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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Cambodian Land Grabs Threaten Traditional Communities

26 March 2015




Seoung Sarat survived several bloody Cambodian regimes and civil wars. But only when his country was at peace was he shot and lost a leg.

The indigenous Tompuon man, now living in a borrowed home in the forest of Ratanakiri province, says he lost his right leg in 2009 because of a conflict with a company that was granted his land by the government to use for large-scale farming.

“When I stood up to protest, they said they had already given the land to the company. So that’s why the company ordered their soldiers to shoot me," he said.