Opposition Lawmakers Want ‘Social’ Land to Go to Farmers
May 10th, 2013, VOA, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Economic Land Concessions, Farming, Industry, Land Tenure, Rice, Social Land Concessions
Cambodian lawmakers have passed a new law on agriculture, but critics say the law does not go far enough to protect the country’s farmers.
The law passed on Thursday evening, but not before debate at the National Assembly. …
During the debate opposition representatives called on the Cambodian government to stop providing land concessions to private companies—either for economic or “social” aims. So-called social land concessions are supposed to go toward the poor. But opposition lawmakers warn that they too can be abused by private companies. …
[Opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker] Yim Sovann also said the government should create a fund of $100 million to protect rice farmers against price fluctuations. That money could come from revenues on casino tariffs, he said. …
Chan Sarun, a CPP government representative, told the Assembly that a $100-million fund is not possible. And he said the government has already banned land concessions, since May 2012. Some 50,000 hectares have been saved from private development since the ban, he said.
In fact, watchdog and rights groups have said many concession deals have continued, despite an announced ban by Prime Minister Hun Sen in May 2012.
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/opposition-lawmakers-want-social-land-to-go-to-farmers/1657922.html
Old Soldiers Won’t Fade Away
May 7th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Farmland, Labor, Land Tenure, News Source, Protected Areas, Social Land Concessions
“I don’t know how to protect the territorial integrity [of the nearby Cambodian-Thai border] – even my three hectares of land I cannot protect,” said Bun Chanthorn, 54, one of hundreds of retired and active soldiers who since 2010 have been battling the local authorities and a rubber company over thousands of hectares of land in Pursat’s Veal Veng district. …
“When the country has a war, they need us, but when it is peaceful, they threaten to seize our land without considering our seniority, without considering how we sacrificed our lives for the nation,” he said.
Though Chanthorn has long farmed this land, he has been barred from continuing to do so in the past year by Oknha Try Pheap’s MDS Import-Export Co, Ltd, which was granted a 4,373-hectare concession in the area in December 2010. The new commune chief, said Chanthorn, refused to accept a receipt of ownership issued by his predecessor on the pretext that the area lay inside a conservation zone.
When volunteer students came to the area starting last June, they measured the company’s land, avoiding the villagers, locals told the Post. …
Khoy Sokha, Pursat provincial governor, insisted that the government was working on a solution to the dispute. …
“If they are really soldiers’ families, they will get their social land concession. I will find it for them,” he said. …
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050765451/National/old-soldiers-won-t-fade-away.html
Villagers Protest Eviction by Chinese Company
April 24th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Disputed Land, International Relations, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Social Land Concessions
More than 100 villagers living on a 20-hectare swath of a rubber plantation in Ratanakkirri province gathered outside O’Chum commune hall yesterday to protest their eviction at the hands of a Chinese company, local officials and rights activists said.
About 120 families from Trang Churng Village in O’Chum district, who are living on the land that was sold by locally owned Tay Seng Company to China’s Fib Rubber Co. Ltd. in 2010, called for authorities to intervene after they were informed by representatives of the company that they would be evicted. …
But commune chief Kham Sovy said that there was nothing that local officials could do to help, as the land was legally purchased by Fib Rubber Co., even though the villagers have been living on the land for nearly two decades. …
Cambodia’s land law stipulates that the state has an obligation to grant ownership to any Cambodian person who, for at least 10 years prior to the passing of Cambodia’s new Civil Code in 2011, had uncontested possession of the land.
But O’Chum district governor Pak Son said that the villagers must go.
“We explained that they are living here illegally . This is not an economic land concession, this is company land,” he said.
The villagers can apply for a social land concession through their villager or commune chiefs,” he added. …
Aun Pheap, P.19
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/
Cambodia Growth to Continue, but Development Faces Shortfalls
April 19th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Environment & Natural Resources, Garment Industry, International Relations, Reports, Social Concerns, Social Land Concessions, Trade
Despite steady economic growth in recent years, Cambodia remains one of the least-developed countries in the Asia-Pacific region and faces the challenge of diversifying its economy and moving up the production value chain, the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said in its annual report yesterday. …
Describing Cambodia as one of the least developed countries in the region, the ESCAP report notes that only 24 percent of Cambodians have access to electricity, 64 percent to clean water and 31 percent to proper sanitation. …
But “an important concern,” according to the report, is that education in Cambodia is still in need of serious development. ESCAP said the literacy rate in Cambodia of 75 percent is still too low, particularly compared to its Asean counterparts, which range from 90 to 95 percent, except for Laos. …
Lauren Crothers, P. 20
The Cambodia Daily
Titles closer, but ‘land damage done’
March 22nd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Forests, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Land Concessions
Three ethnic Jarai minority communities passed a crucial hurdle on the way to obtaining communal land titles in government-sanctioned ceremonies this week. But a human-rights activist tempered the celebration, saying mass deforestation in the province had already stripped most of the land the villagers are claiming.
Chhay Thy, co-ordinator for the human-rights group Adhoc, applauded the Ministry of Interior for recognising the O’Yadav district communities as legal entities, the second of three application steps on the road to communal land titles.
But after attending a ceremony yesterday in Korng Yu village, he said 70 per cent of the forests in the province had disappeared since 1979. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032264629/National/titles-closer-but-land-damage-done.html
Shots fired as families evicted
March 7th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Disputed Land, Forests, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Land Concessions
Police, military police and forestry officials evicted 100 families in Koh Kong province’s Smach Meanchey district yesterday, shooting into the air during the forcible removal to disperse villagers with the threat of violence. …
It was the second day of evictions in an area authorities say is state-owned land.
But Sam Serey said she and 40 families had lived there for five years and possessed documents signed by local authorities that had been upheld in a temporary court injunction ruling in their favour. …
Kim Yuthana
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030761809/National/shots-fired-as-families-evicted.html
Land titles denied, villagers in Pursat claim
February 20th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Disputed Land, Farmland, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Social Land Concessions
Student volunteers working as part of the government’s land titling scheme are again being accused of refusing to measure land – this time in Pursat province – because they say those living there have done so illegally, according to villagers.
Villagers in Bakan district said the students accused them of living on a social land concession slated for handicapped and retired soldiers.
About 300 families have asked rights group Adhoc to intervene; they say they have been living on the land since 2002, and the land concession was only granted in 2011. …
Villagers are threatening to take their case to Prime Minister Hun Sen if provincial officials don’t resolve the dispute.
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022061480/National/titles-denied-villagers-in-pursat-claim.html
‘Separatist’ farms replaced by RCAF base
February 6th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Construction, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Infrastructure, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Social Land Concessions
A track of land once farmed by 1,000 families in Kratie province — families violently evicted amid claims they were part of a separatist movement — is now home to a military base.
Unit 9 Royal Cambodian Armed Forces base, which will be finished later this month, is part of a larger security-infrastructure scheme for the area. The plans include a military police base, along with a road suitable for moving supplies from the center of Chhlong district to the remote village of Pro Ma, provincial and military police officials confirmed yesterday. …
Nine months ago, joint forces stormed this isolated village and staged one of the largest mass evictions in recent history.
Although the villagers were without guns, officials opened fire, killing a 14-year-old girl in the process.
Authorities then sealed off the area for days while they interrogated residents, before driving them as far afield as Kampong Thom province.
The government has vociferously and repeatedly defended its actions, saying they were necessary to staunch a separatist movement led by a local activist named Bun Ratha and Beehive radio owner Mam Sonando. …
“The army is constructing a road from Chhlong to here,” said Channa. “Seven kilometers from here, the military police plan to do the same thing and build a base. They have started clearing the trees. I’m not sure how large it will be.” …
Located adjacent to a 15,000-hectare rubber plantation – which since 2008 has been owned by concessionaire Casotim – this land had been locked in an increasingly tense dispute. Just one month before the raid, 700 villagers from the area staged a protest – blocking a national road for days in support of an outspoken village representative who had been arrested on accusations of destroying company property.
A provincial judge later ordered his release, noting that there was no evidence to support allegations against that representative, Bun Ratha.
The base occupies prime cassava field, which is just now yielding the harvest sown last year by the so-called secessionists. While Deputy Commander Channa said the base covers two hectares, and Provincial Governor Sar Cham Rong said it covers one hectare, the territory closed off to villagers is clearly far larger. …
Blocked off to those who did the planting, the land will soon be distributed among the soldiers living at camp, according to Channa.
“High-level officers are now figuring out how to divide the land among soldiers for their families,” he said, before insisting the land is currently off-limits to all.
“Even though some of the soldiers have recently faced a shortage of food, they do not touch the land.”
Such claims ring somewhat hollow. Strung along the 700-meter path leading to the base lay half-harvested fields – the underbrush is charred, dirt lies in clumps in spots where cassava had recently been pulled.
Villagers in Pro Ma had high hopes that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s land-titling program would see them awarded land to which they appear to have legitimate claim; instead, they have seen the process closed to them.
While some will receive titles on a planned social land concession, according to Provincial Governor Cham Rong, that opportunity will be closed off to “the former Bun Ratha group”. …
Part of the tragedy of Pro Ma is the seeming randomness of the edicts that now govern the village. Those farming a mere 50 metres away from the cordoned off area have been allowed to keep their land and keep their homes. Some have been allowed back in to harvest their cassava, others not. …
“I don’t know why some have gotten in and not others. My neighbour, for instance, can’t get back to her farm either, but some others have,” said Phat. …
May Titthara and Abby Seiff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020661212/National/separatist-farms-replaced-by-rcaf-base.html
Volunteers Being Phase 2 Of Land-Titling Program
January 16th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Farmland, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Land Concessions
More than 2,000 student volunteers yesterday were sent to measure land in 19 provinces, starting the second phase of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nationwide land-titling program.
Of the 2,016 volunteers, 1,362 are new and the rest are returning for the second time. …
Sun Mesa, P.19
http://cambodiadaily.org/
Families say eviction forced
January 14th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Construction, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Infrastructure, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Social Land Concessions
Hundreds of families in Ratanakkiri province have asked rights group Adhoc to intervene, saying local authorities in Bakeo district’s Laminh commune are illegally forcing them from their homes.
Village representative, Ek Orm, 52, said that authorities were forcing villagers to relocate to make way for a number of government buildings and commercial projects slated for the land and accused authorities of bulldozing their homes and crops. …
Laminh commune police chief Men Ren denied the allegations. “These villagers are living on state land anarchically. They do not have any legal documents. They cause social disorder and argument,” he said. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011460762/National/families-say-eviction-forced.html
Cambodia’s turf war
December 24th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Farmland, Forests, Land Tenure, News Source, Protected Areas, Social Land Concessions
After 28 years in the capital, eating like “a king” and enjoying the perks one receives as the son of high-ranking CPP officials, Sophal’s* move to the countryside was as jarring as it was eye-opening.
Until the day in June when he traded his designer threads for a pair of military fatigues and joined the ranks of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s elite student land-titling volunteers, the furore over land grabbing that had engulfed the rest of his country had gone largely unnoticed by the young man. …
May Titthara and David Boyle
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012122460443/National/cambodia-s-turf-war.html
Families May Lose Farmland To Social Land Concessions
December 19th, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Agriculture & Agri-business, Farming, Farmland, Land Tenure, News Source, Rice, Social Land Concessions
More than 100 families face the loss of their rice fields over a social land concession that was granted to the families of military veterans in Stung Treng province, local authorities and villagers said yesterday.
Seven families, who depend on their rice and mango harvest in Stung Treng City’s Samakki commune, filed a complaint with human rights group Adhoc on Saturday over the clearing of their farmland. …
Aun Pheap, P.20
www.cambodiadaily.com
Community forest woes
December 10th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Economic Land Concessions, Forests, Land Tenure, News Source, Protected Areas, Social Land Concessions
In the latest chapter of what is proving to be an arduous struggle to protect a government demarcated Community Forest in Battambang province, 36 hectares of the land have reportedly been given over to outsiders including a military official.
Not a month has passed since 825 families celebrated what should have been a definitive decision in mid-November by the Forestry Administration to recognise the 1,335 hectare Prey Trolach Community Forest following an eight-year struggle to have the area properly delineated. …
A source with intimate knowledge of the dispute has told the Post that a military official was earlier this month granted a land title for 8.3353 hectares in the Community Forest. Between the official and three civilians who were also granted titles, 36 hectares of the Community Forest in total have been handed over, the source said. …
David Boyle
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012121060181/National-news/community-forest-woes.html
Battambang Officials Halt Clearing of Community Forest – Again
November 26th, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Farmland, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Land Concessions
Forestry Administrative officials in Battambang province have again halted logging and clearing inside a community forest and are attempting to prevent student volunteers deployed by the Ministry of Land Management from demarcating land in already cleared areas, local officials said last week. …
Ben Woods, P.19
www.cambodiadaily.com
1 in 20 Firms Carry Out Environment Assessments
November 23rd, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Economic Land Concessions, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Hydroelectricity, Lakes/Rivers, News Source, Social Land Concessions, Water
Only about 5 percent of the roughly 2,000 major development projects, such as dams, roads and bridges, approved by the government between 2004 and 2011 carried out environmental impact assessments, an official at the ministry of Environment said yesterday.
Speaking at a workshop in Phnom Penh on a new draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) law, Danh Serey, deputy director of the ministry’s EIA department, said existing legislation such as the 1996 Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Management was not strong enough to ensure companies conduct the necessary environmental check before starting work. …
Simon Lewis and Khuon Narim, P.1
www.cambodiadaily.com
Journalist Lied Villagers Claim
November 16th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Disputed Land, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Social Land Concessions
More than 300 families embroiled in a land dispute with notorious, and now defunct, NGO Darpo said yesterday that they had filed complaints to the Preah Vihear Provincial Court on Wednesday accusing a Koh Santepheap reporter of disinformation and calling for his arrest and $4,000 in compensation.
Village representatives Sath Savoeun, Srey Sophan and Kim Sophal of Kantuot commune in Choam Ksan district alleged that a series of purportedly false articles by Try Vantha misrepresented the trio’s involvement in the land dispute, amounting to disinformation and incitement, and that in the course of his reporting, Vantha accepted bribes from Darpo – which villagers have accused of rape, forced eviction and a host of other abuses while it was managing a social land concession. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012111659772/National-news/journalist-lied-villagers-claim.html
Refined sugar for domestic market
November 7th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Exports, Farming, Farmland, Imports, Labor, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Land Concessions, Trade
Phnom Penh Sugar will begin producing white sugar this month for the Cambodian market to reduce the demand for imported sugar, according to a spokeswoman for the firm.
Chheang Kemsoun, a representative of Phnom Penh Sugar, told the Post yesterday the company would produce white sugar for sale locally as it had grown 40,000 hectares of sugar cane.
“The factory will start manufacturing white sugar on November 19. The equipment has been installed,” she said. The factory is in Kampong Speu province. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012110759620/Business/refined-sugar-for-domestic-market.html
Two Thousand More Students to Measure Land
October 19th, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Disputed Land, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Concerns, Social Land Concessions
Following a ceremony to honor late King Father Norodom Sihanouk on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich, more than 2,000 additional student volunteers were deployed yesterday morning by the Ministry of Land Management to measure plots of land in 19 provinces, officials said. …
Mr. Chhun Lim [Land Management Minister] said that so far, student volunteers have measured about 310,000 hectares of land and will eventually measure 1.8 million hectares. He said that the ministry will train about another 1,000 new volunteers beginning in November. …
But Ny Chakrya, head of monitoring at rights group Adhoc, said the initiative is being used to boost the ruling party’s popularity ahead of next year’s election. …
Khuon Narim, P. 18
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Rebuilding Cambodia’s troubled railways
October 10th, 2012, ABC News, Construction, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Real Estate, Social Land Concessions, Technical Assistance
A project to rebuild Cambodia’s decrepit rail-system appears on track for completion, despite delays and difficulties relocating residents…
The ABC has been told of the $26 million originally allocated through AusAID, just over $14 million remains, and will go towards finishing tracks and building a bridge to help trains carry goods to Cambodia’s southern port of Sihanoukville port.
The project has been underway since 2010, but has been plagued with delays, mostly because of the need to move 4,000 families from areas near the tracks.
That’s been the Cambodian Government’s responsibility – but residents have also criticised AusAID and project leader, the Asian Development Bank.
They say they’ve been given inadequate the compensation and have been moved away from their livelihoods.
Zoe Daniel
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-10/an-rebuilding-cambodia27s-troubled-rail-system/4305676
Land Dispute Protesters’ Request Has Little Effect
October 10th, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Disputed Land, Farmland, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Concerns, Social Land Concessions
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet yesterday said it would take no action on a request from about 100 villagers living inside a social land concession in Preah Vihear province seeking a resolution to an ongoing dispute over 5,000 hectares of land.
Since 2007, villagers have protested the clearing of their farmland in Kulen district in preparation for the area to be used to house army veterans and their families. …
Nov Ra, an official for Hun Sen’s Cabinet, said he would pass the request over to the local authorities to deal with. …
Khuon Narim, P. 19
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)