Sek Sovanna, a lawyer from the Community Legal Education Center, left, and Chan Saveth, an investigator for the rights group AdhocBy Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
12 September 2008
Forced evictions are seriously impacting the daily lives of many Cambodians, requiring an "advanced solution" as displacement persists, a rights official said Thursday.
"Development should be a benefit for people, but if it makes thousands of people lose their interests, how can we call it development?" said Chan Saveth, of the rights group Adhoc, as a guest on "Hello VOA."
Forced evictions of residents in the Sambok Chab neighborhood of Phnom Penh and a community living along Monivong Boulevard highlighted the problem, where people were removed to distant locales outside the city, far from work, school and services.
Residents of the Boeung Kak lake area, the city's latest development project, are continuing to protest their impending eviction, saying an $8,000 buyout option from the government is too low.
Sek Sovanna, a lawyer from the Community Legal Education Center, said the $79 million lease the city has made with Shukaku, Inc., to develop the area was illegal.
"They violated the law, the land law," she said.
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