Illegal Arrests & Social Affairs Centers: Time For Govt Action, Not More Denials

"This is to mark that I lived in terror under oppression," wrote another prisoner.

Click here to see all Licadho's photos from Prey Speu Social Affairs Center

November 9, 2008
Media Statement
Licadho.org

LICADHO deplores the government’s continued failure to take proper action to investigate and punish systematic abuses committed at the Prey Speu and Koh Kor Social Affairs Centers, and to ensure that such abuses cannot occur again.

The Ministry of Social Affairs, in a statement dated November 4 and published in Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper on November 6, repeated its assertion that poor homeless people had stayed at the centers “on a voluntary basis” to receive vocational training and other services. The statement assured human rights and other civil society groups that there was no reason for concern about the centers.

On November 6, the day the statement was published, LICADHO staff were permitted to enter the Prey Speu center, in Phnom Penh’s Chom Chao district, for the first time after months of being refused access. Inside, they found that center staff who have been implicated in grave abuses against detainees in the past - and whom LICADHO has asked the government to suspend pending a full investigation - continue to work there.

In addition, LICADHO found irrefutable evidence that people had been forcibly detained there. Scrawled on the walls of two rooms in one of the center’s buildings were messages written by former detainees, such as “Detained in a miserable prison” and “Pity me, help me”. One detainee wrote of living “in terror [and] under oppression” there. Another etched the words “Hell life”, in English, into a wall.

The messages were found in rooms, whose rear windows were nailed shut, in which numerous former detainees have told LICADHO they were confined. Much of the writing on the walls was no longer readable, having been washed away by center staff in June this year, after publicity about abuses committed at Prey Speu. Blood stains were also washed off the walls and floors of the rooms then, according to former detainees interviewed by LICADHO. But some messages - many of them carved into the walls with rocks or other sharp objects - remain legible.

"The walls of Prey Speu speak very clearly about what has happened there for years - human beings, unlawfully arrested from the streets, have been locked up like animals in appalling conditions," said LICADHO director Naly Pilorge. "The evidence is irrefutable and these victims' voices deserve to finally be heard.

"The time for denials from the government is past. Now is the time for real action to provide some long-overdue justice to these victims, and to ensure that no-one else ever has to endure what they did,” continued Pilorge. “This should begin with the immediate suspension of all known alleged perpetrators, pending a full investigation into abuses, and the immediate closure of both Prey Speu and Koh Kor."

For years, the government has periodically rounded up homeless people, beggars, sex workers, drug users and other perceived ‘undesirables’ from Phnom Penh streets and detained them at so-called social centers such as Prey Speu and Koh Kor (the latter, also known as Koh Rumdoul, situated on an island in Kandal province). Although the government has consistently claimed these people agree to stay at the centers, evidence to the contrary has steadily mounted.

In recent months, LICADHO has submitted detailed information to the government alleging unlawful detention and other serious abuses at Prey Speu and Koh Kor. These include the alleged beatings to death of at least three detainees, and gang-rapes of women, by guards at Prey Speu. Suicides of prisoners after abuse by guards have also been reported there.

The Ministry of Social Affairs' November 4 statement said that LICADHO's concerns are similar to those expressed by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and have already been investigated by the Ministry of Interior. It refers to a September 25 report by the Ministry of Interior, without elaboration.

The Ministry of Interior report, sent to LICADHO in response to its allegations, appears to be largely if not solely based on information from the Ministry of Social Affairs. It denies unlawful detentions at Prey Speu or Koh Kor. It acknowledges, however, that persons were kept in padlocked rooms at Koh Kor - as showed in photos taken by LICADHO in June - but claims that this was only for brief periods, and "for the safety" of the people.

After LICADHO's photos of men, women and children locked up at Koh Kor were sent to the government in June, detainees there and at Prey Speu were released. Koh Kor is believed to have remained empty since then, although there are a number of families currently staying at Prey Speu (they say they are there voluntarily because they were promised money if they stay there three months). Neither center has been officially closed - to the contrary, the government insists both remain open - and LICADHO fears that they may be used again as unlawful detention sites at any time.

In the run-up to next week's Water Festival, renewed unlawful arrests of street persons have occurred. LICADHO condemns these round-ups conducted by local authorities but welcomes reports that the Ministry of Social Affairs has refused to accept the arrestees from police.

LICADHO calls upon the police and district authorities responsible for the recent arrests to publicly account for all the arrestees, to ensure that none of them are still being detained anywhere. It also urges an immediate end to such arrests before, during and after the Water Festival, and for the Ministry of Social Affairs to maintain its refusal to accept such persons.

“The government must end once and for all its long-standing policy of abducting and unlawfully detaining poor people and other ‘undesirables’ from Phnom Penh streets, in order to ‘beautify’ the city,” said Naly Pilorge. “If it does not, then the same types of grave abuses will continue to occur, whether it is at Prey Speu, Koh Kor or somewhere else.”

Additionally, LICADHO believes that the closure of Prey Speu and Koh Kor, and proper investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators there, are essential to provide justice and to ensure such crimes do not occur again.

“The fact that Prey Speu and Koh Kor not only remain open, but are still run by the same managers and staff who are implicated in abuses, is an affront to their countless victims,” said Pilorge. “Whitewashing the walls of Prey Speu will never erase the criminal acts that have occurred there. Instead of continuing to cover up these abuses, the government must show it is serious about addressing them.”

For further information:
Naly Pilorge, LICADHO director, 012-803-650
Am Sam Ath, Monitoring Supervisor, 012-327-770

Families Fear Loss of Land, Loved Ones [-The making of Hun Sen's predicted "farmers revolution"]

Land, liberty and sometimes life are at stake as Cambodia's land-grabbing persists.

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
08 April 2008

"[T]here is no serious land dispute in the country" - Chum Bun Rong, spokesman of the government National Authority for the Resolution of Land Disputes

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining land grabs in Cambodia.]

Sitting in front of her thatched-roof home in Kampong Chhnang province, about 1 kilometer off National Road 5, Sar Saing sat with a group of eight people. One woman carried a baby, and others sat on bicycles. At times, Sar Saing would seem happy, but then her face would darken.

Her father, Sar Song, has been incarcerated since Feb. 28, one of nearly 40 people rights groups say are currently being held in land disputes.

"Everyday, even though people do not sell their land, their land is grabbed," Sar Saing said. "The grabbers probably bribe the court officials to legally own the land of the people."

Rights groups say the trend of land-grabbing is continuing, at a high cost to many rural villagers, not only in land, but in the seizure of loved ones.

Victims say they fear corruption by courts, police, military and other government officials.

A spokesman for Cambodia's land dispute authority told VOA Khmer accusations of land grabs are being inflated ahead of July's general elections.

Numbers tell one story.

The price of land in Sar Saing's village, Lor Peang, has gone from $100 per hectare five years ago to $10,000 per hectare today, part of a nationwide land boom that has led to the increase in land theft.

The villagers here say they are in a fight for their land with a local company, known here by its initials, KDC.

Sar Saing's father was arrested with one other man and sentenced to eight months in jail by the Kampong Chhnang provincial court. A third man was charged in absentia but remains at large.

All three were charged with a violation of KDC's land ownership.

But villagers here, echoing the worries of many across the country, say they have had their land stolen.

A representative of KDC named Thai Hy brought in workers "who looked like gangsters" to remove villagers from the land, Sar Saing said.

A man claiming to be Thai Hy's brother denied the claims by phone recently, referring questions to the court.

Veng Hut, the provincial court's investigating judge, told VOA Khmer he had judged in accordance with the law and was not involved with corruption.

Lor Peang Village Chief Toch Ly said the government and provincial leaders must work to ensure the people are not removed from their land without proper compensation, though she acknowledged many of her residents felt victimized.

Chum Bun Rong, spokesman of the National Land Dispute Authority, defended the judicial and relevant institutions, saying officials were "almost getting sick" from hard work on many cases.

Nearly 700 land dispute cases were under review at the agency, he said.

But, he said, "there is no serious land dispute in the country."

"It is only a political issue being raised prior to the election," he said.

With elections to be held in July, Sar Pek, brother of Sar Saing and son of Sar Song, said he planned to vote, even if his father was in prison.

More numbers; another story.

A 2007 report by the aid agency Oxfam says about 63.7 percent of Cambodians are either landless or own less than half a hectare.

Of those who owned more land than that, about 30 percent were businessmen, 23 percent were high-ranking military officers and 23 percent were a special class of wealthy, known by the honorary title "Oknha," according to the report.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has pushed for land grabs to cease, but his warnings have apparently gone unheeded, as land grabs have continued across the country, including in Phnom Penh.

In February this year at least 10 families in the Prek Leab commune of the capital's Russei Keo district lodged a complaint to Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema, fighting against the proposed widening of a road through the village.

Residents said they suspected a commune chief had sold the land to a private company, a claim the chief, Preab Mony, denied.

Land grabbing shot up between 2003 and 2006, the rights group Licadho reported.

The group had been monitoring 25 land-grab cases in 2003, but that number jumped to 112 in 2006.

More than 5,000 families lost their homes in land grabs in 2007, said Am Sam Ath, Licadho’s technical supervisor.

Land grabs have also turned more violent; two people were killed in Preah Vihear province in 2007, and six other people across the country were injured, Am Sam Ath said.

Ny Chakriya, head of Adhoc’s monitoring unit, said institutions like the Land Dispute Authority must resolve such disputes. The judicial system needs to take a strong position, he said.

Otherwise, he said, land disputes will become a more serious issue, leading to more deaths.

CCHR demands that Vietnam release back Khmer Krom Monk

03 August 2007
By Moeung Tum
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) officially asked the Vietnamese government to release Monk Tim Sakhorn and hand him back to Cambodia.

CCHR sent a letter dated 03 August to the Vietnamese ambassador in Cambodia, indicating that the arrest of Monk Tim Sakhorn in Cambodia by the Vietnamese authority is a serious violation of the rights of the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda located in Takeo province, and that this act is also a violation on the Cambodian territory, as well as a violation on the Cambodian legal system.

On Thursday, the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia informed CCHR that Monk Tim Sakhorn is currently being temporarily jailed in Vietnam where he is charged with illegal entry into Vietnam, and creating unrest by undermining the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam. On 30 June 2007, the Cambodian authority defrocked Monk Tim Sakhorn by force and sent him back to Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam) while claiming that the monk asked to return back to live in his native village.

CCHR considers this as an irregularity perpetrated against Monk Tim Sakhorn, and that this constitutes an additional violation of the rights of the monk. In this case, the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam must be held responsible, and that only when the family of Monk Tim Sakhorn and representatives of human rights protection organizations can meet him directly, then Vietnam indeed showed that it protects the monk’s safety and that no additional violations have been imposed on him.