UPDATE (Cambodia): Alleged eviction of 107 families in Sihanoukville by the order of the Governor

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Cambodian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Cambodian authorities are attached below with this appeal. Thank you.]

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that 107 families were evicted from their 17-hectares of land in Sangkat, Sihanoukville by armed police and security personnel on 20 April 2007. The families have lived in that land since 1985 and are entitled to land ownership according to Cambodia Land Law 2001. The AHRC has previous reported that on 19 January 2007 Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak issued a notice numbered 0026 to evict those families (See further: UP-010-2007). During the eviction, 13 people were reportedly arrested and four people were beaten up by the security forces. It is alleged that the families were evicted to give the said land to Tycoon Senator Sy Kong Triv. The AHRC has previously reported that 229 families were evicted based on the order of the Sihanoukville Governor on 17 December 2006 from their land in in village No.1, commune No.1, Mittapheap district, Sihanoukville. Senator Sy Kong Triv is involved in this case, too (UA-003-2007). 

UPDATED INFORMATION:

According to the information we have received, around 100 armed security forces led by Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak, Deputy Governor Prak Sihara, Prosecutor Meas Sopheak, police commissioner, military police commander, soldier commander came to the residential area of 107 families in Sangkat Number 4, Metapheap district, Sihanoukville in the pretext of carrying out a search for illegal weapons in the houses of the families on 20 April 2007. It is alleged that Prosecutor Meas Sopheak misused his authority to issue a search warrant based on a false allegation of possessing illegal weapons against the families. As soon as they arrived in the area, the armed police, military police and military personnel with rifles and electric batons began to illegally evict the families and demolish the houses, instead of checking illegal weapons as the search warrant originally declared.

It is reported that more than 100 houses of the families, along with their properties and crops, were demolished by tractors and bulldozers. All properties, including motorbikes, bicycles, generators, TVs, VCRs, DVDs, clothes, kitchen supplies, and domestic animals, were seized and destroyed. The security forces allegedly shot at the air and the ground to scare the families. Moreover, the forces allegedly tied up and seriously beat 13 men and also assaulted many women with batons and the butts of AK-47 rifles during the eviction process. In a clash, a 75-year-old man was beaten up seriously then shocked by the electric baton until he became unconscious; his nose and his head were bleeding and he had bruises all over his body.

We have also learned that approximately 30 to 40 people escaped from the site because of their fear of being arrested. Chhim Savuth, an investigator for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) based in Sihanoukville has been accused by Governor Say Hak of helping and inciting the 107 families to create a secession area to oppose authorities, and the Sihanoukville authority is allegedly plotting to arrest him. Now Chhim Savuth is not able to go back to work in his office in Sihanoukville, and he has to avoid staying with his family to hide himself from the authorities.

It has come to our knowledge that the 107 families are now living in tents sponsored by non-governmental organizations along National Road 4. These evicted people do not even have a change of clothing; they have no mosquito nets, plates, pots, blankets, pillows, water supply or food supply. Their children don’t have time to go to study; they don’t have water to shower; and they cry for lack of food. Some of the pregnant women are sick from the poor living conditions, and many women have lost their husbands because their husbands have escaped into the forest to avoid arrest.

It has also come to our knowledge that the Sihanoukville authorities allegedly deprived the 17 hectares of controversial land from the 107 families so that a high ranking tycoon named Sy Kong Triv could occupy the land as his own private property.

In total, 13 men have been arrested and detained in the Sihanoukville prison to date. Most of them have received injuries and two in particular were injured severely. The 13 men were provided medical care by a local human rights organization Licadho. Eight of the 13 got better while 5 had to continue receiving treatment because of their serious wounds.

The AHRC urges the authorities of Sihanoukville to immediately release the 13 victims who are still being detained in the Sihanoukville prison without fair trials. We maintain that it is not the residents who are responsible for criminal offence but the authorities who have brutally committed violence during the land eviction. Their action clearly violates the Cambodian Land Law 2001 and the declaration of Prime Minister Hun Sen who had guaranteed to stop and condemn the officials who used violence in land eviction or land grabbing.

The Sihanoukville governor Say Hak and Sihanoukville court prosecutor Meas Sopheak must be held responsible for this brutal and violent eviction; the destruction of homes, crops, and other property; and the injuries inflicted by the armed forces. Their inhumane treatment of these families should not be excused. The Prime Minister of Cambodia, the Ministry of Interior and general prosecutor must take action to bring to court the Sihanoukville governor Say Hak, prosecutor Meas Sopheak, police commissioner, military police commander and army commander. Governor Say Hak and court prosecutor Meas Sopeak should be removed from their offices, if the allegations are proven true.

BACKGROUND OF INFORMATION:

Most of the victims had been living on the concerned land since 1985 at which time there were only 53 families. The Ministry of Interior acknowledged and registered the said land into a village and commune structure. According to the Land Law 2001 of Cambodia, person(s) who have lived on a plot of land for more than five years without any land ownership-related disputes are entitled ownership of the land. Although all the families concerned have fulfilled all requirements of the land ownership, they have never officially received title for the land from the government, despite their repeated requests. Many people who live in the countryside or even parts of the city area in Cambodia are not awarded land ownership even though they have fulfilled the requirement to be entitled land ownership. Please refer to UP-010-2007 for further information about the land law.

The AHRC condemns the violent actions that the Sihanoukville officials took and the unlawful execution on the part of the Sihanoukville authorities. Furthermore, these actions also clearly disregarded Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2006 announcement proclaiming all land evictions should be done without violence or brutal actions.

According to Article 253 of the Cambodian Land Law 2001, any person who uses violence against a possessor in good faith of an immovable property, whether or not his title has been established or is disputed, shall be fined from 1,500,000 Riel (USD 385) to 25,000,000 Riel (USD 6,420) and/or imprisoned from six (6) months to two (2) years, irrespective of the penalty for violence against a person. If the violence was ordered by a person other than a perpetrator, who did not personally participate in the commission of such violence, he shall be subject to the same penalties as the perpetrator of the violence.

It should also be noted that the authorities frequently charge or accuse people without legal basis in order to stop or to intimidate them from practicing freedom of expression and liberty. Such accusation goes against the spirit of the Cambodian Constitution which guarantees the rights of the people, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to which Cambodia is a state party. Furthermore, in this case, the Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak has no legal basis to accuse Mr. Chhim Savuth, the human rights activist, of incitement. We think that Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak is attempting to shift the focus to Mr. Chhim Savuth in order to get less attention from the people and the NGOs over this brutal land eviction.

We also urge the Cambodian authority to immediately conduct investigation into this case and bring all the responsible officials including the Sihanoukville Prosecutor Meas Sopheak before court. We also urge the Cambodian authority to conduct thorough investigation into the responsibility of the Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak for illegally mobilizing the police officers and soldiers to carry out a violent eviction.

The AHRC also urges the Cambodian government to seek for the appropriate compensation for the ownership of the land that 107 families have not been awarded. The AHRC further urges donor governments, UN agencies, international aid agencies and the international human rights community to work with the Cambodian government and courts to end this abuse of power and to establish a strong rule of law in Cambodia.

SUGESTED ACTION:
Please immediately write to the relevant authorities listed below demanding their immediate intervention into the brutal eviction of 107 families. Please also urge them to inquire about the alleged illegal eviction and attack on the villagers led by the Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak, Sihanoukville Deputy Governor Prak Sihara and Prosecutor Meas Sopheak and the Sihanoukville armed forces.

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