A Place to Call Home

by Mohd Khairie


It was a bright, sunny day as I walked through the dusty streets of Cambodia. With the scorching sun beating mercilessly on my back, and the sweat trickling down the side of my forehead, I smiled to the naked children, smiling shopkeepers, and tuk-tuk drivers by the side of the road. With its gross population almost reaching the 14th million mark, Cambodia is a country bustling with life and spirit, a genuine attraction to all those who visit it.

And yet, out of the 14 million people that live within this country's great nation, there are a number of those that cannot yet claim to have a home. Estimates from the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a non-governmental agency responsible to safeguard the protection of housing rights and prevention of forced evictions, state that currently in Cambodia there are at least 150,000 people who live under the threat of forced eviction nationwide.

The statistic is no joke; the forced evictions are a violent tragedy that continues to occur nationwide until today. Just last November in 2007, Amnesty International USA reported 2 civilian casualties during a forced eviction that occurred in the remote northern province of Preah Vihear. The victims were from a group of 317 families – more than 1500 people – who were displaced by 200 armed military and police personnel. The two casualties were Oeun Eng, 31, and a mother of 4 children, Toeun Chheng, 29, who was shot point blank and was robbed as she bled to death.

This land problem implies a major weakness within the Cambodian administration. In a country where 35% of its people live below the poverty line, many are too poor to seek legal redress in the case of forced evictions.

"[The people] can try to appeal in court," says one of our student guides. "But they never win."

He attributes this to the rife corruption within Cambodia, which scored a 2.1 in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International, (0 being highly corrupt and 10 being highly clean) which also placed Cambodia as one of the most corrupted countries in South East Asia. Cambodia, whose main industry is tourism, devotes much of its land use to government and private projects.

According to The Guardian, 45% of Cambodia's land has been sold off, leaving much of its citizens stranded in poor and destitute relocation sites with poor sanitation, and no access to any form of healthcare or basic facilities.

Yet not all is lost, according to Depika Sherchan (photo, left), a project officer withCOHRE. She believes that there is an observable silver lining and that with enough cooperation between civil society and the government, slowly the eviction issue can be addressed.

Sherchan showing a photo of forced eviction

Depika cites the example of Dey Krahorm, where villagers who lived by the riverside staged a non violent protest against 7NG, a construction company that waged a campaign of coercion against the people of the community in an attempt to evict them from their homes.

"The people were very creative," she says, referring to the settlers of Dey Krahorm's use of nonviolent methods to fend off 7NG employees.

"They had their own initiative, and the only help that they required from us was in the form of information. Who to write letters to, what legal course they could take.... things like that," she said.

But while the legal system is an important aspect towards preserving the welfare of those forcefully evicted, Depika is more encouraged by the initiatives of the communities themselves. "Providing legal aid is important, but it's very difficult. Only through the communities can we get them anywhere." Depika says that COHRE helps initiate dialogue between the government and the communities, and this, coupled with the cooperation of NGO's like the UN provides a subtle yet demanding force to help the plight of these forcefully evicted workers.

The biggest catch in favor of the forcefully evicted however is slightly comforting. Cambodia is opening itself to foreign investors. While Cambodian authorities seek land to lease out to foreign investors, it can be said that they are fearful of the phrase 'violation of human rights' and in the future, may avoid freely enforcing these 'forced evictions' to keep all parties happy.