Cambodia defends family relocations for tourism around Angkor Wat temple complex, saying only squatters are being removed

Authorities in charge of heritage site reject Amnesty International assertion that villagers living around the Khmer temple ruins are being forcibly evicted

UN cultural agency Unesco had requested Cambodia respond to Amnesty’s claim that families living for ‘several generations’ at Angkor site were being removed

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Villagers living near Siem Reap, Cambodia, gateway to the Angkor temples complex, where a big new airport built to fuel tourism recently opened. Authorities have rejected Amnesty International’s claim they are forcibly evicting families who have lived for generations around the site. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 1:15pm, 5 Mar 2024

Cambodia is rejecting allegations it violated international law by evicting people living around its Angkor Wat temple complex, saying in a report to Unesco that it was only relocating squatters and not residents of more than 100 traditional villages.

The United Nations cultural agency had demanded a response from Cambodian authorities in November 2023 after a scathing report from Amnesty International claimed that thousands of families, some of which had lived in the area for “several generations”, were being forcibly evicted from around the World Heritage site as Cambodia seeks to develop the area for tourism.

Amnesty questioned Cambodia’s assertion that the families were being voluntarily relocated, citing interviews with people who said they had been forced out, and maintained that resettlement sites lacked adequate water, sanitation and other facilities; it criticised Unesco for failing to challenge Cambodian authorities.

Paris-based Unesco responded that it was “deeply concerned about the allegations” and ordered Cambodia to report on the state of conservation at the Angkor site about a year earlier than previously planned, while urging “them to ensure that any relocation is voluntary”.

Squatters who have been coming in, and these squatters are the people who are being relocated, not the people living in the traditional villages

Long Kosal, spokesman for the Cambodian government body in charge of the Angkor Wat site

The Angkor site spreads across some 400 square kilometres (155 square miles), and contains the ruins of Khmer Empire capitals from the 9th to the 15th centuries, including the temple of Angkor Wat.