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CAMBODIA: One village chief illegally sells indigenous people's land to a private company in Mondolkiri province

January 29, 2007

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

29 January 2007
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UA-028-2007: CAMBODIA: One village chief illegally sells indigenous people's land to a private company in Mondolkiri province

CAMBODIA: Violation of land rights; violation of indigenous people's rights; corruption; total failure of implementing land law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that Mr. Ket Bun Thann, chief of Pou Teut village has sold 400 hectares which is under a collective ownership of a Phnong indigenous community of 56 families in Pou Teut village, Bou Sra commune, Pich Chenda District, Mondolkiri province, in the northeastern region of Cambodia to a company named Khov Chea Ly. An unnamed French company is associated with Khov Chea Ly. Both companies have allegedly grabbed that land for a rubber plantation. The village chief's act violates the Land Law 2001 of Cambodia that grants the collective ownership of immovable properties of indigenous communities but does not allow the community to dispose of any collective ownership that is state public property to any person or group. Please also see a similar case of violating the indigenous land rights that took place in Kok commune, Bokeo district, Ratanakiri province: UA-382-2006.

CASE DETAILS:

According to the three representatives of the affected 56 families namely Mr. Chhor Pev (47), Mr. Phar Krak (29) and Ms Khlap Noeu (40), Mr. Ket Bun Thann had convened three meetings with the villagers. At each and every meeting Ket Bun Thann has always coerced the villagers to give up their land to the Khov Chea Ly company. At the last meeting held at his house in the evening of 17 January 2007, he told the 40 villagers attended that company would have the land all the same, regardless of whether they agreed to give it up or not. The villagers complained to higher authorities in their district but these authorities did not even bother to receive their complaint. They have since been threatened and intimidated. Mr. Ket Bun Thann has even threatened to kill anyone who dares to file any complaint against the sale of that land. Worse still the Khov Chea Ly company has allegedly hired workers to clear the land in early January 2007 and those families have since been barred from cultivating their land. 

The AHRC has further learned that the indigenous people in that part of Cambodia have from time immemorial practised the slash and burn or shifting cultivation, clearing a plot of land in the forests to cultivate for a couple of years, and then abandon it to regain its fertility and move on to another plot. They need vast areas of self-regenerating forests not only for the cultivation of their crop but also for meat from wild animals and for forest by-products to sustain their livelihood. Those 56 families will face starvation if deprived of their land. They simply want to have it back.

Actually, according to Article 26 of the Land Law of 2001, no authorities can dispose of such a collective ownership to any person or group, and this ownership is a state public property. In this particular case neither villager chief Ket Bun Thann nor any other authorities have any right to sell that 400-hectare land or award it as a concession to Khov Chea Ly company.

The AHRC urges the Cambodian government to bring village chief Ket Bun Thann and the owner of the Khov Chea company to justice for their infringement against this particular collective ownership of an indigenous community pursuant to Article 259 of the Land Law of 2001, which says that any perpetrator of such infringement shall be fined from five to fifty million Riel (USD 1,286 to 12,860) and/or imprisoned from one year to five years, and shall have to vacate that property immediately.

SUGGESTION ACTION:
Please write to the Cambodian government to intervene to return without any delay that 400-hectare land to those 56 indigenous families and bring village chief Ket Bun Thann and the owner of Khov Chea Ly company to court.

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample letter:

Dear ___________,

CAMBODIA: One village chief illegally sells indigenous people's land to a private company in Mondolkiri province

Persons affected: 56 indigenous families in Pou Teut village, Bou Sra commune, Pich Chenda District, Mondolkiri province, Cambodia
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Ket Bun Thann, Chief of Pou Teut village
2. The owner of the company named Khov Chea Ly
Location: 400 hectares which is under a collective ownership of a Phnong indigenous community of 56 families in Pou Teut village

I have learned that Ket Bun Thann, chief of Pou Teut village, has sold 400 hectares which is under a collective ownership of a Phnong indigenous community of 56 families in Pou Teut village, Bou Sra commune, Pich Chenda District, Mondolkiri province, in the northeastern region of Cambodia.to a company named Khov Chea Ly. An unnamed French company is associated with Khov Chea Ly company. Both companies have grabbed that land for a rubber plantation.

I have also been informed that Ket Bun Thann has convened three meetings with those villagers. At each and every meeting Ket Bun Thann has always coerced those villagers to give up their land to Khov Chea Ly company. At the latest meeting held at his house in the evening of 17 January 2007, he told the 40 villagers present that that company would have the land all the same regardless whether those 56 families agreed to give it up or not. I'm quite dismayed to learn that, when those villagers complained to higher authorities in their district, these authorities did not even bother to receive their complaint. Those villagers have since received threat and intimidation. Ket Bun Thann has even threatened to kill anyone who dares file any complaint against the sale of that land. Worse still Khov Chea Ly company has already hired workers to clear the land in early January 2007 and those families have been since barred from cultivating it. 

I know that the indigenous people in that part of Cambodia have from time immemorial practised the slash and burn cultivation, clearing a plot of land in the forests to cultivate for a couple of years,  and then abandon it to regain its fertility and move on to another plot. They therefore need vast areas of self-regenerating forests not only for the cultivation of their crop but for meat from wild animals and for forest by-products to sustain their livelihood. Those 56 families will face starvation if deprived of their land. They want nothing else but their land bak.

I have learned that, according to Article 26 of the Cambodian Land Law of 2001, no authorities can dispose of such a collective ownership to any person or group and this ownership is a state public property. In this particular case neither village chief Ket Bun Thann nor any other authorities have any right to sell that 400-hectare land or award it as a concession to Khov Chea Ly company.

Furthermore, Article 11(1) of the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to which Cambodia is a state party, states that "The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions".

I therefore urge you to take action in order to bring the owner of Khov Chea company and the village chief Ket Bun Thann to court for their infringement against this particular collective ownership of an indigenous community pursuant to Article 259 of the Land Law of 2001. According to this article, any perpetrator of such infringement shall be fined from five to fifty million Riel (USD 1,286 to 12,860) and/or imprisoned from one year to five years, and shall have to vacate that property immediately. 

I look to you to take immediate action in this particular case.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

1. Mr. Samdech Hun Sen
Prime Minister
Cabinet of the Prime Minister
No. 38, Russian Federation Street
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Tel: +855-23-21 98 98
Fax: +855-23-36 06 66
E-mail: cabinet1b@camnet.com.kh  

2. Mr. Samdech Chea Sim
Senate president
Chamcar Mon State Palace
Pheah Norodom Blvd
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Tel: +855-23-21 1441-3
Fax: +855-23-21 1446
Email: info@senate.gov.kh 

3. Mr. Samdech Heng Samrin
President of National Assembly
Sothearos Street
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Tel: +855-23-21 41 36/21 77 68
Fax: +855-23-21 7769

4. Mr. Sok An
Deputy Prime Minister
President of the National Land Dispute Authority
# 41, Str Confederation de la Russie
Tel: +855 12 970 608
Fax: +855 23 881 045
E-mail: info@pressocm.gov.kh    

5. Mr. Eng Chhai Eang
Member of Parliament
Vice President of the National Land Dispute Authority
# 71 Sothearos Blvd, Sangkat Tonle Basac,
Khan Chamcar Morn
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Tel: +855 12 73 1111
Fax: +855 23 211 336
Email: srphq@online.com.kh 

6. Mr. Sar Kheng
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister of Interior
275 Norodom Blvd.
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Fax/phone : +855-23 72 19 05/72 60 52/72 11 90
E-Mail: info@interior.gov.kh, moi@interior.gov.kh 

7. Mr. Ang Vong Vathna
Minster of Justice
No 240, Sothearos Blvd.
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Fax: + 855-23-36 41 19/21 66 22

8. Mr. Lay Sokha
Mondulkiri Provincial governor
Sok Khodom commune
Senmonorom district
Mondulkiri province
CAMBODIA

9. Ms Margo Picken
Director
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Cambodia
N¢X 10, Street 302
Sangkat Boeng Keng Kang I
Khan Chamcar Mon
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Tel: +855-23-987 671 / 987 672, 993 590 / 993 591 or +855 23 216 342
Fax: +855-23-212 579, 213 587

10. Prof. Yash Ghai
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia
Attn: Ms. Afarin Shahidzadeh
Room 3-080
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 91 79214
Fax: +41 22 91 79018 (ATTENTION: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE CAMBODIA)

11. Mr. Miloon Kothari
Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
Attn: Ms. Cecilia Moller
Room 4-066/010
UNOG-OHCHR
CH-1211, Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9265
Fax: +41 22 917 9010 (ATTENTION: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ADEQUATE HOUSING)


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)


Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-028-2007
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.