Licadho Canada's Media

Dey Krahorm Eviction - Unfiltered

Licadho Canada — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:06:00 -0800

FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING VIDEO, PHOTOS, REPORTS AND ACTIONS VISIT THE HUB BLOG.

On January 24, 2009 at 2am, mixed forces surrounded Dey Krahorm - the community with the longest, resistance to unlawful eviction. Just after 6am, more than 250 armed forces and 300 breakers attacked the villagers in a brutal show of force, despite their legal entitlement to their land. This video is a compilation of footage captured by human rights monitors on the inside. Video footage courtesy of Platapus, LICADHO, BAB, and Karl Bille www.licadho-cambodia.org. (Thumbnail image courtesy of Peter Harris)

1.7 kms away from the Cambodian government's broken promises

Licadho Canada — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:10:52 -0800

In February 2007 the Municipality of Phnom Penh entered into a 99-year lease agreement for US$79 million for 133 hectares, including Boeung Kok lake and surrounding land, with a private developer, Shukaku Inc. According to the government, the company will turn the area into "pleasant, trade, and service places for domestic and international tourists," including by filling in 90% of the lake. On 26 August 2008 a company began filling the lake, which has worsened flooding and caused the destruction of some houses.
The development will lead to the eviction of almost 4,000 families, despite many of the affected families having strong legal claims to the land under the Land Law. Without prior meaningful consultation, affected communities are currently being made non-negotiable offers of compensation or houses in a relocation site on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. The compensation offered is insufficient for families to obtain comparable alternative housing. Housing at the relocation site is not adequate: infrastructure is poor, basic amenities including clean water is lacking, and access to work opportunities is very limited given the distance from the city. Moreover, offers include no formal security of tenure for those agreeing to move.
Residents have sought to halt the filling of the lake which is gradually destroying homes, and have requested more compensation. However, the Municipality has told residents that they do not have the right to demand anything more than the offered compensation

Two Years Too Long

Licadho Canada — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:38:09 -0800

A Platapus and LICADHO Canada production commemorating the two year anniversary of the forced eviction of Sambok Chap village in Phnom Penh. This video highlights the UN guidelines on Internally Displaced People along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights while giving an in depth look of the inhumane conditions of Andong, the relocation site of the former residents of Sambok Chap.

True Faces of Dey Krahorm

Licadho Canada — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:33:03 -0800

Since 2005, the area of Dey Krahorm in Phnom Penh Cambodia has resisted violence and intimidation in order to keep from being forcibly evicted by the 7NG company.
Forced eviction is one of the most widespread and systematic human rights violations occurring in Cambodia today. Despite legal protections, at least 30,000 residents of the capital city Phnom Penh have been forcibly evicted, and approximately 150,000 Cambodians throughout the country are at risk of forced eviction.
Over the past forty years, Cambodia has experienced forced eviction and forced displacement on a large scale. During the early 1970s, rural populations in Cambodia, hoping to escape the overflow of the USA and Viet Nam war, moved en masse to Phnom Penh. Much of the urban population under the Khmer Rouge rule of the late 1970s then fled to rural areas. An estimated 2 million Cambodians died during this period, which also saw the destruction of the country’s infrastructure, including maps and land registration documents.
Many in the capital did not survive under the Khmer Rouge. As Phnom Penh became repopulated in the 1980s, primarily rural populations moved into houses and onto land in an unregulated manner. Although private property rights were not recognized, occupation rights continuously gained currency.
The Government in 1989 instituted property rights for rural and urban areas and, in the same year, property rights were added to the Constitution.
Today, particularly in urban areas, settlements have been cleared to make way for “beautification” schemes and development projects also have resulted in displacement. A growing number of cases of forced eviction and land-grabbing take place in rural areas as competition over land and natural resources on which rural communities depend is on the rise. Forced eviction is a reality facing many throughout the country.