Preah Vihear Residents Seek Govt Intervention Over 15-Day Eviction Deadline for ECL Project, 31 March 2026, Camboja News

Some 400 families in Preah Vihear province have been given 15 days to vacate their farmland, which they have cultivated since early 2012, to make way for an economic land concession (ELC) that was granted to a Chinese-owned company. The eviction order has been viewed as a violation against human rights by a civil society group.

On Monday, about 100 people from two districts in Preah Vihear province gathered in Phnom Penh to submit a petition to the office of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet and the Land Management Ministry following last week’s order by the provincial authorities to villagers to leave their land by the middle of April this year.

[...] the dispute involves nearly 397 farming families who work on the land that has been given to China Great Cause (Cambodia) Investment. The company was granted 5,980 hectares of land as part of the ELC in Rovieng and Sangkum Thmei districts in 2012.

“We don’t trust the commune and provincial level authorities because they pressured us by offering 1.2 million riel [approximately $300] compensation to move out. If we do not accept it, they said they would handcuff us or send us to court and imprison us,” [...]

[...] provincial deputy governor [...] appealed to villagers to cooperate and accept the compensation policy offered by the company.