in Edinburgh. "He is staying in one of the classrooms we have in Phnom Penh."

Witnesses described demolition workers rocking stilted houses till they fell apart as inhabitants tried desperately to remove belongings.

Amnesty International this week called on the Cambodian authorities to stop the demolitions and ensure adequate compensation and restitution for those evicted. Opposition MPs also condemned the "grave violences" of the municipal authorities in the Cambodian capital.

Amnesty said more than 150 poor urban families had lost their homes when a force of about 250 police, firemen and workers moved in at 3am, dispersing protesters with tear gas.

"The most urgent task now is for the government to immediately address the humanitarian needs of these people, who have lost their homes and face imminent food and water shortages," said Amnesty's Cambodian researcher, Brittis Edman.

The Cambodian families claim they have legal rights to the land their shanty homes are built on, but that local authorities signed it over to a developer as property values have skyrocketed. The development company, 7NG, claims to have offered up to $20,000 (£13,986) compensation.

But many of those evicted have said they do not know how to apply for payment – which will be far harder to do now they've been forced out.

The company offered alternative accommodation, but it is said to be several miles outside the city with no facilities and no running water. One girl dancer, Chandaloy, who lived in little more than a cupboard, lost her home yesterday.

"They have full legal right to their houses, they are not squatters. All the simple ground-level houses have been cleared. Stage two is the apartment buildings," said Mr Chappell.

The Children of the Khmer show featured 26 young Cambodians trained by Cambodian Living Arts. CLA is a non-governmental organisation which supports traditional Cambodian artforms, widely banned under the Khmer Rouge.

More than 100 CLA students and at least five teachers live in Dey Krahorm.

John Simpson, of the World venue, which brought the Cambodians together, said: "The real interest for us is to follow through on the projects with the Cambodians. We are going to bring them in 2010 and this will certainly not stop us.

"I am sure the people of Edinburgh will be as welcoming and supportive as they were last time. It means a lot for the kids to know the people they met in Edinburgh are supporting them during such difficult times."

Anyone wishing to help can send an e-mail to info@theworldfestival.com.

BACKGROUND

UNDER the Khmer Rogue regime of Pol Pot, at least 1.7 million Cambodians, some say more than two million, died of starvation, disease and executions during the dictator's primitive experiment in human engineering, called "Year Zero".

The idea behind Year Zero was that all culture and traditions within a society must be completely destroyed or discarded, replaced by a new revolutionary culture.

Consequently, about 90 per cent of the country's performing artists died during the Khmer Rouge regime, a devastating blow to all of Cambodia's ancient traditions.

After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the cultural tragedy was compounded by two decades of economic hardship, when very few of the surviving performers could make a living for themselves.

Cambodian Living Arts stepped in to support those performers who, despite their deep knowledge and skill, had either retired or reduced their teaching and performing loads. Now, it funds 16 classes throughout Phnom Penh and seven other provinces to promote the tradition.

The poor pay for a property boom

Be it ever so humble (Photo: Reuters)

Jan 29th 2009
PHNOM PENH
The Economist

THE fading colonial charm of the French-built Renakse Hotel in Phnom Penh has faded for good. The last guests have been pushed out and the windows boarded up. A property boom in the Cambodian capital has brought a whirl of demolition of old buildings, plans for new high-rise developments, and speculative investment in satellite towns.

The victims of this have been Phnom Penh’s poor. Last week police and private security guards roughly evicted 120 families from Dey Krahorm, a slum in the centre of the city, on the orders of Phnom Penh’s governor. The firm developing the area, 7NG, is linked to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, the CPP, led by Hun Sen, the prime minister. The company plans to turn the site into an upmarket retail park. Nearby, a famous park area known as the Boeung Kak lake is also to be developed, bringing the eviction of 4,500 residents. Many had been living around the lake for 20 years. They have been offered only paltry compensation, and have been relocated to the city’s outskirts with no amenities or obvious way of making a living.

The controversial plans involve filling in 90% of the lake. The CPP has ditched past commitments to conservation and environmental protection, as the boom has driven prime-land prices in Phnom Penh up tenfold in two years, to $5,000 per square metre. The municipal government has granted a 99-year lease on 133 hectares (330 acres) of the Boeung Kak site to a CPP senator, Lao Meng Khin, who is also a director of a company called Shukaku, for a mere $79m—a fraction of its estimated true market value. In April 2008 Mr Khin signed a deal with a Chinese company to turn the lake area into a posh residential and recreation development, to be dubbed the “New City of the East”. A Korean company is building a similar city, known as CamKo, on Phnom Penh’s outskirts.

Critics say the Boeung Kak deal is illegal. Cambodia’s 2001 land law declares all lakes public property that cannot be leased for more than 15 years. The authorities say the deal was legalised by a 2008 decree from Mr Hun Sen’s cabinet, reclassifying “state-public land” as “state-private land”.

Mok Mareth, the environment minister, initially raised concerns that filling in the lake would do serious damage to Phnom Penh’s drainage system. This, he argued, would violate a 1996 law ordaining that Cambodia’s natural resources should be conserved, developed, managed and used in a rational and sustainable manner.

Indeed, since August 2008 when developers started filling the lake in, some houses have already started sinking. An independent report released earlier this month by an Australian assessment team gave a strong warning against the project. It concluded it would lead to an increase in flooding, and would endanger water quality and public health.

Two decades ago, children paddled boats on the lake, families enjoyed picnics, and Mr Hun Sen used to entertain foreign visitors at a modest but picturesque bamboo restaurant. But today, as the bulldozers are poised to raze old Phnom Penh and plug its favourite lake, the urban poor are starting to feel nostalgic for a time when a park really was a park and not a so-called “state-private development zone”.

After illegal demolition and eviction, the 7NG Company now launches an ultimatum on former evictees: Justice under Hun Sen's gov't?

Former Dey Krahorm residents on Monday. Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

7NG makes one final offer

Thursday, 29 January 2009
Written by Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

Saga continues as families evicted from Dey Krahorm by private developer 7NG are offered housing in relocation site 16km outside Phnom Penh.

PRIVATE developer 7NG delivered an ultimatum Wednesday to residents evicted from Dey Krahorm community, saying they had until the end of the month to accept compensation or they would receive nothing, according to a statement from the company.

In a statement by Managing Director Srey Chanthou obtained by the Post Wednesday and dated Tuesday, 7NG urges residents to contact authorities before Saturday if they want to receive a house at the new relocation site in Damnak Trayoeng village, saying there were enough houses for 85 families.

Rights groups claim around 150 families were forcibly evicted from the city-based community Saturday and relocated to Damnak Trayoeng village, 16 kilometres from the city.

An additional sum of 777,700 riels (US$189) was also available along with housing supplies for each family applying, Srey Chanthou wrote.

"Residents and vendors must rush to contact the company and authorities before January 31, 2009. If they are late to accept a house or stalls, the company will not be responsible to provide anymore," Srey Chanthou announced in the statement.

The company also said that the 113 market vendors who had stalls at Dey Krahorm that were also demolished in the eviction could register for new stalls at the relocation site. They are now staying under the car park of Damnak Trayoeng office, the letter added.

He added, however, that individuals renting in the original community would not be eligible to apply for a house. "The company will not be responsible for renters," he said.

Leng Kim Rady, 52, an evictee now living in Damnak Trayoeng, said his family had set up a tarpaulin in a parking area.

"The deadline to receive a home is too early for us to have a chance to think - with a family - whether or not to take a house," he said. "I still want US$20,000, as was the promise by the municipality and the company before eviction."

Chan Vichet, a Dey Krahorm representative, said the number of houses offered would not cover everyone. "Only 85 families can receive a house. What about the others who had a house before the eviction?"