150,000 Cambodians at risk of forced eviction
Sifting through debris. Some 20 families of a fishing community in Sihanoukville were forcibly evicted in February 2008.©AI
In 2008, some 150,000 Cambodians are known to live at risk of losing their homes in the wake of land disputes, land grabbing and development projects. Tens of thousands have already been forcibly evicted in recent years, many left homeless, others relocated to inadequate resettlement sites with poor infrastructure, lacking basic amenities including sanitation, and with limited access to work opportunities. Despite the government's written policies to attain poverty reduction, such evictions are mostly affecting communities living in poverty, increasing their marginalization.
The spate of evictions shows little sign of abating. Amnesty International is aware of 60 land disputes across Cambodia that came to a head during the first six months of 2008, through evictions, protests, violence or major legal developments. Of the evictions, at least 13 appear to have been forced evictions as defined under international law and standards, i.e. carried out without adequate notice or consultation with those affected, without legal safeguards, assurances of adequate alternative accommodation or adequate compensation.
During the same period, at least 36 villagers were arrested. Of these, 12 have been released, while 24 were charged with crimes, including damage to property and incitement to commit a crime, without considering whether legal ownership of the land has been clarified before pressing charges. These 24, some of them ordinary villagers, others formal or informal village representatives, are currently held in pre-trial detention.
The Cambodian authorities are failing to protect - in law and practice - the population against forced evictions. By contrast, those with political or economic power are allowed to act with impunity in arbitrarily expropriating land. They do so by colluding with local authorities in ways that lead to the issuing of dubious land titles and eviction orders, and the misuse of the court system to prevent victims from acting to defend their rights.
Over the past two years, local human rights group Adhoc has shown that the number of arrested land activists went from 78 in 2006 to 149 in 2007. The rich and powerful are increasingly using their leverage to silence their adversaries through the Courts.
Background
A forced eviction is "the permanent or temporary removal against the will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection". Forced evictions have been recognized by the UN Commission on Human Rights as a gross violation of human rights, and they are also associated with other human rights violations.
As a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and other international human rights treaties which prohibit forced eviction and related human rights violations, Cambodia has an obligation to end all forced evictions and to protect the population from forced evictions.