While Indigenous peoples comprise just 6% of the global population, they manage or have tenure rights over at least 38 million km2 in some 87 countries. In many places Indigenous peoples are effective custodians of biodiversity, lands, and seas while sustaining distinct cultural, social and economic values of their communities. Upholding the rights of these communities is therefore increasingly at the center of international climate and biodiversity commitments and agreements.
Following a land dispute, the Kampong Thom Provincial Court has given two indigenous Kui a one-year sentence in prison for their alleged involvement in a land dispute with a rubber plantation development company. The charges against them include “violence against real estate owners.”
Heng Saphen, a representative of the Kui indigenous people, expressed her dissatisfaction with the court’s decision, claiming that she was not involved in the alleged violence and that the company had even withdrawn their complaint.
This has led to ongoing disputes between the company and community members. She said that on the day of the incident [May 18, 2022], a group of villagers plowed the disputed land—which was in a condition of disrepair—with a tractor in order to grow crops, but the authorities arrived to put an end to it.
Ms. Saphen asserts that indigenous people are currently using the disputed land for farming and other activities like cassava planting. According to her, the potential loss of land could lead to significant challenges to indigenous livelihoods.
“The livelihood of Indigenous peoples is intricately tied to the land,” she emphasized. “Their way of life revolves around the land, as it provides for their needs and sustains their communities.”
Photo by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay
Expressing her discontent with the ruling from the Kampong Thom Provincial Court, Ms. Saphen stated her intention to consult with her lawyer regarding the possibility of appealing the verdict to the Court of Appeal.
Lut Sang, the lawyer representing the two Kui indigenous people, asserted that his clients were indicted by the judge without concrete evidence of their alleged crime. According to Sang, “the judge’s allegations in this hearing appear to be procedurally biased and in favor of the company,” Sang stated.
According to his statement, the evidence presented by the plaintiffs during the previous hearing did not align with the actual location of the disputed land, which was found to be over two kilometers away. He claimed that after measuring the area where the incident occurred, the local authorities discovered that the locals owned more than one hectare of land. This was not the same as the plaintiff’s claim that the villagers had encroached on 21 hectares.
Heng Saphen, a representative of the Kui ethnic group, was initially remanded in custody on June 14, 2022, as stated in a company complaint. However, he was later released on bail on June 30.
A conflict over land ownership between over 100 indigenous families and a rubber company first arose over ten years ago, following the company’s acquisition of state investment rights.
Based on the government’s location map from 2011, SAMBATH PLANTINUM Co., LTD, a company specializing in agriculture, industry, and rubber plantation, has been granted government investment rights for a vast area of 2,496 hectares in the Boeung Per Wildlife Sanctuary.
A group of 104 indigenous Kuay families residing near the investment site is urging the authorities to clearly mark the boundaries between the company’s land and the land owned collectively by the community. They claim that the company cleared many hectares of the villagers’ crops and installed encroachment poles on community land.
This timeline shows the bureaucratic hurdles Indigenous communities face when trying to seek land tenure in Cambodia. Image by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay.
In 2021, affected people sought the assistance of the Kampong Thom provincial authorities and the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. The Department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction of Kampong Thom Province recently took action in response to a request. On 13 August 2021, they issued a letter to Sambath Platinum and Tepi Agro, instructing them to cease erecting boundary posts and clearing crops, and the posts must be removed.
The department also emphasized the need for compensation to be provided to the affected people for the crops that were destroyed by the company.
A land dispute has reached a critical point in Ngon village, Ngon commune, Sandan district, Kampong Thom province. On June 29, 2022, 104 indigenous families submitted a petition to the provincial authorities, urgently requesting intervention to halt the company’s land clearance activities.
These families have been embroiled in a dispute for over a decade and are seeking a clear demarcation between their land and the company’s. According to a petition for assistance from the Kampong Thom provincial administration, the indigenous Kui people are facing the loss of land that they used to occupy and enjoy in the traditional manner and that has been jointly controlled from 1979 to the present.
The UPR process is new for Cambodia’s Indigenous Peoples, notably the IPOs, who have less experience preparing reports on the government’s implementation and responding to the recommendations of other states and stakeholders. For the 3rd cycle, only CIPA and CIYA had a chance with the support from AIPP to develop a joint submission for the first time in the name of Indigenous Peoples in which comprehensive consultation had not been done thoroughly with Indigenous organizations and communities. In this year’s 4th UPR Cycle, CIPA led its members in gathering input and recommendations from Cambodia’s Indigenous communities and IPOs. It is an important process that enables the report to address Indigenous Peoples’ concerns in various sectors. Due to limited resources, CIPA was only able to hold one meeting with its member IPOs and IPs network; however, they had compiled issues from their respective target areas based on various sectors, including social services, land rights, IPs-related laws, and policies. Importantly, CIPA has produced a UPR report with the assistance of its partners, particularly AIPP, which provided financial support during this period of the UPR process.
More than a decade after subsidiaries of multinational rubber firm Socfin Group forcibly cleared and seized the farms, burial grounds and sacred forests of Bunong indigenous communities in Mondulkiri province, the company now seeks to collect tens of thousands of dollars from these farmers for the cost of “land preparation” and other fees.
Kuy indigenous peoples in Preah Vihear province’s Chheb district invoked ancestral spirits and held a “curse ceremony” to hex powerful people, including department of environment officials who they say are violating their land rights.
Local authorities ordered Kraol indigenous residents in Kratie to apologize on camera for burning down an Environment Ministry building, according to the local deputy commune chief.
The O’Krieng Senchey district administration in Kratie province have ordered the Sre Chis commune authorities to educate minority ethnic groups about the laws and legal instruments related to environmental protection.
After the burning of the Environment Ministry station, a filing cabinet and bent pieces of corrugated sheet metal were left at the scene. (CamboJA/Andrew Califf)
Two Kraol Indigenous People Accused of Encroaching on Ministry Land Fail to Appear in Court
The Kratie Provincial Court summoned two Kraol indigenous people from Srae Chis commune to appear in court for questioning this week for allegedly illegally encroaching on protected areas, but the two villagers did not show up.
Two weeks after the Kraol indigenous community set fire to an Environment Ministry station in Kratie, the ministry invited local authorities and indigenous people to a meeting on Wednesday and requested that the indigenous community apologize. Only one indigenous person invited attended.
The Environment and Natural Resources Code officially passed into law last month, but the term “indigenous” has been removed from key sections, leaving indigenous communities concerned that the code undermines their rights.
