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Forced evictions in Cambodia: homes razed, lives in ruins

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:29:52 +0000

“I lost my house, rice and belongings like clothes and utensils. All houses were burned down and destroyed by the excavator and the bulldozer. They kept good-condition corrugated steel and planks of wood for themselves. They even took water jars and looted our chickens and ducks. They never came to evict us like this before.”

A villager in Sihanoukville, who lost her home on 20 April 2007.

Amnesty International today said that forced evictions are one of the most widespread human rights violations affecting Cambodians in both rural and urban areas. At least 150,000 Cambodians across the country are known to live at risk of being forcibly evicted in the wake of land disputes, land grabbing and development projects.

In sharp contrast to the rhetoric of the government’s pro-poor policies and in breach of international human rights laws and standards, thousands of people, particularly those living in poverty, have been forcibly evicted from their homes and lands, reveals a new Amnesty International report, Rights Razed – Forced evictions in Cambodia, launched today.

The Cambodian authorities are not only failing to protect – in law and practice – the population against forced evictions, but are actively involved in these unlawful practices.

“The authorities have been instrumental in demolishing villages, setting homes ablaze and making poor people homeless without due process and at the behest of those who wield economic and political power,” said Catherine Baber, Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme. “It is clear that relevant laws are seldom and arbitrarily applied, and the authorities have not protected the human rights of people affected by forced evictions.”

Rights Razed shows how affected groups have had no opportunity for genuine consultation before eviction, received little or no information on planned evictions, and had no access to adequate alternative housing. In addition, they have been left with no recourse to justice. The cases presented in the report also show how, contrary to international human rights law, the authorities have opted for eviction long before all other alternatives have been explored.

“Unless the Cambodian government takes immediate and effective steps to ensure that its population, particularly those living in poverty, is protected against forced evictions, its poverty reduction agenda rings hollow. Cambodia urgently needs to end all forced evictions,” said Catherine Baber.

Amnesty International calls on the Cambodian government to:

•   End all forced evictions and introduce a moratorium for all mass evictions until legislation and policy is put into place that requires any further evictions to be conducted in full compliance with international human rights laws and standards.
•   Ensure that those victimised by forced evictions have access to, at the very least, minimum essential levels of shelter, clean water, sanitation, health services and education, including through the provision of humanitarian assistance where necessary.
•   Abide by its obligations under international human right law to give those affected by eviction an opportunity for genuine participation and consultation.

Notes to editors:

Background:

A forced eviction is ‘the permanent or temporary removal against the will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection,’ according to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Forced evictions have been recognized by the UN Commission on Human Rights as a gross violation of human rights, and are also – as in the cases presented here – associated with other human rights violations.

As a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and other international human rights treaties which prohibit forced eviction and related human rights violations, Cambodia has an obligation to stop forced evictions and to protect the population from forced evictions.

American Samoa

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:58:18 +0100

Nauru

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:58:13 +0100

Western Samoa

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000

Malaysia

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:58:15 +0100

The year ended without the government fulfilling its pledge to establish an independent police complaints commission. At least 80 men accused of links to Islamist extremist groups were held without charge or trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA). Freedom of expression, association and assembly continued to be constrained by restrictive laws. People suspected of being irregular migrants or asylum-seekers were harassed and detained in harsh conditions pending deportation. Hundreds of people, mostly alleged irregular migrants, were imprisoned or caned after unfair trials. Death sentences continued to be passed and four executions were carried out.

Police reform

Non-governmental organizations continued to press the government to create an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC). In 2005 a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the police had recommended a wide range of reforms, including the establishment of an IPCMC by May 2006. Draft legislation to establish an IPCMC remained under consideration by the Attorney General at the end of the year. A range of other reform recommendations, including repeal or review of laws allowing for detention without trial or requiring police permits for public assemblies, were not implemented.

Police brutality

There were continued reports of excessive use of force by police officers during peaceful demonstrations. In March and May police armed with shields violently dispersed a series of peaceful protests in Kuala Lumpur against fuel prices, with batons and water cannon. Several people were reported seriously injured and dozens arrested. All were subsequently released.

There was still concern over the effectiveness of safeguards to ensure the safety and wellbeing of detainees in police custody. At least five people, including one woman, were reported to have died in custody during the year.

Detention without trial

The ISA, which allows for detention without trial for periods of up to two years, renewable indefinitely, continued to be applied and also used as a threat. At least 80 men accused of membership of or links to Islamist extremist groups remained in detention at the end of the year. At least 20 detention orders were renewed, and the reasons were not made public.

• In May, 11 people were arrested under the ISA in Sabah for alleged involvement in an Islamist group known as Darul Islam Sabah.

• In October, at least 17 alleged members of Jemaah Islamiyah and the Malaysia Militant Group (Kumpulan Militan Malaysia) were released, but remained under orders restricting their freedom of movement.

At least 700 criminal suspects remained in detention under the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance (EO), which allows for indefinite detention without trial. Many were detained under the EO because the police did not have sufficient evidence to charge them. In October, the Federal Court ruled that the lawfulness of EO detentions by police could not be challenged in the courts once the Minister of Internal Security had issued a detention order.

Migrant workers, refugees and asylum-seekers

Refugees, asylum-seekers and migrant workers remained vulnerable to arrest, detention in poor conditions and deportation under the Immigration Act. Migrant workers were subjected to psychological and physical abuse by agencies and employers, and were often denied equal access to benefits and protections guaranteed to Malaysian workers, including maternity provisions, limited working hours and holidays.

Excessive use of force and ill-treatment were reported during repeated raids and mass arrests, mostly conducted by members of the volunteer civilian armed corps RELA (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia), of suspected irregular migrant workers. Hundreds were whipped after being found guilty of immigration offences.

• In February, the bodies of five migrant workers who allegedly fled a RELA raid were found in a lake in Selayang, near Kuala Lumpur. Witnesses reported that at least one body bore signs of ill-treatment.

Freedom of expression and association

There was continued criticism of the Printing Presses and Publication Act which allows the authorities to refuse, revoke or suspend printing permits.

• During the year, two newspaper editors were forced to resign following their newspapers' coverage of police abuses, and four newspapers were suspended after publishing drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, first published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 and judged offensive.

• In May the opposition People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) protested at the refusal to grant a printing permit for the party's official paper.

Two opposition parties, the Malaysian Dayak Congress and the Socialist Party of Malaysia (Parti Sosialis Malaysia), were denied registration under the Societies Act.

Death penalty and corporal punishment

In March the Malaysian Bar Council passed a resolution calling for the abolition of the death penalty and a moratorium on all executions.

Death sentences, however, continued to be passed during 2006, mostly as a mandatory punishment for certain drug-related offences. Four executions for armed treason were carried out. The authorities continued not to disclose regular statistics on capital punishment.

In May, Parliament passed a water privatization bill, which also extended the death penalty to cover serious cases of water contamination.

Caning, a cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, was also carried out.

AI country reports/visits

Report

• Malaysia: Amnesty International's campaign to stop torture and ill-treatment in the 'war on terror'

(AI Index: ASA 28/003/2006)

Visits

Amnesty International delegates met government officials in March, and local civil society groups in June to discuss progress in the implementation of police reform.

Tonga

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:58:10 +0100

Guam

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:58:16 +0100

Pitcairn Islands

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:58:11 +0100

Cambodia

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:58:17 +0100

The land crisis continued unabated; over 10,000 urban poor were forcibly evicted from their homes and thousands of rural dwellers lost their lands and livelihoods in land disputes. The authorities continued to use the courts in an effort to curtail peaceful criticism. Restrictions on freedom of assembly were maintained.

Background

A government-led crackdown on peaceful critics ended in February with a deal between the Prime Minister and some adversaries, leading to the release of several prisoners of conscience, among them opposition parliamentarian Cheam Channy. The opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, returned from exile after he received a royal pardon.

The government's junior coalition partner, the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC), faced crisis as Prime Minister Hun Sen of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) stepped up pressure against party president Prince Norodom Ranariddh and his followers. Some 75 senior FUNCINPEC officials were dismissed from the government and the National Assembly, culminating in an extraordinary FUNCINPEC congress on 18 October in which Keo Puth Raksmey became the new party president. In November Prince Ranariddh launched the Norodom Ranariddh Party by joining and taking the lead of the small ultra-nationalist Khmer Front Party.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Cambodia in May and concluded that the strengthening of the judicial branch of governance was crucially important for the consolidation of democracy under the rule of law.

Land and housing

Land concessions and other opaque land deals between business interests and the authorities continued. In a series of forced evictions in June and July around 10,000 urban poor in Phnom Penh lost their homes to well-connected businessmen without adequate consultation, compensation or legal protection.

At dawn on 6 June several hundred security officials armed with rifles, tear gas and electric batons began the forced eviction of Sambok Chab village in central Phnom Penh. Around 5,000 villagers were forced into vans and taken to a relocation site some 20 kilometres from the city centre, an area which lacked clean water, electricity, health clinics and schools. The lack of basic amenities at the relocation site led to increased prevalence of diarrhoea, skin infections, malnutrition and respiratory infections, particularly among children and the elderly.

The forced eviction impoverished an already poor community by depriving them of their land and livelihoods. It took place despite the call two weeks earlier by the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on human rights defenders for an end to the evictions and immediate action to ensure that these families had access to adequate housing consistent with Cambodia's human rights obligations.

On 29 June, armed forces began the forcible eviction of 168 families living next to Phnom Penh's Preah Monivong Hospital. Houses were demolished and the residents, some of whom had lived on the land since 1988, were resettled some 30km from the city without basic facilities.

In both instances police cordoned off the area of eviction, preventing journalists and human rights workers from monitoring events.

Local human rights defenders were targeted by law enforcement agencies in connection with forced evictions and land disputes both in urban and rural areas. At least 15 land rights activists were detained during the year.

Legal system

Long-awaited reform including laws governing the judiciary and criminal justice system did not take place. The anti-corruption law, which had been set as a top priority in the concluding statement of the annual donors' meeting in March, was not passed. Instead a new anti-corruption body under the powerful Council of Ministers was established by the government in August, comprising senior officials of the ruling party.

A Law on the Status of Parliamentarians was passed in August, which limits freedom of expression for parliamentarians. An anti-adultery law imposing custodial sentences was voted through the following month, and a law introducing compulsory military service - in sharp contrast to government pledges to reduce the armed forces - was passed by the National Assembly in October.

In his address to the UN Human Rights Council on 26 September, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia said that the government had used prosecutors and judges, while pretending to uphold their independence, to intimidate or punish critics. He stated that the government had applied the law selectively and that its supporters had enjoyed immunities from the civil and criminal process for blatant breaches of the law.

Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, who were sentenced in August 2005 to 20 years' imprisonment for the murder of trade union leader Chea Vichea following an unfair trial, remained in prison. After significant domestic and international pressure calling for their release following testimony from a new witness, an appeals hearing was announced for 6 October. As one of the judges did not appear in court the hearing was postponed.

Freedom of speech and assembly

The widely used and controversial criminal defamation law was reformed in May, with the custodial sentence removed. Several high-profile cases were suspended. Subsequently the law against disinformation, which has a maximum prison sentence of three years, was used in a number of cases to silence or intimidate critics, including several journalists.

Death threats were received by two local journalists, Soy Sopheap of the CTN television channel and You Saravuth of Sralanh Khmer newspaper, after they reported alleged corruption by military and government-linked individuals. You Saravuth was forced to flee abroad.

Restrictions introduced in early 2003 on the right to assembly continued. Requests for permission to hold demonstrations were regularly refused by the authorities, while demonstrations and protests were often broken up by force.

The Extraordinary Chambers

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia were established on the outskirts of Phnom Penh to prosecute suspected perpetrators of gross human rights violations during the Khmer Rouge period (1975-1979). Due to disagreements between national and international judges, a plenary session of the Chambers failed to adopt the tribunal's internal rules which are required to launch investigations and prosecutions. There was renewed criticism of the lack of transparency in the recruitment of Cambodian judges; some were on the ruling party's central committee and others lacked basic legal training.

Former Khmer Rouge leader Ta Mok, one of two detainees scheduled to face prosecution by the Extraordinary Chambers, died on 21 July, never having been tried for his alleged role in crimes against humanity.

AI country reports/visits

Report

Cambodia: The murder of trade unionist Chea Vichea - Still no justice (AI Index: ASA 23/008/2006)

Visit

An AI delegation visited Cambodia in March.

Niue

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:58:12 +0100