Twenty families in the HIV/AIDS community at Borei Keila quietly gathered up their belongings Thursday morning and headed for their new homes at a relocation site on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, in an eviction that was immediately condemned by the human rights body of the UN.
The removal of the families was announced at an 8 am meeting called by Prampi Makara district authorities. After loading up trucks provided by the municipality, the families headed out to Tuol Sambou village in Dangkao district, where most arrived before noon.
“I am very angry because they told us to leave immediately,” said Heng Srey Neang as she packed up her things.
Her neighbor Tuo Chay Ron said that she had understood she would have more time to prepare.
“But I am a renter, and I have nowhere else to live. The authorities told me that if I disagree, I will get nothing,” she said.
The families had lived in the temporary housing at Borei Keila since 2007, when they were moved out of their homes to make way for a new Ministry of Tourism building.
Many claimed they were promised flats in the social housing under construction on site by local property developer Phanimex, but only 11 of the 31 families remaining in the green sheds as of this week have been told they qualify.
At Tuol Sambou, around 20 km from the city center, the new homes looked nearly identical to those that the families left behind at Borei Keila, right down to the green paint on the corrugated metal walls. However, there were some key differences: the floor was made of concrete rather than dirt, and each unit had a large window and indoor toilet.
Still, Hoeung Vichet said that he was unimpressed with the size of his family’s new home, which measures approximately 3.5 meters by 4.8 meters. “It seems like a pig pen,” he said.
Vin Thy complained that the electrical connection promised at the site had not yet been hooked up. “We don’t know when it will start,” she said.
But the children of Borei Keila had very different ideas about their new homes.
“Here, we have more room to play,” said 14-year-old Cheng Vandon. “I think it is better here. There is a pond where I can play in the water.”
A friend, 11-year-old Leang Rithy, said, “I don’t know what to say, but I am happy here.”
In an e-mail Thursday, Christophe Peschoux, representative for the Cambodia Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, wrote that the UN was “very disappointed” with the eviction and relocation.
“The shelters are warehouse type of houses made of corrugated iron, there is no running water nor electricity connection yet, the families have no means to ensure their livelihood there, no mode of transportation to the city, and no access to medical care for continuing their treatment, although the authorities promised that these would be ensured in a near future,” Mr Peschoux said.
He added that UN representatives and concerned NGOs had “requested time from the Municipality to gather the necessary resources—financial and otherwise—to help fix these issues before the relocation of this community. This was not accepted.”
Mr Peschoux stressed that the UN does not endorse evictions, but said he was not sure what the next step would be for the international body. “There is one thing we are clear about: We do not want to enter into a dynamic whereby the authorities evict communities and the UN is called upon to pick up the pieces.”
However, Tony Lisle, Country Coordinator for UNAIDS Cambodia, said Thursday that he was satisfied that the medical needs of the community would be met at Tuol Sambou.
“The most important thing for UNAIDS is guarantees that communities have access to treatment, and that they will not be discriminated against, wherever they are,” he said. “The government…have been very clear that there will not be a cessation of access to treatment.”
Naly Pilorge, director of human rights group Licadho, described Tuol Sambou as a “permanent AIDS colony” in an e-mail.
“This eviction directly endangers the lives of these people—the conditions at the Tuol Sambou relocation site are grossly inadequate and a serious threat to their health,” she said.
International human rights group Amnesty also denounced the eviction. “Tuol Sambou is clearly inadequate, and those evicting the families were aware of that. Without clean water, electricity and proper sanitation, in very cramped, hot living quarters, there is a real risk that the health of those living with HIV/AIDS will deteriorate further,” Brittis Edman, researcher for Amnesty Cambodia, wrote in an e-mail.
On site during the eviction, So Mara, secretary of state for the Ministry of Tourism, said the authorities “have no intention to harm our people. We love our people.”
However, he said it was necessary to move them out before the Tourism Ministry’s new office is unveiled in September. “We cannot leave them here where foreigners will see.”
Prampi Makara District Governor Som Sovann also defended the eviction. He said that the municipality gave the evicted families ample notice to prepare for removal. “We actually repeatedly told these families to manage and package their things for removal some day this week, but these people ignored us,” he said.
When asked about criticism of the relocation site at Tuol Sambou, Mr Sovann said, “Nobody helped the authorities in building homes for these people. Some NGOs just express their concern and criticize the construction at the new site, but they don’t help with food and funds for these people.”
