Cambodian hilltribe people will try self-policing and implement traditional fines in an effort to stop illegal land sales

Cambodian hilltribes turn to tradition to stop land rush
Posted : Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:28:02 GMT

Phnom Penh - Cambodian hilltribe people will try self-policing and
implement traditional fines in an effort to stop illegal land sales, a
rights activist said Monday. Pen Bonnar of local human rights
organization Adhoc confirmed local media reports that the Kreung
ethnic minority of Rattanakiri province in the country's far north-
east had turned to tradition to stop members of their community
selling off land.

"They have to do something because people are selling off all their
land even though it is illegal and they need it to grow crops," Bonnar
said by telephone.

People found selling community land will now face fines of a jug of
rice wine and a pig. Community leaders will have to forfeit a jug of
wine and a cow. Cash fines would also be enforced, he said.

Land-grabbing and illegal sales of land are massive problems in
Cambodia, which has only recently established a cadastral commission
after 30 years of civil war. The Khmer Rouge regime wiped out
ownership, and many people are uncertain which land is for the state,
the community or themselves.

Remote ethnic minorities also sometimes fail to understand a cash
economy, selling land without understanding they can no longer work on
it after they receive the money.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: FamilySearch Wiki Barn Raising for England
    ... I learnt a phrase this evening which seems to sum up what you are asking for, but sadly is not known around the whole of the British Isles. ... Going back to the seventeenth century, it was believed by some, that if a person could build a house on common land in one night, then the land belonged to them as a freehold. ... Other variations on this tradition were that the test was to have a fire burning in the hearth by the following morning or that the squatter could then extend the land around by the distance they could throw an axe from the four corners of the house. ... Although Ty Unnos had no status in the English Common Law of the time, there is some tradition of legal discussion about the point at which land occupied by squatters without title may be regarded as a legitimate possession. ...
    (soc.genealogy.britain)
  • The people of Big Mountain, Black Mesa, in their own words...
    ... and tradition, but now the land is being destroyed by the Peabody Coal ... Company, said Allen Cooper, a former member of the Big Mountain Support ... Cooper said the Navajo land has no electricity or water, ... The Black Mesa Syndrome: Indian Lands, ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • Re: FamilySearch Wiki Barn Raising for England
    ... Ty Unnos, or house in a night, is an old Welsh tradition which has ... the land belonged to them as a freehold. ... room) As erecting even a fairly basic structure would involve help ...
    (soc.genealogy.britain)
  • Re: Beth HaWaadh Permits Eating of Kitniyoth by all Jews in Israel During Pesah
    ... poor schnooks outside of the land have the "obligation" of an extra day. ... "Tradition!" ... one we discuss every chol hamo'ed, when some in shul have the custom to ... (Never mind courts few people ...
    (soc.culture.jewish.moderated)
  • Re: "..., der Herr?"
    ... ihn ob er gute Dias haben möchte. ... spricht man von Tradition. ... Der Spanier an & für sich ist also traditionell nicht so ganz beisammen ... (Ein weiteres Land will namensgeblich suggerieren, ...
    (de.etc.sprache.deutsch)