Indigenous communities attempting to register communal lands are often left in bureaucratic limbo and are at risk of losing this land, advocates said this week, even as the government handed more than 4,000 hectares to three communities in May.
Labeled a “great achievement” for Cambodia’s post-pandemic recovery, the country’s biggest goldmine also exemplifies some of the challenges facing indigenous communities seeking to protect traditions. “It’s something very dangerous to lose culture, lifestyle and traditional practices,” one Bunong lawyer said.
Sixty-percent of ethnic Vietnamese young women surveyed and 90% in indigenous groups have faced discrimination, including problems at school and especially when using their language, according to a new research report.
With their case reaching a French appeal court today, a Bunong community says their claims to land are in contention, while villagers say debt and wage labor are supplanting their traditions.
A prospective rubber plantation is clearing land near an ancient ironworks site in Preah Vihear province, raising concerns over heritage protection.
More than 200 indigenous people in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district protested on Tuesday for access to farmland inside a wildlife sanctuary, which the Environment Ministry banned them from last month, citing conservation laws.
Sugar plantations in Preah Vihear have skirted land laws to amass territory, driving indigenous people into debt. Now, the EU is examining the land concessions, among other rights concerns, as it finalizes a decision on whether Cambodia will keep duty-free trade preferences.
Indigenous people from around Cambodia gathered at a conference in Phnom Penh on Tuesday saying the loss of land and forests was threatening their livelihoods and food security.
The registration of communal land for indigenous people has lagged — with just 24 of an estimated 455 communities receiving titles — due to inadequate funding and other challenges, NGO and government officials said.
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