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Preaek Khsach Commune, Koh Kong

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Preaek Khsach Commune, Koh Kong Preaek Khsach commune, Koh Kong A resolution to a long-running land dispute has been achieved following the release from detention of community representative Mr. Phorn Nol, who was detained for 43 days following a criminal complaint lodged against him by Senator Okhna Ly Yong Phat, owner of Koh Kong SEZ Co, Ltd. Mr. Phorn Nol had been accused of theft as a result of his tireless activism on behalf of 135 families in Preaek Khsach commune in Koh Kong’s Kiri Sakor district. The most south-western of Cambodia’s provinces, Koh Kong has a long undeveloped coastline and a mountainous, forested, and largely inaccessible interior which embraces part of the Cardamom Mountains - the biggest coherent rainforest in Southeast Asia - as well as Botum Sakor National Park, and a section of the Kirirom National Park. Botum Sakor is Cambodia’s largest national park, covering 1,834-sq-km, encircled by mangroves and beaches, and is home to a wide array of wildlife, including elephants, deer, leopards and sun bears. However, the natural richness of the area is increasingly under threat from enormous delevopment projects, encorachment, and logging. According to local residents, many families came to live in four villages located in Preaek Khsach commune between 1984 and 1985. Most of these villagers had moved from Kampot, Takeo, Kampong Speu, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Cham, Kandal and Phnom Penh. Poverty and landlessness were the motivations for them to move in search of reliable income such as fishing, farming and collecting natural non-timber products. Since then, the local authorities, including the commune chief, have called for more people to move to the area, as it was uninhabited and the residents were frequently disrupted by former Khmer Rouge soldiers. The authorities actively sought a population influx in order to counter the Khmer Rouge forces by encouraging the residents to volunteer as militiamen or soldiers. Currently, approximately 400 families living in four villages: Samrong Ta Kaev; Yeay Sen; Preaek Khsach; and Phnom Krong, all located in Preaek Khsach commune, are involved in land disputes covering 1,000 hectares. An official letter recognizing the possession of those families was issued by village and communal authorities in 2005. However, the land occupation of those families has not been secured due to a dispute with two companies, Koh Kong SEZ Co., Ltd, owned by ruling party Senator Oknha Ly Yong Phat, and a Chinese company, called Union Development Group Co., Ltd. This profile focuses on the dispute and resolution between 135 families and Koh Kong SEZ Co., Ltd. The land dispute began in 2006, when residents saw employees of a company called Dothy Free Shop,1 owned by Oknha Ly Yong Phat, demarcating the boundaries of land on the basis of an alleged license that had been granted by the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) to develop this area as a ‘Special Economic Zone’. The company employees refused to show the license to residents who were challenging their claim to the land. In late 2007, the same company used two bulldozers to construct several small roads to demarcate the boundary between the company’s land and the villagers’ land in Yeay Sen village, and approximately ten villagers protested the action of the company, claiming that it affected their land. During that time, the chief of Preaek Khsach commune, Mr. Lonh Khorn, told the affected villagers that the company just demarcated the land in order to alert the villagers whose land had been affected that they should engage with the company to find a resolution. At that time, the company gave $5,000 per hectare in compensation to 12 affected 1 Can be found in the Yellow Pages families,2 but the company did not provide compensation to the other 135 families whose land had been also affected by the company’s actions. Representatives of the remaining 135 families claim that the reason these 12 families received high compensation was that they were relatives of the commune chief and village chief. Concerned that their land would be seized by the company, in May 2010 the 135 families lodged complaints to commune, district and provincial authorities demanding just compensation, as had been provided to the other 12 families. However, the complaints were ignored. In late 2008, communal authorities and police, led by Kiri Sakor district police inspector Mr. Touch Vannarith, came to the conflict site to photograph the villagers’ houses and accused those villagers of illegally occupying the company’s land. The delegation told the villagers to demolish their houses from their land; otherwise, they would be summoned to court. Shortly after this threat, a company foreman, Lay Bunna, came to meet the affected villagers and negotiated compensation on behalf of the company, ranging between 10,000 to 30,000 Thai Baht (“TBH”) (approximately $280.93 - $842.79) per family, without consideration of how much land each family occupied. All but two of the families rejected this offer; one accepting 10,000 TBH and the other accepting 30,000 TBH. Nonetheless, both families continued to protest alongside their community because they stated that the compensation they accepted was only for the demolition of their houses, and not their land. In mid-2009, the company bulldozed the land of all 135 families and destroyed most of their crops. Over the next two years, company representatives regularly visited the disputed land and continued to bulldoze more and more of the families’ land. At this time, the Dothy Free Shop Company changed its name to ‘Koh Kong SEZ Co., Ltd.’ On 20 August 2009, Prime Minister Hun Sen signed Sub-decree number 133, granting a 99-year Economic Land Concession (“ELC”) totaling 9,977 hectares to Koh Kong SEZ Co., Ltd,3 for investment in the development of the agro-industrial sector in Botum Sakor National Park and Kiri Sakor district, Koh Kong province. As a national park, Botum Sakor is classified as state public land. However, Sub-decree 307, issued on 28 November 2014, declares that 8,906 hectares shall be provided as land for families living within the park. By late 2012, all of the villagers’ crops were finally completely destroyed. Despite this, the affected families replanted crops on the disputed land, as they required it for their livelihoods. In June 2013, while Koh Kong SEZ Co., Ltd bulldozed the replanted crops, the affected 135 families again lodged complaints to the commune, district and provincial authorities. The families additionally took strong action to stop the company bulldozing; physically preventing the bulldozers from carrying out their work and causing the company to halt its action for a period. However, in January 2014 the company sent large volumes of employees to build a fence around the land of the 135 families. The families physically resisted the fence construction on 14 January 2014, when they confiscated some equipment from the company’s employees such as hoes, shovels, axes and carts. In response, Koh Kong SEZ Co., Ltd filed a criminal complaint against four representatives of the affected families: Mr. Phorn Nol; Mr. Roat Sophall; Mr. Bun Vibol; and Mr. Em Sokhom, accusing them of theft. The four were summoned to be interrogated at the Koh Kong Provincial Court on 05 March 2014, but were released afterwards. The four representatives were again summoned to the court on 20 October 2014, but they requested a delay to 27 October 2014. When Mr. Phorn Nol appeared on 27 October, he was arrested and detained due to his actions on behalf of his community against the company. Immediately after the arrest and detention of Mr. Phorn Lon, over 100 villagers protested against the court decision and demanded that he be released. The protest continued every day until Mr. Phorn Nol was released on bail on 10 December 2014. 2 The affected villagers claimed that the reason why these 12 families received high compensation, because these families are the relatives of the chief of commune and chief of village. 3 The duration of the concession was stated between the RGC, represented by H.E. Mok Mareth, Senor Minister, Minister of Environment, dated on 27 May 2010. After the release of Mr. Phorn Nol, Koh Kong SEZ Co., Ltd started to negotiate with the affected families and agreed to provide compensation ranging from 300,000 TBH to 800,000 TBH (approximately $8,400 to $22,400) per family, depending on the size of each family’s land holding. Through this approach, most of the affected families have accepted compensation, with the exception of 10 families who are seeking approximately $100,000 each because they hold large parcels of 14-20 hectares. The company is very hesitant to pay this level of compensation, but a community representative told CCHR that company owner Oknha Ly Yong Phat recently told the affected residents that he would continue to negotiate with the remaining families until proper compensation could be agreed by both parties. As of August 2015, all but approximately ten of the 135 families had agreed compensation with the company. Mr. Phorn Nol said: “Even though the affected families accepted the compensation, we had no choice. Our land has been lost; therefore, we have no land to leave to our children.” .
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