One last chance for Cambodian families
Dear friend,
A young woman in her home in the Group 78 community © Nicolas Axelrod
Recently we wrote to you about a group of families living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, who were just hours away from being violently evicted from their homes - despite having a strong claim to live there.
Thanks to more than 8,000 protest emails and letters, you played a crucial part in pressuring the Cambodian authorities to prevent the eviction in May - but now we urgently need your help again as news has reached us that the forced eviction is likely to happen this Friday.
Please send your email directly to the Phnom Penh authorities to halt the forced eviction of 80 Cambodian families
Since 1983, the group of 80 families – known collectively as "Group 78" - has lived on the site that the Phnom Penh authorities now want to develop in the name of "beautifying" the city. The site is not just their home, but their livelihoods. Many families run businesses from their homes or work in the nearby area and if evicted, they will lose everything.
The authorities have offered some families inadequate compensation; others have been offered nothing. The lucky ones will be pushed out to a resettlement site 20kms away from Phnom Penh where there is no shelter, sewerage, electricity, water or sanitation. Tragically, it will cost families more than they earn in a day to get back to Phnom Penh to work.
Please send an urgent email to the Governor of Phnom Penh asking him to stop the potentially violent forced eviction now
Sadly, this is a familiar story for low-income groups in Cambodia. Two years ago around 20 families left Group 78 for a resettlement site at Andong after threats and harassment from local authorities. They could not make a living from the resettlement site, and returned to the city as squatters, living in tents or under tarpaulins around the area.
A similar fate now awaits Group 78 if the eviction is not stopped.
Please act now to stop the forced eviction
Sarah Marland
Demand Dignity Campaign Coordinator
Amnesty International Australia
PS: For more information you can read a story The Australian newspaper ran on this issue in May. See
Amnesty International begs for evicted Cambodian families
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