Sar Kheng

Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister
Ministry of Interior
#75 Norodom Blvd
Khan Chamkarmon
Phnom Penh
Cambodia

Dear Minister

For more than two years, around 90 families have been living in basic shelters by the roadside near the tourist town of Sihanoukville in Cambodia. On 20 April 2007, these families were forcibly evicted by security forces from Mittapheap 4 village (also called Spean Ches) in the wake of a land dispute. Police, including military police, demolished and burned down the houses, fired shots into the air and ground, and beat villagers with electric batons. Thirteen men and five women villagers were injured, as were two policemen. Most of the villagers’ possessions were also destroyed.

Police then beat and arrested the 13 men and charged them with “battery with injury” and “wrongful damage to property”. They were tried on 3-4 July 2007; however, the court did not examine the legality of the eviction at the trial, nor did it attempt to establish who was responsible for the violence and destruction. Nine villagers were found guilty and sentenced to prison terms of up to eight months, although the prosecution presented no evidence connecting them to the crimes they were accused of.

The families remain homeless and struggle to earn a living following the loss of their farm land and equipment, such as fishing nets. The temporary shelters have no drinking water supply or basic sanitation. Many children suffer from colds, fever and diarrhoea due to the unsanitary conditions. The only assistance they have received has come from local NGOs and the site of their former village remains fenced in and unused.

I call for the Mittapheap 4 villagers to be allowed to return to their land or given adequate alternative accommodation and compensation for property destroyed or damaged during the eviction.

Sincerely,

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