Being forcibly evicted from your home is a reality in Cambodia. People have lost their homes, livelihoods and families. Vireak’s home where he lived with his seven children was set ablaze as law enforcement agents and military cleared their village on 20 April 2007.

"Now we have to pin our hope to NGOs. People are no longer capable of depending on themselves. We are short of money and rice. Before, we did some farming, and now we no longer have fields to plant rice. Before I was able to feed my seven children. Now there is nothing."

Vireak, Mittapheap 4 village.

Without consultations, due process of law, legal or other protection, and with no consideration of adequate alternatives, his and over 100 other families were forcibly evicted.

Like many thousands of other Cambodians who have been forcibly evicted, he also lost access to natural resources which they relied on to earn a living – in Vireak's case, land used for subsistence rice farming.

In 2008, some 150,000 Cambodians were known to live at risk of being forcibly evicted in the wake of land disputes, land grabbing, and agro-industrial and urban redevelopment projects. Tens of thousands have already been forcibly evicted in recent years, many left homeless, others relocated to inadequate resettlement sites with poor infrastructure, lacking basic amenities including sanitation, and with limited access to work opportunities. The spate of forced evictions shows little sign of abating.

What are forced evictions?

A forced eviction is "the permanent or temporary removal against the will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection". Forced evictions have been recognised by the UN Commission on Human Rights as a gross violation of human rights, and are also associated with other human rights violations.

As a State party to a wide range of human rights conventions Cambodia also has an obligation to refrain from and protect against forced evictions. One of the principal aspects of this obligation is the duty not to allow forced evictions.

Evictions may be carried out only as a last resort, once all other feasible alternatives to eviction have been explored. They must be planned and implemented in consultation with affected persons or groups, in an effort to avoid or minimise use of force. The human rights standards include:

  • an opportunity for genuine consultation with those affected;
  • adequate and reasonable notice for affected persons prior to the eviction;
  • information on the proposed evictions, and, where applicable, on the alternative purpose for which the land or housing is to be used, to be made available in reasonable time to all those affected;
  • government officials or their representatives to be present during an eviction;
  • all persons carrying out the eviction to be properly identified;
  • evictions not to take place in particularly bad weather or at night unless the affected persons consent otherwise;
  • provision of legal remedies; and
  • provision, where possible, of legal aid to persons who are in need of it to seek redress from the courts.

What’s the situation in Cambodia?

In Cambodia, information on planned evictions and on resettlement packages has been incomplete and inaccurate, undermining the rights to information, to participation in decisions which affect them, and the right to adequate housing. The lack of legal protection from forced eviction, and lack of regulation of existing standards has left an accountability gap which increases the vulnerability of marginalised people, particularly those living in poverty, to human rights abuses including forced evictions.

Endemic problems in Cambodia, including a lack of transparency and outright secrecy also contribute to delays in communicating eviction orders to affected communities. Lack of proper notice and consultation further deprives the affected of their opportunities to seek legal redress and to realise their own human rights, including the right to an adequate standard of living.

Although there have been some positive recent signs, including repeated calls by Prime Minister Hun Sen for an end to land-grabbing and sporadic action against people involved in land theft, the Cambodian government has not demonstrated political will to ensure an end to forced evictions or the factors leading to them. Instead government representatives are seen to be involved in or standing by as the law is applied arbitrarily or by-passed altogether, in ways that grant impunity to those in political or economic power for arbitrarily expropriating land from marginalised people living in poverty.

SBS's Dateline program reported on forced evictions in Cambodia on Sunday evening 1st March, in an episode called Cambodia for Sale. You can watch video or read the transcript to learn more about this violation of human rights in Cambodia.

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