'Aids colony' disturbing

Over the past two months the government has evicted the families from Phnom Penh to live in metal sheds without running water or adequate sanitation at Tuol Sambo (left) (PHOTO: AP)

July 28, 2009
AFP

PHNOM PENH - AIDS campaigners and rights groups protested on Tuesday at Cambodia's shunting of sufferers of the virus into an insanitary 'Aids colony' outside the capital.

Over 100 international and domestic pressure groups told Prime Minister Hun Sen and Health Minister Mam Bunheng in a letter they were 'deeply disturbed' by the government's treatment of 40 HIV-affected families.

Over the past two months the government has evicted the families from Phnom Penh to live in metal sheds without running water or adequate sanitation at Tuol Sambo, an area 25km from the capital, it said.

'By bundling people living with HIV together into second-rate housing, far from medical facilities, support services and jobs, the government has created a de facto AIDS colony,' said Shiba Phurailatpam, of the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, in a statement issued by the groups.

Rebecca Schleifer of New York-based Human Rights Watch said: 'The housing conditions in Tuol Sambo pose serious health risks for families living there.

'People living with HIV have compromised immune systems and are especially vulnerable. For them, these substandard conditions can mean a death sentence or a ticket to a hospital,' she added.

The Cambodian government has faced mounting criticism of forced evictions throughout the country at the hands of the army and police, which a recent human rights report said has affected more than 250,000 people.

Evictions for development purposes have increased in Cambodia as land prices have risen over the past few years. Critics say the practice is fuelling poverty.

People Living With HIV/AIDS Living in Fear of Forced Eviction

Video by Licadho

Over 30 families living with HIV/AIDS in the "green shed" at the Borei Keila social land concession are facing the prospect of eviction.

The Borei Keila social land concession was meant to be a government sponsored land exchange whereby land was given to land developers in exchange for them building apartments for existing families living on the land.

The land concession has been ongoing for the past 5 years with the apartment allocation process rife with allegations of corruption and unfair practices.

The families living in the temporary "green shed" have been waiting for apartments to be allocated to them for the past 2 years, but they are now faced with the prospect of being evicted again to the Toul Sambo relocation site 20km outside of Phnom Penh.

At Toul Sambo there is inadequate housing, no clean water and is far from any markets, schools, employment opportunities and most importantly medical facilities.

Open Letter to the Government of Cambodia Regarding the Treatment of HIV-affected Families from the Community of Borei Keila

July 27, 2009
Source: Human Rights Watch

H.E. Samdech Hun Sen
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
No. 38, Russian Federation Boulevard
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia

H.E. Mam Bunheng
Minister of Health
No 151-153 Kampuchea Krom Boulevard
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia

Your Excellencies,

The Royal Government of Cambodia has won international recognition for its efforts to provide prevention, treatment, care and support for people living with HIV. However, we the under-signed individuals and organizations write to you now to express our deep concern about the discriminatory and potentially life-threatening treatment of HIV-affected families from the community of Borei Keila in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

On June 18, 2009, 20 HIV-affected families were evicted from Borei Keila and sent to Tuol Sambo, a remote resettlement site created by the government on the outskirts of the city. This eviction took place despite repeated appeals to the government, including from United Nations agencies, more than 18 local and international organizations, and a national network of people affected by HIV.

We have reason to fear that relocations of HIV-affected families are continuing even as we sign this letter.

We are deeply disturbed by the Cambodian authorities' creation of a de facto AIDS colony at Tuol Sambo. Located in a desolate, flood-prone field in a semi-rural area 25 kilometers from Phnom Penh, Tuol Sambo is far away from the jobs, medical facilities, and support services that had been available to Borei Keila residents in the city.

The housing conditions at Tuol Sambo are grossly inadequate in terms of size, fire safety, and sanitation. Residents are crowded into poorly ventilated metal sheds that are baking hot in the daytime. There are no kitchens and no running water in the sheds, which are flanked by open sewers, and only one public well to service the evicted families. According to Medecins Sans Frontieres, these conditions do not meet international minimum standards for temporary emergency housing.

While other homeless people from Phnom Penh are slated for relocation to brick houses at an adjacent site at Tuol Sambo, the HIV-affected families from Borei Keila have been placed in a separate settlement with inferior housing, distinguished by green corrugated metal roofing and walls. Even before the evictees were resettled there, local people referred to the green sheds as "the AIDS village."

The Borei Keila evictions were carried out to make way for a commercial development, which was granted government approval in 2003 with the understanding that the developer would build new housing on site for residents displaced by the project.

With a few exceptions, the HIV-affected families thus far displaced by the development have not been screened for eligibility for the on-site housing - unlike other families who are not affected by HIV. After waiting for two years, the authorities have now acknowledged that at least 11 HIV-affected families previously slated to be sent to Tuol Sambo are in fact eligible for new on-site housing at Borei Keila. To date, however, they remain in Borei Keila and have not yet been provided new housing.

For the other families evicted to Tuol Sambo, the Ministry of Health has reportedly given assurances that antiretroviral (ARV) medication and opportunistic infection treatment will be available to them. It is not clear, however, that the ministry has a sound long-term plan to ensure this. Since the eviction, the government has not directly provided services but has relied instead on nongovernmental organizations to ensure continued access to medicines, for example by paying transportation costs for the evictees to come to hospitals in the city.

In addition, there has been no consideration of the impact on health of the poor living conditions at Tuol Sambo and the lack of income-generating opportunities there. The living conditions at Tuol Sambo pose serious health risks, particularly to people with compromised immune systems. The risk to those people living with HIV can be life threatening. Residents report that the heat in the poorly ventilated metal sheds is so intense that they are usually unable to remain in their rooms during the afternoon and they are afraid that their ARV medication will deteriorate in the heat.

We take this opportunity to state our opposition to the segregation or isolation of people living with HIV, as such policies promote stigmatization and further discrimination and may seriously jeopardize their access to necessary prevention, care, treatment, and support services.

Furthermore, we recognize that people living with HIV need more than just medicines to survive. They need a continuum of care that addresses the psychological, legal, social, and economic consequences of living with HIV, and assures adequate shelter, nutrition, income generation, and access to education and other essential services.

In light of the above, we request the Royal Cambodian Government to:

• Cease moving HIV-affected families to the Tuol Sambo relocation site;
• Improve conditions at Tuol Sambo site so that they meet minimum standards for adequate shelter, sanitation, and clean water;
• Ensure full access to quality medical services, including antiretroviral treatment, treatment of opportunistic infections, as well as primary health care and home-based care;
• Work with relevant agencies and consult with the families already at Tuol Sambo to address immediate and long-term concerns regarding housing, health, safety, employment, and reintegration into society in a manner that protects their rights and livelihoods;
• Employ a transparent and fair screening process to determine eligibility for on-site housing at Borei Keila, and grant eligible families the housing immediately (including the 11 HIV-affected families already approved by the authorities); for those found ineligible, authorities should provide other adequate housing.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Organizations:

ACCES
Marseilles, France

ACT UP Philadelphia
United States

Action SIDA Comoros
Union of Comoros

AIDS Action Now!
Toronto, Canada

AIDS Action
United States

The AIDS Consortium
South Africa

AIDS Law project
South Africa

AIDS Project Los Angeles
United States

AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa
Namibia

All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Ukraine

Alliance for Holistic and Sustainable Development of Communities
India

American Jewish World Service
United States

Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice
Russia

Asia Catalyst
United States

Asian Harm Reduction Network
Thailand

Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations
Malaysia

Asia Pacific Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS
Thailand

Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers
Malaysia

ASUD
France

Balance
Mexico

BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights
Nigeria

Blood Ties Four Directions Centre
Yukon, Canada

Bolivian Network of People with HIV/AIDS
Bolivia

Brazilian Drug Policy Center - Psicotropicus
Brazil

British Columbia Persons with AIDS Society
Canada

Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
Canada

Canadian Harm Reduction Network
Canada

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
Canada

Canadian Treatment Action Council
Canada

Center for Reproductive Rights
United States

Center for Health Policy and Innovation.
United States

Centre for Human Rights
Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
South Africa

Children Education Society
Tanzania
中国北京爱之方舟感染者信息支持组织
[in English: China Beijing Ark of Love Infected Persons Information Support Organization]
China

The Secretariat of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Regional Networks on HIV and AIDS
Thailand

Comision Internacional de los Derechos Humanos para Gays y Lesbianas
[in English: International Commission of Human Rights for Gays and Lesbians]
Argentina

Consejo Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Organizaciones No Gubermentales con Servicio en VIH/SIDA
[in English: Latin American and Caribbean Council of AIDS Service Organizations]

Cultura Joven
[in English: Youth Culture]
Mexico

East Europe and Central Asia Union of PWH Organizations

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
Egypt

Foundation for Integrative AIDS Research
United States

Fundación Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer
[in English: Foundation for Women's Studies]
Spain

Fundación Argentina Pro Ayuda al Niño con Sida
[in English: Argentinian Foundation for the Support of Children with AIDS]
Argentina

GESTOS - Soropositividade, Comunicação y Gênero
[in English: GESTOS - Soropositivity, Communications and Gender
Brazil

Global Action for Children
United States

Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
United States

Global Effort for Women against AIDS
Uganda

Global Forum on MSM and HIV
United States

Global Network of People Living with HIV

Global Welfare Association
Cameroon

Gram Bharati Samiti
[in English: Society for Rural Development]
India

Grassroots Movement for Health and Development
Malawi

Grupo Esperanza y Vida
[in English: Hope and Life Group]
Uruguay

Grupo de Mujeres de Argentina
[in English: Women's Forum of Argentina]
Argentina

Health Equity and Law Clinic
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Canada

Health GAP (Global Access Project)
United States

Hepatitis, AIDS, Research Trust
United States

HIV&AIDS Legal Services Alliance
Los Angeles, CA, United States

Hong Guang Alliance
China

Human Rights Watch
United States

Intercambios Asociación Civil
Buenos Aires, Argentina

International AIDS Women's Caucus
Argentina

International Center for Advancement of Addiction Treatment
United States

Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development
Canada

International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS
United Kingdom

International Council of AIDS Service Organizations
Canada

International Drug Policy Consortium
United Kingdom

International Harm Reduction Association
United Kingdom

International HIV/AIDS Alliance
United Kingdom

International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine
Ukraine

International Network of People Who Use Drugs

International Nursing Harm Reduction Network

International Transport Workers' Federation
United Kingdom

International Treatment Preparedness Coalition
Thailand(Secretariat)

International Women's Health Coalition
United States

INTILLA Asociación Civil
Argentina

Jamaica AIDS Support for Life
Jamaica

Japanese Network of People Living with HIV
Japan

Lawyers Collective
India

Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat
[in English: Community Legal Aid Institute]
Indonesia

La Liga Colombiana de Lucha contra el Sida
[in English: Colombian Alliance to Fight AIDS]
Colombia

LIGA Bonaerense de Diversidad Sexual
[in English: Bonaerense Alliance for Sexual Diversity]
Argentina

Malaysian AIDS Council
Malaysia

Movimiento Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Mujeres Positivas
[in English: Latin America and Caribbean Movement of Positive Women]
Uruguay

National Council of Churches in India
India

National MSM and HIV Policy Advocacy & Human Rights Task Force
India

Naz Foundation
India

Networking Aids Community of South Africa
South Africa

Oasis de San Juan de Dios
Mexico

People's Health Movement USA
United States

Physicians for Human Rights
United States

Positive Malaysian Treatment Access & Advocacy Group
Malaysia

Positive Women Incorporated
New Zealand

Prevenir es Cuidar
[in English: To Prevent is To Cure]
Argentina

Protection Enfant SIDA
[in English: Protection of Children with AIDS]
Democratic Republic of Congo

PROYECTO SOL
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Raks Thai Foundation
Thailand

Recovering Nepal
Nepal

Release
United Kingdom

Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha
India

Senderos Asociación Mutual
Colombia

Sex Workers Concern Group
Hong Kong

Sidaction
France

Society for Women Against AIDS in Africa
Senegal

Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service
South Africa

Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group
Thailand

Treatment Action Campaign
South Africa

Union Alernative Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia

United Belize Advocacy Movement
Belize

Urban Health Research Initiative
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Vikas Adhyayan Kendra's
[in English: Center for Development Studies]
Mumbai, India

WITNESS
United States

Women and Law in Southern Africa
Zambia

World Aids Campaign
South Africa

Yayasan Kesehatan Bali
[in English: The Bali Health Foundation]
Indonesia

Youth RISE International
Canada

Individuals:

Tomoko Ako
Associate Professor, Waseda University
Japan

Professor Brook K. Baker
Northeastern U. School of Law, Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy
United States

Chris Beyrer MD MPH
Director, Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
United States

Dr. Graciela Biagini
University of Buenos Aires
Argentina

Alan Brotherton

R. Douglas Bruce MD MA MSc
Assistant Professor, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation Scholar, Yale University School of Medicine
United States

Wendy Chapkis
Professor, Sociology and Women & Gender Studies, University of Southern Maine
United States

Slyvia Chirawu
National Coordinator, WLSA Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Joanne Csete
Associate professor, Clinical Population and Family Health, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
United States

Chris Curry MD PhD

Nancy M. Doctor
Attorney at Law
Berkeley, California, United States

Yu Fangqiang
China

Dhan Raj Ghimire
National Coordinator, Children at Risk Network
Nepal

Dr. Rajesh Gopal MD
Joint Director, Gujarat State AIDS Control Society
India

Sofia Gruskin JD MIA
Director, Program on International Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health
United States

Mauro Guarinieri
Senior International Consultant, Global Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS

Christina T. Holder JD
Uriel and Caroline Bauer Human Rights Fellow, Cardozo School of Law
United States

T. Jayashree
Independent Film maker
Bangalore, India

Ralf Jürgens
Consultant HIV/AIDS, Health, Policy and Human Rights

Thomas Kerr PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Canada

Alana Klein
Faculty of Law, McGill University
Canada

A. Marston
United Kingdom

Laura McGrew
United States

Nicholas mbae Njeru
Kenya

Alice M. Miller JD

David B. Olson
Barrister and Solicitor
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Dr. Nancy Ordover

Nicholas Bartlett
University of California, San Francisco
United States

Edith Pilkington
United States

Sophie Pinkham

Supattra Pisetpattanakul
Executive Officer, AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific
Thailand

Oswaldo Rada
Colombia

Mindy Jane Roseman JD PhD
Lecturer on Law, Academic Director, Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School
United States

Mahesh Sharma
Executive Board Member, HIV/AIDS and STI Control Board
Kathmandu, Nepal

Daniel Tarantola MD
Professor of Health and Human Rights, School of Public Health and Community Medicine
Australia

Isaac Tita
Réseau Africain des Personnes Vivant avec le VIH/SIDA- Afrique Centrale
[In English: African Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS - Central Africa]
Cameroon

Carole S. Vance PhD MPH
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
United States

Christine S. Waters
Staff Attorney, Legal Services of Central New York, Inc.
United States

Stan Wong
Singapore

Tian Xi
China

cc: Lok Chumteav Bun Rany Hun Sen
President, Cambodian Red Cross

Dr. Mean Chhi Vun,
Director, NCHADS, Cambodia

H.E. Teng Kunthy
Secretary General, Cambodia National Aids Authority

H.E. Kep Chuktema
Phnom Penh Municipal Governor

Douglas Broderick
UN Resident Coordinator, Cambodia

Tony Lisle
Country Coordinator, UNAIDS Cambodia

Michael O'Leary
Country Representative, World Health Organization Cambodia

Christophe Peschoux
Country Representative, Cambodia Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

‘AIDS Colony’ Violates Rights

HIV/AIDS and Social Justice Groups call on Government to Halt Evictions of HIV-Affected Families

July 27, 2009
Source: Human Rights Watch

"By bundling people living with HIV together into second-rate housing, far from medical facilities, support services, and jobs, the government has created a de facto AIDS colony. It's hard to understand how a government that has received international recognition for its HIV-prevention efforts could so callously ignore the basic rights of people living with HIV." - Shiba Phurailatpam of the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS.

The Cambodian government should urgently address dangerous conditions in a de facto AIDS colony it has created and immediately stop sending HIV-affected families there, more than 100 international HIV/AIDS and social justice organizations and experts said in a joint letter delivered on July 27, 2009 to Cambodia's prime minister and health minister.

In June 2009, the Cambodian government forcibly relocated 20 HIV-affected families living in Borei Keila, a housing development in Phnom Penh, to substandard housing at Tuol Sambo, a remote site 25 kilometers from the city. Another 20 families were moved there on July 23. The families were resettled into crude, green metal sheds that are baking hot in the daytime and lack running water and adequate sanitation. Just meters away, higher-quality brick housing is being built, with the assistance of a nonprofit group, for other homeless families slated for resettlement at Tuol Sambo. Even before the HIV-affected families were resettled at the site, local people referred to the green sheds as "the AIDS village."

"By bundling people living with HIV together into second-rate housing, far from medical facilities, support services, and jobs, the government has created a de facto AIDS colony," said Shiba Phurailatpam of the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. "It's hard to understand how a government that has received international recognition for its HIV-prevention efforts could so callously ignore the basic rights of people living with HIV."

Dozens of organizations and individuals based in the Asia-Pacific region signed the letter, joined by groups and individuals from many nations, ranging from Canada and the United States to India and Tanzania.

The letter stresses that conditions at Tuol Sambo do not meet minimum international standards for even temporary emergency housing. The shelters are flanked by open sewers, with only one public well for all of the relocated families. They are crowded into the poorly ventilated metal sheds, where the afternoon heat is so intense they often cannot remain in their rooms, and they fear their antiretroviral (ARV) medication will deteriorate.

"The housing conditions in Tuol Sambo pose serious health risks for families living there," said Rebecca Schleifer, health and human rights advocate at Human Rights Watch. "People living with HIV have compromised immune systems and are especially vulnerable. For them, these substandard conditions can mean a death sentence or a ticket to a hospital."

The organizations also expressed deep concern about discrimination against HIV-affected families in the screening and allocation process for on-site replacement housing being built at Borei Keila. After two years of denying eligibility to HIV-affected families for this housing, the authorities have now said that at least 11 HIV-affected families previously slated to be sent to Tuol Sambo are in fact eligible. Those families remain at Borei Keila, but are still waiting for the housing they have been promised.

Increasing property values in Cambodia's capital city have left thousands of urban poor people vulnerable to forced evictions to make way for commercial development. The development of the Borei Keila site was approved in 2003 with the understanding that the developer would build new housing on site for those displaced by the project. With few exceptions, however, the HIV-affected families thus far displaced have not even been screened for eligibility for this housing.

When living at Borei Keila, these people worked as day laborers, motorcycle taxi drivers, cleaners, and seamstresses. Now, most have no prospects of work at or near Tuol Sambo. Their economic situation is worsened by the fact that a return trip to Phnom Penh to go to work or to visit hospitals costs the equivalent of about US$5 - for families who earn only $1.50 to $3 a day.

"The Cambodian government needs to establish a fair and open process for all to receive the housing and services they need," said Kevin Moody of The Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+). "People living with HIV - like all others - need adequate living conditions that do not threaten their health and a way to earn a livelihood, so that they can provide for themselves and their families. Grouping families affected by HIV in this way exposes them to further stigma and discrimination; steps must be taken to end this discrimination now."

The groups called on the Cambodian government to:

• Cease moving HIV-affected families to the Tuol Sambo site;
• Improve conditions at Tuol Sambo to meet minimum standards for adequate shelter, sanitation, and clean water;
• Ensure full access to quality medical services, including antiretroviral treatment, treatment of opportunistic infections, primary health care and home-based care;
• Work with relevant agencies and consult with the families already at Tuol Sambo to address immediate and long-term concerns regarding housing, health, safety, and employment, and reintegration into society in a manner that protects their rights and livelihoods; and
• Employ a transparent and fair screening process to determine eligibility for on-site housing at Borei Keila, and allow eligible families to move in immediately (including the 11 HIV-affected families already approved). For those found ineligible, authorities should provide other adequate housing.

"Living with HIV with dignity means more than just ARVs," said Aditi Sharma of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition. "It means these families should have a healthy environment with adequate nutrition, proper sanitation and a continuum of care that addresses the social, psychological, legal, and economic consequences of living with HIV."

Borei Keila -- lives at risk

Source: Amnesty International USA

"I want Prime Minister Hun Sen and [his wife] Bun Rany to know that we are living in misery so that they can help and intervene, because we have no one else. We also want to live." - Community member living with HIV and facing forced eviction

Around 32 Phnom Penh families living with HIV-AIDS are facing imminent forced eviction from Borei Keila in central Phnom Penh to a resettlement site without water, electricity and medical services. The families, who now live in temporary shelters, have protested at the planned resettlement to Tuol Sambo, some 25 kilometres from the city, where they would have no means of income and lose access to adequate health services.

Living conditions at Tuol Sambo pose a great health risk while transport costs to continue anti-retroviral treatment and access to medical services in the city would be prohibitive. So far, their protests to the authorities have been unsuccessful.

"They have told us that we will have to leave early May", said Seang Vy, 32, who is blind from opportunistic disease as a result of HIV.

Seang Vy told Amnesty International that members of all the families have visited Tuol Sambo to see the site for themselves; her mother went to check it on her behalf. They describe the housing as cramped, unstable and lacking basic services, but fear the distance to medical facilities the most.

"I wonder if they want us to move there so that we die more quickly. If we get sick at night, there is no means of transportation," she said.

And if they get sick during the day, they may not be able to afford a motorcycle taxi to travel to a clinic. All 32 families have at least one member who requires anti-retroviral treatment, a life-saving treatment provided through government- and NGO-supported programs. However, many have opportunistic infections.

The resettlement site

The housing at the resettlement site in Dangkor district is made of green metal sheets and looks distinct from the other homes in the semi-rural area. When Amnesty International visited the site in April 2009, villagers in the vicinity already referred to it as "the AIDS-village". Seang Vy and the other village representatives expressed strong fears that they will face further discrimination and stigmatization because of their HIV status if forced to live in this separate, distinct enclave. Stigmatization may be further perpetuated by their poverty and lack of job opportunities.

"We are afraid that [in Tuol Sambo] we won't be able to sell anything we might produce, and we won't be able to touch meat or fruit when we go to the market. That's not the case in the city, where people have many ways of living and don't have such ideas", said Thy, 35, a mother of two.

The resettlement housing does not meet minimal standards for emergency shelter with respect to size, fire safety and sanitation, according to Medecins Sans Frontiers, which surveyed the site in 2008 when construction had first begun. The buildings are too close together for safety and ventilation, while the land and the buildings are unstable. The living space is not sufficient for an average family and there is no privacy as the metal sheets separating the flats are only partial.

Tuol Sambo has no clean water supply and only a very rudimentary sanitation system. The housing is made of corrugated metal which makes the inside space very hot, while the outside space between the rows of housing is almost non-existent.

"There is no land to plant even a banana tree," said Seang Vy.

Most of the 32 families are living in severe poverty and would sink even deeper into poverty if they are forcibly evicted to Tuol Sambo.

The housing at the resettlement site at Tuol Sambo is far from adequate: it is cramped and lacks basic amenities, including clean water supply.

Currently they make a living as scavengers or porters in a market near to Borei Keila or as day labourers, earning daily wages of between 6,000 and 10,000 riels (approx 1.50-2.5 USD). A one-way trip from Tuol Sambo to their current work places costs an estimated 15,000 riels, so the forced eviction would effectively deprive them of their means to earn a living.

Thy and her husband, both of them living with HIV, struggle to earn an income due to health problems. She has had to give up her work as a fruit-seller a year ago, and they rely on what her husband can earn as a motorcycle taxi driver. It would be very difficult for him to earn enough driving a taxi in the semi-rural village of Tuol Sambo.

Thy and her husband Prum Pel are both in poor health and struggle to earn a living. Like the other 31 families they rely on access to medical services.

Borei Keila -- a social land concession

The families live within a large poor urban community, Borei Keila, which the government designated as a so-called social land concession for residential development in 2003. Poor, homeless families are the primary beneficiaries of social land concessions, according to the 2003 Sub-Decree on Social Land Concessions. In the case of Borei Keila social land concession it was intended to be implemented as a land-sharing arrangement between a private developer, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, and residents. The agreement gave the developer 2.6 hectares of the land in Borei Keila for commercial development, in exchange for constructing new housing for the original over 1,700 residents on two hectares of the land. The remainder, consisting of 10 hectares, was to be returned to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.

In March 2007 the Municipality of Phnom Penh resettled the families, who lived in Borei Keila, against their will and reportedly with force, in the so-called Green Houses, temporary shelters built -- just like the resettlement site - of mostly green corrugated metal sheets. The authorities told them that they would stay there for a few months only, to pave way for the construction of a number of residential multi-storey houses. They agreed, hoping that at least those of them who had rented housing since at least 2000 would get flats in the new buildings, still under construction.

Many of the 32 families have lived in Borei Keila long enough to be eligible for flats in the new buildings, in accordance with a 2004 agreement between the Municipality and the community that affords housing entitlements to renter families residing in Borei Keila since the year 2000 or earlier. However, in an assessment process involving NGOs and the UN in March 2007, officials of the Municipality refused to assess the vast majority of cases involving HIV-affected families. Seang Vy, Thy and others believe that the authorities discriminated against them because of their HIV status. Instead of assessing them to determine eligibility for flats in the new buildings, the authorities decided to forcibly evict them.

On 27 April 2009, amid criticism against the imminent forced eviction, local officials - for the first time - publicly acknowledged to journalists that families who are eligible should receive apartments at Borei Keila. However, there appears to have been no decision to halt the planned forced eviction, nor have any representatives of the Prampi Makara District, mandated to conduct such vetting, started assessing the families' eligibility. Sun Srun, the District Governor, told the Cambodia Daily on 11 April 2009 that the families "must accept this offer" [of relocation].

Amnesty International believes that those who have been denied housing for which they are eligible, should immediately be given apartments at Borei Keila. Any family found ineligible, should be provided other adequate alternative housing with access to health services for anti-retroviral treatment and treatment and job opportunities.

Background

The last decade has seen a steady rise in the number of reported land disputes and land confiscations and evictions, including forced evictions, in Cambodia. Victims are almost exclusively marginalized people living in poverty, who are unable to obtain effective remedies. This rise is a result of the lack of the rule of law; a seriously delayed process of legal and judicial reform; and endemic corruption.

In 2008, Amnesty International received reports about 27 forced evictions, affecting an estimated 23,000 people. Some 150,000 Cambodians are known to be living at risk of forced eviction in the wake of land disputes, land grabbing, agro-industrial and urban redevelopment projects. An estimated 70,000 of these live in Phnom Penh.

HIV prevalence is reported to be declining in Cambodia, down from 1.2 percent of the adult population between 15 and 49 years in 2003 to 0.9 percent in June 2007, according to UNAIDS. The number of people living with HIV is estimated at 71,000.

As a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and other international human rights treaties, Cambodia has an obligation to stop forced evictions and to protect the population from forced evictions.

Forced evictions are evictions carried out without adequate notice, consultation with those affected, without legal safeguards and without assurances of adequate alternative accommodation. Whether they be owners, renters or illegal settlers, everyone should possess a degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats.

Cambodia also has an obligation to ensure adequate provision of health care to all its citizens, including access to treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS. The International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and human rights also urge states to ensure universal access to HIV-related goods, services and information, and that they "not only be available, acceptable and of good quality, but within physical reach and affordable".

Cambodian health authorities, which have won international acclaim for their achievements in addressing HIV and AIDS, espouse an approach of "continuum of care" which seeks to address not only the medical issues but also social, psychological, legal, and economic consequences of living with HIV. The Cambodian 2002 Law on Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS provides that no one"shall be quarantined, placed in isolation or refused abode", or expulsed "due to the actual, perceived or suspected HIV/AIDS status of that person or his/her family members."1
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TAKE ACTION!

Write urgently to the Prime Minister:

• Calling on the authorities to protect the 32 families living at Borei Keila from forced eviction, and to immediately determine their eligibility for flats in the new buildings which are being built as part of the 2003 social land concession;
• Calling on the authorities to guarantee adequate alternative housing with security of tenure for those found to be ineligible, including access to health services for anti-retroviral treatment and treatment for HIV and AIDS related illnesses or opportunistic infections;
• Calling on the authorities to ensure that the families are not discriminated against because of their health status;
• Calling on the government to end all forced evictions as a matter of urgency.

Prime Minister Hun Sen
Office of the Prime Minister
#38 Russian Federation Blvd.
Phnom Penh
Kingdom of Cambodia
Salutation: Dear Samdech
Fax: + 855 23 36 0666
Email: cabinet1b@camnet.comk.kh

1 Law on the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, 2002, (see e.g http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/aids/laws/cambodia1.pdf)