'Land-grabbing' impoverishes Cambodians

A life of poverty awaits the victims of the land-grabbing in Sambok Chap

Sun, Jun 07, 2009
AFP

PHNOM PENH - Widespread land-grabbing in Cambodia by individuals and companies in the name of development is fuelling poverty and has affected more than 250,000 people, a rights group said in a report Sunday.

The report by the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights (LICADHO) was released to mark the third anniversary of the 2006 final eviction of 13,000 people from a riverside slum in the capital Phnom Penh.

"Evictions and land-grabbing are not helping to develop Cambodia - they are simply causing more poverty and hardship," said Pung Chiev Gek, the president of the rights group.

"A few rich and powerful individuals and companies benefit by becoming richer and stronger, while the health and welfare of countless Cambodians becomes weaker and weaker," Pung Chiev Gek said.

The report said that more than a quarter of a million Cambodians had been affected by such moves between 2003 and 2008 in the 13 provinces and municipalities where the group has offices.

The report also addresses the unexpected eviction of another Phnom Penh slum in late January 2009, which was condemned by the United Nations.

The Cambodian government has faced mounting criticism for forced evictions throughout the country at the hands of army and police. Evictions have increased as land prices have risen over the past few years.

Better Planning and More Transparency Needed from Government as Development Continues, Expert Says

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
27 December 2007

Well-planned development is positive for Cambodia but the government too often is approving development projects on state-owned land concessions without taking into account how initiatives will impact average citizens, a policy expert told VOA Khmer Thursday.

Var Moeun, president of an environmental awareness NGO, Mlob Bai Tang, said authorities under the direction of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government have a responsibility to keep the public better informed about planned projects and discussions about potential initiatives.

‘’We do not object to development but if a particular project will negatively impact on the lives of regular Cambodians, it should not be permitted,’’ Var Moeun said as a guest on Hello VOA, VOA Khmer’s twice-weekly call-in, talk show.

The Cambodian government has been criticized over the years by international observers for allowing large-scale forest clearing by businesses that do not take into account surrounding communities or the long-term interests of the area.

He said the importance of the forests, fresh water, diverse plant and animal life are not well understood by most Cambodians and that his organization is attempting to inform and educate.

Var Moeun said Cambodia’s lawmakers in the National Assembly are not fulfilling their role to protect the countries natural resources, particularly forests. Lawmakers must assert themselves and help protect the nation if the government is not going to make it a priority, he said.

Rights of Khmer Krom monks under Hun Sen's regime are curtailed just like under the oppressive Hanoi regime

MoI again rejects the request made by Khmer Krom monks

01 July 2007
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Officials from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) rejected the request made by about 1,000 Khmer Krom monks to hold a Dhammayietra Walk for Peace from Phnom Penh to Oudong Mountain on 07 July.

Khieu Sopheak, MoI spokesman, said that according to the recent declaration issued by the Buddhist patriarch, monks are not allowed to hold Dhammayietra to make any demands.

He added that even if it does not involve monks, the organizers of the Dhammayietra must request in advance the authorization from all the local authorities of all the regions this Dhammayietra will cross, and only after this condition fulfilled that the MoI will provide them with the authorization.

Khieu Sopheak said: “The MoI does not govern monks, and the Buddhist patriarch (Non Nget) does not authorize, he issued a proper declaration saying that Walks to demand rights are not allowed.”

Thach Setha, President of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom association, told RFA on 01 July that when he met with officials from the Phnom Penh municipality, it seems that there were no such severe restrictions, however, if the MoI does not authorize the Dhammayietra, (Khmer Krom) monks and Khmer Krom organizations will meet to decide what to do next.

Thach Setha said: “This situation is becoming very serious for Khmer Krom people, we don’t know what our position will be, and our hope is not certain. We will meet to decide whether all the organizations and associations, in particular, the (Khmer Krom) monks, are all determined, then we need to take action according to the decision made by our assembly.”

Suon Rindy, deputy cabinet chief of the Phnom Penh municipality, said that regarding the request made by Khmer Krom monks and associations to hold a Dhammayietra, the municipality is awaiting for the authorization from the MoI only.

Monk Yoeung Sin, President of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Monks Association, said that if the authority does not allow monks to protest or hold a Dhammayietra, why do they still continue to defrock (Khmer Krom) monks?

Khmer Kampuchea Krom Associations, and the Federation of Khmer Kampuchea Krom Buddhist Student Monks, plan to organize a Dhammayietra from Phnom Penh to Oudong with the participation of about 1,000 monks and laymen, last 10 June. The aim of the Dhammayietra is to pray for peace for Khmer people and monks currently living in the former lands of Kampuchea Krom (current South Vietnam). However, the authority did not authorize that Dhammayietra, the event was then reported to 07 July (and it is now met by another refusal from the authority again).

Hun Sen's reverse psychology warfare: His regime urges donors to cut fundings for Global Witness

07/06/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Cambodia is urging key donors to review their funding of Global Witness after the forestry watchdog accused Prime Minister Hun Sen's relatives and other elites of illegal logging.

A communique from Cambodia's embassy in London calls the allegations totally groundless and calls on Britain, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, and the Netherlands to re-consider their support for Global Witness.
Publish Post
The demand is the latest event in an escalating row between Cambodia and the London-based watchdog, which issued a report last week detailing the plundering of timber by officials and their families.

The annual meeting of Cambodia's donors is due this month in Phnom Penh and many say they are frustrated by the lack of reform, particularly the government's apparent unwillingness to tackle rampant corruption.

Khmer Krom Monks and religious freedom in Vietnam

10 May 2007
By Hassan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

In March of 2007, the US Department of State issued a yearly report on religious freedom in Vietnam. The report indicated that the Viet government tightened religious freedom in an alarming manner, in spite of the fact that the Viet constitution recognizes religious freedom.

All Cambodian regimes, from the Sangkum Reastr Niyum era (under then-Prince Sihanouk’s government), and up to the Democratic Kampuchea regime or Khmer Rouge regime, have considered Khmer Krom people as full right Cambodian citizens who have the same rights and freedoms as other Cambodian citizens living in the current Cambodia.

Chapter III, Article 32 of the constitution of the current Kingdom of Cambodia, stipulates that “Every Khmer citizen shall have the right to life, personal freedom and security,” and Article 33 states that “Khmer citizens shall not be deprived of their nationality.”

Nevertheless, a large number of Khmer Krom monks are suffering from not being recognized, nor receiving any attention from the current Cambodian regime, especially when they flee Vietnam to come to Cambodia. These monks are jailed like any laymen [when they arrive in Cambodia], Monk Lam Yean is one of the monks who suffered such indignity.

Monk Yoeung Sin, the abbot of the Samaki Raingsey pagoda, informed with sadness for all Cambodians to know that: “This is what we mean by ‘the inside ghost (collaborators, i.e. the Phnom Penh regime) lending a hand to the outside ghost (foreign oppressors),’ they (Vietnamese) have no fear, we can see this problem very clearly. I am calling and begging to the consciousness of all Cambodians to wake up [to support Khmer Krom plight], whether we want it or not, we are all born as Cambodians, we have the same ancestry.”

Monk Ly Ron, the abbot of the Teak Prey pagoda, told RFA by phone that the Vietnamese have free rein in creating problems for Khmer Krom monks: “We have lived under hardship and we demonstrated for several decades already. For [example,] in the celebration of the Kathen festival, under the thousands years old Buddhist custom, it is celebrated for one full season, that is between 29 and 30 days, following the 3-month monk retreat season. But at the end, this convention was ordered scrubbed by the Vietnamese who ordered that the celebration be held on one day only. All Buddhist followers, be they monks or laymen, we suffer [from this oppression]. Our Khmer Krom monks have been fighting [these oppressions] for a long time already.”

Abbot Yoeung Sin who was jailed in Takeo for almost 10 years by the Vietnamese experts [during the occupation of Cambodia] in the 80s, told The Phnom Penh Post newspaper that if the current Cambodian government is truly an independent regime, it would not take such [barbaric] actions against Khmer Krom monks.