House dismantling in Boeung Kak Lake (Photo: Nicolas Axelrod)

28 April 2011
Source: Bank Information Center USA

Human rights organizations welcomed news last week that the World Bank Inspection Panel will conduct a full investigation into the Bank-funded land-titling project in Cambodia, following a complaint that groups vulnerable to forced eviction have suffered serious harm from the project.

For Immediate Release
April 27, 2011

Human rights organizations welcomed news last week that the World Bank Inspection Panel will conduct a full investigation into the Bank-funded land-titling project in Cambodia, following a complaint that groups vulnerable to forced eviction have suffered serious harm from the project.

The complaint was filed in September by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), with the support of Cambodian housing rights groups, on behalf of more than 4000 families living around Boeung Kak lake who have suffered or are currently threatened with forced eviction. It alleges that the Bank breached its operational policies by failing to adequately supervise the Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP), which has denied urban poor and other vulnerable households due process rights and protection against increasing land-grabbing and forced evictions in Cambodia.