Cambodia has experienced an increase in land disputes, often marked by violent protests as the area of land granted to companies rose six-fold between 2010 and 2011
LONDON (AlertNet) – Companies that have seized land, destroyed homes and intimidated communities have gone unpunished in Cambodia , the United Nations’ top official for the southeast Asian country has said.
Surya Subedi, U.N. special rapporteur for Cambodia, said misconduct by companies that had been given land concessions by the government had been an issue raised by all the communities he had visited during his recent fact-finding mission to Cambodia.
“In some cases the authorities have held the companies to account for their actions,” said Subedi, a professor of international law at Leeds University in Britain. “However, in many cases, there remains impunity for violations committed by the companies."
Cambodia has experienced an increase in land disputes, often marked by violent protests, as the area of land granted to companies rose six-fold between 2010 and 2011 after the government encouraged mining and the growing of rubber.
The general manager of a rubber company is reported to face charges for his role in a January shooting of four villagers by the firm’s armed guards, Subedi noted, but he said such action by the authorities was still an exception.
Subedi also expressed concern about a reported lack of consultation with local communities.
“Communities have also informed me that they are rarely consulted by the authorities or businesses in a meaningful way (or indeed sometimes at all) on the impact of concessions on their lives and livelihoods,” he wrote in preliminary findings from his eight-day trip this month, which included visits to concessions in the provinces of Ratanakiri, Kratie and Stung Treng.
Land ownership was abolished under the Communist reign of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, leaving millions of Cambodians without title deeds and vulnerable to the takeover of their land by domestic and foreign companies.
A comprehensive land ownership law came into effect in 2001, but land disputes continue to erupt as the implementation of the law is not strictly enough applied, Subedi said.
COMMUNITIES PROTEST
Growing protests by villagers and warnings about disappearing wilderness last week prompted the government to suspend the granting of land to domestic and foreign companies in a move to curb forced evictions and illegal logging, a step Subedi welcomed in his preliminary summary published on Friday.
Subedi urged the government to act with more transparency when granting and managing land concessions and to oversee companies involved with concessions more closely.
The World Bank, which lent Cambodia up to $70 million annually over the past few years, last year halted loans to the country in protest over land seizures around Boeung Kak Lake , where a Chinese developer was building luxury homes.
Subedi said he was struck by repeated calls for attention to be paid to environmental degradation caused by the alleged mismanagement of land under concession.
The unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and the sheer size of forest cover affected by land concessions were also a cause for concern and deserved immediate attention from the authorities, he said.
Subedi will present his full report to the Human Rights Council in September.
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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