Sophal's Story - Amnesty International on Forced Evictions in Cambodia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFmuYUcqjBg

Former Dey Krahorm Residents oppose football match on Dey Krahorm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6H8d0xc1Y4&feature=player_embedded

Dey Krahorm Press conference

Dey Krahorm eviction (Photo: John Vink/Magnum)

Dear All Reporters and Editors,

Dey Krahorm community was illegally evicted by the 7NG company on January 24, 2009. All the residents did not received adequate compensation for their land and property. They often celebrated the ceremony to remind for what happened in their homes every year, and they are all waiting for their justice, but they get nothing even thought they try to do every thing to get their land back.

Tomorrow June 3 2011 at 9:00AM, Dey Krahorm representatives will hold a press conference opposite the former DK land (near wall of Russian Embassy) to respond with the Bayon football tournament organize by the 7NG company soon on their former land.

So we would like to invite all of you to join with the press conference.

Please contact: Mr. Chan Vichet, the former of Dey Krahorm.

His phone number: 011 62 55 58

Please find more information in the below:

Best regards,

Long Kimheang

CO-HRTF

068 470 480

--- On Thu, 6/2/11, vichet chan wrote:
 

Hello Dey Krahorm friends,

I am Chan Vichet, representative from former Dey Krahorm community.

Dey Krahorm was illegally evicted from our homes on January 24, 2009. This weekend, 7NG company want to host the Bayon football tournament on our former land.

Tomorrow June 3 2011 at 9:00AM, Dey Krahorm representatives will hold a press conference opposite the former DK land (near wall of Russian Embassy) to respond and explain our feelings about the Bayon football tournament being held on our stolen land.

The three point of the press conference is as follows:

1) Dey Krahorm families do not support and are not happy about football tournament on their land. We feel that if the tournament occurs on our stolen land, the tournament and all supporters look down on Dey Krahorm families and ignores their ongoing suffering resulting from the forced eviction.

2) Dey Krahorm families and friend appeal to donors/investors and general public to stop any support or participation in any activities on former land of Dey Krahorm, as this land now covers the tears and blood of the people who previously owned the land.

3) Dey Krahorm families appeal to government to return the land to Dey Krahorm as we are the legal and rightful owners. 7NG made football field to hide their inability to develop on the land in any meaningful way that would justify removal of legal owners of land.

We ask that all DK friends will join in us in Solidarity at this important press conference tomorrow.

Thank you,
Chan Vichet

The result of Hun Xen's development: Extreme POVERTY

Dey Krahorm residents mourn the 2nd-year anniversary of their forced eviction

Eviction anniversary brings tears [-Tunisia in the making?]

Srey Sothea, chairman of the evil 7NG company, received decorations from Hun Xen

Srey Chanthou (L), 7NG managing director, holding hands with Hing Bun Hean, Hun Xen's bodyguard unit's commander

Monday, 24 January 2011
Kim Yuthana and Rebecca Puddy
The Phnom Penh Post

Around 200 former residents of the city’s Dey Krahorm community gathered at the site today to mark the two year anniversary of their violent eviction from their homes.

Framed by fragrant incense smoke, monks prayed and despondent villagers cried as they remembered the destruction of their homes on January 24, 2009.

On that day, dozens of families were forced from the site by police and construction workers employed by local firm 7NG.

Many of the residents were taken to the Damnak Trayeung relocation site on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, with little access economic opportunity and few basic services.

Wonder where the people relocated from Dey Krahorm are right now? ... Listen and learn about hell on earth

Eviction at Dey Krahorm (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Living condition for the Dey Krahorm evictees: Hell on earth! (Photo: Ly Meng Huor, RFI)

Srey Sothea, the owner of the 7NG involved in the eviction of Dey Krahorm, is seen being decorated by Hun Xen 

(Photo: 7NG Group website)

Srey Chanthou (most likely Srey Sothea's son) standing hand in hand with General Hing Bun Heang, the commander of Hun Xen's bodyguards unit (Photo: 7NG Group website)

Evicted people wail for help

16 October 2010
By Ly Meng Huor
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Sess Minkhmen

A group of several dozens of families who were forced out of their houses in the Dey Krahorm community, located in the heart of Phnom Penh city, and brought over to Srah Po village, Phnom Bat commune, neat Oudong hills, Kandal province, are now facing hardship. At their new place, these poor villagers have no jobs to provide them with a living. Almost all of them had to pawn their land titles to get money to live, to run their small businesses, or just to find a cure for their sick children.

Click here to listen to the audio program in Khmer (MP3)

Landless - A SBS Dateline program by David O'Shea

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

Still in a temporary home, years after eviction

Former residents of Dey Krahorm sit beneath the sun-baked metal roof of a temporary structure in Dangkor district’s Damnak Trayeung village, where 58 families have been forced to live in squalid conditions since their eviction in July 2007. A representative of the families said they were hoping for better housing from developer 7NG. Meanwhile, a hearing at Phnom Penh Municipal Court in a case involving 13 other families evicted from Dey Krahorm was postponed Monday. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)
Sun Ny, 60, says evictees in Dangkor district often sleep four people to a bed, and that illness is common due to poor sanitation. (Photo by: Will Baxter)

Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Mom Kunthear and May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Frustration builds amid court delays as Dey Krahorm families seek relocation

THE lawyer for 13 families seeking relocation housing from the developer 7NG after being violently evicted from the Dey Krahorm community in January 2009 was summoned to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday, only to learn that a hearing in the case had been postponed because company representatives had failed to appear.

Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers who were evicted from the same central Phnom Penh community in 2007 – and who have been living in unsanitary conditions in Dangkor district ever since – said Monday that they plan next week to seek intervention from Prime Minister Hun Sen in their separate row with the company, which they say has left them homeless for nearly three years.

Te Channan, the lawyer, said he had intended to present evidence in support of his clients’ compensation requests, and that he was growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in the case.

“7NG’s lawyer repeatedly asked me to deliver evidence on May 24 related to the 13 families who have not received homes, and the company was supposed to provide their evidence to me in return. But they did not show up, so we did not get any result,” he said, and added that he did not know when a new court date would be set.

David Pred, executive director of the rights group Bridges Across Borders Cambodia, said the fact that the families still have not received relocation housing is unacceptable.

“It is a crime that 7NG has left these ... families homeless for the last 16 months after it grabbed their land and demolished their homes,” he said.

“The court should hold 7NG accountable for this crime to the fullest extent of the law and order the company to pay the families the fair market value of their property, as well as damages for their lost income and other troubles since the eviction,” he added.

Chheang Bona, 7NG’s general manager, could not be reached for comment.

Pred said there were at least 22 families evicted from Dey Krahorm in 2009 that still need to be provided with relocation housing or compensation.

Members of families that were evicted from the site before then, however, say they too have been left high and dry by the company.

Oeuk Bun, 65, who moved with her family and 57 others to Dangkor’s Damnak Trayeung village after being forced to leave Dey Krahorm in July 2007, on Monday bemoaned the fact that, as the group waits to receive new housing, she has had no option but live in a shabby temporary structure built by 7NG that lacks access to water or toilets – conditions that often lead to illnesses such as diarrhoea.

She added that employment opportunities are lacking at the new site.

“Before I moved here, I earned about US$60 per month as a maid, but here I can earn only $15 per month cleaning vegetables and washing dishes at other people’s homes,” she said.

“I want the government to notice us and help us … to give us comfortable housing,” she said.

Sun Ny, 60, also said that illnesses were common. “Most of us get sick from diarrheoa, stomach aches, rashes and fever because we live in an unclean environment with a big pile of rubbish nearby,” she said.

“We want to meet Prime Minister Hun Sen to tell him about us, but it would not be easy because the police would stop us like they have in the past,” she said.

Mao Sothea, a representative of the 58 families, said she plans to send a petition to Hun Sen’s cabinet next week, asking him to intervene.

“We will file a complaint to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet next week, and we will all go to the prime minister’s house in Phnom Penh the same day to ask for help,” she said.

Reached on Monday, Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun declined to comment about the plight of the families, saying he believed that their cases had been settled.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY WILL BAXTER

A Student's Experience of the Eviction

Cambodia Project Blog
The Cambodian Education Project is a grass-roots effort to provide education and outreach programs to Cambodian children living in poverty. Programs are designed to elevate the opportunities for their future through education and character building, provide tools to avoid abuse/exploitation, and time to have fun in a safe, caring environment.

The following letter speaks for itself, but I will comment that Ly Thy is a tough girl, and so is her mom. The eviction was a major blow to them, but I am happy to say that Ly Thy has got on her feet and seems to be doing well 6 weeks later. She wrote this letter 1 week after the eviction. She also spoke to a group of foreign NGO workers at a forum to learn about illegal evictions, and gave a powerful speech.

Hello,

My name is Ly Thy. I am a nineteen-year-old female student. I want to tell the world how my feelings are when our homes were destroyed on the 24th of January, 2009. When I first saw many people came over to our neighborhood, I thought that they were going to give us more warning as they had done in the past. Then soon the terrified moment took place right in front my eyes. Immediately, the men began to destroy people's homes with such a horrific act and no mercy. Without saying a word, they started to tear down homes violently as if they were extremely angry with the home owners.

From the beginning, as the demolition started, I was thinking about finding a knife or a bat to resist and fight back. I found a stick. Then I came to my sense of realizing that my action will not succeed and consequently I will be in deeper trouble. I imagined if I were to kill someone by accident or intentionally, I will be quickly arrested and put in jail. My future will be jeopardized.

Next I dropped a stick to the ground and let them do whatever they want. I felt intimidated. My body weakened. I froze! Every inch of my body went numb. My mind went blank. I stood there silently, motionless watching my own home being destroyed.

One by one the bulldozers flattened the homes until it came to mine. My heart wrenching when I saw my own home was being smashed. We began to curse at them, using the worse words possible that we could think of, with my mother, my younger sister, my brother in law and me who were screaming, cursing and yelling at them with enormous anger and disbelief. I wanted to cry so badly. Yet, there was not one tear drop that came down. I could not understand or explain why this was happening to me. My system was in a shocked state, and it was no longer functioning and reacting the way it should be. I kept wondering why I couldn't cry.

Unimaginable to me, with a blink of an eye, my home was gone. There was nothing left! All it left for me was a pain in my chest, fear, a sense of great loss along with a tremendous despair feeling inside of me. Then my thoughts fell to old memories. The memories of how my dad worked so hard for so long before he could afford and provide us a small place that we could call home. It was this rundown tiny home that represents his hard work and dedication, which offered a safe haven for all of us. For me, it represents not only a great memory but also an irreplaceable part of my dad that he had left behind before he passed away.

While my home was being destroyed, my mother was crying uncontrollably and attempted to run back into the house to kill herself. Our quick reaction was to save her from committing suicide. We retained and consoled her to save her life. All I could think at that point was that hopefully we could build another house, but we could never replace my mother. People's lives are so precious, and there is nothing worth more than life itself.

Moment later, as all the turbulent activities went on, I turned around wondered what could have happened to our school, Aziza. I saw the 7NG Company's people began to close the front entrance. At this very moment, I wanted so badly to intervene to stop them from closing the school entrance. At the same time, I found no strength left in me. My entire body was completely drained and exhausted after witnessing my own home had just disappeared.

Because of many students effort by working together voicing their opinions, the 7NG people agreed to leave a space one meter from the school's front door to allow access in and out of our school, Aziza.

As I tried my best to put some of my thoughts in writing this, I found I became very emotional, and it is extremely difficult for me to continue on. I feel too sad to talk about it... I am sorry for not being able to write more.

Sincerely,
Ly Thy

(translated by volunteer Paul Chuk, a semi-retired Cambodian American who has returned to help Cambodian children. Ly Thy speaks and writes English quite well, but was asked to write in Khmer for this exercise.)

The land-grabbing 7NG Company is crazy: Hun Xen

Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

PM Hun Xen issued a direct warning to the 7NG Company (KI-Media note: the 7NG Company was involved in the Dey Krahorm land-grabbing and forced eviction) which was planning to build a bridge from Phnom Penh to Arey-ksatr. Hun Xen scolded this dumb and thoughtless company that wants to use the Hun Xen park as the bridge entrance. Hun Xen issued his scolding during the inauguration of a 100-km long road linking Siem Reap province to the Poipet area on 28 December 2009. Hun Xen said: “They (CDC) gave authorization to create problems. As for the funding, I did not think about it yet, but the negotiation problem is to divide the city in two, I don’t understand and I wrote back for them (CDC) to discuss with the city hall because they (7NG) want to build a bridge from Chrauy Changvar to Hun Xen park, and they think they can do it because if the bridge is built across the river, in order to allow boat passage, they have to raise the height of the bridge. Therefore the bridge entrance must reach the Samdech Chuon Nath roundabout.” Hun Xen scolded the Council for the Development Cambodia (CDC) for allowing such plan to be considered as it is a waste of time.

Trip to Cambodia opens eyes of Chicago native

Dey Krahorm forced eviction (Photo: Sarah Grime)

September 7, 2009
Sara Lugardo
Los Angeles Examiner (California, USA)

Christine Robinson grew up in the Chicago area and attended the University of Iowa with a Bachelors’ in International Studies. Her recent visit to Cambodia opened her eyes to their economic situation.

While staying at a hotel in Phnom Penh Christine witnessed the forced evacuation of the slum, Dey Krahorm, by the Cambodian military. Trucks hauled out the few possessions people were allowed to take from their homes.

The evacuation of the slum was in collaboration with the Cambodian Peoples’ Party and a development company named 7NG. The 150 families living in the slum had been offered compensation by 7NG to relocate to Cham Chao before the evictions.

However, by relocating, the families would lose their income and so they refused. Once negotiations failed, the police and the Cambodian military forcefully evacuated the families.

Christine wrote on WIP that according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia, “The eviction was carried out in the middle of the night, with bulldozers, tear gas, rubber bullets, batons, and workers equipped with sticks and axes contracted to demolish the houses… The residents were thrown onto the street to watch their homes being destroyed.”

Cambodia has a long history of battling with property rights and this situation is very common to its’ people. Check out Christine’s full story on Property Rights for the Urban Poor in Cambodia.

Property Rights for the Urban Poor in Cambodia

The Dey Krahorn eviction underway in Phnom Penh. Photograph by Sarah Grime

July 27, 2009
by Christine Robinson
The WIP

It was two in the morning when we first heard the loudspeakers. My friend was annoyed thinking the noise was coming from people partying late, but we later learned something very different was happening. I got up early that morning to eat breakfast before a long day at the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng. Walking downstairs, I saw about a hundred people outside our hotel in Phnom Penh including press, local police, and the Cambodian military.

I rushed outside and found a member of my group. He explained that the slum down the street, Dey Krahorn, was being forcefully evacuated by the military and police. A barrier kept us from getting too close, and a green fence had been put up along the perimeter. We saw trucks coming out of the slum carrying what I thought was junk, but later realized were whatever possessions the people could salvage from their houses.

We stopped to talk to Kevin Knight, who works in a different slum with an NGO. He told us that the development company 7NG, along with the ruling party in Cambodia, the Cambodian Peoples’ Party (CPP), were responsible for the evictions. Dey Krahorn was located in a prime location in downtown Phnom Penh and worth an estimated US$44 million.

Kevin explained that the 150 families living in the slum had been negotiating with 7NG in the weeks prior to the evictions. The company offered each family US$20,000 or an apartment in a resettlement site named Cham Chao, located at least 16 kilometers from the center of Phnom Penh.

At first this seemed like a reasonable offer, but what I failed to realize is that the residents of the slum had livelihoods, access to water and education, and other things that the city center offered. The majority of people living in Dey Krahorn made a living as street vendors, so if forced into a location with a reduced population they would lose their incomes.

The truth of what was happening just a few hundred yards away was finally settling in. Why was all of this happening here, I wondered, and why now? I learned that because of all of the foreign investment in the area (including our hotel), land prices had dramatically increased. According to the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), slum evictions are not a new phenomenon in Cambodia. The country is suffering from a classic case of the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer.

According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia, “The eviction was carried out in the middle of the night, with bulldozers, tear gas, rubber bullets, batons, and workers equipped with sticks and axes contracted to demolish the houses… The residents were thrown onto the street to watch their homes being destroyed.” A friend of Kevin’s who had been inside the slum when the eviction started described a woman collapsing in front of her house and bulldozers that continued to plow into her, sending her to the hospital with injuries.

After speaking with Kevin and other foreigners in the area, I realized how much the past really does influence the present. In order to understand what is happening in present day Cambodia, it is necessary to look to history, especially the period immediately following the Khmer Rouge.

When the Khmer Rouge came into power they wanted to make everyone in the society equal, which meant destroying money, books, private possessions, and land titles. During the period from 1975-1979, the cities of Cambodia were cleared out as the people were made to live and work in rural areas. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, the people came flooding back into the cities. Since all of the land titles had been destroyed, people grabbed whatever they could, and the cities, especially Phnom Penh, became home to thousands of “squatters”.

Not everyone I spoke with explained the situation in the same manner. Some were sympathetic to the residents of Dey Krahorm, while others believed the government and 7NG were taking the required actions for the city to further “develop”. I was told by several people that the majority of the residents in Dey Krahorn had legal rights to their land. Some families were “squatting” illegally, but according to the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), around 140 families living in Dey Krahorn had been there since the 1980s and were given rights to the land under the Cambodian Land Law (2001). Not only do the residents meet all of the preceding requirements, they have documentation to prove it.

According to Amnesty International, 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… [the evictions at Dey Krahorn] show all too clearly how little respect Cambodian authorities have for these requirements”. Another person added that while the residents had been living in Dey Krahorn for years, the land was owned by the government so it was free to be taken at any time.

Regardless of the exact legal situation of the slums in Phnom Penh, it’s clear that Cambodia’s land title situation is in peril. A quick search for the land laws of Cambodia reveals relentless confusion in the period following the Khmer Rouge. We are only just starting to see the severe affects of the land laws today, as foreign investment and rapid growth in Phnom Penh cause once worthless land to become a precious commodity.

Christine's blog entry is part of a two-part series written by WIP Contributor Pushpa Iyer's students. In the coming weeks, more entries will follow. Part I, "Legacy, Responsibility, Justice and Spirituality" will contemplate how Cambodia is coping with its painful past. Part II, "Identity, Sex Trafficking, HIV/AIDS and Property Rights" will explore some of the challenges modern-day Cambodia faces. – Ed.

Christine Robinson grew up in the Chicago area and completed her undergraduate work at the University of Iowa with a BA in International Studies and Spanish. She is currently studying at the Monterey Institute of International Studies where she is pursuing a MPA in International Management. In her spare time, Christine enjoys sports, travel and studying languages.

Women evictees join hands

Ex-residents of the former Dey Krahorm community gather at the central Phnom Penh site on Sunday. (Photo by: SAM RITH)

Monday, 09 March 2009
Written by Sam Rith The Phnom Penh Post

Evictees from around Cambodia assemble at Dey Krahorm community on International Women’s Day to address land rights of women and children
MORE than 100 people evicted from Phnom Penh's Dey Krahorm community and others who are facing eviction elsewhere gathered with provincial land activists and NGO workers Sunday to celebrate International Women's Day.

The ceremony was held near the site of a "sacred ... Banyan tree" at Dey Krahorm where villagers once prayed and made offering to the gods before the tree was knocked down during the eviction. On Sunday, balloons were released to draw attention to the plight of the women and children victims of land-grabbing.

Naly Pilorge, director of rights group Licadho, said it was a symbolic day to consider the union between all women who fight for their rights.

"Today is an example that, whatever you do, it's all interlinked, whether you work on human rights, unions, land rights...we are all affected by the lack of implementation of law, and all have the ability to assemble to express our concern."

"[Evictions] are very serious. We've been getting calls from [people] in Phnom Penh and the provinces almost daily about people being threatened with eviction or evicted," she added.

"Sadly, there is nothing special about this day for many cambodian women..."

Orn Channa, one of the evicted Dey Krahorm villagers, told the Post that her family found it difficult to live at the relocation site, Damnak Trayeung, as there were no schools available for her two children to continue their education and no water, electricity, health care centres or employment opportunities.

"It is very difficult to live there," she said. "[Developer 7NG] transported us to live in the rice fields where there is nothing," she added.

She said her husband had become a motorbike taxi driver but did not earn enough money for her children's transportation costs to school in Phnom Penh. She said that per day, these costs were around 20,000 riel.

Long Khom, 45, another former Dey Krahorm villager, said her family's living standards had also significantly worsened after moving to the new site. She told the Post she had nothing left, not even a mosquito net, as all of her assets were destroyed by 7NG workers during the eviction.

"Sadly, there is nothing special about this day [International Women's Day] for many Cambodian women ... because they have been evicted from their homes or are living in fear of eviction. It is just another day of hardship and suffering," said Licadho President Kek Galabru, in a press release issued Sunday.

Orn Chhanna called on the United Nations to help preserve the rights of evicted villagers.

"I would like organisations ... to help people who are evicted from communities such as Dey Krahorm to have better lives," she said.

Lim Sambo, a representative of neighbouring Group 78 community, which lives under threat of eviction, said he and others on the land welcomed any government proposal for development, but insisted that fair compensation is given to those who are impacted.

"We need negotiation, not violent evicting ... the government must offer proper compensation to people before handing out any plot of land to a private company.... The government must also have its own reserved budget to offer affected people," he said.

Sy Define, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Women's Affairs, acknowledged that moving people far away from the city affected women and children who needed to travel to the city. However, she said the government will help build schools near relocation sites.

Some Dey Krohorm took 7NG’s offer of compensation

Houses, located about 16km from the centre of Phnom Penh, that have been offered to the evicted families from Dey Krohorm.

Radio Free Asia
By Mayarith
1st February, 2009
Translated from Khmer by Khmerization

Some families who were evicted from the Dey Krohorm slum have accepted the compensation package offered by 7NG even though most of them are not happy with the offer.

Mr. Chan Saveth, representative from the Dey Krohorm neighbourhood, said that some families have agreed to accept the offer because they have been traumatised by the forced evictions that have been carried on 24th January. They have accepted the ultimatum given by 7NG because they are afraid that they will not get anything and that they do not foresee any solution better than this offer.

Mr. Chan Saveth said that 7NG gave an ultimatum to the evicted families until 31st January to accept their offer or they will receive nothing. He said that all who accepted the offer were forced to do so by the company.

Mr. Chan Saveth said: “The company has given an ultimatum to the 85 families recognised by the company to accept the offer. If they don’t accept the compensation offered by the company after the ultimatum, all their claims will be invalid and the company will not make any other compensation offers. Because the company has strongly threatened them, they have to accept the offer under duress and some people who went to get their houses offered by the company have to pay bribes before they (company’s representatives) will give them the house.”

Mr. Chan Saveth said that there are about 50 more families who did not accept the compensation offered by the company as they have requested to be paid $20,000 in cash offered by the company before the evictions.

Mr. Chhim Savuth, an official from the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said that, most of the evicted families complained that most of the houses offered by the company are uninhabitable.

He said: “The houses offered by 7NG at Borey Santepheap II, according to the complaints from the families, are substandard buildings. Some houses have leaks from the ceilings when it rains and most houses have no sewage system or other systems at all. For the houses to be habitable, the occupants have to pay at least between $2,000-$3,000 more out of their pockets to repair the houses.”

On 24th January, 7NG has carried out the forced evictions and demolitions of many houses from Dey Krohorm slum, among them, the evictions and the demolitions of the houses belonging to some of Cambodian comedians, including Grandpa Songsiss, Grandma Oeun and Mr. Songset.

In the evictions, 20 of the evicted people, including one pregnant lady, were injured.

Who's Srey Sothea, the 7NG company's owner?

Srey Sothea receiving a medal from Hun Sen (Photo: 7NG Group website)

Unidentified man (most likely Srey Sothea's son) standing next to Hing Bun Heang, Hun Sen's bodyguards chief (Photo: 7NG Group website)

View from the other side of Dey Krohom

By John Vink
Originally Posted at http://johnvink.com/news/2008/01/11/view-from-the-other-side/

Let me introduce you to Okhna (honorary title) SREY Sothea. Born in 1957 from ordinary peasants, he is the head of 7NG company who will build these two towers on the Dey Krohom land.

Photo: John Vink/Magnum

Some 25 km from the center of Phnom Penh, and next to his garment factory employing 1900 people, he built houses (3mx6m) for the people living in the Dey Krohom slum and for other soon to be evicted slum dwellers. An office of Credits for Poor Resident Development Organization (CPRD), which is also run by 7NG is located nearby. If you want to know what Mr. Srey Sothea’s intentions are you might want to check his website, although a lot of it is still under construction…

Dey Kraham residents given 3 days of reprieve before eviction

16 Jan 2009
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The plan to evict Dey Kraham residents on 15 January has been delayed after a request was made by the local residents. Chan Vichet, the representative of the residents, said in the morning of 15 January that the time allotment for the residents to decide on the $20,000 offer for each owner is too short, and some of the residents did not even know the allotted time and yet it is already over. Chan Vichet would like the authority to allow 15 to 30 days for the residents to think about the offer and to negotiate the price with the city and the 7NG company. The city hall had already prepared police force to evict the residents in the morning of 15 January, however, the plan was delayed after a request was made by the residents. Lo Yuy, the Chamcar Mon deputy district governor, indicated that the city hall is providing another 3 days for the residents to come up with a decision. Chan Vichet said that a 3-day delay is too short and the residents would not be able to think about it or to conduct any negotiation. Chan Vichet also asked the authority to abstain from using force or impose any rule on the Dey Kraham residents.

Dey Kraham lies in wait

Dey Kraham residents (Photo: DR, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

15 Jan 2009
By L.D. and A.L.G.
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French

While the eviction rumors are being spread out, the residents have not yet decided whether they will accept the 7NG company’s offer.

Discussions are underway between Dey Kraham residents to see whether they will accept the relocation offer and the compensation offered by the 7NG company, the company which received the land concession.

While rumors are circulating about a probable eviction on Thursday 15 January, on the spot, the situation is calm. “Yesterday, at 5 PM, we discussed again about the 7NG offer. We sent a letter to the city hall, asking it not to use force,” Chan Vichet, a representative of the residents, indicated.

The residents must decide whether to accept the $20,000 compensation offer to voluntarily leave the location, in lieu of the previous $15,000 offer.

However, the agreement proposal involves only 91 families, whereas the residents indicated that there are 152 families currently living on the site, Chan Vichet said. “The city hall said that the fate of the remaining residents will be resolved later, but nobody knows if they are part of the 91 families or not,” he indicated.

Another problem raised by Chan Vichet: the families will receive the same compensation amount irrespective of the land plot size they currently own.

Some residents indicated that the true value of their land amounts to $7,000 per square-meter, and that the actual compensation should be $70,000.

Furthermore, the relocation site, Damnak Trayoeung, located in the Phnom Penh suburb, does not satisfy all the residents of Dey Kraham.

Several NGOs, such as the Center On Housing Rights and Eviction (COHRE) or Bridge Across Borders, are present on the site 24/7 in order to avoid any confrontation with the police force.

Green light to evict Dey Krahorm residents: city officials, developer

Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Written by Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

7NG says it bumped up cash compensation offered to families remaining in Dey Krahorm slum as final offer ahead of eviction.

PRIVATE developer 7NG and the Phnom Penh Municipality announced they have the green light from the government to forcibly remove the remaining residents of the embattled Dey Krahorm community, but sweetened the threat of eviction with an improved offer of compensation for those who go willingly.

"If you agree, we will negotiate," Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun said during a roundtable discussion on the "development of Dey Krahorm solutions", which was organised Tuesday by the Club of Cambodian Journalists at the Sunway Hotel.

He said a final notice of eviction has been issued several times, but none of the remaining residents have moved - paving the way for legal action by authorities.

For the 91 families remaining, 7NG has set aside US$1,820,000 - or $20,000 per family - if they do not want the alternative housing being provided in the Damnak Trayoeng area on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, he said.

"But $20,000 is only a price for today. If they do not accept until we remove them, we will give them the old offer of $15,000," he said.

No date for an eviction was announced.

An estimated 800 to 1,400 residents lived in Dey Krahorm before the old community leaders signed a contract with 7NG in 2005, giving it the 3.6- hectare property in return for building relocation houses in Damnak Trayoeng village.

Srey Chanthou, 7NG's managing director, said the bumped-up compensation offer was a last-ditch effort, before sweeping the area, that was suggested by city officials.

"We announced $20,000 last night [Monday] to residents. No one has contacted us yet. Our policy is to solve the problem peacefully," he said.

Chan Vichet, a representative of the remaining Dey Krahorm families, said the offer of $20,000 by city hall and 7NG on Monday evening demanded too quick a decision for residents.

"It is far too fast for us to think about whether or not we will accept it. We want the authorities to give us time."

Too late to bargain?

The leverage of the estimated 91 families still living in Dey Krahorm to negotiate compensation remains contentious among local observers.

According to David Pred, director of the NGO Bridges Across Borders, the residents of Dey Krahorm are lawful possessors of their homes under the Land Law, and therefore the only way to relocate them is to negotiate a fair price they will accept.

"Intimidation, violence, arrest, force, prosecution have been used [to force people to leave] Dey Krahorm over the last three years," he said.

But Chhim Phalvorun, director of the Institute for Civil Education, called into question the residents' legal claim to the land and said they should not demand more than is required to acquire different homes.

"They know they are not legal owners. So, the demand is far beyond their right."

Dey Kraham land dispute: New offer from the 7NG company

Dey Kraham residents (Photo: DR, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

13 Jan 2009
By Ky Soklim
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

A dispute opposing the 7NG company and Dey Kraham residents has been brewing in the past several years. The dispute involves a land plot located in the center of Phnom Penh. A new compensation offer should convince the last residents to leave the area.

The dispute, which lasted several years already, could be on the verge to a conclusion. In the past, close to 90% of the families have accepted to leave the area in exchange for a house in the suburb of Phnom Penh or for a cash buyout. However, less than 100 families have refused to relinquish their homes because they believe that the offer was too low.

On Monday 12 January, the 7NG company proposed another offer through the city hall: $20,000 to be paid to the last residents instead of the original $15,000 offer up to now. “This offer is valid only for today. If the residents refuse, we will return back to the $15,000 offer starting 14 January,” Man Chhoeun, Phnom Penh deputy governor, indicated on Tuesday 13 January during a press conference organized by the Cambodian Club of Journalist.

When reached over the phone at about 3 PM, the representatives of the residents said that the residents have not yet decided if they will accept the offer or not. Their discussions could last until later this evening.

The residents do not want to leave Dey Kraham because the area is close the city center and this allow them to earn a living fairly easily. The 7NG company plans to develop the site and turn it into a commercial complex. In general, in Phnom Penh, one can easily notice the eviction of poor people towards the city suburb.