Public land lease
Concessions
Villagers mark six years since violent eviction
Some 200 monks, villagers and land rights activists came together in Siem Reap province’s Chi Kreng district on Saturday to mark the six-year anniversary of the day that police opened fire on a group of farmers protesting their impending eviction. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-mark-six-years-since-violent-eviction-80539/
Borei Keila evictees denounce ‘resolutions’
City Hall announced Friday that the vast majority of remaining evictees from Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila neighborhood—who were left landless after a development firm failed to provide adequate housing for hundreds in the community—will not be rehoused in the area. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/borei-keila-evictees-denounce-resolutions-80496/
Court delays trial due to lack of A/C, denies bail to woman
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday delayed the trial of a woman whose family has been locked in a lengthy land dispute with real estate tycoon Khun Sear because the air conditioning in the courtroom was not working, a decision that was followed by ...
Ben Sokhean and Alex Consiglio
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-delays-trial-due-to-lack-of-ac-denies-bail-to-woman-80237/
Preah Sihanouk court evicts scores of villagers
Workers demolished 62 houses in Preah Sihanouk province’s Stung Hav district Thursday and evicted about 70 residents after the provincial court decided to act on a long-standing ruling that deemed the families to be living on the land illegally, an official and a rights worker ...
Plantations and families set rules for IFC-mediated talks
A year after some 2,000 families filed a complaint with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for financing rubber plantations they accuse of grabbing their farms and logging their sacred forests, all sides have finally agreed to a set of ground rules for negotiations and hope ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/plantations-and-families-set-rules-for-ifc-mediated-talks-80222/
City hall makes offer on land to families of Chroy Changva
Families living on contested land on Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva peninsula were on Wednesday given a choice by municipal governor Pa Socheatvong: give up 90 percent of your land and live on the remainder or sell it all at $40 per square meter. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-makes-offer-on-land-to-families-of-chroy-changva-80097/
Ministry attempts to explain its interference in Sen Sok dispute
Representatives of 163 families embroiled in a long-running land dispute in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district met with officials from the Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday to ask why the ministry issued a letter last week requesting that the Phnom Penh Municipal Court hold off on ...
Villagers prevent police from taking back seized bulldozers
About 150 ethnic Kuoy in Preah Vihear province on Tuesday prevented police and a court prosecutor from taking back a pair of bulldozers the villagers seized last year from a Chinese-owned plantation they accuse of encroaching on their farms. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-prevent-police-from-taking-back-seized-bulldozers-79978/
Families ask to meet Agriculture minister
Representatives of 163 families from Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district submitted a request to the Agriculture Ministry on Monday to meet with Minister Ouk Rabun over his request that the Phnom Penh Municipal Court delay the allocation of nearly a hectare of land the families ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-ask-to-meet-agriculture-minister-79883/
Families call for chief’s ouster over land sale
More than 160 families in Banteay Meanchey province’s O’Chrou district filed a complaint on Monday with local officials calling for the removal of their village chief, whom they blame for the loss of 835 hectares of farmland to a rubber plantation. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-call-for-chiefs-ouster-over-land-sale-79881/
After ministry’s intervention, families ask Hun Sen for help
A representative of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet yesterday advised 163 families involved in a 6-year land dispute with a businesswoman in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district to seek the Justice Ministry’s expertise after the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday it had swapped the contested ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-ministrys-intervention-families-ask-hun-sen-for-help-79793/
Daughter of land-dispute family questioned over Cobra attack
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday questioned the jailed daughter of a family locked in a bitter land dispute with tycoon Khun Sear over a complaint alleging that the businessman’s company was involved in an attack in October 2013, when a canvas bag containing ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/daughter-of-land-dispute-family-questioned-over-cobra-attack-79795/
Court orders family off khun sear’s land: lawyer
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday sided with real estate tycoon Khun Sear and his eponymous company in a longstanding land dispute with a family living adjacent to an apartment block he obtained in a land swap, the family’s lawyer said Thursday. ...
Ben Sokhean and Alex Consiglio
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-orders-family-off-khun-sears-land-lawyer-says-79667/
Battambang residents protest over land redistribution plans
About 70 villagers representing hundreds of families living in Battambang City’s Prek Preah Sdech commune protested outside the provincial hall Tuesday over fears that local authorities intend to evict them to make way for military families. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/battambang-residents-protest-over-land-redistribution-plans-79474/
Plantations lose land for encroaching on farms
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Monday said that more than 9,000 hectares granted to companies as economic land concessions (ELCs) were recently taken back from the owners because local villagers had been farming the land first, and announced that 14 companies had been put ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/plantations-lose-land-for-encroaching-on-farms-79364/
Developer sparks another dispute over wall
Families in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district have been protesting since Friday against wealthy businessman Khun Sear’s plan to build a brick wall that will effectively block access to their village. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/developer-sparks-another-dispute-over-wall-79360/
Boeung Kak land talks fail
Following negotiations yesterday with Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong, representatives of 12 Boeung Kak community families complained that City Hall was not offering them nearly enough land to replace what had previously been taken from them. During yesterday’s meeting, City Hall offered to give the ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/boeung-kak-land-talks-fail
Hydropower dam puts a way of life at risk
In the heart of the Areng Valley, on the edges of the rolling Cardamom Mountains, an old Bodhi tree pierces the thick green canopy. At its base, nestled in between its hanging roots, sits a ramshackle altar of tin and timber for the spirit of ...
Zsombor Peter and Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hydropower-dam-puts-a-way-of-life-at-risk-78844/
Overloaded Try Pheap Trucks Stopped in Kratie; 11 Others Escape
Authorities in Kratie province moved to stop a convoy of trucks belonging to tycoon Try Pheap overloaded with first-grade timber on Sunday, but were only able to pull over five of the vehicles, which were found to be carrying nearly double the amount of cargo ...
‘I will come back,’ says deported activist
Referring to Cambodia as “my country”, Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, a vocal environmental activist and Spanish national who was deported Monday, yesterday vowed to return and continue his struggle to save the Areng Valley. ...
Sean Teehan and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/i-will-come-back-says-deported-activist
Preah Sihanouk communities protest over land conflicts
About 100 villagers representing 19 communities in Preah Sihanouk province marched to the provincial hall in Sihanoukville on Tuesday, demanding intervention in their land disputes. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/preah-sihanouk-communities-protest-over-land-conflicts-78627/
PM threatens use of rockets in Areng valley
The day after the government deported a foreign activist opposed to a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday invited activists in the valley to secede from Cambodia, but warned that rocket launchers could be deployed if ...
Hul Reaksmey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prime-minister-threatens-use-of-rockets-in-areng-valley-78609/
Villagers speak up as reservoir plan digs into their rice fields
Villagers in Banteay Meanchey province on Saturday protested against a local military official’s plan to build a reservoir on their land, then sell the dirt at a profit. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-speak-up-as-reservoir-plan-digs-into-their-rice-fields-78502/
Gov’t spokesman says Licadho doctored land dispute report
fter rights group Licadho released a statement Thursday saying that more than 10,000 Cambodian families were newly affected last year by land disputes in the 13 provinces where it has monitors—a three-fold increase from 2013—a government spokesman on Friday slammed the NGO’s report as “baseless ...
Kuch Naren and Emily Townsend
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-spokesman-says-licadho-doctored-land-dispute-report-78470/