FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
When NimChray and her neighbours living in a village near Phnom Penh International airport were threatened with eviction in November 2012, they found a bold way to get the world’s attention to their plight. Nim and her neighbours painted SOS signs on their roofs and placed photos of United States president Barack Obama, the day before Obama was scheduled to attend the ASEAN summit in Cambodia.
This daring act led to their arrest by Cambodian police. While the eviction has been put on hold, development around the airport continues to threaten the villager’s homes and livelihoods. Nim will have a chance to get Obama’s attention when she attends the UN General Assembly as part of a civil society delegation from the Asia Pacific.
Forced eviction without proper compensation are on the rise in Cambodia as the drive to develop makes private corporations greedy for more land.
“Authorities also told us that we wouldn’t be receiving any compensation. You can imagine how confused and distressed we were since most of us had purchased our land formally, with the documentation, signatures and thumbprints to prove it” says Nim.
Those who do receive compensation find that the amount they receive is not enough to set up new homes and livelihoods where they are relocated. For Nim, attending the UN General Assembly will be an opportunity to make the world’s leaders, multi-national corporations and governments accountable to displaced communities.
“Illegal land-rights eviction in Cambodia is an important issue because without a home, there is no life. If children don’t have a house, they will not feel at home. Development in Cambodia does not have to happen this way.”
Nim will also speak at the People’s General Assembly on Development Justice on 21 September 2013. The People’s GA will bring together people’s movements and civil society organizations to challenge the world’s leaders to address growing inequalities, environmental inequalities and increasing marginalisation.
Speakers at the event will recount from their experience of how their communities have been adversely affected by development goals focused on profits. They will share their own vision of a just and equitable world.
The People’s GA is being organized by the Campaign for People’s Goals for Sustainable Development. Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, Association for Women’s Rights in Development, the Center for Women’s Global Leadership and IBON International.
To set an interview with Nim Chray, contact the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, leanne@apwld.org, mobile number (United States) (+1) 7183003241 or write to apwld@apwld.org
