via AP News, 11 April 204: The relocation of approximately 5,000 families from Cambodia’s Angkor UNESCO World Heritage site to Run Ta Ek has raised significant human rights concerns. Criticized by Amnesty International as a violation of international law, the move aimed to protect the heritage site from illegal squatters has faced scrutiny. Despite improvements in infrastructure at the new settlement, many residents struggle with debt, reduced income, and a lack of job opportunities, contrasting sharply with their previous lives near the tourism-dependent Angkor site.
Still, UNESCO at the time noted that Angkor was under “dual pressures” from some 100,000 inhabitants in 112 historic settlements who “constantly try to expand their dwelling areas,” and from encroachment from the nearby town of Siem Reap.
Cambodia’s answer was a plan to entice the 10,000 families illegally squatting in the area to resettle at Run Ta Ek and another site, as well as to encourage some from the 112 historic settlements to relocate as their families grow in size.
“People got married, they had children, so the number of people were on the rise, including those coming illegally,” said Long Kosal, deputy director general and spokesperson for the Cambodian agency known as APSARA that’s responsible for managing the Angkor site.
“What we did was that we provided an option.”
Cambodia began moving people to Run Ta Ek in 2022, giving those who volunteered to leave their homes in the Angkor area plots of land, a two-month supply of canned food and rice, a tarp and 30 sheets of corrugated metal to use to build a home. Benefits also included a Poor Card, essentially a state welfare program giving them around 310,000 riel (about $75) monthly for 10 years.
Source: Cambodia: Relocation of people from Angkor site raises human rights concerns | AP News
