Cambodia
The human rights situation in Cambodia is quickly worsening. Land eviction is currently a hot issue in Cambodia and, as you can see from this video, during evictions the police show no respect for basic human rights.
Harrassment and violence are part of day to day life of peasants and farmers in Cambodia. Residents of Boeung Kak lake have been resisting evictions since February 2007, when the Cambodian government granted a 99 year lease for development of the lake. Since then, Shukaku Inc, a company owned by Cambodian Senator Mr. Lao Meng Khin, a member of the ruling party the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) began filling the lake with sand and evicting people. According to Amnesty Inerntional, around 2,000 families have since then already been forcibly evicted without proper consultation.
Moreover, they have either not received adequate compensation, or have been relocated to a resettlement site lacking basic services and work opportunities.
Last September 17th, eight homes and businesses were demolished without notice in village 22 of Boeung Kak Lake by two excavators accompanied by around 100 armed riot police and security guards. One Boeung Kak Lake resident and activist, Suong Sophorn was beaten unconscious by police with batons and a brick after he called for other residents to join hands to stop the destruction of more houses. Licadho and Licadho-Canada, partner of Development and Peace obtained footage of the beating and were able to bring Suong Sophorn to a private hospital where he regained consciousness.
You can help by circulating this video and denoucing the human rights situation in Cambodia. We must urge the Canadian government to ask the Cambodian government to launch an investigation into the beating of Suong Sophorn and bring the police officers responsible to justice.
Only 779 out of some 4,000 families are still living in the Boeung Kak Lake area. The others were subjected to a campaign of threats and intimidation to accept inadequate compensation or resettlement to a site 20km away from their work and livelihoods.
On 11 August, the prime minister authorized 12.44 hectares of land within the Boeung Kak Lake development area to be handed over to the remaining 779 families for on site housing in plots with legal ownership.
However, the Municipality of Phnom Penh (MPP) has excluded 96 families in villages which it claims do not live within the 12.44 hectares. The families whose homes and businesses were destroyed on 16 September are among these 96 excluded households.
