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© Amnesty International
News
 * 
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July 19, 2024


CAMBODIA: WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE MUST ENSURE UNESCO DECISION ADDRESSES ANGKOR
FORCED EVICTIONS

Member states at next week’s UNESCO World Heritage Committee must address human
rights violations carried out by Cambodian authorities affecting thousands of
families at the Angkor historical site, Amnesty International said.

A UNESCO World Heritage Centre draft decision on the site was issued ahead of
the UN agency’s 46th World Heritage Committee session, which takes place in New
Delhi, India, from 21 – 31 July 2024.

An Amnesty International report published in November 2023 revealed that
Cambodian authorities, citing the need to protect the roughly
thousand-year-old site from damage that could imperil Angkor’s UNESCO World
Heritage status, had engaged in forced evictions on a massive scale and in a
gross violation of international human rights law.

“Member states at the World Heritage Committee session must unequivocally
condemn the human rights violations being committed by the Cambodian government
at Angkor,” said Kate Schuetze, Amnesty International’s Acting Deputy Regional
Director for Research.

“They must also follow up on the UNESCO draft decision with a view to preventing
further violations and ensuring that victims of forced evictions can access
their right to effective remedy.”

UNESCO’s draft decision expresses concern about “possible forced population
displacements” and requests Cambodia to invite a joint Reactive Monitoring
Mission to Angkor to assess the state of conservation and “the conditions of the
relocated communities”.

The draft decision also calls on Cambodia to ensure that it communicates the
ongoing relocation programme to local communities by outlining, among other
issues, “its commitment to ensuring that the conditions of relocated populations
comply in all respects” with human rights.

However, the decision falls short of calling on Cambodia to make an explicit
commitment not to engage in forced evictions in Angkor. Neither does it call for
Cambodian authorities to put in place all necessary corrective measures to
ensure full respect of human rights for the communities affected. UNESCO had
raised both these issues in a press release in November 2023 in response to
Amnesty International’s findings.


WHITEWASHING BY THE CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT

Following the publication of Amnesty International’s 2023 report, UNESCO World
Heritage Centre requested that Cambodia submit a report on the relocation
programme that addressed “allegations of forced evictions” and “the processes
for identifying legal residents from illegal encroachments”. It also requested
that the report “should include a response to the Amnesty International
allegations.”

In February 2024, the Cambodian government released its State of Conservation
report. However, in the report, the government of Cambodia refused to engage
substantively with Amnesty International’s findings of forced evictions.

The State of Conservation report fails to provide any verifiable information on
how individuals and families were selected to be relocated and instead asserts
that only “squatters” in Angkor were subject to the relocation programme. The
report also fails to provide accessible links to previous research, maps, land
surveys, satellite imagery or interviews with affected people that could
indicate how the government undertook its assessment of “illegality” of
households within Angkor. It seeks to scapegoat the residents of Angkor and is
marked by stigmatizing and derogatory views of people living in poverty.

“The onus is on the Cambodian government to clearly demarcate the traditional
villages that are allowed to stay at the Angkor site – not to assert without
evidence that everyone who was moved was at Angkor ‘illegally’,” Kate Schuetze
said.

In its draft decision, UNESCO World Heritage Centre does not express concern
over the Cambodian government’s refusal to respond meaningfully to its request.
Instead, it merely “acknowledges” the Cambodian government’s report and
“recognizes the complexity of managing this vast World Heritage property, with
living resident communities”.

“The report is propaganda which does not fulfil its mandated purpose, and the
draft decision should have at the very least highlighted this gap instead of
simply noting it without any questions or criticism,” Kate Schuetze said.

“The Cambodian government failed to respond to the findings of Amnesty’s report
because they are attempting to whitewash the situation. But human rights
violations cannot be ended by ignoring them.”


DEBT AND DESPAIR AT RESETTLEMENT SITE

Amnesty International’s report ‘Nobody wants to leave their home’: Mass forced
evictions at Cambodia’s UNESCO World Heritage site of Angkor, showed that the
Cambodian authorities had failed to adequately inform people or engage in
genuine consultations with them prior to the evictions. They also intimidated
and threatened many into not questioning the evictions and to relocate to places
that did not have housing, adequate water, sanitation facilities and access to
livelihoods.

In April 2024, an Amnesty International delegation visited Angkor and the two
resettlement sites, Run Ta Ek and Peak Sneng. The delegation found that Run Ta
Ek resettlement site still lacked basic infrastructure such as roads and
drainage, and many houses did not have access to piped water.

The most common complaint was that many relocated families struggled to earn a
living and had taken on debts that they now could not repay. The debts were
usually taken to build their houses or toilets at the resettlement site after
being forced to destroy their homes at Angkor and relocate to Run Ta Ek.

The costs incurred due to the failure by the Cambodian authorities to provide
adequate housing, and lack of work available to families who had been removed
from the tourist economy, had created a predictable cycle of poverty and
indebtedness. This has led to families using their social security cards as
collateral for loans, skipping meals, selling their houses, and using children’s
education money to repay loans.

One man with three young children broke down as he told Amnesty International he
had to use money for his young daughter’s schooling to pay off their debts.

“If we can’t pay back the loan then we will sell half the land. We don’t eat
sometimes to try and pay back the loan,” he said.

“Member states of the World Heritage Committee, and the international community
at large, must condemn this painful chapter in Angkor’s proud history and uphold
the human rights of the people of Angkor,” Kate Schuetze said.

“The current UNESCO draft decision may be a first step towards acknowledging and
addressing the rights violations that have taken place at Angkor. However,
UNESCO and the member states of the World Heritage Committee still have more to
do to ensure human rights – which are at the heart of the entire United Nations
system – are not forgotten.”

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