Cambodia: Hundreds left homeless after forced eviction

A Dey Krahorm resident carries away bedding as she passes red-clad hired hands from developer and property owner 7NG. In the foreground is a potrait of King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who in the 1960s pushed for construction of middle-class housing and shared public space, including the adjacent Bassac apartments, for which the Dey Krahorm land formerly served as a park. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Amnesty International
PRESS RELEASE
January, 26 2009

The Cambodian authorities must stop denying people the right to housing and ensure adequate compensation and restitution for over 150 poor urban families who were forcibly evicted from central Phnom Penh at the weekend, Amnesty International said today.

Cambodian security forces and demolition workers forcibly evicted 152 families from Dey Kraham community in the early hours of 24 January 2009, leaving the vast majority of them homeless. At around 3 am, an estimated 250 police, military police and workers hired by the company claiming to own the land blocked access to the community before dispersing the population with tear gas and threats of violence. At 6 am excavators moved in and levelled the village. Some of the families were not able to retrieve belongings from their homes before the demolition. Officials from Phnom Penh municipality were present during the destruction.

“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 Brittis Edman, Cambodia researcher. “They will also need assistance for a long time to come.”

Cambodia is a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and has an obligation to protect the population against forced evictions. Saturday’s events show all too clearly how little respect Cambodian authorities have for these requirements.

The Phnom Penh municipality has provided less than 30 of the 152 families with shelter at a designated resettlement site at Cham Chao commune in Dangkor district, some 16 kilometres from the city centre. Most of the other structures at the site are still under construction and lack roofs. There is no clean water, no electricity, sewage or basic services. Earlier, most of the affected community rejected being resettled there because it was too far from Phnom Penh, where they work, mostly as street vendors.

Since the forced eviction, the Dey Kraham community has been told that the company, which has allegedly purchased the land, has withdrawn earlier offers of compensation, leaving families who have been living in uncertainty and insecurity for more than two years, now faced with rebuilding their lives with nothing.

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.

Just over a week before the forced eviction, the affected community told the authorities and the company that they were willing to move if they received adequate compensation for the land, where many of them have lived, uncontested, for decades and to which they have strong claims under the 2001 Land Law. The company then increased the offer of compensation, but the two sides had not yet reached an agreement.

“It is an outrage that the Cambodian authorities went ahead with the forced eviction, when progress was being made towards a mutual settlement. Now hundreds of children, women and men are left homeless”, said Edman.

Background
Forced evictions are one of the most widespread human rights violations in Cambodia, and those affected are almost exclusively marginalised people living in poverty, in both urban and rural areas. In 2008, at least 27 forced evictions affecting over 20,000 people were reported in the media and by local organisations.

Hundreds of land activists are facing spurious charges, and dozens have been imprisoned, as the rich and powerful are increasingly abusing the criminal justice system to acquire land and evict those living there. At least nine community representatives from Dey Kraham have been charged for criminal offences as a result of their peaceful defence of their right to housing.

As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Cambodia is obliged to ensure, before any planned evictions, that all alternatives are explored in consultation with those affected by the eviction. Evictions may only occur in accordance with the law and in conformity with international standards, including genuine consultation with those affected; adequate notice and information on the proposed eviction; and provisions of legal remedies for those affected. Evictions may only occur if they do not render individuals homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights.

In May 2009, the Committee Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will consider Cambodia’s first and considerably delayed report on its compliance with the treaty.

The grand theft of Dey Krahorm

Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Written by David Pred
The Phnom Penh Post

Dear Editor,

It is remarkable that Municipality representatives have stated that the wholesale destruction of the Dey Krahorm community was not an eviction [Phnom Penh Post, January 24, 2009]. I agree, however, that "eviction" is not the best way to describe Saturday morning's events. A more accurate description would be grand theft. The 7NG company grabbed 3.6 hectares of prime city-centre real estate, valued at US$44 million, with the assistance of police and other armed government forces. The homes and many of the personal belongings of community residents were demolished by company bulldozers and looted by those carrying out the demolitions. It is not surprising that this process began in the dead of night and that the area was sealed off by the authorities in an apparent attempt to hide this flagrant crime from the watchful eyes of journalists and human rights workers.

Media not telling full story
What is most unfortunate is that the media has not only failed to tell the full story of this gross and criminal violation of human rights and Cambodian law, but it has adopted the language of the perpetrators in describing the victims. Words like "squatters", "slum" and "controversial neighbourhood", which have been used to describe Dey Krahorm, give false credence to the justifications used by those responsible for this crime and deny victims' rights.

Let's set the record straight. The land that was grabbed on Saturday morning rightfully belongs to more than 150 poor families who have refused to sell their homes to 7NG for the pittance that was offered to them. Most of these families have the documentation to prove their possession rights under the 2001 Land Law. Moreover, these families were beneficiaries of the Social Land Concession granted to the entire community by the Council of Ministers in 2003, and the Development Plan, which called for a land-sharing arrangement with a private company in exchange for onsite upgrading.

To justify their claims over the land, the 7NG company relies on a dubious agreement signed with former community representatives to exchange the villagers' homes for flats at the Damnak Treyoeng site outside Phnom Penh. This agreement was immediately rejected by most Dey Krahorm families, who dismissed their former "representatives" and filed a civil complaint against them for breach of trust, along with a separate complaint to cancel the contract.

Law on their side
Article 66 of the 2001 Land Law states:
"A person with Khmer nationality and with capacity to enter into a contract may sell or purchase immovable property." Yet, the following persons may not sell: "A person who is not the owner of the property offered for sale."
The so-called former representatives had no legal capacity to sell the villagers' land. 7NG's agreement is, therefore, null and void under the law.

An unbiased investigation into the facts will reveal that the Dey Krahorm families have legal rights that have been consistently denied by the competent authorities. The families are under no legal obligation to accept the company's compensation offer. They have every right to reject it and remain on their land and in their homes. This is not a case of expropriation of land for public interest purposes. It is a case of a private company using armed force to acquire other people's private property for their personal profit. Company representatives are on record stating that they do not even know how they intend to develop the site. Therefore, if they want this land, they need to offer the residents a price that they are willing to accept.

However, instead of offering a mutually agreed price for the land, the company and the authorities forcibly removed the families and demolished their homes and property. This action was illegal. Article 253 of the Land Law states:
"Any person who uses violence against a possessor in good faith of an immovable property, whether or not his title has been established or it is disputed, shall be fined from 1,500,000 riels to 25,000,000 riels and/or imprisoned from six (6) months to two (2) years irrespective of the penalty for violence against a person. In addition to the above penalty, the violator shall be liable for civil damages that were caused by his violent acts. If the violence was ordered by a person other than the perpetrator, who did not personally participate in the commission of such violence, he shall be subject to the same penalties as the perpetrators of the violence."

The company also employed hundreds of private contractors to help carry out the home demolitions, and they are caught on film using weapons and tear gas against the villagers, many of whom sustained injuries as a result. This was also illegal. Article 254 of the Land Law states:

"Under no circumstances shall the use of private force be authorised in order to protect a person's title to property or to enforce a court order for the expulsion or forced removal of an occupant. Any person who uses private force for the above purposes shall be fined from three million (3,000,000) riels to twenty five million (25,000,000) riels and/or imprisoned from (6) six months to two (2) years."

Nothing for evictees
The displaced residents of Dey Krahorm are now homeless, traumatised and reliant on the good will of humanitarian organisations to meet their basic needs. The Government of Cambodia is solely responsible, under the international law obligations to which it is bound, for addressing the humanitarian situation that it has created. The government is also legally responsible to ensure that the land and property that was taken or destroyed is restored to its lawful possessors, or that they receive just and fair compensation for their losses. Any failure to do so should result in condemnation and sanctions by the UN and Cambodia's donor community.

The forced eviction of Dey Krahorm is unique only in that it occurred in the heart of the capital city and that it has, therefore, attracted a great deal of media attention. However, there are hundreds of communities across the country whose land is being stolen with impunity by powerful elites. This epidemic of land theft in the absence of the rule of law flies in the face of poverty-reduction efforts promoted by the government and its benefactors. It is high time that international donors ­­- who have poured billions of dollars into development assistance in Cambodia - acknowledge that if the government continues to refuse to enforce the law and end land-grabbing, no sustainable progress can be made toward poverty alleviation, and taxpayers' money is being squandered.

David Pred
Director, Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia
Phnom Penh

The views expressed in this letter are entirely personal.

Dey Krahorm: Sit-in in front of the National Assembly

Chan Vichet (standing) with former Dey Krahorm residents held a sit-in in front of the National Assembly (Photo: DR, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

26 Jan 2009
By Kang Kallyann and Adrien Le Gal
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French

"This is worst than under the Khmer Rouge! At least, when the Khmer Rouge evicted people, they didn’t destroy their homes” - Srey Vann, evicted resident from Dey Krahorm

Chan Vichet, representative of the residents, did not obtain satisfaction from the city hall which claimed that the forced eviction of the residents voids the $20,000 compensation offer promised earlier for each family.

About 50 people evicted from Dey Krahorm slum on Saturday 24 January have gathered in front of the National Assembly on Monday 26 January.

Chan Vichet, the representative of the former residents of Dey Krahorm, explained: “We met with the city hall this morning. But, they don’t seem to be interested in our fate. The authorities only promised housing in Phnom Penh for blind musicians Kong Nay and Neth Pé who were also evicted. This is unfair because we are all facing difficult circumstances, and the city hall is trying to divide us further.”

Chan Vichet who were not present in Dey Krahorm during the forced eviction, told “Cambodge Soir Hebdo” that he was in hiding since Friday 11PM, for fear of being arrested just like 8 other activists did.

According to Chan Vichet, the authority and the 7NG company withdrew their $20,000 indemnification offer for each family, an amount planned for the case the residents accept to vacate the area voluntarily. For the time being, only a relocation offer at Damnak Trayoeung, located 16 km from Phnom Penh, is on the table.

Furthermore, only 91 families are eligible for relocation, whereas 152 families were evicted from the spot, Chan Vichet indicated.

During the night of Sunday to Monday, several of the former residents slept along the quay, while others stayed at the Licadho office building.

“I was not able to take out my belonging,” 22-year-old Srey Vann said in front of the National Assembly. “What I tried to take out was destroyed by flame throwing guns. At that moment, my mother passed out and she injured herself on her head. This is worst than under the Khmer Rouge! At least, when the Khmer Rouge evicted people, they didn’t destroy their homes.”

63-year-old Vong An returned back from Damnak Trayoeung where she was dumped after the eviction. “Over there, it is not built for human beings, there are feces everywhere. If I can get some money, I will give it to my daughter and my grandchildren, as for me, I will live and sleep in a pagoda. I don’t want them to live in Damnak Trayoeung.”

“I spent 10,000 riels ($2,50) to return back from there … Tonight, maybe, I will sleep in front of the National Assembly, I don’t have enough money to return to Damnak Trayoeung.”

By the end of Monday afternoon, bulldozers have completed leveling down Dey Krahorm and removing rubble from the eviction.

We have no home, say evictees

In her makeshift home at the relocation site, Srey Na, 12, holds an English textbook for a class in the city she says she can no longer attend. (Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON)

Monday, 26 January 2009
Written by Brendan Brady AND Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

Residents and rights groups bemoan worsening situation for former Dey Krahorm residents

ONLY 27 families among the scores evicted from Dey Krahorm Saturday morning have so far been assigned homes at the Damnak Trayoeng relocation site built by private developer 7NG, while hundreds of other residents trucked out to the village are squatting in fields without access to clean water or electricity, many told the Post.

"Even the homes that have been assigned have no water, no toilets," said Kim Ratana, deputy director of the aid group Caritas.

Beginning 6am Saturday, more than 300 workers hired by 7NG used hands, hammers and bulldozers to demolish the mostly wood and tin homes left in Phnom Penh's Dey Krahorm slum community.

The last families evicted had still not agreed to compensation, arguing the cash was insufficient and the relocation homes were too far from their livelihoods in the city.

While 7NG said around 80 families had remained in Dey Krahorm until the eviction, rights groups have put the number at closer to 150.

"I collapsed in tears when I saw my house trampled by a bulldozer," said 33-year-old Sin Mao, adding she had a land title. "When they drove us to the relocation site, they said they would resolve everything, but we've received nothing so far. We're just living on the street."

While most of the evictees were shuttled to the relocation site by 7NG trucks, some 30 families refused to go there and instead are living in the Phnom Penh office of local rights group Licadho, which is providing legal assistance to evictees during compensation negotiations.

Dul Chanta, 51, who is staying at Licadho's office, fainted Saturday after watching a bulldozer demolish her home, and was later hospitalised from exposure to tear gas, which several said was used by some of the 200 police presiding over the eviction in response to residents throwing stones.

She said she lost most of her possessions, having had only 10 minutes from the time she saw workers and police outside her home to the moment bulldozers rolled over it.

She said authorities chose the weekend to evict the remaining residents as there would be fewer bystanders in the area.

Dul Chanta had asked for US$50,000 in compensation but was now willing to settle for $25,000, she said.

Srey Sothea, the 7NG chairman, reiterated Sunday that offers of cash compensation had been discontinued following Saturday's eviction. He rejected claims by residents that the stationing of police around the complex during the night was a move designed to seal the area off from the media and possible intervention by rights groups.

He also said residents had received fair warning.

"We told them about it the night before the removal. We told them to prepare their belongings, but they did not believe us," he said.

Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth declined to comment Sunday, and he referred questions to Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun, who could not be reached.

David Pred, director of Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia, said that by retracting cash payouts as an option, the developer was breaking past promises.

"Mann Choeun has stated at two press conferences - at the Cambodian Press Club on January 13 and again Saturday - that the residents would still be able to choose between cash compensation or a flat at the relocation site even after the eviction," he said, adding that even cash payouts would not provide just compensation.

"The families who do have valid legal claims to the land were under no legal obligation to accept the company's compensation offer," Pred said. "They had every right to reject it and remain on their land and in their homes. If the company wants the land, they need to offer the homeowners a price that they were willing to accept."

An estimated 800 to 1,400 residents lived in Dey Krahorm before old community leaders signed a contract with 7NG in 2005, giving the company the 3.6-hectare property in return for building relocation houses in Damnak Trayoeng village. Land rights groups have challenged the legality of the original contract and accused city officials and 7NG of using intimidation to force residents to accept compensation deals.

Relocation site insufficient

Rights advocates providing relief food and medical services at the relocation site said the area is woefully unprepared to absorb the evictees.

Thun Saray, president of rights group Adhoc, said that Dey Krahorm residents' ongoing complaints against the relocation site were valid.

"If they move far from the city, there are no jobs or schools. It's not just the house, it's about their ability to carry on with everyday life," he said.

Pred said that for residents the move "would constitute a complete disruption of every aspect of their lives ... and would almost certainly result in deeper impoverishment".

Kim Ratana said the isolation would be especially dire for the more than 30 evictees with HIV as well as others suffering from tuberculosis and other serious diseases who require access to free treatment centres in the city.

Manfred Homung, a legal consultant with Licadho, said the combination of injuries and loss of possessions endured during the eviction and imminent food and water shortages at the relocation site could prove intolerable.

He said the relocation site's resources are being stretched by renters and market vendors evicted from Dey Krahorm, who have never been eligible for compensation under the scheme devised by the municipality and private developer.

A second forced removal by authorities was imminent, he said, once hundreds of homeless are left there after 7NG decides it has compensated all the families it needs to.

The developer revealed Sunday a rough outline of its plans for Dey Krahorm.

Chairman Srey Sothea said it would be "transformed" into a space for a park, office buildings and trade centre.

He added his company was interested in acquiring the Bassac apartment buildings adjacent to Dey Krahorm but expected they would carry a steep price tag. It would likely be a tough showdown with other developers who are "also interested in developing this building", he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MAY TITTHARA

Hun Sen is Pol Pot No. 2: A Poem in Khmer by Srey Sra'em

Click on the poem to zoom in

Poem in Khmer by Srey Sra'em

Veasna Reastr Dey Kraham - "Fate of Dey Kraham Residents": A Poem in Khmer by Sam Vichea

Click on the poem to zoom in

Poem in Khmer by Sam Vichea (on the web at http://kamnapkumnou.blogspot.com)

Dey Krahorm violent eviction: Courtesy of Hun Sen's development and the 7NG company

A woman wearing a helmet tries to stop a bulldozer as her daughter attempts to stop her, during the eviction of slum dwellers in Phnom Penh January 24, 2009. Cambodian police fired teargas and eight people were injured on Saturday during the forced eviction of 80 families from a Phnom Penh slum, rights activists and police said. At least two of the eight slum dwellers were seriously hurt in clashes with clean-up crews hired to tear down the dwellings on government land recently sold to a private company. REUTERS/Stringer
A woman is helped by her neighbours after she was hit by a bulldozer after trying to stop it from tearing down her house, in Phnom Penh January 24, 2009. Cambodian police fired teargas and eight people were injured on Saturday during the forced eviction of 80 families from a Phnom Penh slum, rights activists and police said. At least two of the eight slum dwellers were seriously hurt in clashes with clean-up crews hired to tear down the dwellings on government land recently sold to a private company. REUTERS/Stringer

Land violences in Cambodia: Dey Krohom razed to the ground following a tough eviction

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 24/01/2009: Police aiming a straight-shot tear gas gun during the final eviction at Dey Krohom. (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)
Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 24/01/2009: Mechanical shovel destroying private property during the final eviction at Dey Krohom. (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)
Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 24/01/2009: Family crying the loss of their belongings during the final eviction at Dey Krohom. (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)

25-01-2009
By Ros Dina
Ka-set in English

The threat of eviction had been lurking around them since 2006. The struggle of dozens of families who still clung onto their houses in Dey Krohom, in the central Tonle Bassac district of Phnom Penh, is one of the longest in the distressing two decade-old history of land matters in Cambodia. From one ultimatum to the next, the looming final offensive was expected to be carried out sooner or later. It happened in the early hours of the morning, on Saturday January 24th. Nobody imagined the eviction would be so well-organised but what is more, so violent. And the 7NG company, who was granted the land as part of a concession to build a residential tower block and a shopping mall, went all out in the process.

Methodical destruction
An army of more than 600 young men arrived at the scene shortly before dawn, accompanied by policemen sporting riot shields and batons, themselves followed by representatives of the authorities. The concept of task division was rigorously applied in this eviction operation. Split into several groups and told apart by the colour of their tee-shirt (red, blue, yellow, green, black and white), they cleared the site away with method. When the go-ahead was given at 6am, some erected in record time a barricade around the site which had been cordoned off prior to the offensive, while others were allocated the task of demolishing whole areas of the village. Some three hours later, the zone was entirely devastated, not a single thing was left to stand, not even trees, razed to the ground in the process.

Cracking down on every dwelling, house by house, like locusts swarming on crops, dozens of workers relentlessly applied themselves to knocking everything down with sledge-hammers and axes, leaving nothing behind but annihilation. The first action they set out to do was to wreck the houses of those who still formed pockets of resistance. There, diggers and bulldozers did the job without leaving enough time for residents to save their belongings. Even motorcycles parked inside homes were crushed by machines. Not an ounce of pity. Houses crumbled down at once in a crashing din of smashed objects, dishes, materials. A young woman, in an ultimate attempt to save a few things, fell with her own house, ravaged by a bulldozer. She came out of the rubble alive, but with several injuries.

Use of tear gas
Determined not to be bothered by residents showing protest, the one-off removers, covered by a large scale police cordon, tear-gassed the area and its inhabitants. As for those who still opposed to leaving their home, it is with fire extinguishers that workers attacked, filling houses and drowning their occupiers with white chemical solution until they came out. There again, fire extinguishers were used to tackle any fires started by inhabitants.

An old woman was sat outside on a raised board bed, lamenting the situation. “They shot teargas at us. It was impossible to breathe and it made us cry. They did this to flush us out! I don't know where I am going to live with my grand-children. Here, we only paid USD100 per month, we managed.” Her daughter, joining her, says with anger: “If I had known that they'd be capable of doing that, we would never have voted for them in the elections, in my family!”

Demolitions carried out with rage
One of the first houses to be targeted by workers was that of a young woman who obstinately refused to leave her house, racked by sobs and calling for help in harrowing cries. She was forced out by the day-workers hired for the occasion and taken away. Every single eviction gave way to violent altercations, and even direct confrontations between dwellers and workers. The latter showed excessive rage and anger in the way they proceeded, and even zeal, which sparked off the astonishment and daze of many. Every group was steered by a leader virulently exhorting workers to keep the same pace and not let the situation affect them. None of them agreed to reveal the amount of the salary they received for this task.

In one of the dwellings, a man tried to set himself ablaze and one of his relatives, a woman, threatened to throw a brick at the depredatory workers. They were interrupted in their hammering and axing task by their leader calling them to keep going with the destruction. Behind them, police officials wearing uniforms also encouraged them: “Go! Destroy! We can't do it ourselves, there are too many foreign journalists and photographers!”

When the operations ended, injured people reportedly included four residents – among whom two suffered serious injuries - and ten workers. The police proceeded to several arrests. As she watched her house being wrecked and despite her imploring for some more time to move all their belongings, a mother collapsed and was taken to hospital. “We used to run a small grocery shop, we had many things to take out of there. They just wouldn't listen. I even tried to make the district chief change his mind, but he retorted: 'We allowed you several days to move out, so why didn't you?' We lost half of our personal property...” her husband said, appalled by the situation.

Inhabitants left in shock
Slightly further away, a resident, wearing his police uniform, eyes sore from crying and speaking in a choked voice, refused to helplessly witness the demolition of his home. “You're alone against them, you can't do anything! Stay calm!”, his friends told him. He arrived there in 1993 and remembers, like others, promises made by prime Minister Hun Sen back then, that the inhabitants of that neighbourhood could one day become the true owners of their piece of land...

A neighbour, whose house was faced with the same fate, could not stop expressing her astonishment in front of the violence deployed. A dweller at Dey Krohom since 1987, she did not show any more interest than other families - those officially recognised by the company 7NG - in the latter's offer of resettlement in the Chom Chao area on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, or in the USD20,000 cash compensation per family (last offer made by 7NG), which was thought to be insufficient. “They show more brutality and meanness than during Pol Pot's regime! But today, Cambodia is part of the ASEAN and has its place on the international scene, they cannot act like this! The government robs inhabitants to serve the company's own interest!” A young teacher, standing beside her, adds: “They see the poor as slaves. They decide on our life and death!”

Journalists and observers mistreated
No one was allowed to enter the zone, and those who tried hard to make their way through were severely reprimanded, shoved away in a more or less strong manner. The general trend was to keep observers away. Fire hoses were deliberately pointed at photographers.

“This is not good for you, Barangs [expatriates], to stay here, it's dangerous!”, the lawyer for the 7NG company insistingly advised. A Barang replied to him, not without irony: “But there are policemen here, and they are here to take care of security, aren't they?”. For his part, Phay Siphan, the spokesman for the Council of Ministers, enquired about observers' situation: “Were you treated well?”

Authorities trying to make a good impression
His back turned to the scene, Mann Chhoeun, the deputy governor of Phnom Penh, who arrived at the scene at about 8 o'clock, tried to be reassuring. “We are taking inhabitants to the resettlement site [Damnak Trah Yeung village, Chom Chao district, about 12 miles west of the capital], it is necessary to respect what is written here!”, he explained, waving a report made by the municipality on Dey Krohom, the back of which states the offer made by 7NG to inhabitants: a 4m x 12m house built by 7NG in the Damnak Trah Yeung village, or the sum of USD15,000, each offer being topped up with 770,000 riels (USD192,50) and 30 kilos worth of rice and dehydrated noodle packs.

In the light of this little reminder, the deputy governor defends the morning intervention: “We are not throwing them out into the street, we have a house for them!” The company 7NG acknowledged the existence of 91 families when the site actually houses 150 today, as a few came last minute to add themselves up to the lot. The company will examine each dossier on a case-by-case basis and it is down to them to decide whether they will do something for them”, Mann Chhoeun detailed, pointing out that 8 out 91 families accepted the offer of 7NG in the past few days

Authorities and 7NG promote the resettlement site
“Those who did not jump on 7NG's last offer [which settled the amount of compensations at USD20,000, an offer which is not valid any more today, according to 7NG manager] claim between USD50,000 and USD120,000, and the highest claim was made by a family. But negotiations have come to an end...” The deputy governor then painted the idyllic picture of the resettlement site, “connected to the drinking water network”, where dwellers will be able to benefit from “a 700 million riel [ USD175,000] credit fund set up for them to obtain loans”. “And also, the authorities are in charge of building a school there”.

7NG manager Srey Chanthou, on site, wearing a tee-shirt with his company's logo and a material mask, presented a similar line of argument. “More than 1,300 families in Dey Krohom agreed to go and settle there, why do others cause problems? They will have nice accommodation!...” The representative then added up to the list of assets of the Damnak Trah Yeung village by mentioning the existence of a market and a factory.

As Human rights and housing rights organisations set up a series of meetings since Saturday morning's events, some twenty evicted families found refuge at the headquarters of Cambodian Human rights NGO (LICADHO).

Who's next?
Residents of the Building, living right next to the Dey Krohom area, did not miss a second of the operations. They also said they were shocked by the deployment of violence. The net is tightening around them. All the squats and makeshift villages which used to surround them have now disappeared, replaced by tall buildings. They know it: they are now next on the list of evictions in Phnom Penh.

Cambodian government accused of brutally evicting villagers

Wed, 19 Nov 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian human rights groups accused the government and military Wednesday of brutally evicting hundreds of families and torching their homes in a rural southern village early in the week. Rights monitors said at least three people were seriously injured by beatings when soldiers, police and forestry officials forcibly evicted up to 300 hundred families from the 20-hectare site Monday.

Authorities torched about 130 homes on Monday and another 170 on Tuesday in the second such eviction in the area this year, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights said in statement.

"The ownership of the land in question is unclear, but authorities claim that it is protected state forest. Some of the people living there say they have been there for several years, while others settled there more recently," the statement said.

The group said soldiers also blocked a road leading to the village in Kompot province Monday, preventing medical workers and rights groups from reaching the site.

"They used the armed forces to evict people. It was violent and brutal," Try Chhoun, provincial coordinator for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, told The Cambodia Daily.

Try Chhoun said soldiers and police told villagers they had stolen land belonging to Prime Minister Hun Sen and warned that the area would soon be occupied by disabled soldiers.

Bokor National Park Director Chey Ulterith, who administers national parks in the area, accused the villagers of trying to occupy and then sell state-owned land, and then repeat the process at another village, the newspaper reported.

Land ownership and "land-grabbing" has been a source of intense conflict over the past few years in Cambodia's provinces, where property values have skyrocketed.

Human rights groups have accused the government of leaving thousands of villagers homeless by seizing parcels of rich agricultural land to hand over to politically connected companies.

Villagers say troops torched 300 homes [-RCAF Brigade 31 should be sent to defend Cambodian border ... not torch down Cambodian homes]

Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Written by Cheang Sokha and Sebastian Strangio The Phnom Penh Post

Villagers living on disputed land near Bokor National Park violently evicted for the second time in six months, say human rights groups

HUNDREDS of families are homeless after their violent eviction from their village on the outskirts of Bokor National Park in Kampot province, according to local residents and rights groups.

Villagers from Anlong Krom, in Kampot's Taken commune, say hundreds of troops from RCAF's Brigade 31 arrived without warning Monday and Tuesday and set fire to 300 wooden homes belonging to the residents - the second eviction from the area this year.

In June 300 armed soldiers from Brigade 31 demolished the homes of 200 families, who fled to the nearby hamlet of Kbal Damrey.

Anlong Krom resident Hem Da said villagers gathered to protest Monday morning but were threatened with arrest by the soldiers.

"When villagers protested, [the soldiers] hurt them and threatened to arrest and imprison them," he said. Rights groups say six local villagers were injured - three seriously - as they protested the destruction of their property.

Hem Da added that no replacement housing has been provided to the affected residents. "They have not found a relocation site for us," he said. "We have nowhere to live."

The eviction came a day before four residents from a nearby village are scheduled to stand trial on charges of robbery and damaging private property in an earlier confrontation with Brigade 31 soldiers.

Nhek Chantha, 52, Vong Ma, 46, Moeu Sopheak, 19, and Noeu Kak-Kada, 18, were arrested in June for protesting the subdivision of land in Kbal Damrey village, needed to house the villagers evicted from Anlong Krom.

Preah Vihear Deadly Eviction Aftermaths

Click here to read Licadho's Statement and Story behind this savage eviction

The day after the eviction,authorities were still in heavy force throughout the area. In the background is a vehicle laden with bicycles and other property looted from the eviction families' home. (All Photos: Licadho)
Two of the many armed soldiers left behind 28 hours after the incident. The man standing is plucking a chicken that was taken from the community.
Armed police officers were assigned to follow LICADHO human rights investigators who came on site two days after the shooting.
Houses were looted by authorities and subsequently burned down; remains were still smoldering on the second day after the deadly eviction.
Amid the chaos of the eviction villagers were caught by surprise and had no time to collect any of their belongings.
The site where Oeun Eng's body was quickly cremated, on police instructions, without a proper Buddhist ceremony.
The site where Toeun Chheng's body was hastily buried in a shallow grave, on the orders of police.

Preah Vihear Eviction - Action Needed Over Killings and Looting

The day after the eviction,authorities were still in heavy force throughout the area. In the background is a vehicle laden with bicycles and other property looted from the eviction families' homes. (Photo: Licadho)

November 22, 2007
Media Statement
Licadho

The government and courts must take strong action to investigate and punish police and military personnel responsible for serious abuses - including the alleged execution of a woman in front of her children - during the November 15 land eviction in Preah Vihear province.

According to eyewitnesses, the two people shot dead during the eviction, Mr Oeun Eng, 31, and Mrs Toeun Chheng, 29, were unarmed and posing no threat to the authorities at the time of their shootings.

Mr Oeun Eng was shot in the chest, reportedly by a uniformed man hidden in bushes some distance away, and died almost immediately. Another man standing next to him was shot in the shoulder but survived. The two men were standing amidst a group of people, most of whom leapt to the ground by the authorities began shooting; they may have been shot simply because they were too slow to get to the ground. The fact that both men were shot in the upper body indicates the bullets were fired directly at them.

The death of Mrs Toeun Chheng is even more disturbing. According to further investigation by LICADHO, initial reports that she was shot while protesting the arrest of her husband were incorrect. In fact, according to multiple witnesses, she was shot in cold blood by police while she was alone with her four children at her house.

Witnesses say that police officers went to the Toeun Chheng’s house during the eviction, apparently looking for her husband, a community representative named Moeun Chanthon, who was not at home. Toeun Chheng was in front of her house, attempting to shield her four children from the police, when one of the officers moved forward, raised his AK47 rifle and shot her in the chest. The officer then stepped up to her, as she lay bleeding on the ground, and ripped a necklace from her neck to steal it. He also took a motorcycle from the house. Toeun Chheng‘s four children, the youngest a baby and the oldest aged 11, were present during the shooting. Toeun Chheng was taken to a local medical clinic but later died.

Soon after his wife's shooting, Moeun Chanthon was arrested. Police found him at a roadblock which the community had erected to protest the arrests of two people - including Moeun Chanthon's brother, Moeun Chantha - a day earlier. After the arrest, a policeman named Sun Vannak allegedly beat Moeun Chanthon severely, including by hitting him repeatedly on the head with a baton, according to witnesses.

On the orders of police, the body of Oeun Eng was hurriedly cremated and Toeun Chheng’s body was quickly buried after she died.

At least six other people were injured, five of them shot, during the eviction.

In addition to the excessive violence, the police and military officers also looted property of the 317 families who were evicted. During the eviction, hundreds of people were rounded up by police and other authorities and taken away to be detained, while others fled into nearby forest. The authorities then burned down the houses of all of the families, stealing their property - including motorcycles, household items and clothing – beforehand. Most of the detained villagers were later released and, without any possessions except for what they were wearing, told to leave the area permanently.

After the looting and burning of houses, the authorities celebrated by killing a cow, cooking its body to eat and burying its head.

As many as 280 personnel, comprising soldiers, police, military police and Forestry Administration officers, reportedly participated in the eviction, which was carried out on the orders of the provincial governor. According to information received by LICADHO, the eviction was led by deputy provincial governor Sar Sam Ol, Forestry Administration official Pol Kham Narei, Choam Ksan district chief Kao Loung.

The eviction occurred near Sra Em village, Kantuot commune in Choam Ksan district, where the 317 families had recently settled on vacant land after coming to the area in search of land.

At least 15 arrested people remain detained and have been sent to Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison, including the Funcinpec-affiliated provincial deputy governor Preah Vihear, Meas Savoeun. Two injured persons, both shot in the leg, are among those still detained.

LICADHO welcomes the reported comment of Ministry of Interior spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak (in The Cambodia Daily, Nov 21) that the level of violence used by authorities in the eviction was "unacceptable". LICADHO urges that appropriately strong action be taken by the government, judicial and National Assembly officials, including:

• The suspension of deputy provincial governor Sar Sam Ol, Forestry Administration officer Pol Kham Narei, and Choam Ksan district chief Kao Loung from their positions, until proper investigations into the eviction are completed.
• A high-level judicial investigation into alleged crimes committed during the eviction. This should be led by the Prosecutor-General of the Court of Appeal, who has authority over prosecutors and judicial police nationwide.
• Prosecution of members of the authorities responsible for murder, manslaughter, theft or other crimes during the eviction. Because of provincial government officials' involvement in the eviction, prosecutions should occur in a court other than the Preah Vihear Provincial Court.
• A simultaneous investigation by the National Assembly's Commission on Human Rights into the events, including the actions of local and provincial authorities, before, during and after the eviction.
• The Ministry of Interior should grant immediate access by human rights workers and independent doctors to all of the arrested villagers who are still detained.
• The Phnom Penh Municipal Court should promptly investigate the cases of the detained villagers to establish if there is convincing evidence of crimes committed by them and, if not, they should be immediately released.

The Preah Vihear eviction was the most deadly in Cambodia since the killing of five people in a March 2005 violent eviction by police and military police in Kbal Spean, Banteay Meanchey province. No officers were convicted of committing any crime in that eviction; murder, attempted murder and manslaughter charges initially filed against some officers were later dropped.

LICADHO reiterates its call for the Cambodian government to order a moratorium on all forced mass evictions in the country.

For further information, please contact:
Kek Galabru, LICADHO president, 012-940-645
Am Sam Ath, Monitoring Technical Supervisor, 012-327-770