land conflicts in Cambodia in 2010

Land Conflicts Drives still complicated matters for Society and Development: DPM Bin Chin

Cambodian National Authority of Land Conflict Resolution said on January 27 that the land conflicts in Cambodia reduce about 2 per cent in 2009 to 213 cases if comparing with 2008 in the same period. In 2007 we had 253 cases dropping about 27 per cent if comparing with 2006. The land conflicts is one of the key issues in Cambodia and is still very complicated matters for society and development in the country,” Bin Chin, deputy prime minister and chairman of the national authority of land conflict resolution said in the annual work review of the authority at the council of ministers. The land conflicts have happened in country after the land price increased sharply in the past years when the economic growth also grew highly and it has brought more investment in the country,” DPM Bin Chin noted.

Speaking at the meeting, he said with presence of the local authority today is very beneficial and is important resources to work on reviewing and counseling on the achievement that we have done in 2009 and future direction that we will implement on the land resolutions.
“We will expand our work and improve our work effectively on dealing land conflicts in 2010,” he said.
“Within factors from history, political issues and war in the country and lack of legal regulations on the land management and population growth, and investment growth from year on year made the land conflicts continue to occur without stopping. And the land conflicts have occurred remarkably in the country recently,” he noted.

To reduce the land conflicts, guarantee the safety of land ownership and terminate the anarchy of illegal land gabbing, the government has inserted the land management reform work into the rectangular policy of the country, and the national authority of land conflict resolution formed to deal the land issues outside the court system. Its work and mechanism has played a key role to implement the regulations and help the land conflicts to minimum level and guarantee the justice of conflict partners and it work also contribute to stabilize the politics and economic and social development of the country, he stresses. We received the some big complaints which are over competent from our work and get all complaints from different corners, promote education about land law and difficulties from land conflicts, and punish illegal land grabbers and investigated the land conflicts, and tracked the deal of the cadastral officials and local authorities and summit the cases to head of government, and all these things we have done some parts in 2009,”he noted.
Moreover, we have new challenging things that need to do such as to prevent and deal the land conflicts more effectively and the land authority need the action plans to continually implement like investigation and research the deeply on the complaints,” said he maintained. We urge to deal the remaining complaints of the land conflicts that are in our hands and we need cooperate each other to deal the land issues timely and avoid the postponement and that it could reach to more complicated in the future and it could turn to other violence.” He said, adding that the land conflicts in Cambodia have happened after the land price increased sharply in the past few years and it is more complicated to solve them because local people do not have the title properly because the country passed through the civil war and the title ownerships lost and now the government are trying to register the land title for the local people.

The national authority noted that the land conflicts also occurred from gabbing state land illegally and some cases local authority provided the land title with different names on same land plot.

At same time, Soun Siphat, secretary general of the national authority of the land conflict resolution (NALCR) said: the agency agreed to get 213 of 1271 complaints of the land conflicts from the local people and other governmental agencies in 2009 because all 213 cases could be dealt and the national authority has ability to deal it” .

“The authority already solved 102 of 213 cases of land conlficts. we have 1271 cases in total of the land conflict complaints since 2008 and 972 of the 1271 cases were turned back because those cases are not under power of the national authority to deal them and 129 complaints are dealing,” he said. In 2009, we investigated 69 cases of land conflicts and are investigating 51 cases.

“Phnom Penh stand in top row of the land conflicts in the country and it has 41 cases and second row is Preah Sihanouk province with 23 cases. Kandal with 21 cases and Siem Reap province,” he said.
According to report from the land authority, local people were used by the illegal grabbers who persuade local people to garb state land illegally and destroyed the forestry to control land and some land disputes were form the land title transfer through buying and sale conducted illegal process, and some cases of land conflicts happened transfer of will in family, disputes between local people and companies which get economic land concession also had. The national authorities of land conflict resolutions will seek support from partners in purpose of speeding up dealing on the land controversial especially prevent any land disputes.
The World Bank helped to register land title for local people over one million land titles but in Cambodian government terminated the land titling program with WB.
In history, in 1960s farmers in Samlot district in Battambang province used to protest with the local authority over land conflicts.
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