By
22 June 2012
brettonwoodsproject.org
Despite a 2011 victory in Cambodia, where a mass
eviction in the centre of Phnom Penh was halted and remaining affected
families finally gained legal title to the land they had been wrongly
denied under a World Bank project, recent arrests have put justice in
jeopardy and led to calls for a continued lending freeze by the Bank.
In an unprecedented victory against some of the most powerful forces
in South East Asia, in 2011 631 Cambodian families gained legal title to
land that had been the subject of a controversial land grab in the
bustling center of the capital Phnom Penh. In 2006 the Boeung Kak lake
households were wrongly denied the right to have their claims to the
land adjudicated and registered in their names under a World
Bank-financed land-titling project (see Update 75).
In the absence of fair and impartial courts in Cambodia, the families
took their case to the Bank's complaints mechanism, the Inspection
Panel, in 2009, which a year later found that they had been denied due
process under the project, that Bank policies had not been complied
with, and that these omissions had contributed to the "grave harm" that
the families suffered through forced eviction.
Despite acknowledging that the safeguard policies had been breached
in the Boeung Kak case, the Bank was unable to persuade the Cambodian
government to rectify the harm done even after it repeatedly offered to
provide the resources to do so. Because of the Bank's reliance on the
cooperation of borrowing governments, including unaccountable regimes
like the Cambodian government, there are serious practical limitations
on its ability to be accountable to those harmed by its projects – even
when it wants to be. We have argued in the past that if the Bank lends
to governments that consistently violate safeguard policies and human
rights, and refuse to remedy harms suffered, then it must be prepared to
provide reparations unilaterally.
The Boeung Kak lake saga has unfolded in unexpected ways since the
Inspection Panel released its findings. After more than a year of
attempting to work with the Cambodian government to implement remedial
measures, in May 2011, the Bank president Robert Zoellick took the
extraordinary step of suspending all new lending to Cambodia until a
resolution is found. By affirming the mandatory nature of Bank
operational and safeguard policies, Zoellick's bold decision had
important implications, both within Cambodia and for the Bank as a
whole. It sent a rare but bright signal about the sanctity of policies
intended to protect people and the environment from harms resulting from
development finance. It also appeared to work.
Within a week after this lending freeze became public knowledge, in
August 2011 the Cambodian government issued a sub-decree granting title
to most of the remaining families over their land in the Boeung Kak
area. This marked a significant human rights victory in Cambodia.
Thousands of people who were facing the prospect of forced displacement
and impoverishment for the first time have formal legal security to
their homes and land. Moreover, in a country where powerful people
routinely act above the law with impunity, and where poor and
marginalised people have no access to justice, ordinary Cambodian
families were able to access an impartial accountability mechanism and
obtain a just and meaningful remedy. Although the Bank's decision was
undeniably only one contributing factor to the outcome, it was critical
in both laying down the law and vindicating and empowering the
community.
Despite this considerable victory, the case is by no means closed. At
least 90 families have been excluded from the land concession, and over
the past few years more than 3,000 families were displaced from their
homes in the Boeung Kak area after accepting inadequate compensation
under extreme duress. These families are not benefiting in any way from
the government's new policy and since the eviction many have
experienced negative social and economic impacts, including
impoverishment.
The Boeung Kak community has remained admirably unified in its quest
for a resolution for all current and former residents, despite some
families already having secured their rights and the risks posed to
human rights defenders in Cambodia. In late May this year, residents of
Boeung Kak staged a peaceful demonstration on the sand dunes that cover
what was once a village on the shores of the lake. Whilst singing about
their plight, the protesters were surrounded by a mixed force of
military police, anti-riot police and district guards, who proceeded to
violently break up the demonstration and arrest 13 female community
leaders, including a 72-year-old. Two days later the 13 women were
summarily tried, convicted on spurious charges and sentenced to two and a
half years imprisonment. During the trial, the police arrested two
more community representatives who were waiting outside the court,
prepared to testify as witnesses.
Prior to the arrests, the regional management of the Bank had
indicated in meetings with NGOs that it was ready to put this
uncomfortable episode behind the Bank and get back to business in
Cambodia, despite the absence of a comprehensive resolution on Boeung
Kak. We argued that this decision would be wrong and contrary to the
commitments the Bank has made publicly. If it were to proceed with a
resumption of lending in the wake of the recent arrests it would be
unconscionable. As 127 civil society organisations from Cambodia and
around the world wrote in an open letter to Zoellick and the incoming
Bank president Jim Yong Kim in May: "re-engaging now, particularly
following the unlawful arrest and imprisonment of Boeung Kak community
leaders, would send a dangerous message of approval to the [Cambodian
government] and undermine the community's hope that they will not be
left alone in their stand against the powerful forces of injustice."
Although it is by no means the largest donor to Cambodia, the Bank
holds critical leverage. The continuing lending suspension is taking its
toll beyond the monetary deficit it represents: the Development
Cooperation Forum at which donors traditionally commit funds for the
following year was cancelled in 2011 for the first time since 1993, and
the coordinating role the Bank previously played amongst donors remains
vacant. This situation represents an embarrassing and conspicuous
blemish on Cambodia's efforts to become a reputable member of the
international community, including through its chairmanship of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its candidacy for a
non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Contrary to common belief, with overseas development aid representing
approximately 40 per cent of the Cambodian government's revenue and the
country's rapidly increasing income from natural resource extraction,
Cambodia is not in need of more aid. It is, however, badly in need of
more justice. The World Bank is in a rare position to push that agenda
forward by making it clear that it will maintain the lending freeze
until the 13 imprisoned community members are freed and a comprehensive
agreement is reached with the majority of Boeung Kak households who are
still awaiting a remedy. What Bank president-elect Kim decides to do
will have far reaching implications for World Bank accountability and
for the cause of justice in Cambodia.
By Natalie Bugalski (natalie@inclusivedevelopment.net) and David Pred (david@inclusivedevelopment.net)
Inclusive Development International (http://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/)
Inclusive Development International (http://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/)
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