News
STT report: urban poor communities fear forced evictions, no land titles
Sahmakum Teang Tnaut Organization (STT) has published a report, titled Land Security of Urban Poor Communities, detailing land insecurity issues plaguing urban poor communities in Phnom Penh, who have expressed fear of eviction and inadequate compensation. ...
Pou Soreachny and Khuon Narim
https://cambojanews.com/stt-report-urban-poor-communities-fear-forced-eviction-no-land-titles/
Thai court fixes May 9 hearing for Oddar Meanchey villagers versus global sugar producer case
Three villagers from Cambodia traveled to Thailand to file documents against one of the world’s largest sugar manufacturers, Thai-owned Mitr Phol Sugar Co Ltd, at a Thai court on Wednesday. ...
‘We are dying to live in our homeland’: Siem Reap villagers protest against Apsara
On Monday hundreds of families living inside the Angkor archaeological park protested against the Apsara National Authority, which manages the park, for barring them from doing construction and other activities that support their livelihoods. ...
Khuon Narim
https://cambojanews.com/we-are-dying-to-live-in-our-homeland-siem-reap-villagers-protest-against-apsara/
STT report: forced evictions in Phnom Penh, Kandal, Takeo pushed people into debt crisis
A report by NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut Organization (STT) revealed that people who are forcibly evicted from their homes without proper resettlement are burdened with debt, have low access to food, while children experience disruptive education and are subject to child labor. ...
Phon Sothyroth
https://cambojanews.com/stt-report-forced-evictions-in-phnom-penh-kandal-takeo-pushed-people-into-debt-crisis/
APSARA brings lawsuit against Angkor Wat villagers for Obstructing Illegal Structure Demolition
A lawsuit has been filed by APSARA National Authority against seven villagers, including a commune police chief, who live around Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for allegedly inciting and obstructing public work in August. ...
Residents of some poor communities in Phnom Penh worried about evictions
Boeung Trabek community representative, Hour Seaklon, who is sitting in a house preparing vegetables for cooking with a sad face, told CamboJA that more than 40 families have not yet received land titles, despite promises from the authorities that will provide legal title after the ...
Runn Sreydeth
https://khmer.cambojanews.com/residents-of-some-poor-communities-in-phnom-penh-worried-about-evictions/
Kandal residents protest new land filling near airport development
Kandal village residents protested on Thursday against the filling in of land near their homes at the $1.5 billion airport development project, with a company official saying they were only filling the homes of three people who had agreed to leave the site. ...
Runn Sreydeth and Khuon Narim
https://cambojanews.com/kandal-residents-protest-new-land-filling-near-airport-development/
500 Kandal families petition authorities to halt evictions for airport development
Hundreds of families facing displacement from a $1.5 billion airport project in Kandal province petitioned the provincial governor Monday, requesting authorities grant them land titles and allow them to continue living on the land. ...
Sorn Sarath and Runn Sreydeth
https://cambojanews.com/500-kandal-families-petition-authorities-to-halt-evictions-for-airport-development/
Kandal airport developer begins direct negotiations with households seeking better compensation
Families facing eviction to make way for a $1.5 billion airport under construction in Kandal province continue to contest the compensation being offered by the project’s developer. This week the company began directly negotiating with some of the more than 60 families who had still ...
Sorn Sarath and Runn Sreydeth
https://cambojanews.com/kandal-airport-developer-begins-direct-negotiations-with-households-seeking-better-compensation/
Prek Tnaot families face eviction for river ‘restoration’ linked to elite company
Nearly 100 families living near Takhmao city are facing eviction as authorities pledge to restore the heavily-polluted river running next to their homes in a project linked to a real estate company with connections to the prime minister’s family. ...
Ngay Nai and Fiona Kelliher
https://vodenglish.news/prek-tnaut-families-face-eviction-for-river-restoration-linked-to-elite-company/
Canal-side community will receive new plots, land titles
More than 400 Phnom Penh families living along a canal in Meanchey district will be granted land titles after development to the area’s defunct drainage system takes place, officials said. ...
Phan Soumy and Janelle Retka
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/canal-side-community-will-receive-new-plots-land-titles-130571/
Authorities Deny Abuses at Thai Plantation Tied To CPP Senator
Oddar Meanchey province deputy governor Lon An yesterday confirmed CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat’s involvement in a trio of sugar cane plantations that rights groups took to the National Human rights Commission of Thailand last week, but denied their allegations of rights abuses. The deputy ...
Airports operator looks to expand
While Cambodia Airports, of which France-based Vinci Group is major stakeholder, sees tourist numbers taking off, eviction issues are gnawing at the company’s image. Emmanuel Menanteau, chief executive of Cambodia Airports, talked to the Post’s Sarah Thust about the expansion plans. How many tourist arrivals do ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013053165965/CEO-Talk/airports-operator-looks-to-expand.html
Villagers Seize Trucks in Protest
More than 300 protesters seized two company trucks outside the Kratie office of Korean-owned timber company Think Biotech Co yesterday as protests by villagers who allege land-grabbing continued for a second day. “We have seized the company’s two trucks to ask the company to come ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052865873/National/villagers-seize-trucks-in-protest.html
Families Say Land Was Taken
Nearly 90 representatives of 137 families in Battambang province, some of whom include former Khmer Rouge cadres, protested for a second day in Phnom Penh yesterday, claiming authorities had seized land they had held since the late 1990s. Ul Yan who was among protesters at Butom ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052465825/National/families-say-land-was-taken.html
Fear still lingers in Pro Ma
A year to the day since armed soldiers stormed into the remote village of Pro Mar in Kratie province, killing a 14-year-old girl, arresting her husband and evicting hundreds of families, Sreng Pho still has nightmares. “I’m really scared when I think back to that day ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051665654/National/fear-still-lingers-in-pro-ma.html
City Hall Denies Evicting Family Despite Fencing Off Homes
Three families protesting the fencing–off of the Phnom Penh building in which they have lived for decades were assured yesterday by City Hall-which “swapped” the property and the land on which it is built earlier this month-that they will not be evicted from the building ...
The price of land development in Cambodia
Phnom Penh, a city once fabled for its stately colonial buildings and boulevards, and its serene riverside setting, is becoming a city of glaring contrasts. An economy left in ruins by the years of war and violent revolution in the 1970s and 80s grew at a ...
Evictees to reject offer
Twenty-one families whose houses were demolished during an eviction on Tuesday said yesterday that they planned to refuse an offer of houses, land and cash from the tycoon who now possesses their land. Villagers, however, will continue to discuss the offer in another meeting scheduled ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030861830/National/evictees-to-reject-offer.html
Villagers fear eviction looms
Villagers who fear eviction from their homes of 30 years in Kratie province travelled to Phnom Penh yesterday to plead for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s intervention. Fifteen representatives of 88 families who live close to Kratie Airport, in Kratie town’s Srei Padav village, said provincial authorities ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030561741/National/villagers-fear-eviction-looms.html
Finance Minister Lauds Boeng Kak's Tax Bill
The Finance Ministry has sent a letter to well-known businesswoman Choeung Sopheap thanking her for paying her taxes on the highly controversial filling in of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake, and holding her firm up as an example of corporate professionalism. Though Shukaku Inc., which is ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/finance-minister-lauds-boeng-kaks-tax-bill-11863/
Rights Groups Say Work to Go On Despite Hun Sen's Remarks
Rights groups said they will continue to advocate in land grabbing and eviction cases, and villagers involved in such disputes said they will continue to turn to NGOs for help despite a warning by Prime Minister Hun Sen for civil society to stay clear of ...
Charged Rights Worker Returns to Cambodia; Hearing Pending
Human Rights investigator Chan Soveth has returned to Cambodia more than two-and-a-half months after leaving in the face of a criminal charge that is thought to be linked to an alleged insurrection that took place in Kratie province in May. On August 14, the court charge ...
Small concession in eviction fight
Authorities have partially backed down on an order forcing 196 residents in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district to move their homes, but refused to scrap the plan completely when confronted at Chaom Chao commune hall yesterday. Phuong Sopheap, one of about 20 residents that congregated ...