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16 Sep 2011

Cambodia: Resumption of forced evictions following government sub-decree - Sep 2011

On 16 September 2011, developer Shukaku, Inc. (owned by ruling party Senator Lao Meng Khin) forcibly evicted residents at the Boeung Kak site of Phnom Penh, destroying their homes.  The evictions followed protests the previous day by the 47 families excluded from the Prime Minister's sub-decree of August setting aside land within the designated development for on-site relocation of the residents.  The sub-decree followed years of pressure by advocates to prevent the displacement of families who claimed they had legal rights to the land.  For more on the background of the case, see our August report. (The Resource Centre invited Erdos Hongjun Investments to respond; it did not.  We were unable to contact Shukaku as there is no publicly available information for the company.) 

The following are a selection of reports on the September 16 evictions. 

" - "Clash Over Demolitions", Samean Yun, Radio Free Asia, 16 Sept 2011, http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/clash-09162011154111.html
            - "HRTF: MPP must ensure BKL community gets land granted by RGC", Housing Rights Task Force and Licadho, 16 Sept 2011, http://saveboeungkak.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/hrtf-mpp-must-ensure-bkl-c...
            -  "An Act of Cruelty and Savage Beating", Cause of Progress - blog by Chris Kelly, 17 Sept 2011

 

Shukaku destroy homes at Boeung Kak Lake from Little Ease Films on Vimeo.

            - "B Kak Resident Beaten Back as Homes Razed", Cheng Sokhorng, The Cambodia Daily, Sep. 17-18 2011 http://saveboeungkak.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/b-kak-resident-beaten-back...
            -"Camodian Land Issues", Magnum Photos, 16 Sept 2011, http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.StoryDetail_VPage&pi...

- "Clash Over Demolitions", Samean Yun, Radio Free Asia, 16 Sep 2011
- "HRTF: MPP must ensure BKL community gets land granted by RGC", Housing Rights Task Force and Licadho, 16 Sept 2011
- "B Kak Resident Beaten Back as Homes Razed", Cheng Sokhorng, The Cambodia Daily, 17-18 Sep 2011  
- "Cambodian Land Issues", Magnum Photos, 16 Sep 2011 
"An Act of Cruelty and Savage Beating", Cause of Progress, blog by Chris Kelly, 17 Sep 2011

[video]  "Boeung Kak Villagers Injured in Clash with Police (Cambodia news in Khmer)", Voice of America Khmer Service, 16 Sep 2011

In his September 2011 report UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Cambodia Sureya Prasad Subedi called the evictions an "alarming departure from progress".          

In a 4 Sep article in the South China Morning Post, Boeung Kak was cited as one of two recent cases in which a Chinese state-owned company (in this case, Erdos Hongjun Investment) was forced to give way to public pressure.  The article contained the following statement from a Phnom Penh-based excutive of the company: "The problem has been resolved by Hun Sen. Our company has no further comment."

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Erdos Hongjun Investment to respond to reports above about the 16 Sep incident.  The company declined to respond.  As there is still no publicly available information on Shukaku Inc, we were unable to contact them.