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PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0348/01 0531121
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
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FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6063
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 PHNOM PENH 000348 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND OES--ANN STEWART AND PETER 
O'DONOHUE 
USAID FOR ANE/SPOTS--MARY MELNYK AND JOHN WILSON, 
ANE/ESA--DEIDRE WINSTON AND DEBORAH KENNEDY-IRAHETA 
BANGKOK FOR REO JIM WALLER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2015 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SENV ECON CB
SUBJECT: CAMBODIAN LAND DISPUTES MORE FREQUENT, MORE VIOLENT 
 
REF: A. 05 PHNOM PENH 479 
     ¶B. 05 PHNOM PENH 1215 
 
Classified By: Econoff Jennifer Spande for reason 1.4(b). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY.  Land disputes--which often pit poor 
villagers against the powerful and wealthy--have affected 12% 
of Cambodians and are on the rise.  The disputes take many 
shapes, including large economic land concessions on land 
claimed by indigenous groups in the northeast and a plethora 
of small disputes involving villagers and unclear land titles 
in northwestern and central Cambodia.  Land speculation, lax 
land titling procedures and a push to improve them, 
dramatically rising land prices in key areas, and the recent 
availability of demined or inaccessible land all fuel the 
disputes.  Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly warned that 
land disputes could spark a "farmer's revolution," but so far 
most observers believe that Cambodian frustration has not yet 
reached that level of discontent.  Nevertheless, land issues 
are likely to play an increasingly important role in 
Cambodian politics, particularly in the run-up to the 2007 
local and 2008 national elections.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Land Disputes Frequent and on the Rise 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Land disputes in rural Cambodia--which pit often 
impoverished villagers against powerful corporations, 
high-ranking government officials, well-connected 
businessmen, or other struggling villagers--are already 
common and are becoming more serious and more frequent.  A 
recent report by USAID's Asia and Near East Bureau on the 
human impact of forest conflic estimates that 1.7 million 
Cambodians--or 12% of the total population--have been 
directly affected by land and forest disputes over the past 
15 years, either by being pushed off their land or being 
involved in related violence.  The Cambodian Human Rights 
Action Committee, a coalition of 18 NGOs, has noted a 25-30% 
increase in land dispute cases brought to the attention of 
NGOs over the past few months. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In addition, land disputes are becoming more 
legally complex and more violent, and military involvement in 
land disputes is increasing, according to observers.  The 
March 2005 eviction in Kbal Spien, near the border town of 
Poipet, is the most striking example of escalation, with 5 
villagers killed, 14 seriously injured, and 30 detained (Ref 
A).  Naly Pilorge, director of the human rights NGO LICADHO, 
summarized the situation in a comment to Econoff, "Land 
ownership is the number one issue affecting people in 
Cambodia....  When we do human rights training in villages, 
this is what people are most concerned about." 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The rise in reported land dispute cases is more a 
reflection of existing low-intensity land disputes now coming 
to a head rather than new cases of land grabbing, according 
to NGO observers and affected villagers.  Mike Bird, Director 
of Oxfam-Great Britain, attributes the intensification of 
existing land disputes to two factors:  donor-led efforts to 
introduce land titling and increasing amounts of financial 
capital in Cambodia.  Land titling efforts--though only 
underway in areas of the country with little land 
conflict--have spurred some with illicit designs on acquiring 
more land to act now to cement their illegitimate claims so 
that they can gain a new land title when the titling process 
comes to their region.  And it would appear that the high 
levels of capital fueling the Phnom Penh real estate boom are 
also fueling land speculation elsewhere.  In many cases, 
these speculators are--knowingly or unknowingly--buying land 
whose ownership was already in dispute. 
 
Indigenous Groups vs. Concessions in Northeast 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶5.  (U) Most of the rural land disputes in Cambodia occur in 
two regions:  the sparsely populated forests of northeastern 
Cambodia and the "rice bowl" of northwestern and central 
Cambodia.  Land disputes in northeastern Cambodia often pit 
indigenous groups against Cambodian or Sino-Cambodian 
companies who have been granted vast economic land 
concessions in quasi-legal proceedings (Ref B).  These 
provinces are sparsely populated and the indigenous groups 
that have historically inhabited these areas have cultures 
that are based on the availability of large areas of land. 
Outsiders may perceive these lands as unused, when in fact 
they are lying fallow as part of traditional swidden (slash 
and burn) agriculture or are revered as "spirit forests" 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000348  002 OF 005 
 
 
according to indigenous animist beliefs.  The most egregious 
land disputes in these regions typically involve huge tracts 
of land--often on the order of 100,000 hectares--and 
relatively small numbers of villagers due to low population 
density. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Observers believe that land speculation is fueling 
these land grabs, with well-connected business people making 
flimsy promises to develop the land into rubber plantations 
or other economic ends in order to qualify for economic land 
concessions.  Such concessions, which are legally supposed to 
be limited to 10,000 hectares but in practice are often many 
times larger, give rights to use the land for up to 99 years. 
 Lands under economic land concessions are typically logged 
and the lumber sold, but rarely is further action taken to 
develop the land. 
 
Smaller Disputes Common in Northwest and Central Cambodia 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶7.  (SBU) In more densely populated northwestern and central 
Cambodia, a multitude of individual disputes involving small 
plots of land have engulfed large areas.  Particularly hard 
hit are areas near the Thai-Cambodian border, where the value 
of the land has risen dramatically in recent years, leading 
wealthy businessmen--including foreign owners of Poipet 
casinos--and high-ranking government officials to engage in 
land speculation, according to Pilorge.  Peter Swift, 
director of the NGO Southeast Asia Development Program, noted 
that demining and road construction projects have increased 
the value of previously unsafe and relatively inaccessible 
land, sparking speculation in land without clear title.  In 
other areas, the fertile agricultural land that was once the 
scene of guerrilla warfare is now claimed both by the 
villagers who have lived there for twenty years and by 
military forces who liberated the area, or by businessmen who 
claim to have bought the land from the military. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) In both the northeast and the northwest, the 
migration of poor and landless Cambodians to new areas fuels 
clashes.  In some cases, migrants encroach on seemingly 
available land which is actually environmentally protected. 
In other cases, Terry Parnell of East-West Management, Inc. 
noted that migrants are invited to settle in a village--often 
by a commune leader or other local official from outside the 
community--in hopes that the migrants will become supporters 
of the local official, thereby gaining a base of ardent 
supporters and ensuring his power. 
 
Mechanics of a Land Grab 
------------------------ 
 
¶9.  (SBU) While land disputes in northeastern Cambodia 
typically revolve around economic land concessions made with 
at least a veneer of legality, in the rest of the country, 
villagers are often persuaded, intimidated, or tricked to 
part with their land.  Some rural residents willingly sell 
their land for what seems to them like a great deal of money, 
though it is often less than what the land is worth and 
almost certainly not enough to buy a comparable plot nearby. 
Parnell reported that in other cases, villagers have been 
intimidated into selling their land, being told in effect 
that a powerful individual would take possession of their 
land whether they sold or not, so they might as well sell. 
NGO observers also related cases where disreputable village 
chiefs acted as intermediaries for land sales, only to pocket 
the proceeds rather than forwarding them to the sellers. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Lax land titling procedures in place before 
passage of the 2001 Land Law also contribute to the problem. 
Before the Land Law of 2001, either the commune chief or the 
village chief could issue land titles, and few chiefs would 
take the time to assess the claim or ensure there was no 
competing title, leading to a flurry of spurious claims. 
General Heng Chantha, the governor of Banteay Meanchey 
province, reported that in 1999, one Poipet commune chief 
even signed a title certifying someone else as the owner of 
the chief's own property without realizing what he had done. 
Other unscrupulous individuals create fake land titles--dated 
before 2001--to take advantage of the mess of land titling 
responsibilities.  In addition to multiple individual owners, 
different government bodies, including the armed forces and 
Ministries of Interior; Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries; 
Environment; and Rural Development, sometimes have 
overlapping claims.  Bird noted one case in Kampong Cham 
where seven different claims to one plot were documented. 
(Note:  The World Bank is currently implementing a Land 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000348  003 OF 005 
 
 
Management and Administration Project to improve land 
security and create an efficient land market by providing 1 
million Cambodian families with land titles.  However, NGO 
observers noted that the World Bank project is intended to 
formally document the ownership of undisputed land rather 
than to resolve land disputes, and that the World Bank has 
purposefully chosen to implement this project in provinces 
with few land disputes.  End Note.) 
 
The 2001 Land Law Is Sound... 
----------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (U) The Land Law of 2001, which was drafted with 
extensive participation from civil society and international 
experts, is a progressive law that takes pains to extend land 
rights to marginalized Cambodians.  The Land Law includes, 
for example, provisions for social land concessions--5 
hectare plots of state land that would be given to poor 
families under specific conditions.  The law also recognizes 
the communal land rights of indigenous communities, making 
Cambodia and the Philippines the only Southeast Asian nations 
to do so, according to Touch Sokha of NGO Forum.  However, in 
practice, the progressive elements of the law are not 
implemented.  Despite the granting of many large economic 
land concessions--often far beyond the legal size 
limits--social land concessions have not yet been implemented 
except for two small pilot projects.  The theoretical 
communal land rights of indigenous Cambodians have not been 
formally defined and have not prevented their land from being 
used as economic land concessions. 
 
...but Falls Victim to Government Inaction and Intimidation 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶12.  (C) Cadastral committees at the district, provincial, 
and national levels are charged with settling disputes 
involving untitled land, yet in reality these committees 
accomplish little.  (Disputes involving titled land are 
resolved via the court system.)  NGO observers described the 
district and provincial level cadastral committees as plagued 
by lack of staff and resources.  Touch Sokha noted that 
although foreign donors fund cadastral committees, "funding 
from the top does not flow to the bottom." and other NGO 
staff reported paying for gas and other expenses associated 
with measuring plots and processing land cases.  Sourn 
Siphath, director of the National Cadastral Commission 
Secretariat, said that district and provincial cadastral 
 
SIPDIS 
committees were given small advances to begin carrying out 
their work, but in general were expected to expend money 
first and then be reimbursed.  (Comment:  Given low civil 
servant salaries and insufficient ministerial budgets, the 
notion that cadastral committee employees could expend their 
own money on investigating land disputes and then wait while 
their requests for reimbursement proceed through the 
Cambodian government bureaucracy is unrealistic at best.  End 
Comment.)  Siphath told Econoff that despite being 
established in 2002, the commission was still drawing up 
procedures for the functioning of the national commission and 
had yet to hear any cases. 
 
¶13. (C)  Even more importantly, there is little political 
will at any level to accomplish the job.  Bird highlighted Im 
Chhun Lim, Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and 
Constructions, as particularly ineffective.  As a CPP insider 
and senior minister, he should have the clout necessary to 
make progress on land disputes, but he is desperate to avoid 
a functioning national cadastral committee because, as its 
head, he would take the political heat for the most 
problematic cases. 
 
¶14.  (C) More disturbing than government inactivity, 
observers allege that government officials use threats, 
intimidation, and imprisonment to thwart villagers' efforts 
to claim their land.  Naly Pilorge of LICADHO observed that 
courts are using the same legal techniques against villagers 
involved in land disputes that they have used against union 
activists and human rights activists:  charges of incitement 
and destruction of property.  In a typical scenario, 
according to Swift, villagers have been living in a locale 
for some 20 years, an outsider claims the land and puts in 
fence posts, and the villagers respond by pulling out the 
posts, leading to a charge of destruction of property.  Where 
property isn't actually destroyed, it can easily be faked to 
facilitate a criminal charge, Terry Parnell alleged.  The 
corrupt court system is hardly a fair arbiter of such cases. 
In one recent example cited by Thun Saray of Adhoc, the 
president of the court himself was party to a land dispute 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000348  004 OF 005 
 
 
case in Sihanoukville.  The judge declined to recuse himself 
and the Ministry of Justice refused to intervene, leaving the 
judge to decide on his own case. 
 
NGO Efforts Have Not Been Coordinated 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU) For their part, several NGO observers admitted 
that the NGO community has so far failed to mount an 
effective, coordinated campaign to combat land grabs. 
According to Parnell, NGOs have dealt with these as cases to 
be fought on a village to village basis in the court system, 
rather than a systemic issue to be addressed by political 
change.  Moreover, both NGOs and donors have been slow to 
share or coordinate their efforts.  An umbrella group, NGO 
Forum, recently created a land dispute database to address 
this issue, but their work is just beginning.  (Note:  USAID 
has identified this issue and is working with their human 
rights partners to put in place new mechanisms for 
coordination and information sharing that can enhance 
advocacy efforts.  End Note.)  For their part, donors have 
made the release of a complete list of economic land 
concessions one of the Consultative Group (CG) benchmarks. 
The government has already released a partial list of land 
concessions, and has committed to releasing a complete list 
before the CG meeting in March. 
 
A "Farmer's Revolution" In the Offing? 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶16.  (C) The key question is how frustrated Cambodian 
villagers are likely to respond to an increasing crisis. 
Some see land disputes as a very real threat to the Cambodian 
government.  PM Hun Sen said as recently as December 2005 
that land grabbing could spark a "farmer's revolution" and 
has called on soldiers and high-ranking officials to stop 
violating the rights of the poor.  On Feb. 14, Co-Minister of 
the Interior Sar Kheng ordered provincial governors attending 
a conference at the Interior Ministry to resolve disputes in 
their provinces and return farmers camping out on the ground 
of the National Assembly to their home provinces of Kandal, 
Kampong Speu, Battambang, and Oddar Meanchey.  Several NGO 
staff also see land disputes as destabilizing.  Felipe Atkins 
of Norwegian People's Aid described land disputes as a "time 
bomb" and remarked, "poor people suffer abuse from the 
military and the rich.  All that hatred must be going 
somewhere.  At some stage it must explode."  Similarly, Yeng 
Virak, director of Community Legal Education Center, 
described the land grabbing phenomenon as "a balloon being 
blown up like a fist". 
 
¶17.  (C) Yet other observers are less certain that this 
serious and pervasive issue constitutes a threat to the Hun 
Sen Regime.  Peter Swift remarked that, in general, 
Cambodians will put up with a lot to avoid civil unrest. 
Moreover, no strong leaders on this issue have yet emerged, 
and public protests over big concessions aren't sustained 
over long periods of time.  (Note:  Similarly, displaced 
villagers camping out in Phnom Penh parks sporadically 
demonstrate and appeal for help, but show no signs of a 
sustained, organized effort.  End Note.)  Parnell noted that 
the government often takes pains to prevent community 
mobilization.  For example, authorities evict 200 or 300 
people in one community, but do so 10 at a time.  Often the 
rest of the community sits back silently, hoping that they 
will avoid the same fate if they don't make trouble.  Bird 
noted that, "there are a growing number of people who see 
these conflicts over land and resources as life and death" 
but predicted that as long as people are able to feed their 
families, the situation will remain stable.  "However, if 
there's a major natural disaster and there's not enough rice 
to go around, you might find people who feel like there is 
nothing to lose," he concluded. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶18.  (C) The shadow of the Khmer Rouge looms large over the 
land dispute issue.  Massive dislocations of people, 
including the emptying of urban centers, uprooted millions of 
Cambodians from 1975-79.  As a result of this chaos, land 
titles and ownership prior to the fall of the Khmer Rouge 
regime are not recognized under the law.  The situation was 
made even worse by the succeeding communist regime's disdain 
for private land ownership.  With the threat that the current 
government will institute some rationality into land 
ownership by registering land titles, knowledgeable and 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000348  005 OF 005 
 
 
unscrupulous Cambodians appear determined to grab as much 
property as they can before land ownership is set in 
concrete.  Their greed hits hardest the poorest and most 
vulnerable elements of society.  Unfortunately, what is 
happening in the area of land disputes is a microcosm of the 
realities that face the poor and powerless throughout a 
society with a culture of impunity and without a reliable 
justice system.  However, as a Secretary of State in the 
Ministry of Land Management told us, the Prime Minister is 
likely to feel compelled to show some progress in halting and 
reversing land grabs before the 2007 local and 2008 national 
elections. 
Storella