{"id":625348,"date":"2023-04-04T04:16:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T09:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/04\/whole-communities-are-disappearing-10000-families-are-being-evicted-from-this-unesco-world-heritage-site\/"},"modified":"2023-04-04T04:16:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T09:16:00","slug":"whole-communities-are-disappearing-10000-families-are-being-evicted-from-this-unesco-world-heritage-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/04\/whole-communities-are-disappearing-10000-families-are-being-evicted-from-this-unesco-world-heritage-site\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Whole Communities Are Disappearing\u2019: 10,000 Families Are Being Evicted From This UNESCO World Heritage Site"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Angkor Archaeological Park houses an estimated 100,000 people, many of whom have lived there for generations and rely on the tourism industry. Photo: TANG CHHIN SOTHY \/ AFP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cambodian authorities are forcing longtime residents living in Cambodia\u2019s Angkor Wat temple complex to resettlement sites where they face poor living conditions and lack of income, according to an Amnesty International report<\/span><\/a> published on Friday.<\/p>\n

The international rights group says that in the name of conserving the UNESCO World Heritage Site, locals are being pushed out, devastating their livelihoods and violating their rights. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhole communities are disappearing or breaking up. We watched one family dismantle parts of their own house and move to the main resettlement site, all in one day,\u201d Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, told VICE World News. <\/p>\n

Amnesty International is urging authorities to \u201cimmediately stop this violation of human rights\u201d as it shared its findings from interviews with more than 35 people around Angkor Wat and Run Ta Ek, one of the two resettlement sites for displaced residents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAngkor Wat is a national treasure and a source of pride for Cambodia. Its living heritage is crucial and should also factor in the respect and promotion of human rights,\u201d Hah said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Angkor Archaeological Park is Cambodia\u2019s most popular tourist attraction and has temples dating back to the ninth century. It was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1992 and welcomed around two million visitors a year<\/span><\/a> before the pandemic. The Angkor Wat temple complex holds the Guinness World Record for the largest religious structure ever built.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Located around the religious complex are villages housing an estimated 100,000 people, many of whom have lived there for generations and rely on the local tourism industry. But these villages have in recent years faced eviction as authorities vowed to \u201cpreserve\u201d the landmark<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Officials from the APSARA National Authority, a government body tasked with managing the site, <\/em>are known to use a combination of harassment and coercion to make residents \u201cvolunteer\u201d to leave, said the Amnesty report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cThree times they returned and each time I said \u2018no, I won\u2019t go.\u2019 But now I am going. I am scared,\u201d one resident was quoted as saying in the Amnesty report. The report also noted that none of the residents interviewed were \u201cengaged in a process of genuine consultation\u201d on the topic of resettlement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Officials also threatened that residents would not receive compensation if they refused to leave, the report added\u2014echoing a threat previously made by Prime Minister Hun Sen.<\/p>\n

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In October, Hun Sen issued a \u201clast warning\u201d<\/span><\/a> to residents in the park: \u201cI am letting them know that this is the last time they will be asked to leave politely. When the time comes, we will not give them a single riel and will remove them from the area,\u201d he said, adding that UNESCO was pressuring the Cambodian government to safeguard the park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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In its 2008 decision, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee expressed \u201cserious concern\u201d <\/span><\/a>about \u201cuncontrolled urban expansion\u201d in and around the Angkor heritage site, but the issue was not mentioned in the UN body\u2019s latest decision<\/span><\/a> released in 2021.<\/p>\n

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The UNESCO World Heritage Centre told VICE World News that the relocation program should be \u201cbased on human rights\u201d and take into consideration the livelihoods, social inclusion, and sustainable development of affected communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cUNESCO or the World Heritage Committee have never called for population displacements in Angkor,\u201d said a spokesperson of the World Heritage Centre. \u201cFollowing the announcement by the Cambodian government of its population relocation program, [the] UNESCO Office in Phnom Penh immediately advised Cambodia of the need to work closely with local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The spokesperson added that the World Heritage Committee will discuss the issue at their annual meeting in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Despite the government\u2019s justification that the relocation was necessary to preserve the temple complex, those who regularly visit Angkor Wat say that the lack of residents at the site is a loss for Angkor Wat\u2019s unique culture, which tourists have long been attracted to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf they live there, they can continue to worship and make the temple complex alive and active,\u201d local tour guide Sam Kimseur told VICE World News. \u201cIf they move away from Angkor, it\u2019s just Angkor Wat, but [with] no soul. Like without a heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Last week, some 150 people gathered<\/span><\/a> in Phnom Penh to submit a petition on behalf of 10,000 families in the Angkor Archaeological park, calling for the government to return their land titles and fairly compensate those affected by evictions.<\/p>\n

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For many Angkor residents who rely on tourism for their livelihoods, relocation comes at an immense cost. A resident told <\/span><\/a>The Guardian<\/span><\/a><\/em> last year that she had pawned her family jewelry and used her savings to start a business renting costumes to tourists at Angkor Wat, only to find out that her shop would be removed by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI sold all my possessions to start this business, but now it\u2019s going to be gone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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As of September last year, almost 600 families<\/span><\/a> had moved from the park to Run Ta Ek eco-village, a resettlement site located about 25 kilometers away, according to the APSARA National Authority. The site is expected to house 6,000 families<\/span><\/a>, Hun Sen said in September while announcing plans to develop the area with infrastructure to support the new residents.<\/p>\n

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However, residents who have settled in Run Ta Ek told local news outlet <\/span><\/a>VOD<\/span><\/a> <\/em>that they struggled with unemployment and hunger since their relocation. Some have even moved away from their new homes to rent in the city for better work prospects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Hah from Amnesty International said that the resettlement site, which does not have adequate housing, food, and employment opportunities, is \u201cnot fit for purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat\u2019s clear to us after our research is that these evictions, which authorities have described as voluntary, are anything but,\u201d Hah said. \u201cThey are forced evictions in disguise and the Cambodian government should stop them immediately.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Follow Koh Ewe on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\n Koh Ewe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Angkor Archaeological Park houses an estimated 100,000 people, many of whom have lived there for generations and rely on the tourism industry. Photo: TANG CHHIN SOTHY \/ AFP Cambodian authorities are forcing longtime residents living in Cambodia\u2019s Angkor Wat temple complex to resettlement sites where they face poor living conditions and lack of income, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":625349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35840,534,643],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-625348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-communities","8":"category-financial","9":"category-whole"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}