Cambodian eviction

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions reports on a sudden, horrific eviction in Phnom Penh. More than 400 families were pushed out of their homes in Dey Krahorm, in the fastest growing part of the Cambodian capital, by a real estate company, with the assistance of the police.

COHRE lays out the duplicity:

1. The land at Dey Krahorm was granted to the community as a Social Land Concession in 2003.

2. In early 2005, a private company, 7NG, negotiated a contract with the then village chiefs of Dey Krahorm, effectively swapping the prime land in Dey Krahorm for a relocation site 15km outside of Phnom Penh.

3. Dey Krahorm residents have maintained that they were never consulted about the contract and never agreed to move away.

4. Despite community challenges, the local government awarded title to 7NG in 2006.

5. Negotiations between the community and the government were in the works as the eviction was carried out.

COHRE’s Executive Director, Salih Booker, called the eviction nothing more than "an attempt by 7NG to grab valuable land through fraud, threats and violence."