Hun Sen Thanks Student Land-Titling Volunteers
Student volunteers from across the country yesterday took a break from their land-measuring duties to attend a pre-Khmer New Year ceremony at Phnom Penh’s Koh Pitch where they were presented with a thank-you letter from Mr. Hun Sen. Since Mr. Hun Sen launched the land titling program in June, sending thousands of young volunteers into the countryside to measure land, more than 125,000 titles have been handed out to villagers and tens of thousands more are expected to be handed out before the national elections in July. But right workers say the program is riddled with irregularities, and argue it is failing the very families –such as ethnic minority groups- who need land tiles the most. They say the survey teams are mostly ignoring communities in dispute with well-connected owners of the country’s economic land concessions. Only a month into the program, Mr. Hun Sen himself said disputed areas were off limits to his student volunteers. …
