Biography of Mr. Kuch Veng

Land and Forest Activist

Mr. Kuch Veng was born in 1964 to a farming family in Kralanh village, Kbal Trach commune, , province, where he is living and farming with his family today. He is the youngest of 12 brothers and sisters. During Pol Pot regime Mr. Veng was evacuated with his family to Svay Daun Keo commune in , . The took the lives of nine of his siblings. After was rescued from the regime in 1979, Mr. Veng and the members of his family who survived returned to their village to earn a living by farming and collecting non-timber products from the forest. Mr. Veng went back to school, starting a class at Trapeang Smach primary school in Kbal Trach commune and continued to reach Grade 10 in 1997 at Samdech Sihanouk high school. He was a Khmer Rouge soldier from 1986 to 1990 (in which time he suspended his studies), then was integrated into the government’s army. However, he left the army in 2001 due to a health condition. Mr. Veng married a woman who also lives in his village.

In 2002, Mr. Veng found out that the forest in Pursat province was being destroyed and a large amount of luxury timber was being transported each day. He gathered villagers to work together to prevent this destruction. At the same time, environmental NGOs came to the area to provide the villagers with knowledge about protection of the forest. Due to his activism, Mr. Veng has been invited to participate in multiple legal and advocacy training courses which have enabled him to share knowledge with his fellow community members. He was also invited to join the discussion on the law on forestry in 2002. In 2004, Phan Emix Company, which had received a land concession from the government, bulldozed villagers’ farmland and community forest, affecting the livelihood of people living in that area. At that time, 700 people joined a protest to stop the clearance. During the night of the protest, at about midnight, there was an explosion in a mosque in Kbal Trach commune. The explosion wounded 19 protesters. After the incident, the company postponed the clearance for 6 years. In 2010, the company resumed the clearance with a large destruction operations that people could not stop them. The community decided to change its strategy and to advocate before the national competent institutions.

Due to the outstanding activities of Mr. Kuch Veng in the protection of forest and land in Pursat province, he was elected as a community representative in Kbal Trach commune and, further, as a representative for all communities in Pursat province, but he refused in order to avoid problems for

himself in the future. Moreover, Mr. Veng was selected by the Community Peace Building Network as its provincial representative in Pursat with an additional responsibility for mine and forest issues countrywide. In this role, he has shared his advocacy experiences with communities in provinces across Cambodia.

As a result of his activism, Mr. Kuch Veng has been subject to extensive judicial harassment. In 2011, he received a summons from Pursat provincial court due to a complaint lodged by 17 people accusing Mr. Veng of obstruction of authority and incitement to intentionally destruct property. However, during questioning the plaintiffs revealed that they neither knew Mr. Kuch Veng nor filed the complaint against him. Mr. Veng believes that someone has the intention to stop his activism.

In 2013, Mr. Veng was charged with fraud and detained by the Pursat provincial court for a period of 3 months and 15 days. He was sued by Ms. Um Theary, who claimed that she had given Mr. Veng 4,500 USD in 2010 with his promise that he would get her a job as a police officer. However, Mr. Veng is unfamiliar with the story and denies the allegation. He was released on 04 September 2013 and later the Court of Appeal dropped the charges against him. In late 2016, Pursat court summoned Mr. Veng under charges of public defamation, incitement to commit a felony and discrediting a judicial decision. He assumes that these charges relate to the fact that he was interviewed by Radio Free Asia in May 2016 and on that occasion spoke about the Court of Appeal’s decision regarding the case of a land activist from Pursat province. Mr. Veng received a second summons on 31 May 2017, but has requested to delay his presence.

Mr. Kuch Veng observes that the human rights situation in Cambodia is still subject to restrictions, particularly for those who work to protect the interests of communities. These communities are intimidated when they should be protected. “I contribute to society, but it never helps me.” He requests that the government be more open to the free exercise of rights in order to aid the development of Cambodia.