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Borei Keila: Forced Eviction Set for Today
Por: Ryan Schlief, Enviado: Jun 15 09
Regions: Cambodia
Issues: Corporations and human rights, HIV-AIDS, Housing
Tags: access to medical treatment, Borei Keila, development induced forced eviction, Forced Eviction, Health, land grabbing, land rights, right to adequate housing, urgent action
UPDATE, 27 July: 100+ HIV/AIDS and human rights organizations - including WITNESS, Human Rights Watch, and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance - co-sign a letter to the Royal Government of Cambodia expressing "deep concern about the discriminatory and potentially life-threatening treatment of HIV-affected families from the Borei Keila community." The statement says that "there has been no consideration of the impact on health of the poor living conditions at Tuol Sambo [the relocation site]" and notes that the risk to those living with HIV can be life threatening. The organizations are calling on the Royal Cambodian Government to cease moving HIV-affected families to Tuol Sambo; ensure full access to quaiity medical services for those families; and improve conditions at Tuol Sambo to meet minimum standards for adequate shelter, sanitation, and clean water. Read the full statement here and continue reading this blog post to learn how you can take action.
18 June: New video - 20 families affected by HIV were evicted from Borei Keila today (images courtesy of Nicolas Axelrod)
15 June, Original Post: Despite continued local and international pressure on the Government of Cambodia, there are convinving reports that the remaining families housed in the green sheds of Borei Keila will be forcibly evicted Monday 15 June.
At this time, renewed action is needed for the remaining families.
WITNESS partner LICADHO produced a video on Borei Keila, which has been distributed to key international and local organizations working on HIV/AIDS.
This week, at the request of the Cambodian Red Cross,a local HIV/AIDS organization with others prepared an assessment of the situation for those living in the green sheds of Borei Keila. Local organizations hope the Cambodian Red Cross will be able to intervene, especially since the President of the Cambodian Red Cross is Bun Rany, the wife of Cambodia's Prime Minister.
Since an estimated 100,000 persons in Phnom Penh alone have been forcibly evicted since 2000, Cambodia is becoming internationally known for its dismal record on housing rights. Responding to the Government of Cambodia's May report on its obligations to protect the right to adequate housing, the United Nations' Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stated:
"The Committee is gravely concerned over reports that since the year 2000, over 100,000 people were evicted in Phnom Penh alone; that at least 150,000 Cambodians continue to live under threat of forced eviction; and that authorities of the State party are actively involved in land-grabbing..."
"(The Committee) is also concerned about the lack of effective consultation with, and legal redress for, persons affected by forced evictions, as well as the inadequate measures to provide sufficient compensation or adequate relocation sites to families who have been forcibly removed from their properties..."
“The Committee urges the State party to implement a moratorium on all evictions until the proper legal framework is in place and the process of land titling is completed, in order to ensure the protection of human rights of all Cambodians…”
Call on the Government of Cambodia:
1) to stop the eviction of Borei Keila;
2) to ensure all families to be screened in a transparent process and those who qualify to receive housing;
3) all those who are not strictly eligible for housing under this scheme, because of their vulnerable status, they should either a) receive an apartment in Borei Keila or b) receive housing elsewhere in the inner-city of Phnom Penh - where they can have access to health care, job and schools.
Considering the forced eviction reportedly will occur on Monday, there is not much time left.
Renew your call for the residents of Borei Keila by contacting Prime Minister Hun Sen by email (cabinet1b@camnet.comk.kh), reiterating the three points outilned above. For guidance, follow the Amnesty International action, Lives At Risk.
Comments
Images from Thursday eviction of Borei Keila
PorRyan Schlief on Jun 18 09
From Nicolas Axelrod in Phnom Penh:
http://www.nicolasaxelrod.com/video/boreikeila/BK/Eviction.html
Cambodia: Families living with HIV/AIDS evicted
PorRyan Schlief on Jun 18 09
18 June 2009
Amnesty International has condemned the Phnom Penh authorities for evicting 20 families living with HIV/AIDS from their homes in Borei Keila this morning. They have been moved outside of the city to a resettlement site, Tuol Sambo, where there is no clean water or electricity and limited access to medical services.
“Tuol Sambo is grossly inadequate and the authorities are well aware of this,” said Brittis Edman, Amnesty International’s Cambodia researcher. “It is often referred to as ‘the AIDS village’ and the inhabitants live with no access to clean water, electricity or proper sanitation.”
“The site’s long distance from the city hampers access to health services and jobs, adding to the risks. The families have urgent humanitarian needs, including clean water, larger living space, access to medical services and food supplies. There is a real risk that the health of the evicted families will deteriorate there.”
Tuol Sambo is in a semi-rural area where the housing is built from green metal sheets. When Amnesty International visited the site in April 2009, it was perceived by villagers in the vicinity as a centre for people living with HIV/AIDS.
The affected families have expressed fears that they will face further discrimination and stigmatization because of their HIV status if forced to live in this separate, distinct enclave. Prejudice against these families may be exacerbated by their poverty and lack of job opportunities.
When evicted, the families were compensated with inadequate re-housing in Tuol Sambo and 50 kilograms of rice, soy sauce, fish sauce, water jars and 250 USD from the Municipality of Phnom Penh and the Ministry of Tourism. Last Friday they were coerced into the move and told that anyone who disagreed would not receive compensation.
“It's unacceptable that the authorities didn’t explore other alternatives before deciding to evict these 20 vulnerable families,” said Brittis Edman. “Tuol Sambo shouldn’t have been an option.”
Background
Borei Keila is a large poor urban community which the government designated as a social land concession for residential development in 2003. The Borei Keila concession was intended to be a land-sharing arrangement between a private developer, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and residents. The agreement gave the developer 2.6 hectares of land for commercial development, in exchange for constructing new housing for the original residents on two hectares of the land. The remainder, consisting of 10 hectares, was to be returned to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.
In March 2007 the Municipality of Phnom Penh resettled the families who lived in Borei Keila against their will and reportedly with force, in temporary shelters built mostly out of corrugated metal sheets. The authorities told them that they would stay there for a few months only, to pave way for the construction of a number of residential multi-storey houses.
Press Release
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/cambodia-families-liv...
City Hall OKs eviction of Borei Keila residents
PorRyan Schlief on Jun 17 09
Phnom Penh Post
Written by MAY TITTHARA AND CHRISTOPHER SHAY
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Members of HIV community, govt dispute terms under which families will relocate.
CITY Hall officially signed off Tuesday on the eviction of the Borei Keila HIV community, said one resident who was present when Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun approved the order, adding that the more than 30 affected families would likely be removed Thursday.
"Mann Chhoeun has approved this already," said community leader Sao Vanna.
The order, which must be finalised by Governor Kep Chuktema, comes amid accusations by Borei Keila residents that they were tricked by authorities into agreeing to the move with promises that they would be given larger homes at the Tuol Sambo site, more than 20 kilometres from their current homes near Olympic Stadium.
READ MORE:
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009061726517/National-news/City-...
Officials reportedly deceived us says Borei Keila community
PorRyan Schlief on Jun 15 09
District officials deceived the HIV community of Borei Keila into thumbprinting an agreement to vacate homes, residents claim
Written by CHRISTOPHER SHAY AND KHOUTH SOPHAK CHAKRYA
Monday, 15 June 2009
MEMBERS of the Borei Keila community, where more than 30 families with HIV-positive members are facing eviction, say they were duped by district authorities Friday into agreeing to leave their neighbourhood near Olympic Stadium in exchange for larger homes at a relocation site outside the city.
READ STORY IN PHNOM PENH POST:
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009061526485/National-news/Evict...
District officials stop HIV/AIDS families on way to City Hall
PorRyan Schlief on Jun 13 09
Phnom Penh Post
Written by Christopher Shay and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
Friday, 12 June 2009
Members of Borei Keila's HIV community say Prampi Makara district governor prevented them from meeting with municipal officials.
THE residents of the Borei Keila community in which at least one member of every family has HIV/AIDS attempted to protest their looming eviction at the offices of the Phnom Penh Municipality on Thursday, but district officials stopped them before they could reach City Hall and ushered them into a district office instead, residents said.
"We tried to walk outside of our community and go to City Hall to talk with [Phnom Penh Deputy Governor] Mann Chhoeun ... but then a few district officers came to stop us and told us the Prampi Makara district governor needed to discuss something with us," Borei Keila resident Larch Kim Long said.
At the Prampi Makara district office, Soum Sovann, the district governor, told the community that the NGOs had abandoned them, and that the government would help them.
"Do not believe some NGOs. They just want you to demand something from the government," he said.
Sim Seda, chief of development for Prampi Makara district, promised the community that officials would provide, in addition to two tuk-tuks, "50 kilogrammes of mulled rice, soy sauce, fish sauce, 15 litres of water and 100,000 riels (US$24.12) to each family who lives there".
The government called out the names of 23 families who would be forcibly relocated to Tuol Sambo, more than 20 kilometres away from their current site near Olympic Stadium.
Many of the community members said that, as long-term renters, they should be given on-site housing at their current location, which they said is closer to medical care and jobs.
Mann Chhoeun said earlier this week that nine families would receive on-site housing because they were able to provide documentation that they had been living at Borei Keila for at least five years.
Residents said their new houses in Tuol Sambo would not meet their needs.
"We need City Hall to provide bigger houses to us," Tuot Chhay Ran said. "We saw the green houses at Tuol Sambo, and they are smaller than the ones here."
According to a report from Medecins Sans Frontieres, the green, zinc shelters at Tuol Sambo will be 3.5-by-4.8 metres, below the minimum requirement for emergency refugee camps.
Kathleen O'Keefe, a consultant who has been observing the situation in Borei Keila since 2006, said the eviction would put the HIV community at greater medical risk.
"These 32 families are to be banished to a remote location, which is already known by local people as the ‘AIDS village'.... Moreover, they will face squalid and unhealthy conditions at the Tuol Sambo relocation site, and, because of its distance from Phnom Penh, they will be far away from their jobs and vital medical services in the city," she said.
"It's not surprising that some of these people wonder whether the government is sending them to Tuol Sambo so that they will die more quickly," she added.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009061226455/National-news/Distr...
More resources
PorRyan Schlief on Jun 12 09
Amnesty international just released (11 June) an urgent action to its members urging for action on Borei Keila.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/
Read LICADHO's latest report:
Land Grabbing and Poverty in Cambodia: The Myth of Development
http://www.licadho-cambodi