News
Ethnic villagers, firm battle over Ratanakkiri plot
A local official and four ethnic minority Tompuon villagers appeared in a Ratanakkiri court on Friday to face accusations of land-grabbing and protesting against a private company that purchased their land in 2007, authorities said yesterday. Rocham Pheun, an assistant to the chief of Keh Chung ...
Jarai Man Exiled After He Opposes Land Deal
Commune authorities in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district have allegedly banished a local resident for persisting with a lawsuit that accuses them of selling 500 hectares of community forest to two Cambodian developers for $300,000. Romas Svang, who is a member of the ethnic Jarai minority, filed ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051765682/National/jarai-man-exiled-after-he-opposes-land-deal.html
Arrests Threatened In Ratanakkiri
Provincial authorities in Ratanakkiri have warned ethnic Jarai villagers that they will be arrested if they continue to stop bulldozers belonging to a Vietnamese company from clearing forest in O’Yadav district’s Paknhai commune, community leaders said yesterday. Sav Finh, leader of Lom village’s forestry protection committee, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051565625/National/arrests-threatened-in-ratanakkiri.html
Villagers Burn Down Soldiers’ Shelter on Disputed Land
Three members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) on Monday filed a complaint with police in Kompong Chhnang province, accusing irate villagers of torching a wooden shelter built for them by the well-connected KDC agro-industry firm. The soldiers have accused local residents, who have been ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-burn-down-soldiers-shelter-on-disputed-land-23790/
New Kompong Thom Governor Vows to Give Land to Evictees
The newly appointed Kompong Thom provincial governor on Tuesday promised more than 500 families who were forcefully evicted by a Vietnamese rubber plantation more than three years ago that they would be given replacement land to farm on early next month. Security forces evicted villagers from ...
Old Soldiers Won't Fade Away
“I don’t know how to protect the territorial integrity [of the nearby Cambodian-Thai border] – even my three hectares of land I cannot protect,” said Bun Chanthorn, 54, one of hundreds of retired and active soldiers who since 2010 have been battling the local authorities ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050765451/National/old-soldiers-won-t-fade-away.html
Pushing the ELC envelope
Three companies accused of illegal logging in Ratanakkiri province are in possession of a combined 30,000 hectares of economic land concessions (ELCs) that are likely illegal because they are owned by the same parent firm. Hoang Anh Andong Meas, Hoang Anh Lumphat and Hoang Anh Ouyadav ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050365405/National/pushing-the-elc-envelope.html
Tales of intimidation
When activists Mom Sakin and Sorn Siyan took a stand against illegal logging in Kratie province last month, they were allegedly threatened with violence and lawsuits from officials. “Powerful people who wanted to intimidate us shot their guns into the air to prevent us from going ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050165357/National/tales-of-intimidation.html
Angry Villagers Confront Workers
Jarai minority villagers in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district protested in two locations yesterday against a Vietnamese company that community leaders say has been clearing their protected land and forcing villagers to accept inadequate compensation. Community leader Sev Hem said 30 angry villagers directly confronted five Company 72 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050165347/National/angry-villagers-confront-workers.html
Preah Vihear Authorities Destroy Airfield Homes
Authorities have demolished the homes of 25 families living on the site of an obsolete airfield in Preah Vihear province’s Choam Ksan district, a rights group and the families said Sunday. The families were ordered to move off the land on Wednesday, with the district governor ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/preah-vihear-authorities-destroy-airfield-homes-20688/
Forest Allegedly Cleared By Company
Local authorities and Ratanakkiri provincial forestry officials yesterday visited an area in O’Yadav district where community leaders say a Vietnamese company known as “Company 72” has razed an estimated 1,000 hectares of protected forest since 2011. “The villagers complained to the authorities many times, but ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013042965293/National/forest-allegedly-cleared-by-company.html
Adhoc defends Staffer in Incitement Claim
Human rights group Adhoc yesterday criticized a commune official in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district for accusing one of its staff of incitement and spreading disinformation after villagers traveled to Phnom Penh in March to protest over a land dispute with well known businessman Try ...
40 hectares razed in R’kiri
More than 40 hectares of protected forest in Rattanakiri’s O’Yadav district was razed by a Vietnamese company over the course of six days before they were stopped yesterday by villagers and investigators from rights group Adhoc, a local official said. Sav Hlin, a village chief in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013042665270/National/40-hectares-razed-in-r-kiri.html
Scale of Wildlife Sanctuary Destruction Denied
A rights worker and forestry official yesterday contradicted a local newspaper report claiming that more than $100 million worth of timber had been illegally extracted from Ratanakirri province’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary. Adhoc’s provincial coordinator for Ratanakirri, Chhay Thy, denied having said a total of 16,000 ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/scale-of-wildlife-sanctuary-destruction-denied-20366/
Rubber Firm Accused of Illegal Deforestation
A rubber company that has been repeatedly accused of encroaching on communal land belonging to an ethnic minority in Ratanakkiri province has cleared 150 hectares of forest outside of its economic land concession (ELC) in the past month, according to the senior investigator for local ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rubber-firm-accused-of-illegal-deforestation-20367/
Incitement, Disinformation Suit Filed Against Rights Worker
A commune official in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district has filed a lawsuit accusing a human rights worker of incitement and disinformation after villagers the NGO staffer spoke to traveled to Phnom Penh to protest over a land dispute involving a well-known businessman Try Pheap. Pursat ...
Families Ordered to Leave Disused Airfield Land in Preah Vihear
More than 25 families living on the site of the long-disused airfield in Preah Vihear province have been ordered to move off the land, a district official said yesterday. “The authorities are forcing residents to leave without compensation and this eviction is illegal because they ...
Villagers Protest Eviction by Chinese Company
More than 100 villagers living on a 20-hectare swath of a rubber plantation in Ratanakkirri province gathered outside O’Chum commune hall yesterday to protest their eviction at the hands of a Chinese company, local officials and rights activists said. About 120 families from Trang Churng Village ...
Land-Titling Project Denied Minorities of Property Rights
Hundreds of indigenous minorities in Ratanakkiri province are being made worse off by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s land-titling scheme which, rather than securing their property rights, is contributing to the loss of their ancestral lands, according to a new report. The report supports complaints aired since ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-titling-project-denied-minorities-of-property-rights-19528/
Adhoc Investigator Under Investigation for Inciting Protest
Officials in Ratanakkiri province are investigating the provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc for incitement after he helped villagers organize a demonstration, ultimately canceled, against a Vietnamese rubber company in O’Yadaw district. Mr. [Chhay] Thy, [Adhoc’s Provincial Investigator] said yesterday that he met with about ...
Firms accused of illegal logging in Ratanakkiri
Families in Ratanakiri province yesterday logged a complaint with rights group Adhoc accusing a trio of economic land concession (ELC) owners of illegally logging outside of their concession areas and felling their vital resin and palm oil trees. Chan Naroun said she was among 29 families ...
Land Titling Program Favors Wealthy Businessman
In Washington today, attendees of the World Bank’s Annual Conference on Land and Poverty will hear a flattering account of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ambitious project to furnish nearly half a million Cambodian families with new private land titles just in time for July’s national ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-titling-program-favors-wealthy-businessman-17831/
Rubber Fails: Court Halts Operations Of R’kiri Firm
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday temporarily suspended the operations of Vietnamese rubber concessionaire Day Dong Yoeung, which has clashed with Jarai ethnic minorities in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district since late last year, after its previous manager was jailed on fraud charges, district governor ...
Villagers getting ready for DM Group hearing
The Ratanakkiri Provincial Court has issued letters to 11 ethnic Tampuon villagers from the province’s Lumphat district, instructing them to prepare for a hearing over accusations of using violence on the property of rubber company DM Group. DM Group first began setting up rubber plantations in ...