Friday, March 23, 2012
The grand scale looting of Cambodia by Hun Xen, Inc.
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| A mother and her infant walking out of Borei Keila after their forced evictions |
The great land giveaway
Friday, 23 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post
“All the places that evict people were taken over by private companies that have close relationships with powerful people, and some companies are even owned by senior government officers” - Thun Saray
More than 2 million of the Kingdom’s nearly 18 million
hectares of land – roughly 12 per cent – was given out to 225 private
companies in economic concessions last year, according to
an annual report released by rights group Adhoc yesterday.
The concessions put 606 communities at risk
of eviction, the report states.
Adhoc president Thun Saray said
yesterday at the report’s release that the 2,276,349 hectares of land concessions were
distributed to companies by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries to be used for agro-industry development.
“This shows that Cambodia barely
has any more land to grant as an economic land concession.
In one year, the government granted over 1 million hectares to private
companies like this,” he said.
“How will we
have any to leave for the younger generation?”
Thun Saray also noted that the
total acreage of land concessions doled out in the past year was likely
much larger than the 2.2 million figure, since that number did not
reflect land concessions made by other ministries.
Such land concessions were a
major source of anger for villagers, he said, since “the government never
evaluates the social and environmental impact and fails to comply with
the land law”.
Village protests to land grabs
resulted in the arrests of 95 residents, the detainment of 48 people and
the death of one man, Thun Sary said.
Forced evictions
More
than 400 villagers received criminal charges in such protests, nearly a
50 per cent increase from the previous year, he added, criticising the courts as a
“tool” for “powerful” companies and people “to take over villagers’
land”.
Meanwhile, forced evictions
affected 127 of the Kingdom’s 733 communities in 2011, the Adhoc
president said, pointing out the close ties that many firms receiving
concessions had with the government. In Phnom Penh alone, more than
30,000 families were evicted.
“All the places
that evict people were taken over by private companies that have close
relationships with powerful people, and some companies are even owned by
senior government officers,” Thun Saray said.
Ny Chakrya, head of land rights
and natural resources for Adhoc, said the unemployment
rate doubled for villagers that had been evicted.
This forced many to look abroad
for work, Thun Saray said.
“The government always tells
people not to cross the border illegally to work abroad, but it doesn’t
understand that when villagers lose their land and job, they have to
work abroad to support themselves,” he said.
"Serious consequences"
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries spokesman Hong Narith said yesterday that he did not
know how Adhoc arrived at its numbers and instructed
interested parties to review the MAFF website, which he said contained
updated information.
However, figures on that website
were only available through to April 2010 and said that up until that
point, the Ministry had made land concessions to 85 companies totalling
956,690 hectares.
Thuk Kroeun Vuth, secretary of
state at the Ministry of Environment, said yesterday that he was unaware
of Adhoc’s report, but that in general, land
concessions were not a cause for concern.
“We still have
a lot of land. Don’t worry, the government has a clear plan of what to
do and which places to develop and which places to conserve,”
he said.
However, opposition Sam Rainsy
Party lawmaker Son Chhay told the Post that land concessions had
“serious consequences,” including the “destruction” of land and the
“suffer[ing]” of villagers.
“Land concessions are illegal acts of the
government and part of the major corruption within the system,”
he said. “We have to put a stop on this activity so future concessions
must not be conducted.”
Ny Chakrya advocated a system in
which the government sells land to villagers instead of private firms.
“Instead of renting the land to the company
at only $19 per hectare, if the government rents to villagers at $150
per hectare, the government still makes a profit and the villagers keep
their land,” he said.
It Nody, undersecretary of state
at MAFF, declined to comment yesterday, saying he was busy in a
meeting, while Beng Hong Socheat, spokesman for the Ministry of Land
Management, Urban Planning and Construction, could not be reached for
comment.
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To contact the reporter on this story:
May Titthara at may.titthara@phnompenhpost.com
With assistance from Kristin Lynch
To contact the editor for
this story: Chad Williams at chad.williams@phnompenhpost.com
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