Cambodian Center for Human Rights 8/10/20, 11:24 PM

Site Map | |

Home About Us Our Work Media & Publications Follow Us Join Us Contact Us

Land Reform Project Land Activist Proﬁle Press Releases, Media Comment & Letters Preaek Chik village, Koh Kong Reports & Publications Newsletters and Series The history and evolution of Preaek Chik village, Chi Kha Land Activist Proﬁle Kraom commune, in Koh Kong’s Srae Ambel district offers a Podcasts telling insight into Cambodia’s turbulent past. Five families began occupying the area after the end of the French colonial Videos period in 1954. The number of families quickly increased to 24 with the foundation of the Sangkum Reastr Niyum (People's Our Work Socialist Community) in 1955, which lasted until 1969. Following the ouster of the late King Father Norodom Human Rights Situation in Sihanouk by General Lon Nol (the Khmer Republic era, 1970- Cambodia 1975), the number of families increased to 40-50. However, Approaches these families, like millions of Cambodians, were displaced during the Khmer Rouge era (1975-1979). After 1979, CCHR Project Description approximately 75 families occupied the area, and the villagers state that their occupation of the land was recognized in Current Projects writing by local authorities at this time. 31 of these 75 families are now locked in a bitter land dispute with wealthy Fair Trial Rights Project developers.

Business and Human Rights In October 2004, Ms. Phav Nhieng and her family decided to buy a plot of land measuring 40 x 300 meters for $400 Project from a man named Nork Heang, who had occupied the land since 1995. The land sale agreement was signed by the Land Tenure Security Project chief of Preaek Chik village, Mr. Tha Nou. After acquiring the land, her family constructed a house and started to Digital Security Champions grow mangoes. On 02 July 2007, a man named Mr. Sok Hong arrived at the land, accompanied by 30 workers and Project approximately 30 mixed armed forces, including police and military police. They attempted to demolish houses and Promoting and Protecting clear farmland covering approximately 90 hectares, affecting 31 families and including six houses. However, they Digital Rights Project succeeded in destroying only three of the six houses due to a successful protest by the affected villages, led by Ms. Digital Rights Project Phav Nhieng. The house demolition was conducted pursuant to an order by Koh Kong Provincial court, which issued Cambodian Human Rights a verdict in favor of Mr. Sok Hong to evict the 31 families and demolish the houses. In the court verdict, the residents Education Platform were accused of illegally occupying the land of a person who had title to the land; however, the decision was never Women Human Rights shown to the affected villagers. Following the attempted eviction, Ms. Phav Nhieng was asked by the affected families Defenders to represent them and lead the effort to protect their land.

Protecting Fundamental To complicate matters, another party, Mr. Heng Huy (owner of Heng Huy Agriculture Group Co. Ltd.), brought a Freedoms written record of a Supreme Court verdict to the affected villagers in late August 2009, showing that he won a lawsuit Human Rights Portal – Sithi against Mr. Sok Hong which proved his ownership of the land. However, CCHR has seen and verified the verdict of Project the Supreme Court, which shows that the land acquired by Mr. Heng Huy did not in fact include Praek Chik village, Land Reform Project and so the implementation of the verdict of the Supreme Court in Praek Chik village encroached on the land of the Sexual Orientation & Gender people there. Despite this, Mr. Heng Huy was issued with a clarification letter by the Srae Ambel district department Identity Project of land management, urban planning, and construction, making way for him to clear the villagers’ land. Villagers Past Projects claim that this letter was issued as a result of fraudulent collusion between Mr. Heng Huy and the chief officer of land Business and Human Rights management, urban planning and construction of Srae Ambel District. Subsequently, in September and October 2009, Project Mr. Heng Huy returned to the disputed land to evict the villagers, accompanied by armed police and gendarmeries Cambodian Freedom of officers. Expression In response to the continuous bulldozing of their land, the villagers filed complaints to the National Assembly, Senate, Human Rights Defenders Ministry of Interior, and the courts, but their efforts were fruitless. Following strong protest from the villagers, Srae Project Ambel district governor Mr. Toutn Sela organized negotiations between the villagers and Mr. Huy in August 2008. Trial Monitoring Project The resulting agreement involved the families giving up the vast majority of their land, yet they felt they had no other The Project to Promote choice but to accept. In fact, they were told that all of their land would be taken if they did not consent. A verbal Women's Political agreement between the people and Mr. Heng Huy was also agreed, stating that the company would not bulldoze the Representation in Cambodia https://cchrcambodia.org/index_old.php?url=project_page/project_page.php&p=land_profile_detail.php&profile_id=17&pro=LR&pro_id=12 Page 1 of 4 Cambodian Center for Human Rights 8/10/20, 11:24 PM

Community Trainings and land allocated to it until the villagers received title to their remaining parcels, and Mr. Heng Huy would assist them Hearings Project with the process. Ending Acid Violence Project However, the verbal agreement was not respected by Mr. Heng Huy, who continued to have the disputed land Human Rights Network bulldozed and made no effort to assist the villagers’ in acquiring title to their remaining parcels. As a result, 24 of the Project 31 families are rejecting the agreement with the company, because they say it was made under duress. Following a Public Forums Project criminal complaint filed by Mr. Heng Huy, Ms. Phav Nhieng was summoned for interrogation by the Koh Kong Campaigns Provincial Court Prosecutor on 01 May 2010. She was charged with committing violence against immovable property 2014 Campaign Against owner, but three months later, the charges were dropped when she agreed to relinquish some land to Mr. Heng Huy. Impunity On 14 December 2012, CCHR staff witnessed the bulldozing of the disputed land, in violation of the verbal Campaign to End Impunity in Cambodia agreement, as the villagers protested. Mr. Heng Huy arrived, accompanied by police forces, and gave the police instructions to confiscate cameras from the CCHR staff. Mr. Heng Huy also threatened CCHR staff thus: “If you Campaign for Freedom of publish any information about the events of this morning, you will face serious problems from me.” Expression 22/11 Justice Fund The Heng Huy Agriculture Group Co. Ltd. has used the conflict land to farm sugar cane, and the company has been World Press Freedom Day transporting its sugar cane to a factory owned by the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Co., formerly owned by Senator "Where is My Justice" Okhna Ly Yong Phat, and now held by a Thai parent company since 2010. The land upon which the factory was built Campaign was also the subject of a bitter land dispute, with villagers forcibly evicted and their homes bulldozed.

On 27 February 2013 nine of the affected villagers, including Phav Nhieng, expressed in a letter to the Koh Kong Provincial Governor their intention to commit suicide in front of the Supreme Court if a case involving their land was decided against them. The nine thumb printed the document, which stated that due to the complicity of the authorities (including the chief of Chi Kha Kraom commune, the chief of Chi kha Leu commune, the Srae Ambel district Cadastral Ofﬁcer and members of the Court), the villagers were in a hopeless position. They stated that ‘the pen of the court is the weapon to kill the people.’

On the same day, four of the group, including Ms. Phav Nhieng, ﬁled a complaint to the Koh Kong Provincial Court requesting that the contract they made with Mr. Heng Huy be nulliﬁed on the basis they were intimidated and coerced Subscribe to receive CCHR updates into entering into the contract. The four complainants were summoned to appear at the court on 24 April 2013 and again on 10 March 2015 to present oral arguments. Since then, the four were summoned to appear at a hearing on 02 September 2015, and they are awaiting the court’s verdict.

Currently, only 15 of the 24 affected families continue their struggle to keep their land, (approximately 62 hectares) from being seized. Among the nine families who withdrew from the struggle, some accepted improper compensation and others gave up without receiving anything, because they were afraid and exhausted by their long and fruitless efforts.

On 02 May 2014, just a few days after Ms. Nhieng ﬁled the lawsuit requesting the nullity of land agreement, the Heng Huy Agriculture Group Co Ltd. ﬁled a complaint with the Koh Kong Provincial Court accusing Ms. Phav Nhieng of killing two of its cows. Ms. Nhieng was summoned for interrogation at the Koh Kong Provincial Court of First Instance on 03 June 2014 and released on the same day under court supervision. She was again summoned on 10 June 2015, but later acquitted on 30 June 2015.

Ms. Phav Nhieng commented: “I will continue to help my community in this struggle until the end, because our livelihoods rely on farming this land. I call on the government to strengthen the judiciary in order to provide justice for people who have been victimized by land disputes in Cambodia.”

Download Content Khmer in PDF | Download Content English in PDF

Other Land Activist Proﬁle

https://cchrcambodia.org/index_old.php?url=project_page/project_page.php&p=land_profile_detail.php&profile_id=17&pro=LR&pro_id=12 Page 2 of 4 Cambodian Center for Human Rights 8/10/20, 11:24 PM

Learn more about CCHR's work on land disputes in Cambodia:

Cambodia’s Women in Land Conﬂict Released on: 2016-09-27 Through the analysis of quantitative data collected on women involved in land disputes throughout the country, this Report aims to shed light on the unique ways in which Cambodian women are affected by land conﬂict.

Investigation Report Impact of the Development Project Benh Hoeurk Kratie Rubber I Company Limited Chork Char Village, Sre Chhouk Commune, Keo Seima District, Mondulkiri Province Released on: 2016-03-18 Residents of Chork Cha village, cosisting of 180 families with 869 people (408 female), are Bunong indigenou people who have common ethnic, social, cultural, and economic unity. They practice thei customaruy lifestyle and cultivation of their land, which they have occupied with a tradition of collective land use. This community is in the process of registering their indigenous, collective land, and are now completing the second stage, in which the community has been recognized by the Ministry of Interior.

Access to Collective Land Titles for Indigenous Communities in Cambodia Released on: 2016-02-11 This Report examines the obstacles to registration of collective land for indigenous communities in Cambodia, based on data collected by the Project. It aims to highlight reasons for shortcomings in the implementation of land registration for indigenous communities, and identiﬁes recommendations for all stakeholders that will promote better implementation, with a view to increased protection of indigenous land rights in Cambodia.

Cambodia: Land in Conﬂict An Overview of the Land Situation Released on: 2013-12-12 As noted by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia (the “Special Rapporteur”) last August at the United Nations (“UN”) Human Rights Council, “Land rights continue to be a major issue in this country.”1 Conﬂict over land – combined with the widespread and systematic violation of land rights – is one of the most prominent human rights problems faced by Cambodians throughout the country, one whose roots can be traced to the abolition of private ownership when the Khmer Rouge took over power in 1975.

Finding from Round table Discussions and Policy Platforms Released on: 2013-07-26 The dissemination of clear policies by political parties during the preamble to an election is essential in order for citizens to effectively exercise their democratic will. In the Kingdom of Cambodia (“Cambodia”), where a signiﬁcant percentage of the population have been subjected to forced evictions and land tenure insecurity by both state and business actors, it is extremely important for party policies to reﬂect and address the land current crisis.

Mini-Report following the Roundtable Discussion on “Investment Projects https://cchrcambodia.org/index_old.php?url=project_page/project_page.php&p=land_profile_detail.php&profile_id=17&pro=LR&pro_id=12 Page 3 of 4 Cambodian Center for Human Rights 8/10/20, 11:24 PM

and Land Concessions” held on 29 March 2013 at Koh Kong City Hotel, Koh Kong Province Released on: 2013-04-12 The aim of this mini-report is to provide stakeholders and relevant institutions and organizations with information regarding the issues that were addressed during the Roundtable Discussion, “Investment Projects and Land Concessions”, held at the Koh Kong City Hotel, Krong Khemarak Phoumin, Koh Kong Province on 29 March 2013.

CCHR’s Monitoring of Land Concessions in Cambodia in 2012 Released on: 2013-02-14 This mini-report sets out the results of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights’ (“CCHR”) ﬁndings regarding the number of land concessions granted by the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) in 2012 and forms part of CCHR’s Land Reform Project (“the Project”) monitoring activities relating to land disputes in the Kingdom of Cambodia (“Cambodia”).

Previous12Next

https://cchrcambodia.org/index_old.php?url=project_page/project_page.php&p=land_profile_detail.php&profile_id=17&pro=LR&pro_id=12 Page 4 of 4