After three years of government harassment and intimidation, the residents of Group 78 in Cambodia have been forcibly evicted from their homes.

All but a few families dismantled their homes prior to the eviction deadline, with no choice but to accept inadequate compensation rather than have their homes demolished.

Before dawn on 17 July, 70 security forces, some armed with guns and electronic batons, blocked off Group 78, where four remaining families were holding out. Dozens of hired workers demolished what was left of the dismantled houses.

Within hours, the resisting families had agreed to leave.

“Group 78 was clearly cut off from due process and denied justice. The Municipality of Phnom Penh made no attempts to properly consult with the affected community or explore any feasible alternative to eviction,” says Brittis Edman, Amnesty International’s Cambodia researcher.

She says the families were threatened into accepting compensation and accepted against their will. “They have been reluctant to speak out but I think it is fair to say they are all unhappy.”

International attention by Amnesty International supporters and campaigning by Cambodian and other non-governmental organisations has thrown a very public spotlight on Group 78. “While not ultimately successful in protecting the Group 78 residents from forced eviction, it did send a message to the authorities that they could not completely ignore and acted as a restraint on their actions,” says Brittis Edman.

“Although highly coercive, the forced eviction of Group 78 was not violent and the residents received some compensation. Although US$8,000 is far from enough to fi nd comparable housing in the city of Phnom Penh, it is more than nothing.”

In many recent forced evictions in Cambodia those affected have received no compensation at all or, in some cases, have been given a plot of land in a resettlement site far from the city with no water or sanitation.

“An offi cial at the Municipality of Phnom Penh, who silently disagrees with how it deals with urban poor such as Group 78, saw the many hundreds of emails to the Governor from abroad and thanked Amnesty International for the work we do for the Cambodian people,” says Brittis Edman.

A positive sign for thousands of Cambodians still at risk of forced eviction is the engagement of Cambodia’s international donors. On the day before the Group 78 eviction a coalition of donors called for a moratorium on evictions pending a fair and transparent mechanism for resolving land disputes and a comprehensive resettlement policy. The coalition included the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Australian Embassy and a number of other embassies and bilateral agencies.

Candace Wright is the Assistant Editor of The Human Rights Defender.