CCHR PRESS RELEASE –
Phnom Penh, 16 May 2012
A 14-year-old girl, Los Chantha, was shot dead at
around 9am today in Broma village, Kampong Domrei commune, Chhlong district,
Kratie province, and at least two other villagers arrested, during a violent
forced land eviction. Witnesses
report that hundreds of armed police and military police used rounds of live
ammunition against 1,000 or so villagers to forcibly evict them from their
property. The villagers were
demonstrating against the loss of their farmland as a result of an economic
land concession granted to a subsidiary of Russian-owned Kastin LLC. This is at least the fifth instance of
authorities or law enforcement agencies shooting at civilians since November
2011 in cases relating to abuses of either land or labor rights.
On the same day as this murder, the land crisis
claimed its second victim: a nine-month-old baby died of illness this morning,
having suffered diarrhoea and fever since his family were forcibly evicted by
local authorities from the now-infamous Borei Keila district in the capital,
Phnom Penh, on 3 January 2012. The
boy, Chan Samnang, fell ill as a direct result of wretched living conditions in
a relocation site outside the city.
According to a representative of the Borei Keila evictees – who have
still not received any appropriate compensation or resettlement arrangements
since being evicted to make way for a development by the infamous Phanimex
company, owned by Suy Siphan – many more children and elderly people are
falling ill as a result of the terrible conditions.
In line with domestic and international law, if
concessions are to be granted, those affected should be consulted in advance
and offered appropriate compensation, relocation facilities and redress
mechanisms. The deadly combination
of no rule of law and total impunity in Cambodia is driving villagers’ to
resort to desperate measures to fight for their land and human rights. The authorities are responding with violence,
in the hope that the problem will go away. Such disputes should be submitted to the jurisdiction of the
courts, so that a proper and long-lasting solution can be found.
CCHR President Ou Virak, responding to
these tragedies, comments:
“It is all very well cancelling
any future land concessions, but if existing ones are leading to violent and
miserable deaths, either through the gross negligence or bungling brutality of
the authorities, then such actions are clearly not enough. That an innocent 14-year-old girl
should be murdered in this way, while not surprising given recent incidents, is
profoundly shocking and shows that the land crisis is spiralling out of
control. That children should be
dying at Borei Keila is heart-breaking and appalling. We have seen two needless deaths today. How many more innocent Cambodians will
die before the Government wakes up and prevents an even bigger crisis? The impression is that either it is
losing control of the country, or that the cancellation of land concessions is
just for show. It is high time
that it honored its obligations and defended its citizens from the sinister
shadow of greed that is swallowing the country. It could start by launching a full and frank investigation
into these deaths. ”
For more information, please contact Ou Virak via telephone at +855 (0)
12 40 40 51 or e-mail at ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org.
This press release is also attached in PDF (in English). The Khmer version will follow shortly.
Kind regards,
CCHR
Dear all,
We would like to issue some corrections to yesterday's press release:
- The girl's name is Heng Chantha.
- The incident occurred at 8.30am yesterday.
- The name of the Russian company granted the economic land concession is Casotim Co. Ltd.
- This incident is the 8th incident of live ammunition being used on civilians since November 2011.
Please also find attached the updated press release both in English and Khmer.
Kind regards,
CCHR
3 comments:
How much profits that the country make for this land deal(lease) ? How can you put a price for the lost of woman's lives? Who is behind all the order shoot to kill unarm citizens? What did the Govt of Cambodia plans to solve this land deal
messes?
Is it fair to kick people out of their home that they have been living there for twenty or perhaps thirty years? Officials of cpp corrupted lease the land to foreigner's company with notice.
Demolished their homes,where do you want these families to go?... what if it'd happen to your families[Cppp families] how do you feel?
You(Cpp) think that these chaotic will never be happened to their families,you better think twice because what goes around come around....you may have heard this phrase before.
For the sake of Unity +peace stop this land concession now........
Khmer.
Human lives ,not woman....
Khmer
Without notice...
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