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### Viewing cable 07PHNOMPENH741, DRAFT LEGISLATION ON "LAND TAKING" RAISES EYEBROWS

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
07PHNOMPENH741 | 2007-05-31 11:17 | 2011-07-11 00:00 | UNCLASSIFIED | Embassy Phnom Penh

`

    VZCZCXRO1073
    PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
    DE RUEHPF #0741/01 1511117
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH
    P 311117Z MAY 07
    FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8490
    INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000741

    SIPDIS

    SIPDIS

    STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: PHUM PGOV ECON CB
    SUBJECT: DRAFT LEGISLATION ON "LAND TAKING" RAISES EYEBROWS
    IN CAMBODIA

    ¶1.  (U) Summary.  The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF)
    recently made available a draft expropriations law
    formalizing procedures for RGC confiscation of land for
    public projects.  At the same time, the MEF, with counsel
    from an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-sponsored East-West
    Management Institute (EWMI) consultant, announced it is
    drafting a subdecree creating procedures to assess the social
    and economic impacts of land confiscations; they expect the
    subdecree will be passed by the end of 2007.  Both drafts
    were a surprise to the NGO community which decries the
    legislation as an attempt to legitimize contentious RGC land
    grabs.  The EWMI consultant has defended the MEF's work and
    questions whether NGOs should play a defining role in the
    draft process as they now demand.  NGOs doubt RGC good
    intentions on land issues, attributing positive movement to
    cognizance of an upcoming Government-Donor coordination
    meeting and the run-up to the 2008 national elections.  End
    summary.

    THE LAW AND THE SUBDECREE
    -------------------------

    ¶2.  (U) The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) recently
    made available a ten-page draft law on expropriation that
    sets broad guidelines on land-taking procedures for public
    interest purposes and defines public interest activities.
    The law leaves specific land-taking procedures up to
    subdecrees but it lists fifteen types of activities
    considered in the public interest, such as construction of
    infrastructure projects, development of buildings for
    national protection and civil security, construction of
    facilities for research and exploitation of natural
    resources, and construction of oil pipeline and gas networks.
     One article of the law states compensation for dwellers of
    non-titled locations or on public land -- squatters -- will
    include payments for the cost of moving residence or damages
    but not for the cost of the land.  According to an East-West
    Management Institute (EWMI) technical advisor, an
    expropriations law has been in the works since 2004 and this
    draft comes out of a drafting committee established in
    January 2006.

    ¶3.  (U) The MEF appears to be more actively working on a
    44-page draft subdecree, entitled "Sub Decree on Addressing
    Socio-Economic Impacts Caused by Development Projects,"
    institutionalizing compensation procedures when the RGC
    expropriates land for purposes serving the general public or
    national interest.  The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been
    sponsoring a technical advisor, Patricia Baars, through the
    East-West Management Institute (EWMI) since June 2005 to
    assist the MEF in drafting the subdecree.  Baars and the MEF
    organized an all-day national consultation workshop on May 21
    for national- and local-level government officials to discuss
    the draft subdecree.  Government participants included senior
    ministers, secretaries of state and other high-level
    officials from nine ministries, and 22 provincial and
    district governors.  A few, select NGOs were invited to
    attend the conference for their input and involvement in the
    discussion.

    BUT NGOS LIKED THE OLD LAW
    --------------------------

    ¶4.  (SBU) NGOs find it problematic that they and the public
    have not been a part of drafting either piece of legislation.
     Legal aid NGOs, such as the Community Legal Education Center
    (CLEC), fret that new legislation will codify current land
    acquisition practices that uproot what are already some of
    Cambodia's most vulnerable people.  High-profile land
    grabbing cases involving RGC officials are unfortunately an
    increasing part of the human rights NGO caseload in Cambodia,
    so interest in any new legislation is to be expected.
    Currently, CLEC relies on the Land Law of 2001 to push for
    fair compensation packages for their disenfranchised clients
    who have been controversially removed from land.  The 2001
    law does provide compensation and some protections for
    citizens faced with evictions and losing land.  The battle,
    NGOs say, has been enforcement and implementation of the law.
     Naly Pilorge, Director of local human rights NGO LICADHO,
    worries new legislation would override the existing land law
    pushing legal cases on behalf of poor, evicted residents back
    to square one.

    NECESSITY OF COMPENSATION PROCEDURES
    ------------------------------------

    ¶5.  (SBU) Baars told Poloff laws governing compensation
    procedures are necessary while the government continues to
    undertake development projects that require land acquisition
    and relocation of homes and businesses. Further, the MEF

    PHNOM PENH 00000741  002 OF 003

    officials with whom she has been working have good
    intentions, claims Baars.  She explained a section of the
    subdecree defining land use in the public and national
    interest that specifically excludes projects with purely
    economic development goals, including increasing tax
    revenues, creating employment, and general economic growth.
    If implemented, this article of the subdecree would be
    critical -- NGOs claim the RGC confiscates land in the name
    of public projects but the land is actually intended for
    private gain.  She points out the new subdecree's definition
    of "public interest," standards for taking land from
    indigenous communities, and stipulations on affected
    residents "who have no legal rights to the land," are all
    based on the existing land law.  Baars believes the draft
    subdecree compensation plan is so generous that the MEF's
    biggest problem will be finding the funds to ensure
    compensation meets the committed amounts.  Despite NGO
    disagreement, she feels the drafting of this law is a good
    exercise for the officials involved.  Baars maintains that
    the MEF has taken the subdecree seriously and she believes
    they have made a good-faith effort to write a fair law.

    QUESTIONS RING ABOUT NGOS' ROLE IN THE PROCESS
    --------------------------------------------- -

    ¶6.  (SBU) Baars told Poloff she had always intended to
    include a two-week public comment period in the subdecree
    drafting process but that phase had been overcome by events.
    NGOs were blindsided when they heard about the subdecree
    three working days before the national consultation workshop,
    but eventually ADB and the MEF agreed to allow NGOs to
    participate.  By the time Poloff met with ADB Senior Social
    Development and Resettlement Specialist Marla Huddleston and
    Baars mid-day on May 21, Huddleston was consumed with anger
    -- during morning sessions, NGO participants openly
    questioned the RGC's intent in drafting the subdecree.
    Huddleston angrily told poloff that NGOs were lucky to be
    involved in the draft subdecree process at all because the
    government usually does not include NGOs on other legislative
    processes.  (Note: Contrary to this statement, the RGC has
    opened public comment periods and accepted ideas from civil
    society on past legislation such as when the government
    included NGO suggestions in amendments to the existing
    election law prior to the 2003 elections.  End note.)  The
    NGOs and the MEF have now agreed to a three-phase public
    comment period: first, NGOs have until June 22 to submit
    comments on the draft subdecree; next, the MEF will have two
    to three weeks to take comments into consideration and will
    call a meeting with three to four representative NGOs to
    discuss (roughly July 8); finally, the NGOs will have until
    July 24 for any follow-on comments.  Although they agreed to
    the calendar for comment, the NGOs then decided to boycott
    the afternoon sessions of the workshop.  In a private meeting
    the following day, Baars told Poloff that government
    officials in attendence did not even notice the NGO boycott
    and that she suspects they also were unaware of the extent of
    NGOs' distress over the issue.  She said she was unhappy
    about the long public comment period, which would never be so
    long in a U.S. law-drafting process.  The NGO demands for a
    voice during the entire drafting process is unrealistic -- no
    government relinquishes its role in drafting laws to NGOs.

    A POSITIVE TREND IN LAND DISPUTES?
    ----------------------------------

    ¶7.  (SBU) Land grab cases throughout Cambodia are continuing
    with no apparent slowing in the number of cases recorded by
    NGOs.  On a positive note, the Council of Ministers is
    forcing Suy Sophan (a powerful local businesswoman and
    alleged to be connected to Hun Sen's father) and her
    development company (Phanimex) to give up their disputed
    claim to land by the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. The Council
    of Ministers ordered the Ministry of Interior to find Suy
    alternative land.  The current draft of expropriation land
    legislation has the potential to be a sign of improvement, as
    well.  However, Yeng Virak of CLEC believes the positive
    moves are just an attempt for CPP popularity gains before the
    2008 elections.  Naly Pilorge at LICADHO suggests the RGC
    wants to appease donors in advance of Government-Donor
    consultations in June.

    ¶8.  (SBU) Comment. The MEF is generally viewed by NGOs and
    the international community to be one of the more competent
    ministries of the RGC.  Despite this, NGOs we talked to are
    pessimistic about the impact the new legislation will have on
    land-grab cases.  If NGOs can offer realistic, constructive
    input during the subdecree public comment period, the MEF's
    response to comments will be a good indication of their
    willingness to ensure a fair law for Cambodia's poor who are
    displaced by land grabs.

    PHNOM PENH 00000741  003 OF 003

    ¶9.  (SBU) Comment continued.  Regarding the negative NGO
    reaction to the draft legislation, the ADB has no one to
    blame but itself for the dilemma in which the Bank finds
    itself.  The RGC went out of its way to court NGOs and the
    opposition, Sam Rainsy, in joining the still-moribund
    national Land Dispute Authority, as the government realized
    that NGO buy-in would be crucial to the Authority's success.
    That, and the strong NGO role in supporting victims of land
    cases should have made the ADB sensitive to the NGO
    community's likely reaction to an ongoing drafting proccess
    to which they were not privy.  End comment.
    CAMPBELL

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