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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

30 June 2006
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UA-209-2006: CAMBODIA: Authorities destroy people's livelihood and freedom of enterprise

CAMBODIA: Violation of right to adequate housing and freedom of enterprise; violence; forced displacement; collapse of rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that on the morning of 27 June 2006 the Municipality of Sihanoukville, Cambodia's seaport town and seaside resort, sent a mixed police force of 100 men armed with rifles and electric batons, 80 workers, three bulldozers and 10 trucks to evict 32 families from the beach of O Cheuteal in Commune no. 4 of the same town. Those police officers and workers tore down altogether 70 wooden food stalls and homes belonging to those families and transported away their belongings. The victims resisted in vain the demolition of their stalls and homes. In the afternoon a warehouse caught fire. The police succeeded in completing the demolition of the stalls and huts within that section of the beach. They were ordered to demolish similar stalls and huts at the next section of the beach only to be met by stiff resistance from groups of youths who barricaded themselves in. They burned car tyres and threw rocks, petrol bombs and acid bottles at the police forcing them to retreat and withdraw from the area.  Nevertheless, the municipality is determined to resume the eviction on July 2.

Say Hak, the governor of Sihanoukville, claimed that what he was doing was “for development and poverty reduction” and charged that those families were living in the area “illegally”. He further said that all the beaches would be organised for local and foreign tourists, and added that “we can't keep them in the dirt like this.” But he had no plan to relocate the victims and was non-committal as to whether the evictees would receive any compensation. He simply said they would be given another place to continue their businesses.

The area was thus cleared so that it can be leased out to Sokimex, a giant petroleum company and supporter of the ruling party, to invest between USD 70 and 80 million in the construction of a 500-room hotel with a 1000-person conference room, a nine-hole golf course, diving facilities and a parking lot.

The AHRC has learned that the evicted victims are fishermen. They have been living and running the food stalls for tourists on that beach for many years; some of them since 1997. All of them live in difficult conditions. They had lodged their protests against their eviction with different authorities, including the Ministry of Parliamentary Relations and Inspection. The head of the latter government department had even urged the municipal authorities to work out a peaceful settlement with those families and avoid any confrontation with them.

The AHRC condemns the defiance of these ministerial instructions, the excessive use of force used during the eviction and the lack of a relocation plan and proper compensation for the victims. This is a violation of their rights to housing, to work and to freedom of enterprise. This eviction is a violation of the rule of law when it had been arbitrarily decided by the government without any due process of law and any court judgment to that effect.  The AHRC also condemns the Cambodian government's policy of favouring the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and the weak. This eviction is not “for development and poverty reduction” as Say Hak claimed. It is for the impoverishment of the poor. It is also discriminatory against the victims given that they are as entitled to occupy state land as the rich and powerful to make a living. A more caring, pro-poor government would help, or get international development agencies or Sokimex itself to help, to modernise and integrate their small tourist catering businesses into the big tourist complex yet to be built. The beaches of Sihanoukville would then be clean as Say Hak had wished.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send letters to the relevant authorities listed below voicing your condemnation of this forced eviction.

Automated email letters can be sent by the AHRC Urgent Appeals on-line support system.

To support this appeal please click here:

For those contacts without an email address, we ask that you still write a letter and post or fax this. If you have any problems or questions using this system, please feel free to contact us at ua@ahrchk.org.

Suggested letter:

Dear _______,

CAMBODIA: Authorities destroy people's livelihood and freedom of enterprise

I am appalled at the forced eviction of 32 families from the beach area of O Cheuteal in Commune number 4 of the same town. I am informed that on 27 June 2006 a large contingent of armed policemen and workers forced these people from their homes and businesses and transported their belongings away. Despite large resistance by the evictees, the ruthless eviction went ahead. I am aware that a further eviction of a neighbouring beach will go ahead on July 2.

The Governor of Sihanoukville, Say Hak, claimed that the eviction was for the purpose of development and poverty reduction and charged that the families were living in the area ‘illegally’. It has since been learned that a USD 70 to 80 million tourist complex will be constructed on the site which will do little to alleviate the poverty of those who have lost their homes and livelihood. Further, with no relocation plan having been devised and with no commitment to paying compensation, the victims no doubt have more suffering to come.

Despite these people having lived on the land for many years, the government did not see fit to ensure their safe relocation or alternative means of living. Such conduct by the government is a violation of a citizen’s right to housing, to work and to freedom of enterprise. The eviction is also a violation of the rule of lawn given that it had been arbitrarily decided by the government without any due process of law and any court judgment to that effect. A more caring, pro-poor government would help, or get international development agencies or Sokimex itself to help, to modernise and integrate their small tourist catering businesses into the big tourist complex yet to be built. The beaches of Sihanoukville would then be clean as Say Hak had wished.

I ask that the government remedy this matter by ensuring adequate housing and means of livelihood for those that have been displaced.

Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Samdech Hun Sen
Prime Minister
Office of the Council of Ministers
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: + 855 23 426 054

2. H.E.Mr. Sar Kheng
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister of Interior
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Email: moi@interior.gov.kh

3. Mr. Ang Vong Vathna
Minster of Justice
No 240, Sothearos Blvd.
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: + 855 23 364119
Email: moj@cambodia.gov.kh

4. Mr. Hor Namhong
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
No 161, Preah Sisowath Quay
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: + 855 23 216144/ 216939
Email: mfaicasean@bigpond.com.kh

5. H.E. Sok An
Deputy Prime Minister
Office of the Council of Ministers
Fax: + 855 23 880624
E-mail: ocm@cambodia.gov.kh

6. Chumteav Men Samon
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Inspection
Fax: + 855 23 884264
E-mail: mnasrl@cambodia.gov.kh

7. Mr. Douglas Gardner
UNDP Resident Representative in Cambodia
53, Pasteur Street
Boeung Keng Kang
P.O. Box 877
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: + 855 23 216 257
E-mail: douglas.gardner@undp.org

8. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Cambodia
N° 10, Street 302
Sangkat Boeng Keng Kang I
Khan Chamcar Mon
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Tel: +855 23 987 671 / 987 672, 993 590 / 993 591 or +855 23 216 342
Fax: +855 23 212 579, 213 587
Email: cohchr@online.com.kh

9. Prof. Yash Ghai
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia
Attn: Ms. Afarin Shahidzadeh
Room 3-080
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 91 79214
Fax: +41 22 91 79018 (ATTENTION: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE CAMBODIA)
Email: urgent-action@ohchr.org 

10. Mr. Miloon Kothari
Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
Attn: Ms. Cecilia Moller
Room 4-066/010
UNOG-OHCHR
CH-1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9265
Fax: +41 22 917 9010 (ATTENTION: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ADEQUATE HOUSING)
Email: urgent-action@ohchr.org 

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)