Friday, June 4, 2010

Communities speak out against displacement

4June 2010

On May 9, 2010, women and men from five villages of Sihanoukville in Cambodia gathered together and met with representatives of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the independent recourse mechanism for the IFC, the private sector lending institution of the World Bank Group.

Close to 100 families face eviction because of the IFC-funded expansion of the Sihanoukville airport, known also as Kang Keng airport. Moreover, the families are concerned about improper land acquisition and compensation, loss of livelihood, noise pollution, environmental impact to a national park, incorrect categorization of lands, lack of community consultation, and inadequate disclosure of project information to impacted communities. As a result of the airport expansion project, some families have been prevented from farming their rice fields for nearly five years. Their land will likely be swallowed up by the expansion, which aims to increase tourism and commercial revenue for the area

The Information Office of the SHV airport, which is always closed

There are five villages around Sihanoukville International Airport -- Thmor Thom, Ong and Ream villages and Koki and Chamnot Ream villages. The villages came into existence in 1979 when the Khmer Rouge regime fell out of power. Land was distributed to survivors at that time to enable them to rebuild their lives.

In December 2009, these communities, with the help of a local NGO in Cambodia filed a complaint with the CAO on behalf of 79 families who believe they have been negatively affected by the project and who hold that the project is not compliant with IFC requirements. The families live in close proximity to the project site and many own land in the proposed expansion zone of the project.

Mr. Amar Inamdar, CAO’s Principal Specialist and Ms. Susana Rodriguez, CAO Research Analyst, visited the project site to conduct an independent assessment of the project. The CAO representatives gave a presentation to community members about the structure of the World Bank as well as the role of the CAO. A plenary discussion followed the presentation.

The communities raised concerns about the impacts of the project on their day-to-day lives, the flawed categorization of the government of their agricultural lands, just compensation for land, and the effects of the project on the role of women and children’s education.

The findings of the CAO assessment will be shared with the communities and support groups.

For more information about the project, please get in touch with:
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