UN Statement on Coordinated Response to Short-term Emergency Humanitarian Needs of Relocated Families at Tuol Sambo

Friday, November 20, 2009

 PHNOM PENH, 20 NOVEMBER 2009: Together with NGO partners, the United Nations is contributing to a one-time emergency assistance package for the 42 families who have been relocated to Tuol Sambo. This includes upgrading the housing stock to assist in the integration of the relocated HIV affected families into the wider community and remove the conditions for discrimination, a three-month food package to alleviate food shortages, and livelihood development assistance. This assistance should not be regarded as an endorsement of the eviction, nor does it set a precedent for the future.

Forty-two families, including people living with or affected by HIV, and an additional three families, 23 of whom were living in temporary shelters at Borei Keila, were moved by Municipal Authorities to Tuol Sambo, a site 17 kilometres from Phnom Penh. Some of the families were evicted on 18 June 2009, while others were relocated on 24 July 2009.

Housing HIV affected families together in a single location, separate from other villagers, in housing of a lower quality and size than neighbouring homes is neither morally nor legally acceptable. It creates conditions for long-term stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. Additionally, food security and access to livelihood opportunities for the relocated families has been constrained, and these families face an immediate emergency humanitarian situation.

The United Nations’ primary concerns are to help the Municipality of Phnom Penh to address the humanitarian needs of people living with HIV and their families, to prevent any possible stigma and discrimination, and to protect these individuals’ human rights in accordance with Cambodia’s AIDS and related legislations, policies and the international conventions to which Cambodia is a signatory.

The continued aim of the United Nations in Cambodia is to support the government’s own efforts to ensure sustainable and humane development policies and practices. This situation highlights the urgent need for national guidelines to regulate evictions and relocations based on the constitution, the land law and other existing legislation. The United Nations reiterates its recommendation that a moratorium on evictions and relocations be considered until such guidelines are in place.

Recognizing the complex issues surrounding land and the vital role land plays to the sustainable development of Cambodia, the United Nations offers its support and technical assistance to government authorities and all relevant stakeholders to assist with the development of national guidelines on evictions, relocations and resettlements, and to work together to implement them in a legal, peaceful and fair manner.