Land Evictions in Cambodia
Forced Evictions in Cambodia
The issue of land rights is one of the major problems facing the people of Cambodia, especially those from rural and indigenous communities.
Over the past six years, unlawful forced evictions have increased in frequency and violence across the country. Victims of this displacement are growing in number, while the government continues to sell off major portions of Cambodia’s land and resources to international businesses, violating its own constitution. The impact of forced eviction and land-grabbing is chilling:
- Over 17,000 people are estimated to have been newly affected by land-grabbing in the first 6 months of 2010.
- More than 130,000 individuals are thought to have been forcibly evicted since 1990 in Phnom Penh alone.
- Over 250,000 people were affected by land-grabbing between 2003 and 2008.
- As of July 15, 2011, 11 human rights defenders are known to be imprisoned on charges relating to land rights.
Forced evictions result in increased poverty, child malnutrition, infant mortality, illiteracy, domestic violence, crime, and unemployment; relocation sites, usually located far from urban centres, often fail to meet the international standards required of refugee camps. Without a home and without land, the right to education, the right to work, right to medical access and to clean water are severely restricted.
Right now, according to the President of LICADHO, the land issue may be considered “Cambodia’s principle human rights concern”, because violations of land rights negatively affect all other human rights. The challenges faced by evicted communities are therefore a “core area of concern” for many stakeholders, as stated by The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia, Professor Surya Subedi.
