Cambodia faces a new trend of housing and land issues fuelled by rising land prices, speculation buying and very unclear or non-existent land registry documents (most were destroyed during the Pol Pot era).
In the months from May until August 2006 alone it is estimated that over 2,000 families were evicted from various Bassac river sites, Monivong hospital and other smaller sites around the city. The company claiming the land was Sour Srun (with links to Canadia Bank one of the city's leading Banking institutions). The Municipality of Phnom Penh not only failed to request evidence of land titles but actually provided security forces to facilitate the eviction of families who were relocated 30 kms outside the city to a rice field with a skeleton infrastructure and almost no access to work, schooling or services.
At Monivong hospital the Royal Group was assisted again by the Municipality in ejecting 168 families with compensation packages from 500-1500USD on a site worth several million dollars. Okhna Kith Meng, owner of Mobitel, CTN and CamboSix was assisted by Dul Koeurn and the Ministry of Interior.
Teang Tnaut is part of the 'Housing Rights Task Force' which lobbies the Government and takes action on some of the bigger cases, alerting the press, providing legal advice, helping communities organise themselves and negotiating/advocating with the Government and developers. It is also part of RAN - the Resettlement Action Network based at the NGO Forum. It is groups such as these that provide some formal resistance to the growing tide of housing and land issues.
Despite strongly worded reports from various international figures including the UN special representative to Amnesty International, Cambodia's land problems continue on a downward trend. With land reaching 5 to 6,000 US Dollars in some parts of Phnom Penh there are developers set to make record profits yet despite this windfall compensation to affected families continues to be strongly contested and in many cases denied - sometimes with the use of force.
http://www.licadho.org/press/files/176JointPREvictionTimeEndImpunity.pdf
http://www.licadho.org/press/files/175JointPRPhnomPenhEvictionViolence08.pdf
http://www.licadho.org/press/files/168LICADHOPR7NGProvocationDeyKrahorm07.pdf
Teang Tnaut is a core member of the Housing Rights Task Force along with Bridges across Borders, Cambodian Legal Education Centre and Urban Sector Group It is a coalition of NGOs working to assist Communities in their attempts to uphold their right to housing and claim fair and adequate compensation as expressed in Article 44 of the Constitution.
For more information on other organisations please click on:
http://www.licadho.org/articles/20080109/69/index.html http://babs.selfip.net/~www/projects/Cambodia/cam_projects-2.htm http://www.adhoc-chra.org/article.php?language=english&art_id=45¤tpage=1&actionsearch=front http://www.clec.org.kh/hotnews.asp?qNID=13 http://www.ngoforum.org.kh/Land/Resettlement/background.htm
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has financed the creation of new proposed Law which will allow Government offices at all levels to initiate new Development projects. Almost every type of infrastructure project is included and allows for appropriation of privately owned land with limited consultation and unclear compensation. Of particular concern is the maze-like approval system which seems to include various Ministries. East West Management Institute (EWMI) have assisted the drafting of the Law which originally aimed at formalising a Resettlement Law drafted by ADB in 2002. However under guidance of the Ministry of Economy and Finance the Law expanded its remit to include all Development projects and their impacts. It has moved a long way from its original form and offers little hope for the many Cambodians who look set to be the 'collateral damage' of escalating land alienation over the coming years.
For more on housing rights see the following links:
Kampot riverfront proposal February 2008 (English) (Khmer)
COHRE - www.cohre.org
NGO Forum on Cambodia - www.ngoforum.org.kh
TAO Philippines - www.tao-pilipinas.org
Asian Coalition for Housing Rights - www.achr.org
Case THAILAND - roonrakwit@yahoo.com
Case JAPAN - www.case-jp.com
