Economic land concessions and plantations

Three parliamentarians from the National Assembly’s human rights commission, led by CNRP lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang, returned Tuesday from a two-day visit to four communities in Koh Kong province locked in land disputes with companies holding private land concessions. Following the trip, the lawmakers said ...

Mong Reththy, one of Cambodia’s most prominent tycoons, complained Tuesday that recent recipients of expansive land concessions from the government have less of a social conscience than entrepreneurs granted land in the 1990s. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference hosted by USAID and the NGO ...

Former residents of two villages in Koh Kong province that were razed last week by security guards for Chinese firm Union Development Group are preparing to file a complaint to Prime Minister Hun Sen. Fourteen homes were destroyed by company security guards Thursday morning, according to ...

Contentious plantation giant Vietnam Rubber Group reportedly “lost” nearly $391 million of state funds over five years, including $22.75 million from a rubber plantation in Cambodia, an official investigation into the firm’s dealings has found, according to Vietnamese media. Hanoi’s anti-corruption body, the General Inspectorate, last ...

Representatives of Oddar Meanchey villagers who allegedly lost their homes in a 2008 land grab by Thai-owned sugar giant Mitr Phol are hopeful a settlement may soon be reached after they testify before Thai human rights officials today. Witnesses representing more than 400 families are slated ...

More than 200 people in Kampong Speu’s Oral district gathered yesterday to submit a second petition to HLH Company – an agro-business linked to Hun Seng Ny, the sister of Prime Minister Hun Sen – demanding the return of their land, community representatives said. ...

More than 100 demonstrators continued to stage an anti-eviction protest in front of Koh Kong province’s city hall after a jailed community leader was denied bail yesterday. ...

A 60-year-old woman was injured and sent to hospital yesterday when police cracked down on anti-eviction protesters blocking a busy bridge in Koh Kong province, villagers said. More than 100 villagers locked in a dispute with the company that manages the Koh Kong Special Economic ...

About 40 security guards armed with axes and AK-47s and working for the Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG) on Sunday demolished the homes of three villagers who claim to own land on UDG’s sprawling $3.8-billion beachside tourist development in Koh Kong province, villagers said. ...

Security guards hired by the Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG) thwarted an attempt Friday by 10 villagers to bring a halt to the company’s clearing of land in Koh Kong province, locals said. ...

Representatives of 273 ethnic Bunong families from Mondolkiri province submitted a petition on Thursday to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet in Phnom Penh, seeking the cancellation of an economic land concession they say has infringed on their ancestral lands. ...

More than 200 ethnic families in Mondulkiri’s Sen Monorom town filed complaints to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet and the provincial court yesterday, asking for the cancellation of Villa Development’s land concession and demanding $500 million for allegedly destroying their resin trees. The complaint is the ...

About 500 villagers involved in a protracted land dispute with a rubber company blocked National Road 7 in Tbong Khmum province’s Memot district on Thursday to demand titles to land they say they have lived on since 1980. ...

More than 1 million hectares of forest terrain and land leased by private companies has been put under government control since Prime Minister Hun Sen initiated a moratorium on new economic land concessions (ELCs) in May 2012, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and ...

One of 11 firms that had their economic land concessions revoked by the Ministry of Environment on Friday has continued to work its former land in Banteay Meanchey province, according to local residents. ...

Representatives of 142 families from Pursat province’s Veal Veng district filed complaints with the provincial governor Monday seeking intervention in their land dispute with powerful timber and casino magnate Try Pheap. ...

The government has seized back more than 12,000 hectares of land previously awarded to seven companies as economic land concessions (ELCs), according to a letter from the Council of Ministers. It explains that licences awarded from 2006 to 2011 for eight ELCs in the provinces ...

A British lawyer has filed new documents against senior Cambodian officials at the International Criminal Court, accusing them of systematic land grabs that constitute human rights abuses. A communication filed on Oct. 7 claims that over the last 14 years, an estimated 770,000 Cambodians, or ...

Cambodian government has revoked licenses of economic land concessions of three companies in Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk and Kampong Speu provinces, according to sub-decree. The sub-decree dated October 7 said 1,635 hectares of economic land concessions have  been taken back from Vimean Seila LTD, Vatanak Co., ...

About 300 villagers from 10 communities in Preah Sihanouk province blocked a road in front of the provincial hall for more than two hours Monday demanding intervention in their land disputes. ...

NGOs have filed a new complaint against Australia’s ANZ Bank claiming it owes compensation to 681 Cambodian families who say their farms were illegally grabbed by a sugarcane plantation the bank helped to finance. ...

Two-and-a-half years after Prime Minister Hun Sen imposed a freeze on the granting of economic land concessions (ELCs), Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Monday appeared to leave the door open to the government giving more companies access to the often-controversial land holdings. At a press ...

Cambodian Environment Minister Say Samal said Monday that the government has canceled licenses of economic land concessions (ELCs) for eight companies after they have not undertaken development on the lands for years.​ ...

Tycoon Try Pheap has collected an estimated 1,500 cubic metres of timber from Forestry Administration offices since the government in July issued his companies permission to confiscate “waste wood” from their offices and from the Ministry of Environment, according to preliminary government figures obtained by ...