Corruption and land grabs in cambodia global witness. The deforestation involves the local population, cambodian businesses and authorities as well. Impact of government policies and corporate land grabs on. Levels of debt have skyrocketed in recent years, leading to a number of human rights abuses, including coerced land sales, child labour, debtdriven migration, and bonded labour, according to a joint report from the cambodian league for the promotion and defense of human rights licadho and sahmakum teang tnaut stt. Irish filmmaker investigates the rise of land grabbing in. What protects against land grabbing are documents proving that the land belongs to the family. From cambodia to laos, largescale rubber plantations are now one of the main drivers of land grabs and deforestation. Resistance to land grabbing and displacement in rural cambodia. Cambodias landgrabbing, oligarchical corruption youtube. In 2001, cambodia enacted a land law intended to curb these. Homes demolished in cambodia land grab a cambodian property developer forcefully evicts residents to develop a commercial site in the capital phnom penh. Land grabbing in cambodia every day one or two people walk through the door of khut narys office in the northwest region of cambodia, looking for legal advice. Rubber industry aims to halt land grabbing and deforestation. Beyond the hype, edited by mayke kaag and annelies zoomers is published by zed books.
Cambodia s ministry of land management countered that the. These concessions and various other land grabs have affected more than 500,000 cambodians since 2003. Cambodia land grab no place like home 101 east youtube. In rural cambodia indiscriminate, illegitimate and often violent land grabs in the. Some of them want a divorce, he says laughing, so we tell them where they can get help. Cambodias sugar rush leaves farmers feeling bitter at. The global issue of land grabbing is particularly rampant in cambodia. Phnom penh thomson reuters foundation even before a cambodian judge sentenced land rights activist tep vanny to jail, her fellow. No place like home for years, cambodia s boeung kak lake has been the centre of a davidandgoliath battle between its. Land has been the single most contentious issue in cambodia the last ten years. Cambodia s sugar rush leaves farmers feeling bitter at land grab. The images tell the particular stories of cambodians directly affected by land grabbing, the buying or leasing of large pieces of land in developing countries, by domestic and transnational. The icc does have on its books the perfect test case in cambodia.
Still, the international community must do more stop the state sponsored landgrabbing in cambodia, and ensure that land is managed in a way that benefits the cambodian people rather than a small, corrupt elite. This chapter chronicles how land grabbing in cambodia, a serious human security issue, began and why it has continued to grow, and examines three case studies in rural and urban places. Land grabbing has ended up in court thanks to lawyer richard roberts who denounced widespread abuse of power in cambodia to the detriment of people and the environment. Across cambodia, largescale land disputes in urban and rural areas are widespread, and communities face land tenure insecurity as a result. Land disputes are a bitter problem for cambodia, where rural villagers and urban dwellers alike have been mired in conflicts that the u. Phnom penh an antilogging activist is murdered, a teenage girl is shot and killed by police during a forcible eviction, women are sentenced to up to twoandahalf years in prison simply for holding a protest on land from which theyve been expropriated. Amid land grabs and evictions, cambodia jails leading activist.
Land grabbing by the rich and powerful is a major problem. All over the country, hundreds of thousands are waking up to find the homes they owned have been sold to. The cambodian government is handing out the best farmlands to companies and cronies, evicting thousands of poor farmers. A land title is far too expensive, however, for a simple farmer. Collective ownership of land during the khmer rouge and communist eras was replaced by the land law of 2001, explains nary. Lands and livelihood resilience in northeast cambodia. The legal claim placed before the icc alleges that since 2000, 770,000 people or 6 percent of cambodia s population have been affected by land grabbing, including 145,000 people forced out of. Cambodia is known as a hotspot for land grabbing in southeast asia. Beyond the hype, kaag, zoomers the chicago distribution center is temporarily closed. Land dispossession due to elite capture, natural resources exploitation. Cambodians evicted in land grab world news the guardian. Irish filmmaker investigates the rise of land grabbing in cambodia a cambodian spring by chris kelly also follows the political evolution the buddhist monk and activist the venerable luon sovath. Is cambodia s prime minister behind an illegal land grab.