Tuesday, 05 June 2012
By Post Staff
Phnom Penh Post
Children
protest the jailing of the their mothers outside the Justice Ministry
last week. Thirteen of 15 women were arrested during a protest over a
long-running land dispute. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post
Following the imprisonment of 15 land activists, more than 100
Cambodian and international NGOs, unions and community groups have
cautioned the World Bank that any resumption in new lending to the
Cambodian government would send a dangerous signal. Their letter to its
president, Robert Zoellick, and its president-elect, Kim Yong-jim, is
reprinted in its entirety below.
It has recently come to our
attention that the World Bank is considering ending its suspension of
new loans to the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) and preparing an
Interim Strategy Note to facilitate new lending. We, the undersigned
organisations, write to express our deeply held view that, despite some
positive developments regarding the Boeung Kak Lake case, now is the
wrong time to end the suspension. Doing so would not only risk undoing
gains made, but would also send a dangerous message to the RGC in light
of the spate of recent killings and unwarranted jailing of activists,
including Boeung Kak community leaders. We believe that these appalling
events call not for reward and the injection of more funds, but rather a
coordinated and public condemnation by the international community,
including the World Bank.
The past month has seen a series of
shocking and inexcusable events in Cambodia. On April 26, Chut Wutty, a
tireless environmental activist was shot dead by armed forces after
taking two journalists to a logging area in Koh Kong province. On May
16, Heng Chantha, a 14-year-old girl was killed by a soldier during a
brutal forced eviction of a village in Kratie province.
On May 22
female 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.
The demonstration followed thwarted efforts by one family to demarcate
the boundary of their home, which had been submerged in sand during the
filling of the lake. While singing about their plight, the protesters
were surrounded by a mixed force of military police, anti-riot police
and district guards, who used violence to break up the demonstration and
then arrested 13 women, including a 72-year-old. A video clip of these
events is available at this link: www.licadho-cambodia.org
On
May 24th the women were convicted by the Phnom Penh court on baseless
charges of inciting others to take land illegally and obtaining land
illegally. Seven of the women were sentenced to two years and six months
in prison, five were sentenced to two years and the 72-year-old woman,
Nget Khun, was sentenced to a term of one year. During the trial, the
police arrested two more Boeung Kak community representatives who were
prepared to testify as witnesses for the 13 women on trial.
We
respectfully appeal to you not to authorise re-engagement by the bank
with the RGC under these circumstances and to continue the suspension
until a more strategic and judicious moment for engagement arises.
We regard the issuance of land titles to 631 Boeung Kak families earlier
this year following the Prime Minister’s sub decree granting the
remaining residents 12.44 hectares of land around the former lake as a
significant human-rights victory. We understand that the principled
stand taken by the World Bank following the Inspection Panel’s findings
of non-compliance with operational policies during the design and
implementation of the Land Management and Administration Project played
an integral part in achieving this outcome. We applaud the bold
leadership of the president in this situation and consider this wise
decision-making to have contributed in no small part to the legal
security and piece of mind that these 631 Cambodian families now enjoy.
Yet,
we remain deeply concerned about the 3,500 Boeung Kak families, who had
already reluctantly accepted the inadequate compensation package and
left their lakeside homes under extreme duress, and who now suffer
severe hardship trying to make ends meet each day. We are also concerned
about the 94 families that have been excluded from the benefits of the
Prime Minister’s sub decree and remain under the threat of forced
eviction. Together these families represent an estimated 85 percent of
all Boeung Kak residents who submitted the Request to the World Bank
Inspection Panel.
We are aware that there may be some entry
points for UN-HABITAT to support these displaced and excluded families.
We urge the World Bank to take all possible action to facilitate this
support, including through high-level dialogue with relevant agencies
and provision of financing for remedial action. We also note that there
may be other organisations in a position to operationalise aspects of
the Bank Management’s January 2011 Action Plan, including financing
measures that respond to the needs of tenure insecure and resettled
communities from the Boeung Kak area.
The bank should not
passively accept the lack of progress in supporting displaced and
excluded groups to date as a fait accompli. Rather, it should
proactively work to identify possible interlocutors to remedy harm done,
and as bank Management itself commits to do, “make every effort to
implement the Action Plan”. If necessary, this should entail the
provision of unilateral Bank support to displaced families through a
trust fund and administered through an NGO or other agency.
The
community itself has appealed to president Zoellick to ensure a fair
resolution for the displaced and excluded families before the bank
provides any further financing to the RGC. The public statements made by
bank representatives in August 2011 have led the community to believe
that this would be the case. We note that country director Annette Dixon
stated at the time: “Until an agreement is reached with the residents
of Boeung Kak Lake, we do not expect to provide any new lending to
Cambodia.”
The World Bank lending freeze provided a powerful
boost to the community’s five-year struggle, which has become an
inspiration to marginalised communities throughout Cambodia facing
dislocation from their homes, land and the natural resources that they
depend upon for survival.
We believe that re-engaging now,
particularly following the unlawful arrest and imprisonment of Boeung
Kak community leaders, would send a dangerous message of approval to the
RGC and undermine the community’s hope that they will not be left alone
in their stand against the powerful forces of injustice. Commitments
made by the World Bank, either privately or publicly, should not be
reneged upon, or else the credibility of the bank and its commitment to
its safeguard policies and contractual requirements on borrowers to
respect them will be seriously undermined. Conversely, we believe that
if the bank maintains the freeze until a comprehensive agreement is
reached with the requesters, and the brave human rights defenders of
Boeung Kak Lake are released from prison, it will contribute
immeasurably to the twin long-term goals of a more just and equitable
Cambodian society and a more accountable World Bank.
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