Land and Housing Rights in Cambodia Parallel Report 2009

The Working Group is aware of the Cambodian Government’s (hereafter “the Government”) stated efforts to comply with its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereafter “the Covenant”), as detailed in its State Party Report 2008 on Covenant implementation to the Committee. These measures have been insufficient to ensure the implementation of the Covenant with regard to Article 11(1) on the right to adequate housing, as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living. The Government has failed in its obligations to protect, respect and fulfil the right to adequate housing as interpreted by the Committee in its General Comments No. 4 on the right to adequate housing and General Comment No. 7 on forced evictions. While this failure has occurred with respect to most or all elements of the right to adequate housing, this report focuses on the most severe violation of the right, the failure to guarantee legal security of tenure and the resulting epidemic of forced evictions across Cambodia.