policy Archives - Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT)

CSO and Human Right Defenders Continue to Call for Releasing the 23

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There were approximately hundred people from civil society organizations (CSOs), Boeung Kak, Borei Keila and Thmor Kol community people, youths and Buddhist monks gathered and marched for submitting the petition to foreign organizations and embassies on calling for intervention for releasing the 23 human rights defenders and garment workers on January 29, 2014.

Firstly, the protestors submitted the petition to the Singaporean Embassy without any disturbing from the government armed forces. After that they continuously went on foots to submit the petition to UNDP. During the marching there were about eighty government joint-armed forces scattered and blocked protesters on Paster Street, in front of World Health Organization.

The government joint-armed forces warned the protesters not to go by foots to continue submitting the petition to the foreign institutions and embassies, including UNDP, UNFPA, Singaporean Embassy, the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam, the Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Indonesian Embassy, the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines and Chinese Embassy. However, they allowed the protestors to take vehicles in order to submit the petition. Even though, some protestors still went by foots for submitting the petition.

Fortunately, the government joint-armed forces did not disturb the protesters, letting the protestors successfully submitted the petition to Indonesian Embassy. However, there have seen two trucks loading military police followed behind the protesters’ marching.

Interestingly, the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam did not accept the petition from the protestors, instead it just explained to the protestors that this period of time is the Chinese and Vietnamese New Year; therefore, the ambassadors are on holidays.

Finally, the protestor successfully submitted the petition to the Embassy of China.

Mam Sonando and His Supporters Expel

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On January 27, 2014 at 8:00 am, director of the independent broadcast Radio Beehive, Mr. Mam Sonando and his supporters approximately 2,000 gathered and rallied at Dragon Bridge nearby Freedom Park, requesting for the Ministry of Information to allow Radio Beehive to have its own TV station and nationwide broadcasts.

At 9:40am, Mr. Mam Sonando led his supporters to march to the Ministry of Information in order to submit a petition asking to set up the relay for Radio Beehive broadcasting and a new TV station. Thousands of his supporters and other people joined the march around Wat Phnom, past the US Embassy to the Ministry of Information. The protesters were blocked by military police and security guards during their march past the US Embassy, but the protesters pushed forward.

At about 9:40am, Sonando and his supporters reached the Ministry of Information—and the rally continued even though the Ministry did not come to receive the petition from Mr. Mam Sonando.

After that, about 10:00am, almost a thousand riots police, military police and security guards equipped with shields and electric batons stood in line and gathered with police shields. This mix of police used smoke-grenades and beat protesters, which made people run away to escape from the smoke and beating. Fortunately, Mr. Mam Sonando was evacuated without being injured.

The Ministry of Information did not receive the petition. At least 10 people were injured after having been beaten. Some people were immediately sent to the hospital. Media and human rights observers were onsite.

Policy for the Poor?

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Phnom Penh’s urban poor are under threat. Over the past two decades, 11% of the city’s current population has been displaced, often forcibly evicted, to poorer futures. A key government argument – when such arguments have been provided – has been that many of those affected have been illegal squatters, living on state public land. Habitually, however, there is no assessment of whether or not the occupants have rights to the land as legal possessors.

In May 2010, the Royal Government of Cambodia approved Circular 03 on Resolution of Temporary Settlement on Land Which Has Been Illegally Occupied in the Capital, Municipal, and Urban Areas (C03). In the context of on-going tenure insecurity among Cambodia’s urban poor, the Circular lays down a process through which the issue of occupation of state public land is to be ‘resolved’. With support from Germany through its development agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), C03 implementation has taken place in Battambang provincial town since late 2010. Implementation has commenced in Phnom Penh too, though seemingly conducted unilaterally by the Municipality of Phnom Penh.

While implementation continues, fundamental questions remain regarding the content of the Circular itself and the impacts of its implementation. The aim of Policy for the Poor? Phnom Penh, Tenure Security, and Circular 03 is to highlight some of the issues arising from the Circular as a policy document, and draw attention to the opportunities and risks arising from its implementation. It also aims to provide stakeholders in urban development in Phnom Penh with a better understanding of the extent to which Circular 03 meets the required legal standards to genuinely protect the rights of the urban poor through increasing their tenure security, and how practicable a tool it is for that purpose.

You can download the report, produced by STT’s research arm The Urban Initiative, here: Policy for the Poor?: