Rights Groups Blocked of Access to Visit Ethnic Group in Mondulkiri

About 30 civil society and NGOs represenatatives were blocked and banned their visit of Phnong ethnic minoritiy community in forest areas of Bousra commune, Pich Chreada district, Mondulkiri province on January 21, 2010 by French company representative on the way to the afore-mentioned location.

As stated in a joint release on January 22, those NGOs groups went to the area in order to conduct a research on their local livelihood and culture of those villagers; however, they were intercepted and prohibited on the way by a Frenchman, named Pierre, the Socfin-KDC company representative.

This location of thick forests and wilf lives in Bousra commune, Pichreada district, Mondolkiri province is the severe land conflict area between Socfin-KDC, which received an economic land concession of about 2,705 hectares from the Royal government of Cambodia in 2008, with those local community people.

The man (Pierre) was driving to chase those NGOs vehicles in order to stop them. He acted in an unacceptable behavior; intimidated and did not allow anyone to take the picture of the forest area there, asserting that it belonged to private company. In addition he said the area has been blocked to the bublic as well as villagers.

The above act of Socfin-KDC man seriously violated the Cambodian Constitutional Law on freedom of movement and assembly, which all Cambodian citizens shall have. Therefore the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) also condemned the above act of company representative; and call on the Cambodian government to take immediate action to avoid this act. Furthermore the government has to intervene those residents so that they can pass the area as normal, in accordance with the 2001 Land Law and the International Covenant on the Rights of Indigenous people.