Cambodian Land Conflict Becoming Dangerous
Photo by Marcelo Braga
The Guardian | The recent murders and violent conflicts that have been taking place in Cambodia seem to similarly link to issues over natural resources.
Cambodia is currently facing a land-grabbing crisis that has seen more than 2m hectares of land transferred mostly from subsistence farmers to agribusiness. Of course, these battles become worse as less and less land is available.
According to the Guardian an estimated 400,000 people have been affected by land disputes since 2003. The transfer of natural resources has been accomplished mainly through Cambodia’s economic land concession (ELC) scheme, in which the government leases large plots of land to companies that agree to farm them.
A number of Cambodians have been evicted due to these leases and according to Cambodian lawyers, for many the only hope of getting any land back is to protest and take individual action-much of which leads to arrests, killings, and harassment. Unfortunately, there are numerous allegations that authorities are using violence to keep these uprisings under control.
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