LAND IN CAMBODIA, PART III: EVICTIONS, RESETTLEMENT, LAND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PHNOM PENH 000379

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL
USAID FOR ASIA BUREAU

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EAGR SENV KDEM CB
SUBJECT: LAND IN CAMBODIA, PART III: EVICTIONS, RESETTLEMENT, LAND
SCAMS, AND ARRESTS

REF: A) PHNOM PENH 60, B) PHNOM PENH 285, C) PHNOM PENH 62, D) 08
PHNOM PENH 991

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

THIS IS THE THIRD OF THREE CABLES ON LAND ISSUES IN CAMBODIA. FOR
PART I, SEE REF A. FOR PART II, SEE REF B.


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The lax land titling system (Ref A) and the Royal
Government of Cambodia's (RGC's) push to develop land through
concessions (Ref B) has led to widespread land disputes and more
forced evictions. The issue of forced evictions ranks high on civil
society, opposition party, and donor lists of human rights
challenges in Cambodia. There is no standard operating procedure
for carrying out an eviction, leading to inconsistency in evictions,
from varying forms of eviction notices to the use of force. NGOs
report that military involvement in land dispute cases at the
direction of provincial and district governors is common throughout
the country. Private companies have also found themselves engaged
in land disputes and evictions when they receive concessions on
occupied land.


2. (SBU) When communities are resettled, the land they receive is
often small, lacking infrastructure, or already occupied.
Frequently these resettled communities lack the documentation to
show that they legally possess their new plots of land, leaving them
vulnerable to future evictions. Illegal land sales by unscrupulous
individuals and commune officials put communities at further risk of
eviction. In some cases, local and provincial government
authorities attempt to arrest and prosecute community leaders and
activists engaged in land disputes on charges such as theft or
willful damage to property.


3. (SBU) COMMENT: Although the legal circumstances surrounding
individual eviction cases are often complicated and controversial,
the human rights issues these cases raise are of concern to Post.
We seek to engage constructively with the RGC over the fundamental
due process issues behind land disputes, stressing that secure land
tenure is essential for Cambodia's economic growth and social
stability. END COMMENT AND SUMMARY.

EVICTIONS A FOCUS OF HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS
--------------


4. (SBU) The issue of forced evictions ranks high on civil society,
donor, and opposition party lists of human rights challenges in
Cambodia. Estimates of the scale of the problem vary from source to
source, but most stakeholders agree that the issue is significant.
The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights
(LICADHO) estimates that more than 250,000 people have been affected
by land grabbing and forced evictions since 2003. Amnesty
International (AI) published an oft-quoted report in February 2008,
which calculated that 150,000 Cambodians are at risk of forced
eviction, based on surveys conducted with NGOs that work with
affected or at-risk communities. An AI report released last month
stated that 23,000 individuals were forcibly evicted in 2008. Local
NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut released a report this year that claimed
that 120,000 Phnom Penh residents had been displaced since 1990.
(NOTE: The LICADHO and Sahmakum Teang Tnaut reports are based on
estimations factoring the number of households reportedly involved
in evictions and the average Cambodian family size. END NOTE.)

UNDEFINED EVICTION PROCESS
--------------


5. (SBU) There is no standard operating procedure for carrying out
an eviction, according to legal experts at the Community Legal
Education Center, the East-West Management Institute (EWMI),and
Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC),who are all supported with USAID
funding. Nhean So Munin, a National Land Law Expert working for the
EU-funded Land Law Awareness Campaign, said that he interpreted the
2001 Land Law to state that lawful evictions require a judicial
order. He noted though that government officials interpret Article
19 of the land law to say that the government has the authority to
evict people from state public and state private land without a
court order. (NOTE: Article 19 states that if an occupant does not
vacate illegally-acquired land within the time limit set by the
competent authority, the authority will begin proceedings to evict
the offender from the land. END NOTE.)


6. (SBU) When there is a written eviction notice, the source of the
notice and the reason for eviction can vary. For example, residents
of the Tonle Bassac commune in Phnom Penh known as "Group 78"
reported receiving a series of eviction notices, each for a
different reason, beginning in June 2006. Community members said
that various eviction notices instructed them to vacate the area
because 1) they were on state public property, 2) they were on state
private property owned by a private company, and 3) because the

PHNOM PENH 00000379 002 OF 004


municipal government planned to "beautify" the city around the land
they occupied. Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema issued a sixth
eviction notice on April 20, which informed residents that they were
living on state land that had been leased to local developer Suor
Srun Enterprises, and that residents had 15 days to leave the land.
The May 5 deadline passed without forced eviction, however.

MILITARY INVOLVEMENT IN EVICTIONS
--------------


7. (SBU) Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) units report to the
national government, but provincial and district governors also have
the authority to direct military forces to assist in
security-related operations, similar to National Guard mobilization
in the U.S. For example, Kampot Governor Khoy Khunhour explained to
Poloff that he is the chair of a "Provincial Command Headquarters"
committee, which receives assistance requests from citizens, the
private sector, and other government agencies. He said that both
RADM Sun Saroeun, commander of RCAF's Brigade 31 and Kampot's Chief
of Police serve as vice-chairs of the committee. When the governor
receives a request that may require police or military support, he
said he discusses the request with the committee and then decides
whether or not to direct the military or police to get involved.


8. (SBU) According to NGO monitors, the practice of military
involvement in land dispute cases at the direction of provincial and
district governors is common. LICADHO reported that in 2008 there
were at least 27 cases of military intervention in land disputes in
the districts it monitors. The Cambodian Human Rights and
Development Association (ADHOC) estimated that in 2008 there were
about 23 cases of military intervention in land disputes. (NOTE:
The degree of military involvement in these reports ranges from
individual military personnel involved in specific personal disputes
to military unit deployment for forced evictions. END NOTE.) Some
sample reported cases for 2008-2009 include:

-- March 2009: Siem Reap Governor Sou Phirin
instructed a mixed group of police, military
police, and soldiers to remove villagers who were
harvesting rice from a disputed piece of farmland
in Chi Kreng District. Police shot and injured
three villagers during the incident.
-- December 2008: ADHOC accused the governor of
Ratanakiri Province of dispatching soldiers to
guard a rubber plantation at the center of a land
dispute with local villagers.
-- November 2008: Kampot Governor Khoy Khunhour
deployed RCAF Brigade 31 to attempt to evict
residents of Anlong Khmeng Leng village in Kampot
Province, which led to brawling and civilian
injuries (Ref D).

PRIVATE CORPORATION INVOLVEMENT IN EVICTIONS
--------------


9. (SBU) Private companies have also found themselves engaged in
land disputes and evictions, as the RGC increases granting of
economic land concessions (ELCs) and use, development and
exploitation (UDE) concessions (Ref B). For example, Cambodian
construction firm 7NG actively participated in the eviction of Phnom
Penh's Dey Krahorm community in January 2009 (Ref C),bulldozing
houses, sometimes with residents still inside, while police played a
crowd control and removal role. In another example, NGOs report
that Cambodian firm Shukaku Inc. has restricted access to the
communities surrounding Boeung Kak Lake. The company is temporarily
flooding the Boeung Kak residents out of their neighborhood as it
fills the lake with sand (Ref B),even as a dispute over ownership
of the land surrounding the lake is ongoing.

RESETTLEMENT AND A CYCLE OF EVICTIONS
--------------


10. (SBU) In some cases when communities are resettled, the land
they receive is small, lacking infrastructure, or already occupied.
For example, in 2006 the Phnom Penh municipal government resettled
former renters from the Sambok Chap community in an empty field
about 20 km outside of Phnom Penh with no sanitation facilities or
other infrastructure. The new community, called Andong, was moved
again by authorities later that year when it was discovered that the
field they occupied belonged to a private owner. Poloff visited
Andong in March 2009, which after three years still lacked basic
services such as a clean water supply, a sewage system, electricity,
public school access, and health facilities. NGOs and religious
groups had helped the community build houses, but the field floods
during the rainy season, carrying trash and human and animal waste
around the houses.


11. (SBU) In another example, the Phnom Penh Municipal Government

PHNOM PENH 00000379 003 OF 004


evicted the Dey Krahorm community in January 2009 and resettled them
in an area called Damnak Trayoeung, about 15 km west of Phnom Penh
(Ref C). Damnak Trayoeung was better equipped to support a
community, with brick houses and water lines. However, when the Dey
Krahorm community arrived, not enough houses were available, and the
evictees were forced to live on the side of a road under tarps
provided by human rights NGOs. Community representatives also told
Poloff that 7NG officials charged them fees in order to expedite
their placement in an apartment, and to ensure they received an
apartment with road access.


12. (SBU) In some cases, villagers who receive land in compensation
for being displaced never receive possession certificates or titles
to their new property, leaving them vulnerable to another eviction.
For example, former Boeung Kak community residents who took the
Phnom Penh municipality's offer of a house on the outskirts of town
have yet to receive any kind of documentation to prove legal
possession. Evictees at another resettlement site showed Poloff
what they believed to be their legal land titles, which were
actually papers listing the family's name and land plot number
issued by a private company rather than the National Cadastral
Administration (Ref A). Human rights activists warn that this is a
common trend in the resettlement villages that circle Phnom Penh.
As the city grows, and land values on the outskirts of town
increase, NGOs predict that the resettled communities will again be
forced to move.

LAND GRABBING, SCAMS, AND ARRESTS
--------------


13. (SBU) Provincial government officials and NGOs have reported
various land scams throughout the country, often involving the sale
of state land, which can put communities at further risk of
eviction. In the November 2008 case of Anlong Khmeng Leng village
in Kampot Province (Ref D),Governor Khoy Khunhour and COL Kong Lum,
Deputy Commander of B31, accused "masterminds" of luring villagers
to the province to settle on state land. These masterminds then
allegedly bought the state land from those settlers, and then sold
the land to a third group of settlers for profit. When challenged
by the authorities, these masterminds allegedly incited those who
had unknowingly illegally purchased the land to protest. NGOs have
raised other instances where commune officials have authorized the
sale of state land for personal profit, setting buyers up for land
disputes and forced evictions. Prime Minister Hun Sen acknowledged
this issue in a speech during the April 9 closing ceremony of a
conference on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, where he accused
village and commune officials of certifying illegal sales of state
land.


14. (SBU) Many high-profile land cases involve the arrest or
threatened arrest of community leaders or activists, typically on
charges of damage to property or theft. In a June 2008 eviction
case in Chey Sena Village, Kampot Province, evictees were resettled
in a nearby village called Kbal Damrey, which was already occupied.
When existing Kbal Damrey residents protested the redistribution of
their land, police arrested four of the protestors on charges of
willful damage to property and theft. Governor Khoy Khunhour told
Poloff that the four arrestees were the masterminds behind a land
occupation scheme similar to that in Anlong Khmeng Leng. He said
that once the four were arrested, the community calmed down.
COMMENT: The four detainees included a 53-year-old woman and her
two teenage sons. Although similar land scams have been reported in
other parts of the country, we do not believe that these four
individuals were the organizers of a larger land grabbing plot. In
December 2008, the Kampot provincial court acquitted three of the
arrestees and sentenced the fourth to time-served and released her.
END COMMENT.


15. (SBU) After the January 24 eviction of the Dey Krahorm
community, the Phnom Penh municipal government prosecuted three
community leaders on charges stemming from a December 2007 incident
in which the developer 7NG entered Dey Krahorm with a bulldozer,
despite the ongoing land ownership dispute. Residents reportedly
began throwing rocks at the 7NG employees and machinery. A
high-profile community spokesperson reportedly used a loudspeaker to
urge the residents to stop using violence, but was later prosecuted
himself on charges of property damage and physical assault. Human
rights NGOs believe the community leader was targeted for
prosecution for speaking out against 7NG and the municipal
government. The community representative is currently free on bail
and must report to a municipal police station each week.


16. (SBU) In another case, police in Siem Reap arrested nine
villagers from Chi Kraeng commune March 22 on charges of theft,
during an incident in which the police shot and injured three
villagers. The villagers were collecting rice they had planted on a
disputed piece of farmland, which Siem Reap Governor Sou Phirin had
ruled belonged to a neighboring commune. Police charged the

PHNOM PENH 00000379 004 OF 004


villagers who protested the governor's ruling with stealing the rice
they had planted on the disputed land, although the rice had been
planted before the ownership dispute was resolved. In another
example, Sou Phirin publicly threatened to arrest and prosecute
leaders of a community engaged in a land dispute with a South Korean
company on charges of kidnapping, when a commune councilor and four
company employees temporarily went missing. The governor was forced
to retract his statements two days later when it was revealed that
the missing individuals had simply gone home after they'd faced
community protestors.

COMMENT
--------------


17. (SBU) As with the overarching issues that lead to land disputes,
such as the lax land titling system (Ref A) and the granting of land
concessions by the government (Ref B),the circumstances surrounding
individual cases of forced eviction are often complicated and
controversial. Some communities legally do not have claims to the
properties from which they are evicted, while others may have a
legal claim but are the victims of bad advice from their neighbors,
the government, or even NGOs. However, the human rights issues that
engender and result from these disputes and evictions are clearly a
concern for Post.


18. (SBU) The lack of transparency and clear legal guidance in many
of these land disputes makes it difficult for Post to intervene or
advocate in specific cases, nor should we necessarily. Post's
primary objective is to facilitate and encourage direct dialogue
between communities and the RGC, which USAID's democracy and
governance program supports through organizations that work with
communities engaged in land disputes. On the diplomatic front, we
raise specific issues, such as the use of the military in evictions,
and look for specific solutions we can potentially support, such as
a UN-proposed moratorium on evictions until a clear legal framework
is in place with workable procedures for resettlement and
compensation. We seek to engage constructively with the RGC over
the fundamental issues behind land disputes, stressing that secure
land tenure is essential for Cambodia's economic growth and social
stability.


RODLEY