News
Koh Kong revokes land rights on clearing fears
Koh Kong provincial hall on Tuesday revoked ownership of land near the protected Peam Krasoap Wildlife Sanctuary to prevent further land clearing in the area. Its announcement raised fears among local communities of a potential forced eviction. “All illegal land ownership or unregistered land at ...
Soth Koemsoeun
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/koh-kong-revokes-land-rights-clearing-fears
Some Return After Eviction From Coastal Resort Development
Thousands of people have been evicted from their homes to make way for a Chinese development in Koh Kong province. But some of the families have returned to their land, leaving a relocation site they say was insufficient for their needs. For families like those of ...
On Coast, Chinese Development Pushes Thousands From Land
Thousands of villagers in a remote district of the coastal province of Koh Kong have been evicted or are facing eviction in the face of a Chinese resort development project. Some families have moved unwillingly to relocation sites. But others are refusing to leave, setting the ...
Families complain governor’s crooked
More than 30 families evicted from a former airport site in Preah Vihear province’s Chea Ksan district have filed four complaints with the provincial court since April against district governor Sok Hay. Lor Chan, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said a total of 31 families ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070966736/National/families-complain-governor-s-crooked.html
A more personal B Kak dispute makes airwaves
In the past few years, the explosive events at Boeung Kak lake – including violent evictions and arrests – have gone largely unreported outside the Kingdom’s independent media outlets. Outspoken community representative Tep Vanny has been under attack from her fellow Boeung Kak residents, who ...
Crop burning alleged
Less than two months after staffers at a Vietnamese rubber concessionaire were charged over setting homes aflame during a land dispute, the company has been accused of burning and bulldozing more than 900 cashew nut trees and eight hectares of plantation land in O’Chum district, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070866717/National/crop-burning-alleged.html
New Boeng Kak Group Petitions World Bank
About 30 former residents of the Boeng Kak community submitted a petition on Friday morning to the World Bank office and several embassies in Phnom Penh, calling for a halt to all funding for longtime anti-eviction protesters from the Boeng Kak area. The Boeng Kak counter-protesters ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-boeng-kak-group-petitions-world-bank-33746/
Villagers Say Homes Being Purposely Flooded
More than 120 families in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district sent a letter on Monday to the district governor asking for his help in addressing the flooding problem that has seen some of their homes collapse and has forced many to seek temporary accommodation elsewhere, villagers ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-say-homes-being-purposely-flooded-33317/
Desperate families pursue final options
Families who claim a foreigner fabricated documents to sell their land to port officials and a military commander more than seven years ago have desperately appealed to government bodies to intervene. The 104 families who have exhausted legal avenues after both the provincial and Supreme Court ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062866543/National/desperate-families-pursue-final-options.html
Families in Land Dispute With City Detained for Questioning
Three men locked in a land dispute with Phnom Penh authorities were questioned both by the police and the municipal court Wednesday after they were accused of destroying property on land the government has swapped with a private firm. Ly Bun Heang, said that he, his ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-in-land-dispute-with-city-detained-for-questioning-32193/
Group Considers Complaint Against Sugar Giant
A London-based sugar trade association aiming to promote a more ethical and sustainable industry will meet early next month to consider a request from Cambodian farmers that it eject U.K.-based sugar firm Tate & Lyle from the group unless it gives them back their land. Some ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/group-considers-complaint-against-sugar-giant-32001/
Jail Sentence for Anti-Eviction Activist Upheld
The Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the guilty verdict for anti-eviction activist Yorm Bopha, but reduced her sentence from three-to two-years imprisonment, of which one year was suspended. The ruling means that Ms. Bopha will not be released until late 2014. Supporters and human rights groups ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/jail-sentence-for-anti-eviction-activist-upheld-31073/
Hundreds Protest Over Forest Land Seizures
More than 700 villagers from five provinces yesterday protested in front of the provincial government headquarters in Kompong Chhnang after losing their community forests to large agro-industry firms. Organized by the Cambodian Grassroots People’s Assembly- a network of communities that includes forestry and land activists as ...
Call for Oversight of Cambodian Land Campaign
A land titling campaign in Cambodia launched and financed by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s lacks transparency and could leave thousands of people landless, a human rights group said Wednesday, urging the country’s donors to push for reform of the program. The campaign, which employs volunteer youth ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/land-06122013150317.html
Task of Obtaining Passport Is Adding To Illegal Migration Problem
Thousands of Cambodians cross the border via illegal checkpoints into Thailand every year. Some end up working in slave-like conditions on illegal fishing trawlers. Others work in factories while getting paid under the table. It is often a last resort fraught with danger and uncertainty and ...
Hor Namhong Asks for More Cash for Rail Project
Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong made another appeal to Australia for additional funds to complete a behind-schedule project to rehabilitate the country’s railway network, this time to newly appointed Australian Ambassador Alison Burrows, according to a ministry spokesman. While work on the Southern Line of the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hor-namhong-asks-for-more-cash-for-rail-project-30272/
Evicted Kratie Families Petition Hun Sen for Help
Fifteen villagers representing 18 families from Kratie province involved in an ongoing dispute with the Sovan Vuthy Rubber Company yesterday submitted a petition to the Ministry of Land Management calling for intervention after the company allegedly cleared their farmland. The families say they have lived ...
Ratanakkiri Dispute Case Drags on
A village chief and an ethnic minority Tompuon villager were the latest people brought before the Ratanakkiri court for questioning after a private company accused villagers of destroying its property. Kvas Cheav, 57, village chief of Par Or in Keh Chung commune, told the Post that ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060666099/National/ratanakkri-dispute-case-drags-on.html
Families Left Worse off After Railway Project
Phnom Penh families being pushed to the city’s outskirts to make way for a $142.6 million railway renovation project funded by Australia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are falling into debt and finding it harder to earn money and access healthcare according to a ...
Mekong Communities Tell of Hardship From Hydropower Dams
About 200 people from Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia affected by hydropower dam projects on the Mekong River and its tributaries gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday to share their experiences of how their lives have been adversely affected since the dams were constructed. Speaking at the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mekong-communities-tell-of-hardship-from-hydropower-dams-28793/
Homes, Trees Destroyed, Villagers Say
About 50 police, soldiers and environmental officials yesterday demolished two houses and cut down thousands of trees belonging to families who are locked in a land dispute with MDS Import Export Co, owned by tycoon Try Pheap, villagers in Pursat province claimed. Fellow villager Khouch ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013053165987/National/homes-trees-destroyed-villagers-say.html
Villagers Camp Out to Protest ‘Land Grab’
More than 100 people from two communes in Kratie province’s Sambor district gathered yesterday for a three-day protest in front of the provincial office of Think Biotech, a Korean-owned timber company villagers say is encroaching on their land. As of yesterday evening, 10 armed policemen ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052765854/National/villagers-camp-out-to-protest-land-grab.html
Eviction Protestors Block Phnom Penh International Airport
About 20 people protesting their pending eviction from their homes near Phnom Penh International Airport blocked people from leaving or entering the airport for about half an hour yesterday, before a large force of police broke up their protest. In July, authorities told 182 families ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eviction-protesters-block-phnom-penh-international-airport-26147/
Two Held For Razing Huts In Land Dispute
Ratanakkiri provincial police on Monday arrested the chief of staff of a Vietnamese rubber concessionaire and his Cambodian translator who are believed to have burned down more than $5,000 worth of property related to a land dispute in O’Chum district, police said. Meas Pov Bora, chief ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051565632/National/two-held-for-razing-huts-in-land-dispute.html