Eviction Watch
Dey Krahom, Phnom Penh
The community began living in Dey Krahorm, the ‘Red Soil Village’ from early 1980’s, when they cleared the inhabitable swamp-land and back-filled with red soil, hence the name. 805 families comprising of street vendors, hawkers, gifted musicians and artists lived peacefully in Dey Krahorm till 2005.
On May 24, 2003, the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a policy to provide secure land tenure and to assist in the on-site upgrading of 100 inner-city poor communities each year for the coming five years, until all of Phnom Penh's urban poor communities have secure land tenure and full basic services. The Prime Minister specifically mentioned Dey Krahom, along with three other urban poor communities, which would be the first beneficiaries of this plan.
On 8 July 2003, the Council of Ministers responded to the Prime Minister’s call by issuing Letter 875, which initiates a social land concession of 3.7 hectares of the total 4.7 hectares to the Dey Krahorm community for on-site residential development. The remaining land would be granted to a private company willing to finance the development. The Municipality of Phnom Penh was assigned to survey the community and implement the plan. This never came to pass.
Rather, on 13 January 2005, the 7NG Construction Company Co Ltd with Mr Srey Chanthou as Chairman, conspired with the former village chiefs and few representatives of the Dey Krahorm community and entered into an agreement for land exchange of the 3.7 hectares of social concession land for ‘housing’ on a relocation site in Damnak Trayeung village, 20km outside of Phnom Penh. The community claims they were never consulted about the contract or their desire to swap the land for site outside of Phnom Penh. Having discovered the contract signed between 7NG and their village chiefs, Dey Krahorm community democratically voted in new village representatives.
Even though numerous complaints were filed by the new village representatives from January 2005 to date, requesting the nullification of the contract, the Department of Land Management, Urbanization, Construction and Cadastral Survey issued an Ownership title to 7NG on 14 December 2005, therefore confirming property rights to 7NG over the land of Dey Krahorm.
On 6 July 2006, the municipality issued an announcement to the villagers to join a ‘house lottery’ in order to get new housing in the relocation site in Damnak Trayeung village. This announcement was followed by threat and intimidation from the 7NG security guards, an elderly villager was severely beaten and sustained injuries to his head in one such incident. On 5 August 2007, 344 families took part in the ‘house lottery’ for housing in the relocation site. Many families reported threats and intimidation from 7NG leading up to the lottery and claim their participation was forced and unlawful. 49 families refused to participate, these families later were identified and received notice to demolish and vacate the land by 15 August 2006 from the Phnom Penh Municipality. By 16 August 2007, the 49 families were issued with summons from the Municipal Court to explain their refusal to participate in the 5 August 2006 ‘house lottery’ resulting in ‘non-execution of the contract’. [7NG contract]. The families did not to attend the court date 27 August 2007.
On 29 August 2007, armed military police, police and hired workers ‘breakers’ with crowbars and hatchets arrived at Dey Krahorm and demolished over 30 houses they identified as those of the ‘former renters’ and ‘families that have returned from relocation site’. During the incident a women was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed by a 7NG representative and a military police and detained on the charge of ‘injuring a police officer’. She remained handcuffed for several hours; she was later released after the community demonstrated in front of the National Assembly.
The community resisted the military police, police and breakers the following days on 30-31 August 2007. They waved flags and pictures of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife, Bun Rany and broadcasted casting announcements regarding Dey Krahorm’s inclusion in the government’s Development Plan for the Poor.
The community have carried out mapping of the land and houses and have taken steps to prepare an on-site development plan for Dey Krahorm in accordance with Hun Sen’s 2003 promise. There are currently 280 families in Dey Krahorm.
On 3 December 2007, at around 7:30pm, the 7NG company parked a giant excavator in front of the community and the driver proceeded to extend and retract its mechanical arm in a clear provocation. Community representatives approached the driver and asked him to leave, which he refused to do. Shortly thereafter, children from the community began throwing rocks at the machine, shattering its windows, in spite of the pleas of community leaders to refrain from violence.
The following day, nearly all of Dey Krahom’s thirty representatives went into hiding after being threatened with arrest on charges of incitement to violence. Some representatives have since given up the fight and sold their land to the company for fear of being arrested if they continue to press for their alternative development land-sharing plan.
7NG Chairman Srey Sothea describes the Dey Krahom community, which includes some of Cambodia’s most gifted musicians, artists and sports figures, as “an anarchic slum where gangs use drugs and set up brothels.” He adds that, “It is a kindness by us that we want to buy houses from them.”
Back to Stop Eviction page |
