UN set to hear report on Cambodian rights

Bridget Di Certo, Phnom Penh Post, Sep. 29 2011

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Cambodia was due last night to present his 2011 report to the Human Rights Council in New York, where Foreign Minister Hor Namhong is attending the UN General Assembly’s annual debate. The report, first published on August 2, looks at various human rights issues in the Kingdom including the role of parliament, freedom of expression and land and housing rights. Hor Namhong was also due to deliver answering remarks on the report to the Human Rights Council. Special Rapporteur Surya Subedi has been monitoring the situation of human rights in Cambodia since 2009 and has delivered three annual reports with recommendations for the government.

The 2011 report acknowledges the progress that Cambodia has made in respect of human rights and transitioning to a full democracy, but notes there is still much work to be done, a sentiment echoed in Hor Namhong’s statement to the General Assembly. On Monday, Hor Namhong said the “continued economic and financial instability in the developed world has exacerbated uncertainty in funding for development projects in poor countries”. He said Cambodia was working hard to achieve the UN Millenium Development Goals, but faced many financial obstacles. However, his statement did not address the most recent funding freeze for development projects in Cambodia from the World Bank, a move that was motivated by the government’s failure to resolve the land dispute at Boeung Kak in Phnom Penh.

Since the World Bank funding freeze, the government has moved to resolve the land dispute by granting families at the lake 12.44 hectares of land, however unrest still remains and violence erupted  between protestors and authorities two weeks ago. Hor Namhong’s trip to New York is an important one for the Cambodian government, which is currently rallying support for a 2013-2014 seat as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. Hor Namhong’s statement to the General Assembly included a call to remove sanctions from Cuba, a country that has vouched support for Cambodia’s Security Council bid. Subedi and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not available for comment to the Post yesterday.

Attempted murder complaint

Mom Kunthear and Bridget di Certo, Phnom Penh Post, Sep. 23 2011

Sam Rainsy Party youth wing leader Suong Sophoan filed a criminal complaint yesterday accusing local police, riot police and security guards acting for Boeung Kak lake developer Shukaku of attempted murder, after he was beaten unconscious last Friday. Accompanied by SRP parliamentarian Mu Sochua and wearing a cowboy hat and low-slung jeans, Suong Sophoan filed the complaint at Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday afternoon. Under his hat, parts of his hair were shorn away and bandages covered wounds received during the attack – which was filmed at Phnom Penh’s lakeside and later posted online. “I want the court to find justice for me and justice for Boeung Kak residents against this gang of armed forces,” Suong Sophoan said. “The authorities took a big stone to hit my head in order to kill me, but I used my hand to protect myself.”

The complaint was filed with a list of more than 80 witnesses and the video footage of the alleged attempted murder. “We have more than enough evidence that the violence was not meant to just shove him off the scene,” said Mu Sochua. “It was meant to totally silence him. It was meant to kill him.” The number of police outside the court more than tripled shortly after Soung Sophoan arrived to file his complaint. But the youth leader said he was no stranger to the attention of police. Nor was he a stranger to their brutality. “You all know that I was abused and threatened with arrest many times,” he said. “But I keep my ambition to protect the [Boeung Kak] villagers until I die.” “You would think this would create an atmosphere of fear,” said Mu Sochua, speaking outside the courthouse. “But to the contrary the message is counterproductive.”

“This is a moral message – Soung Sophorn is full of energy, passion and courage. Don’t forget the power of social media to put the face of injustice in the public.” Mu Sochua said a video of Soung Sophorn’s beating had received more than 10,000 views since being posted online last weekend. “This is how we bring about change,” she said yesterday. “It is time for the state to face reality.” In his complaint, Soung Sophoan requested US$10,000 in compensation and sentencing of all the perpetrators. Hy Pro, deputy police commissioner of Phnom Penh, said that it was Soung Sorphoan’s right to file a complaint. “I was not at the scene on that day, so I have no knowledge, but let the court do their work on this case,” he said. Shukaku representatives were unavailable for comment last night.

Evictees Urge Ministry to Take Action

Chhorn Chansy, The Cambodia Daily, Sep. 22 2011

Boeung Kak: Government claims dispute handled well

May Titthara and David Boyle, Phnom Penh Post, Sep. 21 2011

DAYS after an activist was beaten unconscious at Boeung Kak while excavators working for a ruling party senator tore down residents’ homes, a government spokesman said yesterday that the dispute had been handled “the right way”.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said at a press conference that Foreign Minister Hor Namhong recognised land disputes such as Boeung Kak were an issue but had claimed all had been resolved without forced evictions.

“For example on the Boeung Kak issue we found the resolution by providing compensation for families who agreed to leave,” he said.  “And some families who want to develop on the site, we, the government, also provided 12.77 hectares of land for them too.”

Last month, the government agreed to provide on-site relocation to 746 families. But on Friday excavators from senator Lao Meng Khin’s Shukaku company were filmed tearing down the houses of families subsequently cut out of that deal.

Sia Phearum, director of the Cambodian Housing Rights Task Force, said Koy Kuong should leave his “air-conditioned room” and visit sites of violence forced evictions have occurred in the past five years.

Right Group Urges Halt to B Kak Evictions

Kate Bartlett, The Cambodia Daily, Sep. 21 2011

SRP Asks World Bank to Keep Funding Frozen

Kate Bartlett, The Cambodia Daily, Sep. 20 2011

Shukaku Inc Is ‘Enemy of the People,’ SRP Says

James Welsh, The Cambodia Daily, Sep. 20 2011

Opposition Lawmakers Petition World Bank

Samean Yun for RFA’s Khmer service, Sep. 20 2011

Cambodian parliamentarians want a loan freeze in place until authorities resolve a land dispute. More than a dozen opposition lawmakers have signed a petition asking the World Bank to maintain a  suspension of all funding to the Cambodian government until authorities resolve a long-running land dispute in the capital of Phnom Penh. Fifteen members of parliament from the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) sent the document to the World Bank on Monday, urging the continuation of the suspension put into place in August. They said the loan freeze would pressure the Cambodian government into clearly defining an area of land set aside for villagers facing eviction at Boeung Kak Lake. The World Bank halted loans last month “until an agreement is reached with the residents.” Its last loan to the country was provided in December last year. The SRP petition came days after a violent clash between residents and anti-riot police left at least one village representative seriously injured. The police had been sent by municipal authorities to protect workers demolishing residents’ homes to make way for a luxury residential area. One SRP lawmaker told RFA during his visit to the site that the developer hadn’t complied with last month’s government sub decree providing the villagers with land to develop themselves. “Shukaku Inc. has intended to breach the government decision,” the SRP parliamentarian said. Shukaku Inc., a Chinese-Cambodian company owned by a politician from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, has been filling in the lake with sand in preparation for construction of the new apartment complex. “We will file a complaint against the perpetrators who assaulted the civilians. People are losing their land—they have nowhere to live anymore.” Eight homes were demolished during the September 16 clash.

Additional demands

The SRP lawmakers also called on the Cambodian government to block any sand pumping at the lake until “a final solution has been reached between the residents and the company.” They demanded that Shukaku compensate the residents of the eight destroyed homes, who have since built temporarily shelters on their former plots in an effort to protect them from the company. They also insisted that the company compensate villager Soung Sophoan for his medical treatment after he was left unconscious and bloodied following a confrontation with police, calling the assault “a premeditated act” against the activist. The families had marched across the city on Thursday to the U.S., U.K., and Chinese embassies, pleading for intervention and calling on Hun Sen for assistance. But the developer moved in a day later, and as they watched their homes being destroyed, many were left to wonder what recourse remained for them. Nearly 3,000 families had been evicted from the site before Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered 12.44 hectares (31 acres) reserved for 794 remaining families in August. But local authorities have excluded 47 families from the land, and villagers say that the implementation of the decree has lacked transparency. The protesters were from among the excluded families, who authorities said did not have land titles recognized by the government.

Loans halted

Hun Sen’s decision to earmark property for the remaining families came a week after an announcement by the World Bank that it would halt new loans to Cambodia until the land dispute was resolved. But Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told RFA at the time that the decision was not a result of pressure from the World Bank, adding that it was “the government’s stance” on the issue. Boeung Kak villagers welcomed the government’s decision, but expressed concern that corruption and mismanagement by local authorities might leave residents landless in the end. They said the central government would be less motivated to follow through on implementation because it had simply cut a deal with the villagers in a bid to restart funding from the World Bank. In March, an independent inspection panel found that the World Bank had mishandled a land titling program that led to the eviction of residents from the lake district over the past two years. Following the panel’s findings, the bank offered to help the government find a solution for the residents, but it also warned that it would reconsider its work in the country if the forced relocations were not halted. The families who remained at Boeung Kak Lake had held frequent protests in recent months, saying they were holding out for property on the same site after the construction is complete, or for greater compensation. They say they are entitled to the property under Cambodia’s Land Law, having lived there for decades. Police and company workers had threatened and harassed the residents in attempts to prevent them from holding meetings and from peacefully protesting against the forced eviction. Police had also used excessive force against some residents when they gathered to bring the issue to the attention of visiting dignitaries and Cambodian politicians, rights groups said.

Ongoing issue

Cambodia’s land issue dates from the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, which forced large-scale evacuations and relocations throughout the country. This was followed by mass confusion over land rights and the formation of squatter communities when the refugees returned in the 1990s after a decade of civil war. Housing Cambodia’s large, young, and overwhelmingly poor population has posed a major problem ever since. An estimated 30,000 people a year in Cambodia are driven from farmland or urban areas to make way for real estate developments or mining and agricultural projects.

Reported and translated by Samean Yun for RFA’s Khmer service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Amnesty Appeal: Halt BKL forced eviction

Amnesty International issued the following urgent appeal on Sep. 19, 2011.

Cambodia urged to halt Boeung Kak Lake forced evictions in Phnom Penh
19 September 2011

The Cambodian authorities must stop a series of heavy-handed forced evictions in Phnom Penh which have seen thousands of families lose their homes, Amnesty International said today.

About a further 90 families living around Boeung Kak Lake in the centre of the capital are at imminent risk of forced eviction as development company Shukaku Inc clears the land for construction.

Eight homes and businesses were demolished without warning in village 22 on Friday by two excavators accompanied by around 100 armed riot police and security guards.

One Boeung Kak Lake resident and activist, Suong Sophorn was beaten unconscious by police with batons and a brick after he called for other residents to join hands to stop the destruction of more houses.

“The authorities must act to ensure that no further forced evictions are carried out in the Boeung Kak Lake area and that all the remaining families are treated fairly and equally” said Donna Guest, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy Director.

“They must also launch an investigation into the beating of Suong Sophorn and bring those police officers responsible to justice.”

Only 779 out of some 4,000 families are still living in the Boeung Kak Lake area. The others were subjected to a campaign of threats and intimidation to accept inadequate compensation or resettlement to a site 20km away from their work and livelihoods.

On 11 August, the prime minister authorized 12.44 hectares of land within the Boeung Kak Lake development area to be handed over to the remaining 779 families for onsite housing in plots with legal ownership.

However, the Municipality of Phnom Penh (MPP) has excluded 96 families in villages which it claims do not live within the 12.44 hectares.

The families whose homes and businesses were destroyed on 16 September are among these 96 excluded households.

Families have lived under threat of forced eviction since February 2007 when the MPP granted a 99-year lease for the land to Shukaku Inc.

Prayers for retribution at lakeside

Khouth Sophakchakrya, Phnom Penh Post, Sep. 19 2011

Photo by: Meng Kimlong

A woman cries as a home is demolished at Boeung Kak lake on Friday.

Residents of Boeung Kak’s village 22 yesterday morning prayed for retribution on the government officials they accuse of having corrupt ties to a company that used excavators and police to demolish their homes and businesses on Friday, during a brutal incident that was videotaped and uploaded onto YouTube. Standing in the rubble where his home stood before Friday, Doung Kea, 43, told the Post that he was praying for spirits to punish corrupt officials who conspired to destroy his house and those of his neighbours. “It is the time of the Pchum Ben festival, so our prayers for action against corrupt officials will be effective,” he said. Friday’s destruction began early in the afternoon when two excavators moved into the village, accompanied by about 100 district and riot police. Eight houses and shops were demolished as horrified onlookers cried, shouted or tossed stones at them. Widow Chhun Lycheng, 32, whose shop house was destroyed, accused developer Shukaku Inc and the Daun Penh district officials of conspiring with each other to destroy her house before she could negotiate compensation to relocate. “My house was torn down by the two excavators while I was doing business. I would not have survived if someone had not dragged me away,” she said.

Photo by: Touch Yin Vannith

Soung Sophoan lies on the ground Friday after being beaten by police.

Heng Mom, 54, whose house was the first to be torn down said that after she had refused compensation of US$80,000 she was told that her house would be buried in sand.  “I refused the offer and my house was demolished as they had threatened,” she said. Sam Rainsy Party activist Soung Sophoan, a former resident of Village 20, was beaten unconscious by a group of police who whacked him with batons, then kicked him in the face, head and torso after he had fallen to the ground. Yesterday, he said the gold chain he had worn was stolen during the attack, which was captured on a video that as of last night had been viewed nearly 10,000 times on YouTube. Pich Chanthea, 44, a resident of village 23 of Doun Penh’s Sras Chok commune, said the government was promoting Cambodia as the Kingdom of Wonder in its latest tourism campaign, but some officials were driving people from their homes into makeshift shelters under tents. Friday’s incident was the latest in the dispute between residents of villages around Boeung Kak Lake and Shukaku Inc, which was given a 99-year lease to develop the area in 2007.

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Doung Kea, 43, paints a message on the tent where he is now living after his house was demolished by Shukaku Inc employees on Friday.

Earlier last month Prime Minister Hun Sen signed a sub-decree setting aside 12.44 hectares as a relocation site for 746 families who had refused to make way for the development. Residents of villages 6, 22 and 24, however, were denied land titles within the relocation site. Shukaku is owned by ruling- party senator Lao Meng Khin. The Chinese firm Erdos Hong Jun Investment Company has a 51 percent stake in the project. Municipal governor Kep Chutema and Shukaku executives could not be reached for comment yesterday.