CAMBODIAN LAND DISPUTES MORE FREQUENT, MORE VIOLENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 PHNOM PENH 000348

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND OES--ANN STEWART AND PETER
O'DONOHUE
USAID FOR ANE/SPOTS--MARY MELNYK AND JOHN WILSON,
ANE/ESA--DEIDRE WINSTON AND DEBORAH KENNEDY-IRAHETA
BANGKOK FOR REO JIM WALLER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2015
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SENV ECON CB
SUBJECT: CAMBODIAN LAND DISPUTES MORE FREQUENT, MORE VIOLENT

REF: A. 05 PHNOM PENH 479

B. 05 PHNOM PENH 1215

Classified By: Econoff Jennifer Spande for reason 1.4(b).


1. (C) SUMMARY. Land disputes--which often pit poor
villagers against the powerful and wealthy--have affected 12%
of Cambodians and are on the rise. The disputes take many
shapes, including large economic land concessions on land
claimed by indigenous groups in the northeast and a plethora
of small disputes involving villagers and unclear land titles
in northwestern and central Cambodia. Land speculation, lax
land titling procedures and a push to improve them,
dramatically rising land prices in key areas, and the recent
availability of demined or inaccessible land all fuel the
disputes. Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly warned that
land disputes could spark a "farmer's revolution," but so far
most observers believe that Cambodian frustration has not yet
reached that level of discontent. Nevertheless, land issues
are likely to play an increasingly important role in
Cambodian politics, particularly in the run-up to the 2007
local and 2008 national elections. END SUMMARY.

Land Disputes Frequent and on the Rise
--------------


2. (SBU) Land disputes in rural Cambodia--which pit often
impoverished villagers against powerful corporations,
high-ranking government officials, well-connected
businessmen, or other struggling villagers--are already
common and are becoming more serious and more frequent. A
recent report by USAID's Asia and Near East Bureau on the
human impact of forest conflic estimates that 1.7 million
Cambodians--or 12% of the total population--have been
directly affected by land and forest disputes over the past
15 years, either by being pushed off their land or being
involved in related violence. The Cambodian Human Rights
Action Committee, a coalition of 18 NGOs, has noted a 25-30%
increase in land dispute cases brought to the attention of
NGOs over the past few months.


3. (SBU) In addition, land disputes are becoming more
legally complex and more violent, and military involvement in
land disputes is increasing, according to observers. The
March 2005 eviction in Kbal Spien, near the border town of
Poipet, is the most striking example of escalation, with 5
villagers killed, 14 seriously injured, and 30 detained (Ref
A). Naly Pilorge, director of the human rights NGO LICADHO,
summarized the situation in a comment to Econoff, "Land
ownership is the number one issue affecting people in
Cambodia.... When we do human rights training in villages,
this is what people are most concerned about."


4. (SBU) The rise in reported land dispute cases is more a
reflection of existing low-intensity land disputes now coming
to a head rather than new cases of land grabbing, according
to NGO observers and affected villagers. Mike Bird, Director
of Oxfam-Great Britain, attributes the intensification of
existing land disputes to two factors: donor-led efforts to
introduce land titling and increasing amounts of financial
capital in Cambodia. Land titling efforts--though only
underway in areas of the country with little land
conflict--have spurred some with illicit designs on acquiring
more land to act now to cement their illegitimate claims so
that they can gain a new land title when the titling process
comes to their region. And it would appear that the high
levels of capital fueling the Phnom Penh real estate boom are
also fueling land speculation elsewhere. In many cases,
these speculators are--knowingly or unknowingly--buying land
whose ownership was already in dispute.

Indigenous Groups vs. Concessions in Northeast
-------------- -


5. (U) Most of the rural land disputes in Cambodia occur in
two regions: the sparsely populated forests of northeastern
Cambodia and the "rice bowl" of northwestern and central
Cambodia. Land disputes in northeastern Cambodia often pit
indigenous groups against Cambodian or Sino-Cambodian
companies who have been granted vast economic land
concessions in quasi-legal proceedings (Ref B). These
provinces are sparsely populated and the indigenous groups
that have historically inhabited these areas have cultures
that are based on the availability of large areas of land.
Outsiders may perceive these lands as unused, when in fact
they are lying fallow as part of traditional swidden (slash
and burn) agriculture or are revered as "spirit forests"

PHNOM PENH 00000348 002 OF 005


according to indigenous animist beliefs. The most egregious
land disputes in these regions typically involve huge tracts
of land--often on the order of 100,000 hectares--and
relatively small numbers of villagers due to low population
density.


6. (SBU) Observers believe that land speculation is fueling
these land grabs, with well-connected business people making
flimsy promises to develop the land into rubber plantations
or other economic ends in order to qualify for economic land
concessions. Such concessions, which are legally supposed to
be limited to 10,000 hectares but in practice are often many
times larger, give rights to use the land for up to 99 years.
Lands under economic land concessions are typically logged
and the lumber sold, but rarely is further action taken to
develop the land.

Smaller Disputes Common in Northwest and Central Cambodia
-------------- --------------


7. (SBU) In more densely populated northwestern and central
Cambodia, a multitude of individual disputes involving small
plots of land have engulfed large areas. Particularly hard
hit are areas near the Thai-Cambodian border, where the value
of the land has risen dramatically in recent years, leading
wealthy businessmen--including foreign owners of Poipet
casinos--and high-ranking government officials to engage in
land speculation, according to Pilorge. Peter Swift,
director of the NGO Southeast Asia Development Program, noted
that demining and road construction projects have increased
the value of previously unsafe and relatively inaccessible
land, sparking speculation in land without clear title. In
other areas, the fertile agricultural land that was once the
scene of guerrilla warfare is now claimed both by the
villagers who have lived there for twenty years and by
military forces who liberated the area, or by businessmen who
claim to have bought the land from the military.


8. (SBU) In both the northeast and the northwest, the
migration of poor and landless Cambodians to new areas fuels
clashes. In some cases, migrants encroach on seemingly
available land which is actually environmentally protected.
In other cases, Terry Parnell of East-West Management, Inc.
noted that migrants are invited to settle in a village--often
by a commune leader or other local official from outside the
community--in hopes that the migrants will become supporters
of the local official, thereby gaining a base of ardent
supporters and ensuring his power.

Mechanics of a Land Grab
--------------


9. (SBU) While land disputes in northeastern Cambodia
typically revolve around economic land concessions made with
at least a veneer of legality, in the rest of the country,
villagers are often persuaded, intimidated, or tricked to
part with their land. Some rural residents willingly sell
their land for what seems to them like a great deal of money,
though it is often less than what the land is worth and
almost certainly not enough to buy a comparable plot nearby.
Parnell reported that in other cases, villagers have been
intimidated into selling their land, being told in effect
that a powerful individual would take possession of their
land whether they sold or not, so they might as well sell.
NGO observers also related cases where disreputable village
chiefs acted as intermediaries for land sales, only to pocket
the proceeds rather than forwarding them to the sellers.


10. (SBU) Lax land titling procedures in place before
passage of the 2001 Land Law also contribute to the problem.
Before the Land Law of 2001, either the commune chief or the
village chief could issue land titles, and few chiefs would
take the time to assess the claim or ensure there was no
competing title, leading to a flurry of spurious claims.
General Heng Chantha, the governor of Banteay Meanchey
province, reported that in 1999, one Poipet commune chief
even signed a title certifying someone else as the owner of
the chief's own property without realizing what he had done.
Other unscrupulous individuals create fake land titles--dated
before 2001--to take advantage of the mess of land titling
responsibilities. In addition to multiple individual owners,
different government bodies, including the armed forces and
Ministries of Interior; Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries;
Environment; and Rural Development, sometimes have
overlapping claims. Bird noted one case in Kampong Cham
where seven different claims to one plot were documented.
(Note: The World Bank is currently implementing a Land

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Management and Administration Project to improve land
security and create an efficient land market by providing 1
million Cambodian families with land titles. However, NGO
observers noted that the World Bank project is intended to
formally document the ownership of undisputed land rather
than to resolve land disputes, and that the World Bank has
purposefully chosen to implement this project in provinces
with few land disputes. End Note.)

The 2001 Land Law Is Sound...
--------------


11. (U) The Land Law of 2001, which was drafted with
extensive participation from civil society and international
experts, is a progressive law that takes pains to extend land
rights to marginalized Cambodians. The Land Law includes,
for example, provisions for social land concessions--5
hectare plots of state land that would be given to poor
families under specific conditions. The law also recognizes
the communal land rights of indigenous communities, making
Cambodia and the Philippines the only Southeast Asian nations
to do so, according to Touch Sokha of NGO Forum. However, in
practice, the progressive elements of the law are not
implemented. Despite the granting of many large economic
land concessions--often far beyond the legal size
limits--social land concessions have not yet been implemented
except for two small pilot projects. The theoretical
communal land rights of indigenous Cambodians have not been
formally defined and have not prevented their land from being
used as economic land concessions.

...but Falls Victim to Government Inaction and Intimidation
-------------- --------------


12. (C) Cadastral committees at the district, provincial,
and national levels are charged with settling disputes
involving untitled land, yet in reality these committees
accomplish little. (Disputes involving titled land are
resolved via the court system.) NGO observers described the
district and provincial level cadastral committees as plagued
by lack of staff and resources. Touch Sokha noted that
although foreign donors fund cadastral committees, "funding
from the top does not flow to the bottom." and other NGO
staff reported paying for gas and other expenses associated
with measuring plots and processing land cases. Sourn
Siphath, director of the National Cadastral Commission
Secretariat, said that district and provincial cadastral

SIPDIS
committees were given small advances to begin carrying out
their work, but in general were expected to expend money
first and then be reimbursed. (Comment: Given low civil
servant salaries and insufficient ministerial budgets, the
notion that cadastral committee employees could expend their
own money on investigating land disputes and then wait while
their requests for reimbursement proceed through the
Cambodian government bureaucracy is unrealistic at best. End
Comment.) Siphath told Econoff that despite being
established in 2002, the commission was still drawing up
procedures for the functioning of the national commission and
had yet to hear any cases.


13. (C) Even more importantly, there is little political
will at any level to accomplish the job. Bird highlighted Im
Chhun Lim, Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and
Constructions, as particularly ineffective. As a CPP insider
and senior minister, he should have the clout necessary to
make progress on land disputes, but he is desperate to avoid
a functioning national cadastral committee because, as its
head, he would take the political heat for the most
problematic cases.


14. (C) More disturbing than government inactivity,
observers allege that government officials use threats,
intimidation, and imprisonment to thwart villagers' efforts
to claim their land. Naly Pilorge of LICADHO observed that
courts are using the same legal techniques against villagers
involved in land disputes that they have used against union
activists and human rights activists: charges of incitement
and destruction of property. In a typical scenario,
according to Swift, villagers have been living in a locale
for some 20 years, an outsider claims the land and puts in
fence posts, and the villagers respond by pulling out the
posts, leading to a charge of destruction of property. Where
property isn't actually destroyed, it can easily be faked to
facilitate a criminal charge, Terry Parnell alleged. The
corrupt court system is hardly a fair arbiter of such cases.
In one recent example cited by Thun Saray of Adhoc, the
president of the court himself was party to a land dispute

PHNOM PENH 00000348 004 OF 005


case in Sihanoukville. The judge declined to recuse himself
and the Ministry of Justice refused to intervene, leaving the
judge to decide on his own case.

NGO Efforts Have Not Been Coordinated
--------------


15. (SBU) For their part, several NGO observers admitted
that the NGO community has so far failed to mount an
effective, coordinated campaign to combat land grabs.
According to Parnell, NGOs have dealt with these as cases to
be fought on a village to village basis in the court system,
rather than a systemic issue to be addressed by political
change. Moreover, both NGOs and donors have been slow to
share or coordinate their efforts. An umbrella group, NGO
Forum, recently created a land dispute database to address
this issue, but their work is just beginning. (Note: USAID
has identified this issue and is working with their human
rights partners to put in place new mechanisms for
coordination and information sharing that can enhance
advocacy efforts. End Note.) For their part, donors have
made the release of a complete list of economic land
concessions one of the Consultative Group (CG) benchmarks.
The government has already released a partial list of land
concessions, and has committed to releasing a complete list
before the CG meeting in March.

A "Farmer's Revolution" In the Offing?
--------------


16. (C) The key question is how frustrated Cambodian
villagers are likely to respond to an increasing crisis.
Some see land disputes as a very real threat to the Cambodian
government. PM Hun Sen said as recently as December 2005
that land grabbing could spark a "farmer's revolution" and
has called on soldiers and high-ranking officials to stop
violating the rights of the poor. On Feb. 14, Co-Minister of
the Interior Sar Kheng ordered provincial governors attending
a conference at the Interior Ministry to resolve disputes in
their provinces and return farmers camping out on the ground
of the National Assembly to their home provinces of Kandal,
Kampong Speu, Battambang, and Oddar Meanchey. Several NGO
staff also see land disputes as destabilizing. Felipe Atkins
of Norwegian People's Aid described land disputes as a "time
bomb" and remarked, "poor people suffer abuse from the
military and the rich. All that hatred must be going
somewhere. At some stage it must explode." Similarly, Yeng
Virak, director of Community Legal Education Center,
described the land grabbing phenomenon as "a balloon being
blown up like a fist".


17. (C) Yet other observers are less certain that this
serious and pervasive issue constitutes a threat to the Hun
Sen Regime. Peter Swift remarked that, in general,
Cambodians will put up with a lot to avoid civil unrest.
Moreover, no strong leaders on this issue have yet emerged,
and public protests over big concessions aren't sustained
over long periods of time. (Note: Similarly, displaced
villagers camping out in Phnom Penh parks sporadically
demonstrate and appeal for help, but show no signs of a
sustained, organized effort. End Note.) Parnell noted that
the government often takes pains to prevent community
mobilization. For example, authorities evict 200 or 300
people in one community, but do so 10 at a time. Often the
rest of the community sits back silently, hoping that they
will avoid the same fate if they don't make trouble. Bird
noted that, "there are a growing number of people who see
these conflicts over land and resources as life and death"
but predicted that as long as people are able to feed their
families, the situation will remain stable. "However, if
there's a major natural disaster and there's not enough rice
to go around, you might find people who feel like there is
nothing to lose," he concluded.

Comment
--------------


18. (C) The shadow of the Khmer Rouge looms large over the
land dispute issue. Massive dislocations of people,
including the emptying of urban centers, uprooted millions of
Cambodians from 1975-79. As a result of this chaos, land
titles and ownership prior to the fall of the Khmer Rouge
regime are not recognized under the law. The situation was
made even worse by the succeeding communist regime's disdain
for private land ownership. With the threat that the current
government will institute some rationality into land
ownership by registering land titles, knowledgeable and

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unscrupulous Cambodians appear determined to grab as much
property as they can before land ownership is set in
concrete. Their greed hits hardest the poorest and most
vulnerable elements of society. Unfortunately, what is
happening in the area of land disputes is a microcosm of the
realities that face the poor and powerless throughout a
society with a culture of impunity and without a reliable
justice system. However, as a Secretary of State in the
Ministry of Land Management told us, the Prime Minister is
likely to feel compelled to show some progress in halting and
reversing land grabs before the 2007 local and 2008 national
elections.
Storella