Poor children now homeless after forced land grab on Cambodian slum

In her makeshift home at the relocation site, Srey Na, 12, holds an English textbook for a class in the city she says she can no longer attend. (Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON)

28 Jan 2009
SOS Children (UK)

Hundreds of poor children and their families are now homeless, after Cambodian police evicted them from their slum using teargas. Eight people were hurt in Saturday’s forced eviction of 80 families from an area of the capital, Phnom Penh.

At least two of the eight slum dwellers were seriously hurt in clashes with ‘clean-up crews’ hired to tear down the dwellings on government land they were told had been sold to private company. Witnesses said an old woman and a boy were hit by a bulldozer, while others were hurt in clashes with the workers armed with clubs and stones, reported news agency, Reuters. Police denied using excessive force to evict the group, who had fought their eviction for three years.

The vast majority of the decade-old Dey Krahorm community is now homeless. Squatters rejected the company, 7NG’s offer of $20,000 per family in compensation for the prime plot facing the Mekong River. They now face rebuilding their lives with nothing. The Phnom Penh municipality has provided less than 30 of the 152 families with shelter at a resettlement site 10 miles from the city. Earlier, most of the community rejected being resettled there because it was too far from Phnom Penh, where they work, mostly as street vendors.