State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2013 - Cambodia

The issue of land rights dominated concerns for indigenous peoples in Cambodia during 2012. An escalation in controversial economic land concessions, or ELCs, continued to exert pressure on marginalized communities throughout the country, especially indigenous groups relying on ancestral and communal lands for their livelihoods. At the same time, the government's overt support of private firms, often run by individuals with close ties to the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), contributed to what local rights group called the 'worst year' on record for activists trying to defend their land.

A study by local rights group Licadho reported that authorities had carved up nearly one-quarter of the country's land mass as ELCs awarded to private interests. Of these, at least 98 concessions, totalling more than 700,000 hectares, affect land that indigenous communities live on or use, according to a September 2012 report from Surya Subedi, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia. The government says ELCs are a vital part of its strategy to develop what is a largely rural-based country, but critics say the policy has seen hundreds of thousands of Cambodians threatened by eviction in the last decade. The roots of Cambodia's land problems can be traced back to the Khmer Rouge, who abolished private ownership and monetary currency during their disastrous rule from 1975 to 1979.

The country held nationwide commune elections in June 2012, which were dominated by the ruling CPP. Before this, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a moratorium on the granting of ELCs, as well as a new land-titling scheme nationwide. But critics say the programme has been too secretive, while others have speculated that it was more likely part of electioneering in the lead-up to the commune elections, or the general elections planned for July 2013.

While Cambodia's land problems have affected a broad cross-section of society, indigenous groups have been particularly impacted by ELCs and the renewed land-titling efforts. The titling scheme is especially of interest to indigenous communities, who have lived for generations on communally run land. But the government titling scheme has favoured individual private titles rather than communal ones, which has caused division in some communities. By signing on to private titles, some indigenous families have given up the right to traditional land cultivation methods and other cultural traditions on their ancestral lands inside ELCs. The scheme was initially meant to include access to collective communal titles, with the purpose of honouring indigenous groups' traditional ways of living. But the government later decided to delay the granting of collective ownership, according to local media. In early 2013, however, authorities announced a plan to begin mapping the ancestral land belonging to a handful of ethnic Bunong communities seeking collective titles.

An analysis of a proposed agricultural ownership law by Licadho suggests the government intends to encourage communities to abandon traditional shifting methods of cultivation.

While facing pressure on land issues, health statistics for marginalized indigenous communities continue to be cause for concern. For example, births in urban areas of Cambodia are more likely to be attended by a skilled health professional, compared with rural provinces like Mondulkiri or Ratanakkiri, where many indigenous groups reside.

In his report, Subedi, the Special Rapporteur, warned that forced evictions and relocations resulting from land concessions exacerbate an already challenging health situation, in many cases making it harder for indigenous communities to access water, sanitation and basic health services.

Yet divisive resource projects slated for development near indigenous communities seem likely to heighten problems in the near future. Plans for hydropower projects in the Cardamom Mountains could displace roughly 1,000 mostly indigenous people. The Lower Sesan 2, a dam project of Mekong tributaries in northern Cambodia, will also see an estimated 5,000 people resettled.

In April, well-known conservationist Chut Wutty was gunned down while accompanying journalists to a suspected illegal logging site in the Cardamom Mountains. After altering the official explanation of how Wutty died, authorities claimed Wutty was shot and killed by a military police officer, who was in turn accidentally killed by a private security guard working for a logging company. A provincial court convicted the security guard of causing an accidental death and sentenced him to two years in prison, only to suspend the remaining sentence.

Wutty had become a thorn in the side of the government by shining a spotlight on illegal logging. He also campaigned on behalf of indigenous communities in Prey Lang forest, a lowland evergreen forest in central Cambodia.

Critics saw Wutty's death as a tragic continuation of repeated attempts to intimidate and threaten land rights activists. Throughout the year, activists reported numerous cases where community organizers had been summoned to appear in court to face charges of incitement, or where authorities disrupted rights training sessions. A January 2013 report from the Jesuit Refugee Service focused attention on the under-studied problem of discrimination against Cambodia's Vietnamese minority, which comprises an estimated 5 per cent of the population. Many Vietnamese in Cambodia live in limbo, having been denied the documents required for citizenship, even though many speak the Khmer language and were raised in Cambodia. The report argues that such groups are at risk of statelessness. Being denied basic citizenship rights also makes these already vulnerable groups more susceptible to human trafficking.

Additionally, members of the Khmer Krom minority – ethnic Khmer from southern Vietnam – continued to report difficulties accessing basic services. Though the government's stated policy is to welcome Khmer Krom in Cambodia, advocates for Khmer Krom say they face discrimination in practice.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the UN-backed war crimes tribunal set up to try senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, continued its work throughout the year. But it faced increasing questions over the status of future cases and the likelihood of seeing a full trial against its frail and ageing defendants. In March 2013, Ieng Sary, the regime's former foreign minister, died at the age of 87. The court also continues to be dogged by funding shortfalls, which threatened to disrupt proceedings. Despite its faults, which include serious allegations of political interference, the court's backers see it as a rare symbol of justice following years of impunity for Khmer Rouge perpetrators.

While the court is pursuing crimes committed against the Cambodian people as a whole, the two remaining elderly defendants on trial – the Khmer Rouge regime's chief ideologue, Nuon Chea, and its former head of state, Khieu Samphan – are also charged with genocide specifically against the minority Cham Muslim community and ethnic Vietnamese, who historians believe were both specifically targeted by the regime.