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Download.Html; Zsombor Peter, Loss of Forest in Cambodia Among Worst in the World, Cambodia Daily, Nov CAMBODIA LAW AND POLICY JOURNAL 2013-2014 CHY TERITH Editor-in-Chief, Khmer-language ANNE HEINDEL Editor-in-Chief, English-language CHARLES JACKSON SHANNON MAREE TORRENS Editorial Advisors LIM CHEYTOATH SOKVISAL KIMSROY Articles Editors, Khmer-language LIM CHEYTOATH SOPHEAK PHEANA SAY SOLYDA PECHET MEN Translators HEATHER ANDERSON RACHEL KILLEAN Articles Editor, English-language YOUK CHHANG, Director, Documentation Center of Cambodia JOHN CIORCIARI, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Michigan University RANDLE DEFALCO, Articling Student-at-Law at the Hamilton Crown Attorney’s Office, LL.M, University of Toronto JAYA RAMJI-NOGALES, Associate Professor, Temple University Beasley School of Law PEOUDARA VANTHAN, Deputy Director Documentation Center of Cambodia Advisory Board ISSN 2408-9540 Disclaimer: The views expressed in this journal are those of the authors only. Copyright © 2014 by the Documentation Center of Cambodia. All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Cambodia Law and PoLiCY JoURnaL Eternal (2013). Painting by Asasax The Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) is pleased to an- design, which will house a museum, research center, and a graduate nounce Cambodia’s first bi-annual academic journal published in English studies program. The Cambodia Law and Policy Journal, part of the and Khmer: The Cambodia Law and Policy Journal (CLPJ). DC-Cam Center’s Witnessing Justice Project, will be the Institute’s core academic strongly believes that empowering Cambodians to make informed publication. demands for change will strengthen the rule of law in Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries. As empowerment for change requires ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS: The CLPJ is now accepting articles relevant to awareness and dialogue, CLPJ’s mission is to promote scholarship and urgent legal, social, and development issues facing the Southeast Asian discussion of urgent legal, social, and development issues facing the region for peer review and publication in print and online. Traditional Southeast Asian region. CLPJ welcomes article submissions on these top- academic articles on a wide range of topics including justice, governance, ics as well as more general discussion and commentary on human rights labor, education, business, land ownership, and natural resource and transitional justice issues in post-conflict settings. development are welcome. Nontraditional formats such as narrative, commentary, interview, essay, and artwork are also encouraged. DC-Cam is an independent Cambodian-staffed research institute that began as a field office of Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Program. STUDENT EDITORS: The CLPJ is seeking graduate and law students to The Center’s programs educate Cambodians about the Khmer Rouge assist with periodic editing of articles. No financial compensation will be era (1975-1979), and record and preserve physical and oral history from provided; this is an opportunity to help a renowned Cambodian that time. DC-Cam’s archives hold the world’s largest collection of Khmer organization galvanize analytical debate and scholarship in Cambodia Rouge documentation and serve as a primary source of evidence for the and the Southeast Asia region. hybrid national/international Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Article submissions and/or letters of interest regarding journal editing should be sent to: DC-Cam is in the process of transforming itself into the premier Asian Anne Heindel, Editor-In-Chief center for conflict and human rights studies, to be called the Sleuk Rith Cambodia Law and Policy Journal Institute. Acclaimed London-based architect Zaha Hadid, 2004 recipient [email protected] of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, is working with DC-Cam on its physical www.dccam.org | www.cambodiatribunal.org | www.cambodiasri.org Supported by Office of Global Programs, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), U.S. Department of State. (2013-2014) With recognition to the Cambodian Comparative Law Society, with support from the East-West Management Institute, for producing the first Cambodia law journal. Cambodian Law and Policy Review • 1 CAMBODIA LAW AND POLICY JOURNAL ISSUE 3, DECEMBER 2014 The Boeung Kak Development Project: For Whom and for What? Poor Land Development Practices as a Challenge for Building Sustainable Peace in Cambodia Suyheang Kry ...................................................................................................................1 Cambodia Between the End of History and the End Times of Human Rights Sebastian Strangio .......................................................................................................... 45 “This Is Now the Most Important Trial in the World”: A New Reading of Code #6, The Rule Against Immoral Offenses Under the Khmer Rouge Regime Theresa de Langis .......................................................................................................... 61 Affirming Cambodia’s Sovereignty over “Stones” that “Express” “our Essence”: ICJ’s Interpretation of its Judgment in the Temple of Preah Vihear Case Ravindra Pratap ............................................................................................................ 79 On the Path to Sustainable Development: An Assessment of Cambodia’s Draft Environmental Impact Assessment Law William J. Schulte & Ashlee Stetser ............................................................................... 97 How Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Programs Could Have Facilitated the Establishment of Long-term Conflict Prevention in Post-Conflict Cambodia Tiphaine Ferry .............................................................................................................127 THE BOEUNG KAK DEVELOPMENT PROJECT: FOR WHOM AND FOR WHAT? Poor Land Development Practices As A Challenge For Building Sustainable Peace In Cambodia SUYHEANG KRY1 Using the Boeung Kak Lake development project (BKDP) as a case study, this paper explores how poor land development practices in Cambodia impede positive peace building. Viewed within the context of the country’s unfinished and prolonged land registration and legal reform efforts, the paper argues that there are three major problems acting as structural and proximate causes of land conflict in Cambodia: the disregard for the law and human rights, the lack of inclusiveness and transparency, and the misuse of the judicial system for coercive ends. These poor practices not only threaten the livelihood and psychological well being of affected communities, but also undermine the building of a more sustainable peace in Cambodia, by reinforcing a cycle of violence and diminishing a culture of trust and social cohesion between the state and the people. Nevertheless, viewed from a conflict transformation perspective,2 the BKDP case demonstrates another dynamic in protracted land conflicts: the growing role of internal forces (grassroots and local civil society), interacting with external forces (the international community), in fostering positive change. 1 The author has a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She is currently a Project Officer for the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, a Cambodia- based NGO working in the field of peace-building and conflict transformation to strengthen strategic intervention in armed conflicts in the Asia region. Previously, she worked as an outreach staff member and translator for the Victim Participation Project of the Documentation Center of Cambodia. 2 Conflict transformation theory views conflict as inevitable and not inherently negative, because it is as “an integral part of society’s on-going evolution and development[.]” TransConflict, Principles of Conflict Transformation, at www.transconflict.com/gcct/principles-of-conflict-transformation/. If faced non-violently and creatively, conflict offers an opportunity to build cooperation, foster trust, make change and improve understanding. See generally John Paul Lederach, The Little Book of Conflict Tranformation (2003). 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................2 2. BRIEF HISTORY OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND ECONOMIC LAND CONCESSIONS (ELC) IN CAMBODIA ................................................................7 2.1. Overview of Land Ownership in Cambodia ................................................7 2.2. Overview of Economic Land Concessions .................................................15 3. THE BOEUNG KAK DEVELOPMENT PROJECT .................................18 3.1. Background.............................................................................................................18 3.2. Structural and Proximate Causes of the BKDP Land Conflict ..........23 3.2.1. Disregard of the Law and the Rights of Residents. ....................23 3.2.2. Lack of Transparency and Inclusiveness. ..........................................25 3.2.3. The Misuse of Judiciary and Coercion. ............................................28 3.3. Poor Development Practices As Challenges to Positive Peace Building ....................................................................................................................30 3.3.1. Understanding the Immediate Impact on
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