UPI.com
July 17, 2008
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, July 17 (UPI) -- Scores of poor Cambodians are victims of land seizures that leave desperate residents homeless and in need of food and water, human rights officials say.
A total of 700 families were allowed to relocate to a field about 12 miles from Phnom Penh when federal officials invaded a squatter colony there two years ago, The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported Thursday.
Experts have said Cambodians in the impoverished area are being affected by the worst human rights violations in the nation.
"Expropriation of the land of Cambodia's poor is reaching a disastrous level," Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong, told the Times. "The courts are politicized and corrupt, and impunity for human rights violators remains the norm."
The land grabs by the wealthy and powerful in Cambodia has been linked to the country's growing economy, an official told the Times.
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