Tuesday, July 10, 2012
| (Photo: CCHR) |
| Hun Xen (L) and Hun Manith (R) |
By Sebastian Strangio
Asia Times Online
According to the local human-rights group Licadho, which monitors land disputes and rights abuses, foreign mining and agriculture firms now control a total of 3.9 million hectares in Cambodia, or 22% of the country's surface area. Industrial agri-business deals, known as economic land concessions (ELCs), now account for 53% of Cambodia's total arable land. Last year alone, the government approved 2 million hectares in concessions for 227 plantation firms.
PHNOM PENH -There were scenes of
jubilation in Cambodia's capital last month when a group of 13 imprisoned women -
including a 72-year-old grandmother - was set free by an appeal court.
The women were arrested in May during peaceful demonstrations against
the forced eviction of thousands of families living around Boeung Kak
Lake, an area in central Phnom Penh earmarked for a glitzy housing and
commercial development.
The company behind the controversial
development is known as Shukaku
Inc, an obscure firm known to be a front for the interests of Lao Meng Khin, a leading tycoon and
senator for the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP).
Two Chinese companies are also reported to be investing in the project,
which has seen the lake - once ringed by a bustling community of more
than 4,000 families - reduced to a massive sand bank in the center of
the city. Most families have already left the site in exchange for
resettlement or small cash hand-outs, but a robust protest movement
continues to resist eviction.
After their arrest on May 22,
the 13 Boeung Kak women were charged with illegally occupying private
land, and in a swift trial held just two days later - an unprecedented
turnaround for Cambodia's poorly resourced court system - were each
sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail. One land rights activist told
Agence France-Presse at the time that the proceedings were "a show trial - a complete charade".
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