Last Forced Eviction of Reak Reay Community

On December 4, 2009 nine remained houses in former Reak Reay community in Tonle Bassac commune, Chamkarmorn district, Phnom Penh were totally dismantled and destroyed by Phnom Penh Municipal authority to grant that land to Bassac Garden City Co and Canadiana Bank for high building development project.

The remained houses could last that day due to the negotiation, which had not been reached to agreement.

In the past, the population of the people was about 219 families. The number became decreased little by little due to intimidation in all means by authorities; such as bulldozing, dismantling and destroying in order to evict the families. Therefore more than half of the families forcedly accepted the compensation of 10,000 to 20,000 dollars to leave the area.

On November 16, the last nine families held out to agree with the compensation, which had granted to the last 24 families earlier of the month: US$20,000 from the government and $3,000 from Canadia Bank. The reason was that they were concerned about the forced eviction as an example of Group 78 and Dey Krahorm communities early this year.

After a January 30 eviction letter, out of 219 families, 54 agreed to move in exchange for $10,000 and a home in Dangkor district, Phnom Penh.

Compensation and agreement had not been reached, on December 4, 2009 their houses were smashed down. Regarding to the issue, Mr. Mann Chheoun, Phnom Penh Deputy Governor said the authority decided to do that because the families had not accepted the provided compensation; then the government needed the area to give to the company for development.

Revealing the authority’s strategy to evict the families, Mr. Chan Bunthol, a villager who owned one of the last houses, said he did not stay at home when his house was destroyed because the city had shut off water and electricity services to the area. When he came back to his newly demolished home on Friday, December 4, police and security guard blocked him.

It has been seen that the act of the Municipality was against the law in Cambodia; especially the 2001 Land Law and Constitutional Law.

Article 5 of Cambodian Land Law states that, “No person may be deprived of his ownership, unless it is in the public interest. An ownership deprivation shall be carried out in accordance with the forms and procedures provided by law and regulations and after the payment of fair and just compensation in advance.”

By contrast, the authority did not abide by the law at all. They used illegal means to evict the nine families; such as shutting down water and electricity, which are the basic needs of daily life. It was an illegal act of those police and security guard that banned Mr. Chan Bunthol from visiting his home. This violates freedom of movement.

The deprivation is not done for the public interest, but for Bassac Garden City and Canadia Bank. In addition appropriate and just compensation had not been paid in advance.