DanChurchAid
Cambodia
Land grabbing
Violent eviction
A tiny woman, Ben Gan, tells about how she used to live in central Phnom Penh in the village, Sambok Chap, where she collected trash and sold what she could from it. Then, one day in May 2006, the military police came and told her and the other villagers to leave. The government had sold their land to a big company.
"It was very violent. They threatened us with guns and shockers and did not allow people to take their belongings with them," she says.
Ben Gan and her four children were transported to the rice field, where she tries to continue selling trash.
"I cannot. We used to be inside Phnom Penh, so it was easy to make a living, but now it cost me $2,50 to go to the city," she says. She makes around half a dollar a day.
Still waiting
When the government sells a piece of Cambodian land to foreign investors, it could mean good business and positive development for Cambodia. However, a large percentage of the Cambodian people - approximately 70 percent - depend on their land for survival and even though the Constitution and the 2001 Land Law in several ways protect the rights of the dwellers, the military police continuously fail to follow procedure. Ben Gan was promised compensation for her lost piece of land and today, nine months later, she is still homeless, waiting.
Organization is important
However, there is a rising will amongst the wrongfully evicted to claim their rights in Cambodia. It is becoming increasingly crucial to build the capacity to organize as a group and direct the claims to the municipality, according to a recent study carried out by the World Bank. This approach is called rights based commitment and is how DanChurchAid work in Cambodia, for example through collaborating with the advocacy organization, NGO Forum.
They have focus on land grabbing, but rather than direct aid, NGO Forum works to create a dialogue in between the government and the former slum dwellers through the program Resettlement Action Network.
"We are in the middle. We have to meet with the government and talk to them and we meet with the villagers and talk to them," says NGO Forum Executive Director, Chhith Sam Ath. So far the response from the government has been negative, according to the organization.
On the right path
He is convinced that that the rights-based approach is right for Cambodia. If NGO Forum starts giving out direct aid, the government will start expecting it from them and allocate that responsibility from government hands to the NGOs. The World Bank backs Chhith Sam Ath up:
"It is very important to note that the most successful compensation cases we have had are the ones where the claims were initiated by the citizens themselves, so the best thing the NGOs can do is help build up capacity of leadership, secure information and plan advocacy strategies," says Daniel Adler, a legal adviser for World Bank in Cambodia.
Frustrating work
Ben Gan is skinny, dirty and hungry and she lives in a shack.
Nonetheless, a paragraph in the Land Law from 2001 states that a family has the right to claim ownership of a piece of land if they have lived there for more than five years and Ben Gan, her husband and their four children have lived in Sambok Chap as long as she remembers, she says. According to the law she is therefore entitled to "fair compensation".
That is why Chhith Sam Ath and his Resettlement program stays on the political level and continue with rights-based approaches, even though it requires patience.
"We meet with the responsible authority and we will continue doing that, but the soldiers force people out at night. Land grabbing is a problem that sometimes exceeds what the NGOs can do,"he says.
By Anya Palm, journalist
Anya Palm lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and works at The Cambodia Daily.
Cambodia
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