Human rights organisations have estimated that 12,000 people in Cambodia have been forced off their land to make way for a new surge of sugar production. The European Union’s initiative ‘Everything but Arms’, which allows Cambodian sugar to be sold duty-free on the European market at a minimum price per tonne, has created a “sugar rush” in Cambodia. As a result, crops have been razed. Animals have been shot. Homes have been burned to the ground. Thousands of people have been left destitute. Some have been thrown in jail for daring to protest. Given no option but to accept inadequate compensations, villagers gave up their homes and farmlands.

The EU is, to date, yet to investigate these reports.

In the meantime, families forced off their land, who have lost their only source of income, have little choice but to work for the very companies who have claimed their land, either at factory level, or cutting and bundling sugar canes for rates as low as US$2.50 per day. The dire economic situation means that children also work in the cane fields but still the families earn barely enough money to survive.

On March 2013, a lawsuit was filed in the UK against Tate&Lyle, the multi-national sugar giant, to which the majority of exports from the Koh Kong plantation are being sent. 200 Cambodian farmers are suing the company for violating their rights as, under Cambodian law, the fruits of the land belong to the landowner (or lawful possessor in this case). According to humanitarian organizations Tate&Lyle is knowingly benefiting from the harvest of stolen land, and the rightful owners of the harvest are not receiving their share of sugar sales.
Land ownership in Cambodia is difficult to establish, due to the country’s evolving legal and political structures following the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, and the country is slowly trying to re-establish land titling through government programs. Though in the past, and still for the time being, small-scale farmers and poor households are often forced to give up their land for little compensation.

Fair development and industrialization is a struggle for this South East Asian nation, where, for the right price, powerful landowners, wealthy businessmen, and foreign investors have their pick of the country’s prime real estate.

Land is an increasingly rare resource in Bangladesh. Over sixty percent of the country’s population of 150 million depend on agriculture to make its living, yet the majority of Bangladesh’s cultivatable land belongs to 10 percent of the people.

Each year hundreds are displaced by climate change and make their way to Noakhali District in pursuit of government promised khasland. Yet in a system rife with corruption, very little of this land ever materializes. Left landless, the poor farmers of Noakhali are forced to band together and fend for themselves.

Full article: http://transterramedia.com/media/21242#

February 13, 2013
Omliang, Kampong Speu, Cambodia

Ranlyn works clearing land for her 'adopted family', she works for them in exchange for her father's debt.

February 12, 2013
Omliang, Kampong Speu, Cambodia

Savy collects water with her two grand-children. Svay's daughter left to work in Thailand, she has not had news since she left six months ago. Savy cares for her daughter's two sons.

The Cham Muslim group has been living in Cambodia for hundreds of years, many subsisting as fishermen and women. But in Phnom Penh, where the peninsula divides the Mekong River from the Tonlé Sap River, many families are threatened by the development of a large hotel. The Sokha Hotel, under construction next to the pier, will have more than 450 rooms. The Cham Muslim community, many of whom don't own houses or land, fear that hotel management will force them to vacate. Where they will go, nobody knows.

The Cham Muslim group has been living in Cambodia for hundreds of years, many subsisting as fishermen and women. But in Phnom Penh, where the peninsula divides the Mekong River from the Tonlé Sap River, the development of a large hotel threatens many families. The Sokha Hotel, under construction next to the pier, will have more than 450 rooms. The Cham Muslim community, many of whom don't own houses or land, fear that hotel management will force them to vacate. Where they will go, nobody knows.

Karim and his wife Amrah fish almost every day in the Tonle Sap river. Karim jumps on his small fishing boat after diving into the waters to free his fishing net, which got stuck between the rocks. Karim says, "The only thing we can do is go fishing. I found peace in that, but if we have to leave this place, I don’t know where to go.”

Cham fishermen pray in their mosque, an open space with a green cloth that works as a roof. “When the wind is blowing hard, our mosque sometimes collapses. Then we have to built it up again,” says Treh Roun, one of the three local leaders. Behind the mosque, the Sokha hotel is under construction. The 16-floor hotel will probably be opened in 2014 and is expected to have room for about 800 guests.

The Cham fisher folk are not unhappy, but now their place of stay is threatened by the construction of the Sokha Hotel, a large building that will house more than 450 rooms and is being built next to the pier of the Cham families. The fishing Muslims fear that it will lead to a forced eviction, just like tens of thousands other people in Cambodia who have been forced to move in the past ten years.

Routinely, Karim steers his boat over the water. Almost every morning, he goes fishing with his wife Amrah.

Young Cham fisher folk prepare to go fishing at night. They live in a Cham community at the peninsula that divides the Mekong River from the Tonlé Sap River, near the centre of Phnom Penh. Most of them work as fishermen and –women.

In the early morning light, a Cham fishing boat navigates over the Tonle Sap river. The view is taken from the Japanese Friendship Bridge, at the centre of Phnom Penh. “Officially, we are not allowed to fish here because the government says we are too close to the Royal Palace. So they want us to go fishing further up. But we catch less fish over there, so we’re still coming back here," says Karim, a Cham fisherman.

A Cham fishermen prays in their mosque, an open space with a green cloth that works as a roof. “When the wind is blowing hard, our mosque sometimes collapses. Then we have to built it up again”, says Treh Roun, one of the three local leaders. Behind the mosque, the Sokha hotel is under construction. The 16-floor hotel will probably be opened in 2014 and is expected to have room for about 800 guests. The Cham Muslims fear Sokha management will soon grab their land.

Cham fishermen pray in their mosque, an open space with a green cloth that works as a roof. “When the wind is blowing hard, our mosque sometimes collapses. Then we have to built it up again,” says Treh Roun, one of the three local leaders. Behind the mosque, the Sokha hotel is under construction. The 16-floor hotel will probably be opened in 2014 and is expected to have room for about 800 guests.

Cham fishermen pray in their mosque, an open space with a green cloth that also serves as a roof. “When the wind is blowing hard, our mosque sometimes collapses. Then we have to built it up again,” says Treh Roun, one of the three local leaders. Behind the mosque, the Sokha hotel is under construction. The 16-floor hotel will probably be opened in 2014 and is expected to have room for about 800 guests.

Cham fishermen pray in their mosque, an open space with a green cloth that works as a roof. “When the wind is blowing hard, our mosque sometimes collapses. Then we have to built it up again,” says Treh Roun, one of the three local leaders. Behind the mosque, the Sokha hotel is under construction. The 16-floor hotel will probably be opened in 2014 and is expected to have room for about 800 guests.

Young Cham fisher folk prepare to go fishing at night. They live in a Cham community at the peninsula that divides the Mekong River from the Tonlé Sap River, near the centre of Phnom Penh. Most of them work as fishermen and –women.

Treh Roun has been fishing since he was a teenager. “Our lives are not easy here, but we will not leave this place before they offer us a proper piece of land and we know for sure we can continue fishing. I myself accepted this life a long time ago. I’m getting old, and I know the day is coming that Allah will pick me up to go to heaven.”

A young Cham girl walks from the Cham boats to a small shop, near the Sokha hotel, which has been in the process of being built for two years. The 16-floor hotel will probably open in 2014. The fishing Muslims fear that it will lead to a forced eviction.

Cham fisher folk unload the fish catch of that morning. They sell the fish at the market in Phnom Penh. Cham fishermen fish almost every day for their daily survival.

An older Cham sits in the self-made mosque with the Quran on his legs and a tea pot next to him. . "I came from another Cham village to read the Quran to my fellows here because there is no translation of the Quran into our language. And I'm one of the few Cham to read Arabic." Through the hole in the green cloth, the Sokha hotel is visible.

Young Cham fisher folk prepare to go fishing at night. They live in a Cham community at the peninsula that divides the Mekong River from the Tonlé Sap River, near the centre of Phnom Penh. Most of them work as fishermen and –women.

A Cham woman prays at five o'click in the afternoon. She stands on her boat, her face to the east. But that is also in the direction of the Sokha hotel. The Cham Muslims fear Sokha management will soon grab their land.

Karim and his wife Amrah fish almost every day in the Tonle Sap river. Karim says, “We don’t have a house or land, so we can’t live as a farmer. The only thing we can do is go fishing. I found peace in that, but if we have to leave this place, I don’t know where to go.”

Ten Palestinian Bedouin communities living in the West Bank E1 corridor connecting Ma'ale Adumim and Jerusalem are facing displacement as Israeli authorities recently approved the construction of thousands of new housing units. The community's traditional way of life is threatened by Israel's plans to build more settlement units.

The E1 project has sparked a major diplomatic backlash. Experts say it could jeopardize the possibility of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state. Most of the Bedouins living in this area are refugees whose families were forced out of Israel’s Negev in 1948.

A Bedouin family living in front the settlement Ma'aleh Adumim arrive at home. as Israeli authorities recently approved plans to build more settlement units in an area known as E1, which links Jerusalem with Ma’aleh Adumim, these families are in danger of expulsion.

The Bedouins derive their livelihood from raising goats and sheep, where they get meat and milk they use in their food.

A skateboard serves as support for a wall of a Bedouin family's house. The materials used to build their houses are precarious and often taken out of the waste.

A Bedouin house situated in front of the Jewish settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.

A Bedouin family gathered at home, in front of the Jewish settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.