Communal land

More than a decade after subsidiaries of multinational rubber firm Socfin Group forcibly cleared and seized the farms, burial grounds and sacred forests of Bunong indigenous communities in Mondulkiri province, the company now seeks to collect tens of thousands of dollars from these farmers for ...

The O’Krieng Senchey district administration in Kratie province have ordered the Sre Chis commune authorities to educate minority ethnic groups about the laws and legal instruments related to environmental protection. ...

The Kratie Provincial Court summoned two Kraol indigenous people from Srae Chis commune to appear in court for questioning this week for allegedly illegally encroaching on protected areas, but the two villagers did not show up. ...

Gun-toting workers acting on behalf of a well-connected rubber firm have continued to clear the farmlands of a Jarai community in Ratanakiri province’s Andong Meas district, videos shared with CamboJA show. ...

Bunong people in Mondulkiri’s Roya Leu community say they are gripped by the fear their customary lands will be taken from them. ...

The company had already ravaged the farms of their indigenous Jarai neighbors in Ratanakiri province’s Andong Meas district over the past months. ...

Residents of Kampong Sralao II commune in Preah Vihear province’s Chhep district have reported that around 200ha of their community forest land has been encroached upon by squatters from other provinces. ...

Just 38 indigenous communities out of 455 have received communal land titles since the government first made them available in 2009, with indigenous activists and rights groups bemoaning the notoriously slow process. ...

 Preav Hun cultivated bananas and mangos in the Areng valley of the Cardamom mountains for more than 25 years, but for the past six months Ministry of Environment officials have banned him and his indigenous Chorng neighbors from farming as the government rezones the protected ...

A senior environment official called for calm after indigenous women’s communities urged relevant ministries and institutions to address their concerns by including their input into the draft amendments to the protected natural areas and forestry laws. ...

Communities are already facing lawsuits for traditional farming practices and seeing encroachment on ancestral lands as new draft laws are set to further erode protections, indigenous groups warned in a forum with government officials on Wednesday. ...

On December 6, 2022, 10 indigenous people submitted their petitions to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, and the Office of the Council of Ministers to seek the intervention to help resolve their land disputes. ...

Indigenous Bunong families from Mondulkiri are petitioning government institutions about 255 hectares of community land transferred to a tycoon amid nationwide state-land privatizations. ...

Representatives of indigenous peoples in Mondulkiri province file a petition at the office of Prime Minister Hun Sen to keep more than 200 hectares of community land for residents and stop giving that land to a private company for development that will affect their livelihood. ...

On Friday, more than 20 representatives of the Kuy indigenous group in Ngon commune, Sandan district, Kampong Thom province gathered in front of the Kampong Thom Provincial Court while an indigenous witness testifies to the case of their representative involved in a land dispute. ...

The Kbal Romeas community requests the authorities to help protect their forests from the Chinese company Sivgex and expedite the establishment of another 3,000 hectares of their communal land. ...

Indigenous communities attempting to register communal lands are often left in bureaucratic limbo and are at risk of losing this land, advocates said this week, even as the government handed more than 4,000 hectares to three communities in May. ​ ...

Indigenous Suoy families say they have blocked a company formerly chaired by the prime minister’s nephew Hun Chea from clearing their farmland in Kampong Speu, and are seeking compensation. ...

Around 4,000 hectares of state forests have been transferred to collective ownership by indigenous groups in Ratanakiri, according to government decrees. ...

Baitong Warriors, a local environment activist group, have submitted a letter to the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) seeking an investigation into alleged irregularities concerning more than 2,000ha of the Tamao Mountain forest reserve following news of a dairy farm’s relocation to the area. ...

The Mondulkiri Provincial Court Prosecutor’s Office has summoned 12 Bunong indigenous people to testify in a case of alleged violence and destruction of property, which took place on November 17 last year. ...

Mondulkiri provincial Military Police have summoned three members of the Bunong indigenous community in Sokdum commune’s Laoka village of Sen Monorom town to appear on May 19 over accusations that they disregarded the court ruling and used violence and made death threats against a local ...

Six representatives of the Bunong indigenous community have filed a complaint with the Mondulkiri Provincial Court seeking an investigation into their commune and village chiefs, who they alleged had turned a blind eye to infringement on their traditional burial grounds.​ ...

Officials from the Pursat and Mondulkiri provincial administrations have rejected the findings of a new Adhoc report which claimed that wrongful arrest, allegations and detention of people involved in land disputes was rampant, and that corruption was rife in the mediation of such cases. ...