| Dey Krahorm Community is Forcibly Evicted in Phnom Penh
In 2003, the Dey Krahorm land was granted to the community as a Social Land Concession, following Prime Minister Hun Sen's announcement to provide secure land tenure and to assist in the onsite upgrading of 100 inner-city poor communities each year until all of Phnom Penh's urban poor communities have secure land tenure and full basic services. Dey Krahorm was to be among the first urban poor communities to become beneficiaries of this plan. The Social Land Concession included the provision for onsite upgrading on 3.7 hectares of the total 4.7 hectares of land, and secure legal tenure rights for the community. The remaining 1 hectare was allocated for private development. Since the beginning of the land dispute, the community has been subjected to continuous harassment by authorities and company officials. Community leaders and activists who have defended the rights of the community have faced false criminal charges for destruction of company property or incitement against the government. Most families succumbed to this intimidation and moved to the relocation site or accepted minimal compensation offers for their homes and land. However, around 150 villagers refused to give in and stood their ground in Dey Krahorm. They successfully resisted numerous eviction attempts since 2006 though a remarkable campaign of creative, active non-violence. Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia has stood in solidarity with these families for the last two years.
Security forces and private workers hired by the 7NG company began to gather and seal the area around the community from 2am. After waiting for the break of dawn, they moved in at precisely 6am, starting a meticulously planned and brutal eviction. Relief agencies are currently coordinating the provision of food, water, medicine and shelter to the displaced families, but their humanitarian situation is dire. Many of the families are still sleeping out in the open, and those not on the company’s “list” are being denied the bags of rice and boxes of instant noodles distributed by company staff. We are appealing for donations to provide food, clothing and other essential items for the displaced families. We also seek donations to support the community’s ongoing advocacy and legal expenses.
Read joint NGO statement condemning the illegal eviction
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Dey Krahorm, or Red Earth village, is located in the heart of the fastest growing area of the Phnom Penh. The community began residing in Dey Krahorm in the mid 1980’s, when they cleared the swampland and filled it with red soil making it habitable for housing. Some of the country’s most famous artists, actors and musicians were among the first to settle the area. The population of the village grew to an estimated 805 families by 2003.
In 2005, a private company, 7NG Construction Co, negotiated a contract with the village chiefs, effectively swapping the prime land in Dey Krahorm for housing at a relocation site 20km outside of Phnom Penh. The Dey Krahorm residents never agreed to an off-site relocation and were never consulted about the contract. Under Cambodian land and contract laws it is illegal to sell other people’s rights to land, so the contract with 7NG is legally invalid. Unfortunately, Cambodia is a country ruled by guns and money not laws. 
After receiving reliable information from a source within the police force about the imminent eviction of Dey Krahorm, monitors from BABSEA and other organizations moved into the community late on the night of Friday, January 23. The tip proved accurate and around 20 observers were able to monitor and document the systematic and callous destruction of a community that has stood for over 20 years. 
After the riot and military police removed the residents, their homes were demolished by between 400 and 600 private workers armed with bulldozers, sledgehammers, hatchets and iron bars. They were used as “breakers” and some of them reported being promised breakfast and $10 for their demolition services. Monitors observed children as young as 13 employed for this task.
Excavators tore down the larger houses and bulldozers crushed their remains. The heavy machinery was operated carelessly and on one occasion nearly killed one resident. The woman was extremely upset and attempted to hit the driver, who became angry and retaliated by driving directly at her and pushing mounds of debris in her direction, seriously threatening the woman’s life and safety. She fainted due to trauma and the effects of tear gas and collapsed amidst the rubble, escaping death by inches as the bulldozer came barrelling at her, almost crushing her. She was carried away by her traumatized daughter, and was later found to have sustained fractures to her hip and ankle.
Flat-bed trucks took away debris and re-usable building materials and police officers were seen carrying away electrical goods. Some families who agreed to move to the relocation site were allowed to load their remaining possessions onto trucks and were driven away. They were dumped in front of the Damnak Traeyung relocation site, more than 20 kilometres outside the city. No food, water, shelter or latrines were prepared for them there. 27 families who were on the company’s list of those deemed “eligible” for compensation were given small flats resembling one-car garages. Hundreds of other “ineligible” families assembled makeshift tents with tarpaulins, clothes or metal sheets, as they wait in limbo for the authorities and company to decide their fate. Many families refused to get onto the trucks and instead went to the offices of the local human rights organization Licadho and the houses of friends and family.
