May 24, 2022
Indigenous people lament court action in land dispute
A group of indigenous people in Mondulkiri province said summons issued to them by a court in a land dispute with a tycoon is an act of injustice.

Mondulkiri provincial court summoned three of 12 locals for questioning in connection with the dispute in Dak Dam commune in O’Raing district after a land trader sued them.

Kem Chanroth, who is one of them said, “We are protecting the land but we are summoned by the court and this is injustice to the indigenous people.

He said land trader Nhong Chay is involved in the dispute with the local people since 2020 and accused him of clearing 200 acres of forestland to serve his interests, which affected 100 indigenous families.

Chanroth said the trader claimed he owned the land after buying it, but we do not know who sold the land to him. The people have been fighting to protect the land for two years, he said.

“We depend on the forestland for agriculture and other traditional work for a long period of time,” he added.

“We have made a complaint to the provincial authorities against the land trader, but there is no solution and the trader is threatening us every day,” he said.
Chanroth added that the land trader has also built a wall around the land.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501080683/ ... d-dispute/

29 June 2022
Mondulkiri Provincial Department of Cadastre Issues Over 4,000 Titles
As of June 2022, the Mondulkiri Provincial Department of Land Management, Urban Planning, Construction and Cadastre had registered and issued more than 4,000 land titles to citizens, and the remaining 2,000 lots will be registered as planned, according to the General Department of National Radio on 27 June 2022.

Director of the Mondulkiri Provincial Department of Land Management, Urban Planning, Construction and Cadastre, Mr Lim Chansophy, said that land registration is very useful because when the people get the right to own the land, land disputes will decrease.
https://construction-property.com/as-of ... or-people/

Bunong People Protest Officials' Land Grab

Cambodia News, Mondulkiri Province: More than 100 indigenous Pnong (aka Phnong or Bunong) families protested for Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HE, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia to intervene in the case of local authorities selling their 255 hectares of land in Puring village, Sen Monorom commune Rom, O'Raing District, Mondulkiri.



Villagers' representatives on the morning of October 27, 2022, said that villagers protested after receiving information about the public posting of documents, awarding the so-called land hard title to the name of Chheng Thean Seng, a rich man living in Phnom Penh, while those areas mentioned are currently used and worked by the Bunong villagers.

Villagers' representatives said that the public notice of the land judgment document issued by Mr. Lim Sok Kheng, Director of Land Management, Urban Planning, Construction and Land Office of O'raing District, on October 18 2022, is full of irregularities, as there is no indication of the source of the land to be granted and no set boundaries, only the seals and signatures of the authorities and district land officials.

The villagers said that since the beginning of 2022, land officials and other professional officials have been measuring and planting stone fence posts , surrounded by wire mesh and barbed wire which did not allow villagers to enter or leave and restricted their movement.
Regarding the above case, as of 12 o'clock on October 27, 2022, Koh Santepheap asked for clarification from Mr. Song Kheang, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Mr. Leu Mr. Sophy, Director of Mondulkiri Provincial Department of Land.


Mrs. Van Trel, Sen Monorom commune chief, acknowledged that the location of the land above was actually a plantation on which the villagers are living, but she said that she did not know who was responsible for measuring the land and placing the boundaries.

According to the letter of the Office of the Council of Ministers No. 208 S.C.N. 5 hectares in Putang village, Romana commune, Sen Monorom city and Puring village, Sen Monorom commune, O'raing district, Mondulkiri province, there is an investment planned at the site for the development of an eco-tourism area.

Lack of information was reported to be the principle problem in this dispute, as the villagers have enjoyed the actual location for several generations, and were not notified that the land was to be sold off. Social observers have suggested that the dispute between the villagers and the authorities may have been caused by the authorities' lack of concertation and heavy-handed attitude with the local population of Bunong tribal people.
Kohsantepheap Daily

The Bunong tribal protests against land grabs in Mondulkiri province are now being related by Cambodian English language media:

October 28, 2022
2nd day of protests as villagers claim authorities have ‘stolen land’
A group of indigenous villagers in Mondulkiri have protested for the 2nd day, claiming that authorities conspired to sell 255 hectares of farmland to a resident of Phnom Penh.

500 villagers from Pnong village assembled to protest in front of Sen Monorom commune hall yesterday

One of the villager claimed that they sought the intervention of the authorities at the district and provincial levels, but all the leaders lied.

She said that the governor of Mondulkiri province, Mr. Thong Savon, promised to solve the problem for them before the commune election, but it was a lie.

Ms. Van Trel, Sen Monorom commune chief, acknowledged that the land above is a plantation that people have enjoyed for generations and it is their livelihood.
Seak Mony, the governor of O'raing district, could not be reached for comment.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501176683/ ... olen-land/

The land dispute continues between indigenous Bunong/Pnong villagers from Puraing village community in O'Raing district, Mondulkiri, and the local authorities, who are accused of selling off village land.

December 6, 2022
Bunong families oppose land demarcation
Over 200 families of Bunong indigenous community of Puraing village in Mondulkiri province protested against local authorities for allowing a private company to demarcate their farmland without their consent.

The villagers claimed that they have been living in the land spread across 255 hectares in the Sen Monorom commune of O’Raing district in Mondulkiri province since 1980.

Chreus Maleung, a representative of the community, said that generations of people lived on the land which has plantations, houses, cemeteries, and forests and those people are even blocked from entering it.

“We will protest until we die because this is the land we have been living on since 1980. If we lose this land, how can I leave a land for my children,” he said.

Mondulkiri Deputy Governor Cheak Meng Heang could not be reached for a comment yesterday.

Sen Monorom commune chief Thngan Trel acknowledged that the families are residents of the village since 1980 and that they are not from other villages.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501196994/ ... marcation/

Two Pnong* Men Arrested for Defending Property from Loggers

* Pnong are also known as Bunong
Cambodia News, (Mondulkiri Province): Mondulkiri authorities arrested two indigenous men from the Pnong tribe on the morning of June 4, 2023 during a land dispute between indigenous families and traders, which took place at O Spean village, Spean Meanchey commune, Sen Monorom city, Mondulkiri province.


Local people said that on the morning of June 4, they saw five strange people cutting down the forest on their land, so the four indigenous Pnong families went to stop the strangers from clearing their forest and encroaching on their land.
The families said that they have lived on this land and planted crops here every year until now. They said that they went to stop the men from cutting down their trees, when about 15 minutes later, the Mondulkiri police arrived. The police chased the Pnong people away from their land, and also detained two Pnong men and took them to the provincial police station. The people who were arrested were Krek Try, the owner of the land, and Pren Srey Neang, the nephew of the landowner.



Sources from all the indigenous people said the same thing: they are very scared and worried about the issues related to the land where they are living, the ancestors' graves and their traditional forest land. They say they have no voice when confronted with two powerful land traders, who are preparing to seize their land and resell it as development plots, using documents stamped by local officials, assisted by the police who threaten and evict the tribal families.



The Pnong families call on the aid of Samdech Techo HE, the Prime Minister, who has said that in relation to land, no citizen or any person should be Imprisoned over land issues.
However, in Mondulkiri province, when land is stolen by powerful local people, the police abuse their power to Intimidate innocent people until they keep quiet about the land theft. The people of Mondulkiri who are losing their land, therefore call upon the Prime Minister and the authorities in Phnom Penh to come to their aid.
Source: Kohsantepheap

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