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Titolo:

Boeung Kak Lake, Phnom Penh

Tipo di sfratto::

Per lavori di infrastruttura e mega-progetti , Per politiche di sviluppo urbano , Per privatizzazioni del settore residenziale e delle proprietà dello stato

Area geografica:

Asia

Nazione::

Cambodia

Città::

Phnom Penh

Località/Quartiere:

Boeung Kak Lake

Nome della comunità o del nucleo familiare minacciato di sfratto::

Boeung Kak Lake Villages 1, 2, 4, 6, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24

Numero stimato delle persone colpite (in cifre)::

20000

Titolo di proprietà::

Inquilini , Proprietari

Caratteristiche economiche::

Miste

Caratteristiche sociali::

Nessuna delle precedenti

Fascia d'età::

Mista

Informazioni relative alla storia e ai precedenti del caso::

Spanning 90 hectares in central north Phnom Penh, Boeung Kak Lake is one of the only large open spaces left in Cambodia’s capital city. Prior to the recent evictions, approximately 4,000 families lived on and around the lake, with many depending on the lake for their livelihood. Families have been living around the lake since the early 1980s, when they returned to the city following the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. Most of these families have legal rights to their land under Cambodia’s 2001 Land Law.

Despite the legitimate claims to the land of many of the residents around Boeung Kak, when the titling team from the World Bank-financed Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP) adjudicated the area in early 2007, the residents were denied title en masse. In the same month, the Cambodian government entered into a 99-year lease agreement with a private developer, Shukaku Inc., over 133 hectares including the lake and surrounding areas. Shukaku Inc. is headed by Lao Meng Khin, a Senator and major donor to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, who is also director of the controversial logging company Pheapimex.

Families living in the development zone began facing pressure and intimidation to leave the area in August 2008, when the developer commenced filling in the lake as part of its development plans. While few details about the development have been made public, it is estimated that approximately 20,000 people will be displaced. Included in this figure are the more than 1,500 families that have already been evicted without their land rights being properly adjudicated and acknowledged. In the absence of any legal protections, these families accepted inadequate compensation under conditions of duress. This was in direct violation of Cambodian domestic law and international human rights law, as well as the World Bank’s Policy on Involuntary Resettlement, which the Cambodian government was contractually bound to respect in conjunction with LMAP.

Water levels in the remainder of the lake, which continues to be filled in with sand, have been rising since the onset of the rainy season in Cambodia, reaching critical levels in late August and inundating more than 1,000 residents’ homes with sewage-contaminated water. Residents have had to wade through knee and hip-high, unsanitary water to reach their homes, while others were forced to seek shelter elsewhere, as their homes were uninhabitable due to the flooding. Residents and local rights groups believe that the continued pumping of sand into the lake, and the inefficient drainage measures, indicate that the flooding is a deliberate measure to increase pressure on residents to move away from the area.

Nevertheless, since July 2010, residents have begun again to discuss their own alternatives to the development company’s plan to remove them from the area, including for some households, the demand that the government issue land title deeds for the land they currently occupy, and for others, the demand for a land-sharing arrangement that would enable them to settle on a smaller plot of land in one area of the development project. Since August, residents have stepped up their advocacy to demand that the government address their problems in a series of demonstrations targeting the Municipality of Phnom Penh. Unfortunately, as in all previous efforts to appeal to the authorities to find a satisfactory resolution to the conflict, these demands appear to have also fallen upon deaf ears. Moreover, the scale of violence and intimidation deployed against residents has also escalated and, in several recent incidents, their peaceful demonstrations have been violently suppressed by government security forces.

As the people of Boeung Kak Lake are trying to stand up, assert their housing rights and demand justice, the developer, Shukaku Inc., with the collusion of the Cambodian government, is pushing ahead with what amounts to the de facto forced eviction of the remaining residents around the lake by inundating their houses with sand and water. In early November 2010, Boeung Kak Lake Village 1 was buried under sand, making it the third out of nine villages around the lake to have been evicted.

Gradi di causa e responsabilità::

Locale , Nazionale

Violazione degli articoli della normativa internazionale::

Convenzione Internazionale sulla Protezione dei Diritti di Tutti i Lavoratori Emigranti e dei Membri delle Loro Famiglie , Convenzione Internazionale Relativa allo Status dei Rifugiati (1951)

Ragioni motivanti lo sfratto, ufficiali e non ufficiali::

February 2007: Municipality of Phnom Penh signs a 99 year lease agreement with Shukaku, Inc., giving it the right to develop a 133 hectare area including Boeung Kak Lake that had previously been classified as state public property.

August 2008: Shukaku Inc. begins to pump sand into Boeung Kak Lake in preparation for commercial development, pressuring residents to leave, as the sand filling causes flooding and undermines the stability of houses built on the water.

November - December 2009: Under conditions of duress, residents of Boeung Kak Lake Villages 2 and 4 are compelled to move away from the area without adequate compensation or resettlement.

August 2010 - present: Escalating use of violence by the authorities to disrupt and disperse Boeung Kak Lake residents exercising their right to peaceful demonstration.

November 2010: De facto forced eviction of residents of Boeung Kak Lake Village 1 by directing a flow of sand and water toward their houses, resulting in the houses being buried.

Principali eventi già avvenuti in relazione allo sfratto (date, anno e ora)::

N/A

Nome delle autorità che eseguono o programmano l'esecuzione dello sfratto::

Municipality of Phnom Penh, which is colluding with the developer, Shukaku, Inc.

Nome delle organizzazioni coinvolte, loro punti forti e deboli, loro punto di vista relativamente al problema::

N/A

Nomi delle agenzie, ONG o istituzioni di appoggio che lavorano nella comunità::

Housing Rights Task Force

Misure proposte o attuate finora da parte della comunità e/o delle agenzie o delle ONG che appoggiano la resistenza allo sfratto e/o cercano soluzioni alternative::

The residents of Boeung Kak Lake have filed legal complaints, repeatedly petitioned the Municipality of Phnom Penh, and held several small-scale demonstrations targeting the relevant government agencies. Furthermore, they have petitioned the UN Secretary-General, developed their own alternative plan for settlement, and attracted substantial media coverage.

Alternative o possibili soluzioni proposte dalle autorità locali o nazionali alle comunità colpite:

Ricompense , Rialloggio

Strategie e misure future previste o discusse per far fronte al caso in questione o ad altri sfratti::

Continued advocacy to stop the sand filling, stop the evictions, and persuade the government to open negotiations with the residents.

Date importanti previste per (precisare di cosa si tratta e quando avverrà:giorno, mese, anno)::

N/A

Autore (Nome, Indirizzo e responsabilità)::

N/A

Organizzazione che fornisce l'informazione::

N/A

Relazione con IAI delle organizzazioni informative comunitarie che si occupano del caso::

Altra

Caricare un'immagine:

Data della denuncia::

13/11/2010

Editore::

Jeff Wong

IAI cerca traduttori volontari

Campagna Sfratti Zero

Boeung Kak Lake, Phnom Penh