Joint statement on situation of evicted families from Mittapheap 4 village in Sihanoukville by Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA) and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) 18 May 2008 Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA) and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), call on the Royal Government of Cambodia to urgently address the situation of 84 families from Mittapheap 4 village in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, who were illegally and violently evicted on April 20, 2007. More than a year after the eviction, the families continue to live under tarpaulins on the side of the road next to the site of their former homes. We are deeply concerned about their worsening humanitarian situation and call on the government to provide immediate relief. We further call on the government to ensure the safe return of the displaced community to their former land and to conduct a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the eviction. We believe that the eviction of these families was illegal, and constitutes a violation of the human rights of those affected, including the right to adequate housing and to protection from forced evictions. We further believe that these families are internally displaced persons (IDPs), who under international law must be granted the rights to return to their former land and to full restitution for the damage done to their homes, land and livelihoods. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement define IDPs as persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes, including as a result of violations of human rights, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border. The UN Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (known as “the Pinheiro Principles�) recognize the right of IDPs to return to their homes and to restitution for their losses. BABSEA and COHRE continue to call for a moratorium on all forced evictions and involuntary displacement in Cambodia until there is a legal framework in place that respects human rights and provides effective legal remedies for violations. We also urge donor institutions to use their influence to encourage the Government of Cambodia to halt and prevent all acts of violence and illegality that would lead to the growing displacement and landlessness of Cambodian people. Background On April 20 2007, over 100 families living peacefully in Mittapheap 4 village were illegally and violently evicted. The families had been living in the village since the 1980s and 1990s, and accordingly had possessory rights to the land under the 2001 Cambodian Land Law. The basis of the
eviction was an unsubstantiated claim of ownership of the land by Peng Ravy, the wife of a senior advisor to a high-ranking government official. The eviction was carried out by Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), military police and police. During the eviction five women were injured and thirteen men were badly hurt, many of them knocked unconscious. Eighty houses were burned to the ground and 26 other houses were demolished. Today, the disputed land remains unused, fenced off and believed to have been sold to a third party. In addition to the unlawfulness of the eviction itself, the excessive force used by the authorities was in plain violation of the Land Law. The law prohibits the use of violence to execute an eviction and mandates criminal sanctions where violence is used. Article 253 stipulates that “[a]ny person who uses violence against a possessor in good faith of an immovable property; whether or not his title has been established or it is disputed, shall be fined from 1,500,000 Riel to 25,000,000 Riel and/or imprisoned from six (6) months to two (2) years...” In addition “[i]f the violence was ordered by a person other than the perpetrator, who did not personally participate in the commission of such violence, he or she shall be subject to the same penalties as the perpetrators of the violence.” The perpetrators and those who ordered the violent eviction of the Mittapheap 4 village on April 20, 2007, are criminally liable under these provisions of the land law. For further information contact: Dan Nicholson, COHRE Asia and Pacific Programme Coordinator - +855 17 523 274 or dan@cohre.org. David Pred, BABSEA Cambodia Country Director - +66 876761905 or davidpred@babsea.org. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) is an international human rights organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland that promotes the right to adequate housing and works to prevent forced evictions. COHRE has Special Consultative Status with the United Nations. Bridges Across Borders (BAB) is an international organization working to strengthen relationships between the world’s peoples through cooperation on poverty reduction, environmental protection, peace-building and the promotion of human rights. BAB’s Southeast Asia Program is working in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.