Mired in Land Disputes, Villagers Find No Remedy in Courts
Since 2009, local human rights group Adhoc has documented 623 cases of land conflict in the country, yet only a little more than 10 percent of those cases were brought to court. The statistics highlight the lack of trust ordinary Cambodians have in the court system, says Adhoc, noting that none of the 69 cases that were brought to court have ever had a hearing. … Yeng Virak, executive director of the Community Legal Education Center, said he was unsurprised by the small number of cases brought to the court compared to the number of land disputes. … “It is a double-standard that the complaints filed by the villagers are not considered or are put in a case log for a long time, whereas for powerful interests…they act really very fast.” [he said]
