アンコールワット不法占拠者の「強制退去」中止を　アムネスティ

【プノンペンＡＦＰ＝時事】国際人権団体アムネスティ・インターナショナルは３１日、カンボジア政府がアンコールワット遺跡に不法に住んでいる約１万世帯を「集団強制退去」させていることについて、直ちに中止するよう求めた。（写真はアンコールワット遺跡群）
　カンボジア政府は昨年、同遺跡の広大な敷地に不法に暮らす人々を、２５キロ離れた田んぼだった土地につくる新集落に移住させる計画を打ち出した。
　当局は、移住は国連教育科学文化機関（ユネスコ）の世界遺産にも登録されている遺跡を守るためだと主張。不法占拠者の集落でごみが発生しているほか、水資源の乱用などもあり、周辺環境が破壊されていると説明した。
　政府は、不法占拠者らは自発的に移住しているとしている。
　アムネスティのミン・ユウ・ハー氏は声明で「実質的な大規模強制退去だ。自発的に動くよう圧力をかけられ、拒んだり異議を申し立てたりすれば報復されると感じていた」と指摘。「カンボジア当局は何千もの家庭を貧困にさせる深刻なリスクがある有害な退去政策を中止すべきだ」と批判した。
　移住した家庭には幅２０メートル、長さ３０メートルの土地と現金３５０ドル（約４万６０００円）、屋根用のブリキ板３０枚、生活保護カードが与えられる。だが、家は自力で建てなければならない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/03/31-18:28）

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.
It said those affected were not properly consulted or given enough notice.
These are forced evictions in disguise and on a mass scale. People were pressured to volunteer and made to feel fearful of reprisals if they refused to leave or challenged the evictions, Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty's deputy regional director for campaigns, said in a statement.
The Cambodian authorities should immediately halt this harmful eviction drive that seriously risks impoverishing thousands of families, Ming Yu Hah added.
The ruined Angkor Wat temples, half-swallowed by the jungle, are the country's top tourist attraction.
Families being moved are given a 20-by-30-metre plot of land, $350 cash, 30 pieces of tin roofing material and access to a welfare card -- but they have to build their own houses.
Long Kosal, a spokesman for the Apsara National Authority, which manages the archaeological park, refused to comment on Amnesty's statement.
Prime Minister Hun Sen -- who has ruled the kingdom with an iron fist for nearly four decades -- has warned that Angkor Wat will be withdrawn from the world heritage list if villagers were not relocated away.
UNESCO guidelines say relocations should be carried out with the consent of the population concerned, and that local communities should be the primary beneficiaries of tourism from heritage sites.