via AFP/France 24, 31 March 2023: Amnesty International has urged Cambodia to halt forced evictions of villagers living near Angkor Wat temple complex, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, and compensate those already affected.
Rights group Amnesty International on Friday urged Cambodia to immediately stop the ongoing “mass forced evictions” of 10,000 families from the Angkor Wat temple complex.
The Cambodian government late last year ramped up the relocation of families living within the sprawling UNESCO world heritage site to a new community being built on former rice paddies 25 kilometres (15 miles) away.
Authorities say they are acting to protect the ruins by moving squatters whose informal settlements are damaging the local environment by producing rubbish and overusing water resources.
The government says people are moving voluntarily but Amnesty said its research found that villagers faced “implicit threats if they did not move”.
Source: Cambodia should halt ‘forced evictions’ at Angkor Wat: Amnesty – France 24
