By CHHENG Sambo
Phnom Penh–Land dispute is still a hot issue in Cambodia which cause lots of Cambodian people to lose their land. All these problems cause from the authorize people or investment companies take over land by force to the poor as well as this problem has been lasted for a long time.
There are lots of local, international investors, and companies are dealing businesses in Cambodia. Those people received the land concession from Cambodian government to develop some places through out the country.
As a matter of fact, when those companies or investor are developing, they cause problems to people who live in the area especially with the land. And this issue is not just happening now but it has occurred for a long time up to the present with no relieve.
The group from 29 different communities filed a join complaint to the office of the prime minister, the council of Ministers, the National Authority of land dispute resolution, and the Ministry of land management.
However, more than 300 representatives from 19 provinces urge government agencies and offices to resolve dispute in more then 700,000 hectares of land, complaining their daily existence was threatened by their displacement recently in August, 2009.
The complaint included 119,218 signatures, from dispute in 164 villages in provinces ranging across the entire country. The complaint was along with pictures of land dispute locations and report of shooting injuries and death, beatings, detention, imprisonment of dissenters and the clearing of houses and crops.
Ny Chakriya, chief investigator for the right group Licadho, said the group would follow whether the government can find solutions. He added that, “providing economic land concession to private companies in the wrong direction affect people’s family economic development and jeopardizes the government’s poverty reduction plan.”
However, the result has not come out for the villagers from all 19 provinces at that time. There is not jus this case but also lots of cases in this year 2009 about the land dispute from a powerful people to overlap the poor people.
ADHOC, the human right of organization receive file complaints of taking over land about 300 cases in which 8 people were killed and 150 other captured about the land dispute.
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