The Voices of Indigenous Peoples in Cambodia
Make IPs voices heard and respected
The deforestation of community-held land and the slow registration process for indigenous people’s collectively-held lands remain challenges for indigenous communities who rely on natural resources for their livelihoods, according to a joint statement of the Cambodia Indigenous Peoples Organisation.
Read the full article: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodias-indigenous-peoples-request-land-registration-reforms
History of World’s Indigenous Peoples Celebrating Day
According to the United Nations, there are about 476 million indigenous people which is about 6.2% of the world population living in around 90 countries. According to the census statistics in 2013, the population of indigenous people in Cambodia is 183,831 which is about 2.5% of the total population. There are about 24 ethnic/tribal groups living in 15 provinces such as Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Stung Treng, Kratie, Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, Pursat, Battambang, Uddar Meanchey, Banteay Meanchey, Thbongkmum, Koh Kong, Kompong Speu, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville. The indigenous people have a very close connection and strong beliefs in the spirits of the soil, water, rivers, mountains, forests, etc. The way of living of each indigenous group is very similar. For instance, they all do shifting cultivation, raising livestock, hunting, and fishing. They also rely on natural resources such as wild vegetables, honey, herbal medicines, and wild rubbers which can be used in their household or sold at the market.
On 23 December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly decided, in its resolution 49/214, that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year. This resolution is in line with the International Decade on the World’s Indigenous Peoples and is designated today as a reminder of the first meeting, in 1982, of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, Switzerland. After the conclusion of the first international decade on the World’s Indigenous People (1995-2004), the General Assembly declared Resolution 174 dated 20 December 2004 to have the Second International Decade on the World’s Indigenous Peoples (2005 -2015), which aims to further strengthen international cooperation for solving problems facing indigenous peoples in areas such as culture, education, health, human rights, environment, and social and economic development.
After 25 years of struggle and sacrifice, the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations on 13 September 2007 voted in favor of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 143 countries, including Cambodia, voted in favor. Four other countries voted against, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
In Cambodia, the government has enacted laws, sub-decrees, policies and ratified a number of international laws and documents recognizing and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples, including:
Cambodia celebrated the first international day of indigenous people in 2005 in Phnom Penh, and it was celebrated from then till now for 10 years. On August 3, 2006, the Cambodian government, through the Office of the Council of Ministers, issued Notification No. 1205, dated by Samdech Akka Sena Moha Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia on July 31, 2006, to authorize the organization of the 12th International Day of Indigenous Peoples at the international level and the 2nd in Cambodia.
Since then, the international day of indigenous peoples has been celebrated every year in the provinces and cities of Cambodia, especially the provinces that have an indigenous population as described below:
1st and 2nd in Phnom Penh, 3rd in Ratanakkiri, 4th in Pursat, 5th in Mondulkiri, 6th in Siem Reap, 7th in Stung Treng, 8th in Kampong Cham, 9th in Kampong Cham 10th Sihanoukville in Kratie, 11th in Koh Kong, 12th in Kampong Speu, 13th in Kampong Thom, 14th in Preah Vihear, 15th in Ratanakkiri and 16th in Oddar Meanchey.
Noted that after the 8th celebration in 2013, the local communities had taken ownership to organize this the international day of indigenous peoples for the first time in 3 different villages/communes across Cambodia which has about 400 participants. Since then, the number of participants and celebrating places has increased rapidly. By 2019, the celebration of the international day of indigenous people has taken place in about 45 communities with 6000 participants.
2021 is the 27th international day of indigenous People in the world, and the 17th in Cambodia under the theme, “Leaving no one behind: Indigenous Peoples and the call for a new social contract”
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Cambodia, and to contribute to the government in preventing the spread of this disease, the indigenous peoples of Cambodia are virtually celebrating this day via Zoom.
As mentioned above, we would like to invite His Majesty, Excellencies, Lok Chumteav, Neak Oknha, Ladies and Gentlemen, especially the government representatives of Cambodia, the representatives/ambassadors, NGOs and the private sector in Cambodia to join us in celebrating the International Day of Indigenous Peoples on August 9, 2021, from 8 am to 5 pm in order to raise awareness of cultural traditions and recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights in Cambodia.
Translated from the Khmer version by Soy Pisey
This article is translated by Google Translate from the Khmer version, original source available at: https://www.rfa.org/khmer/news/land/land-dispute-residents-in-preah-vihear-province-say-local-authorities-conspired-with-chinese-sugar-company-08022021115156.html?fbclid=IwAR2ZWX_KFcYpez4XZKPxdhvUIWWIRuNbgTh1xVkzfoYUD5k4ygPBjbhpkIg
Hengfu Group Sugar Industry has been out of production for more than two years, but three indigenous people live in the district from thousands of families have yet to receive a proper solution from state authorities. Villagers say the main reason for the ongoing land dispute is because the authorities conspired with Chinese companies to rent the disputed land to the outside people farming for thousands of hectares.
Indigenous people living in three districts, Tbeng Meanchey, Chey Sen and Chep, are still shouting for justice to demand their farmland. Lost to return so that they have farmland, plantations to grow crops for a living. Villagers regret authorities delaying land dispute resolution And.
Indigenous Kuay resident of Premre commune, Tbeng Meanchey district, Ms. Huot Maly is very desperate for the authorities who do not pay attention to address their concerns. Villagers who have suffered for years due to Chinese company encroachment on farmland since 2013 The solution at all. She confirmed that the 30-hectare farmland of the parents of the female family, which has been cultivating for generations, was cleared by the Chinese company. Sugarcane for almost 10 years.
The 48-year-old added that local authorities have always protected Chinese companies and conspired to lease the disputed land to incoming residents. New, worth 300,000 riel per hectare: “Even if there is no forest, as long as there is land removed from some companies I can replant trees to herd cows. When we complained to the authorities, he shouted that if we did it on Chinese soil, if China did it, he would not be responsible because the people did it. On their land by anarchy, do not rent them.
Mr. Soeun Tha, President of Bresakak Village Association, Mlou Prey 2 Commune, Chhep District, urges local and national authorities to intervene and find solutions for the people. Transparent. He said that if the authorities still refuse to resolve the land dispute, the indigenous people will continue to shout and expose the injustice. Finish. Moreover, all the actions of the people who dare to protest, even though he knows that the authorities are persecuting and threatening innocent people, the villagers do not give up. . He considered the farmland that the Chinese company encroached on as their life: “When we went to grow crops, the company threatened to seize it. We are in prison and the authorities will not let us do it because he said that this land is the land of the company and if we got this land in the past “After the cultivation, a company came to clear it.”
RFA tried to contact Preah Vihear Provincial Hall spokeswoman Yong Kim Hoeung and Ministry of Agriculture spokeswoman Vuthy, but the call went unanswered.
As for the ruling party spokesman, Sok Isan, he said that there was no basis for the land dispute to be political and that he accused the indigenous people. Those minorities are insurgents against local authorities. He said that if there is a land dispute, the provincial authorities will not stand by and watch these people suffer because the authorities have a role. Serving the people: “The authorities belong to the state and the people, if the authorities do not address the people, you have a valid reason, especially in the case of forest land Well, the people are not all good.
In this regard, civil society sees Mr. Isan’s remarks as not a mechanism for finding a peaceful solution to alleviate his suffering. No citizens. They observe that the indigenous Kuay people involved in land disputes often protest non-violently to demand land that the Chinese sugarcane company Abused, but government authorities often accuse them of associating with the opposition.
Ponlok Khmer executive director Pek Sophoan said authorities were unwilling to resolve the land dispute. The civil society official urged the government to release the poor people who have been suffering for many years. Resolve this chronic dispute fairly to its citizens so that they can have access to farming on their land as before Because of the disputed land, the company has suspended operations. He stated that the excuse to accuse and accuse the land dispute is a political issue, not a mechanism to find a solution for citizens in accordance with the policy of No government: “This is a conflict of interest because the authorities received bribes from the giants, even though the company does not operate, but the authorities Some also have land in it. Therefore, it is not possible to resolve land disputes, people hand over the community living around there.
Meanwhile, Preah Vihear provincial ADHOC Coordinating Officer Lor Chan said that the land dispute, the authorities not only did not find justice for the people. Instead, he threatened to persecute the people who exercised their land rights. He said that the disputed land was partially stolen by the authorities and sold to traders, angering the people. Therefore, he called on the head of government to expedite the settlement of this issue, if prolonged, it will increase the complexity and the people will be more miserable: Only the government can confiscate this land and give it to the people, the real victims because I do not trust the lower authorities The nation is not willing to solve for the people. If he is, he will not last 10 years. ”
Hengfu Group Sugar Industry Concession Company has received investment rights from the government on more than 40,000 hectares (42,000 hectares) since 2011. Sugarcane and rubber crops. The company is the parent company and has five subsidiaries. The company’s investment has affected about 2,000 indigenous families with about 10,000 people in the village. 25 communes, 10 districts and 3 districts: Chey Sen, Chep and Tbeng Meanchey districts. NGO Forum on Cambodia and a number of partner organizations found that a Chinese company was clearing people’s farmland Clearing water sources, which are natural waterways rich in live fish and clearing the land of 4 ancient temples and Other ancient sites.
This year, Cambodia marks the celebration 17th of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, under the theme: leaving no one behind: Indigenous Peoples and the call for a new social contract.
Since 2013, indigenous communities in Cambodia have organized the event in their respective communities and used this event as a platform to manifesting their cultural traditions, and raising their voices regarding their concerns and issues facing their lives.
Annually, the Royal Government of Cambodia’s Prime Minister issues key messages to mark the event, and the Ministry of Rural Development organizes it with the participation of CSOs, and the local communities.
Indigenous people in Mondulkiri Province express frustration with the French court’s dismissal of their previous lawsuit against Bolloré and ordered them to pay a fine of over 20,000 euros to the parent company.
The disappointment comes after a court in Paris, France, on July 2 dismissed a lawsuit filed by an indigenous group in Mondulkiri Province and ordered more than 20,000 euro payments to the French Bolloré.
In 2019, nine indigenous representatives sued in a French court after filing a lawsuit in 2015 against Bolloré, a major donor to three companies, including Coviphama, Varanasi and Setheikola, but the three companies sold shares to Socfin.
In a statement issued by the Bunong community of Mondulkiri Province on July 14, 2021, 97 families called the decision of the Nanterre court in Paris “unfair and unacceptable.”
Indigenous groups said in a statement that they could not accept the French court’s ruling that the Bunongs in Busra had no right to occupy the land under Cambodia’s laws. They call such arguments in violation of Cambodian land law and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
According to the statement, Bolloré, the current owner of Socfin in Cambodia, has invested in rubber plantations on the plantations and spiritual forests of the indigenous people of Bunong from 2008 to the present.
The same source claimed that after receiving the investment right, the company cleared the forest, the spiritual forests, taboo forests, and the daily food source of the indigenous people without settling compensation for them.
In addition to the forest clearing, 15 communities have been sued in court and some are still in custody because the company has sued them after they protested against the clearing of land and the forest on which they depend.
Mondulkiri Indigenous Community Network Land and Forestry Human Rights Coordinator Kreung Tola said they and their lawyers had already appealed Nanterre’s decision to the Court of Appeal, hoping that the supreme court will help find justice for them.
“We hope that the Court of Appeal in France will judge, refer to indigenous-related laws and consider international law,” he said. So we will receive fair because our people are definitely victimized; we are the real owners of the land, not like the French court we are not the people living in Busra commune, Pichreda district, Mondulkiri. So we can not accept their rejection.”
ADHOC Community Empowerment Program Officer Pen Bunnar considers the French court’s decision to be unfair to indigenous peoples. On the other hand, the factors that lead to indigenous peoples suffering like this, he said, are because the government provides economic land concessions to companies without studying the impact on the people.
“That’s right,” he said. Each concession must have an impact study! And it is clear that our leaders have said not to trade rubber trees for the dense forest, so we see that it is contrary to the government’s commitment to providing economic concessions not to affect dense forest and semi-dense forest, especially indigenous areas, forest land, and burial areas! “And it not only affects the forest, but it also affects the ancestral traditions that they have preserved for years.”
Mr. Pen Bunnar urged the Cambodian government to study, research and address the impact on the people before deciding to grant land concessions to any company to develop so that people do not suffer further.
Original story at: https://vodkhmer.news/2021/07/15/indigenous-people-express-frustration-over-french-court-rejecting-their-lawsuit/
About 1,000 Bunong ethnic minority families in Mondulkiri province are crying for justice after their shelters were demolished by environment officials, alleging they were living on state land, even though the families say they have been living there for generations.
Read the full story at: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50893231/indigenous-communities-in-mondulkiri-forced-off-land/?p=893231
Each year, 9 August commemorates the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. It is celebrated around the world and marks the date of the inaugural session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at the United Nations in 1982.
As part of the commemoration, the Indigenous Peoples and Development Branch – Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues/DISD/DESA is organizing a virtual event. Indigenous Peoples, Member States, UN entities, civil society, and the general public are all invited.
The 2021 commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples will focus on the theme “Leaving no one behind: Indigenous peoples and the call for a new social contract” to be held on Monday, 9 August from 9 am to 11 am (EST). Information on registration will be shared soon.
More than 70 per cent of the world’s population is living in countries with rising income and wealth inequality, including indigenous peoples who already face high rates of poverty and acute socio-economic disadvantages. High levels of inequality are generally associated with institutional instability, corruption, financial crises, increased crime and lack of access to justice, education and health services. For indigenous peoples, poverty and gross inequities tend to generate intense social tensions and conflicts.
Eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions and reducing inequality are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The whole of society — not only governments but also social activists, indigenous peoples, women, academia, scientists — all have a role to play in building and redesigning a new social contract that serves the interest of “We, the peoples”, as per the preamble of the United Nations Charter.
Indigenous peoples’ right to participate in decision-making is a key component in achieving reconciliation between indigenous peoples and States. Therefore, a new social contract must combat the legacy of exclusion and marginalization affecting indigenous peoples — through their meaningful and effective participation and the obtainment of their free, prior and informed consent. Consequently, it will lead to meeting the goals of the 2030 Agenda.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the effects of growing inequalities and promoted discussion on the urgent need to rethink a new social contract. A new common sense that will work for all peoples and the planet. It has created a unique opportunity to build back a more equal and sustainable world – one based on genuine and inclusive participation and partnership that fosters equal opportunities for all and respects the rights, dignity and freedoms of all.
For the many indigenous peoples disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 worldwide, plans to build back better and rethink social contracts must include listening to their voices, needs and concerns, obtaining their free, prior and informed consent, and include the collective and individual rights of indigenous peoples recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The 2021 commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples will feature an interactive discussion with two speakers on the distinct elements to be considered when building and redesigning a new social contract for indigenous peoples – where indigenous peoples’ own forms of governance and ways of life must be respected and based on their free, prior and informed consent and genuine and inclusive participation and partnership.
James Anaya has taught and written extensively on international human rights and issues concerning indigenous peoples. He served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples from 2008 to 2014. Currently, he serves as Dean and Professor at the University of Colorado Law School at Boulder.
Dean Anaya has advised numerous indigenous and other organizations from several countries on matters of human rights and indigenous peoples, representing indigenous peoples’ groups from many parts of North and Central America in landmark cases before domestic and international tribunals, including the United States Supreme Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Among his noteworthy activities, he participated in the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and was the lead counsel for the indigenous parties in the case of Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua, in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the first time upheld indigenous land rights as a matter of international law.
Prior to becoming a full time law professor, he practiced law in Albuquerque, New Mexico, representing Native American peoples and other minority groups. Dean Anaya served on the law faculty at the University of Arizona from 1999 to 2016 and on the faculty of the University of Iowa from 1988 to 1999.
María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, an Ecuadorian scholar, diplomat, has held many leadership positions within the Government of Ecuador, serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense and Minister of Cultural and Natural Heritage. Furthermore, she was the first female ambassador and permanent representative of Ecuador to the United Nations offices in New York and in Geneva. Most recently, Ms. Espinosa served as President of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, becoming the fourth woman in history and the first from Latin America and the Caribbean to preside over this body. Ms. Espinosa is currently member of the Strategic Committee of the Science Panel for the Amazon of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network; member of the international Lancet COVID-19 Commission; councilor of the World Future Council; member of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee of the Generation Equality Forum; member of the Political Advisory Panel of the Universal Health Coverage 2030 Movement (UHC2030); fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS); member of the Group of Women Leaders for Change and Inclusion (GWL); and Goodwill Ambassador for the Latin American and Caribbean Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples (FILAC).
Ghazali Ohorella is an idealist and anteambulo for indigenous peoples. He is indigenous to the Alifuru People of Maluku, with an unshakeable belief in a bright future for all indigenous peoples of the world.
Mr. Ohorella works to give wings to indigenous peoples and their ideas, that is why everything he says and does is geared towards inspiring and empowering 476 million indigenous peoples so that they can do what inspires them. He uses his many years of experience in indigenous rights advocacy and high-level negotiations to open spaces and create an enabling environment for indigenous peoples at the international level that is built on the right to self-determination.
The draft for Mondulkiri’s tourism development master plan 2021-2035 received endorsement from the National Tourism Development Committee according to press release on June 29.
Read the full story at: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/884075/mondulkiris-tourism-master-plan-green-lit-waiting-for-final-approval/
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has advised authorities in the capital and provinces to be attentive to solving the problems and addressing the concerns of the citizenry in their respective territories.
With commune elections one year away, Sar Kheng said, politicians may use any unsolved problems or disputes to build their own popularity and support at the expense of the current government.
Read the full story at: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sar-kheng-no-violence-towards-protesters
The rare Asiatic golden cat has been detected in natural protected areas in the Kingdom’s northeastern province of Ratanakkiri.
Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra said on June 28 that according to images collected by specialists, the cats were captured on automatic cameras in Ratanakkiri’s Virachey National Park.
Pheaktra said Virachey is an ASEAN national heritage park and is rich in biodiversity. The research team for the ministry’s Department of Conservation of the East Mekong River Area had placed cameras there from March to May and caught many images of rare animal species.
Read the full story at: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/asiatic-golden-cat-caught-camera-ratanakkiri
