Land-title program ‘Ineffective’
Land certificates handed out by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteers have been seized by local authorities in some parts of the country and sold on to companies, a forum on land rights was told yesterday, amid reports of rising numbers of land conflicts. Speaking at the forum, Ky Chanra, a resident of Battambang province’s Bavel district, said youth volunteers had measured his land and produced a certificate, but the company continued to occupy the land as it had done since 2005. … Yesterday’s meeting served as the launch of Cambodia: Land in Conflict, a report on land use published yesterday by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR). The report describes the volunteer-led titling program as ineffective, claiming that by and large the scheme has not sought to help communities affected by land disputes and that activists campaigning for the communities have been regularly arrested. “People in Pursat province’s Krokor district were granted land titles after the borders were demarcated by the students in December 2012. But the Pheapimex Company still continued occupying the land,” the report said. … Thong Pha, from Kampong Speu province, said that while she was initially glad that youth volunteers were measuring her land, the feeling soon faded when the authorities stepped in and sold her papers to companies who wished to exploit the land. “They seized our certificates and then sold them to the companies. So I would like to ask the government to help us to get my land back, because I have lived in the area since the Khmer Rouge,” she said. …
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-title-program-%E2%80%98ineffective%E2%80%99
