By: Ryan Schlief, Posted: Jul 16 09

Regions: Cambodia

Issues: Housing

Tags: Cambodia, forced evictions, Group78, Licadho

Government representatives of 7 countries, as well as the World Bank, United Nations and others, are calling on the Government of Cambodia to stop all forced evictions in the country.

This announcement comes on the heels of yet another imminent forced eviction in Cambodia, this time in the area called "Group 78."  WITNESS partner LICADHO has been actively working with Group 78 and uploaded this video to the Hub on 16 July detailing the community's ongoing fight to keep its land.  The video features scenes from the community and includes interviews with a local resident and the representative of Group 78.

Click to play

On 13 July, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court of Appeals dismissed the community's application for an injunction to stop the forced eviction.  As you heard in LICADHO's video, the community had been warned that 500-700 armed forces and bulldozers were prepared to forcibly evict the community on Friday 17 July unless the community accepted the Municipal Government's compensation offer.  Many in Group 78 had rejected the compensation offers as inadequate and, as you saw in the video, some members received threats directly from officials of the Municipal Government.

On 15 July Amnesty International reported:

"Last week, officials from the Phnom Penh Municipality met with some Group 78 residents in an attempt to coerce them into accepting compensation for the highly valuable land in the centre of the city. A community representative described the meetings as very intimidating, with officials, including Phnom Penh’s deputy governor, warning that police and military police would demolish their community if they did not accept the compensation on offer. The residents were not allowed to speak at the meeting."

Activists reported on 16 July that most of the remaining residents accepted the compensation offer after continued threats. Apparently, the residents were still told to move off the land immediately.

The statement on 16 July by the "Development Partners," which includes the embassies of Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, the UK, the USA, Denmark, the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the Delegation of the European Commission, the UN, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, addressed the dismal record of the Royal Cambodian Government on forced evictions. The Development Partners called on "the Royal Government of Cambodia to stop forced evictions from disputed areas in Phnom Penh and elsewhere in the country until a fair and transparent mechanism for resolving land disputes is put in place and a comprehensive resettlement policy is developed."

The Development Partners said the uncertainty for many Cambodians living under the threat of forced evictions "is a result of policies and practices that do not reflect good international practice in dispute resolution and resettlement and do not make effective use of the procedures and institutions allowed for in Cambodian law."

Read the updated blog post"LICADHO videos show eviction of Group 78" from 17 July.

 Over the past year, LICADHO has produced several videos on forced evictions in Cambodia, including the communities of Borei Keila, Dey Krahorm, Group 78 and Boeung Kak Lake. Videos and information on each is on The Hub - including the shootings in Siem Reap Province - just follow the links - and please circulate this blog post.