Statement by Indigenous People
made in Trang Village, Chh’en Commune, Oral District, Kompong Speu Province
12 September, 2004
We, the representatives of indigenous communities from 14 provinces in Cambodia, gathered together in Trang Village, Chh’en Commune, Oral District, Kompong Speu Province for a national forum on indigenous people and land from 9-12 September, 2004.
This
forum was something we wished to do to share our ideas and experiences about
our culture and natural resource management.
In
the forum we discussed many issues common to indigenous people. We discussed
what it is that makes an indigenous person an indigenous person, and we also
discussed traditional land management of indigenous people and what our needs
are for the future of our communities.
Below
are the results we discovered, which we would like to share:
Indigenous
People and Indigenous Communities.
We,
the indigenous people in Cambodia, like other citizens of Cambodia, are
happy to fulfil our role as citizens of Cambodia.
We
have discovered that all of the different indigenous communities have a
lot in common.
We,
the indigenous people are those people with an indigenous identity that
comes from our ancestors, and we all respect our traditions and way of
life.
It
is indigenous people, especially elders and village headmen, who can
define in more detail who are within indigenous ethnicities and indigenous
communities.
Some
of our indigenous peoples have lost some parts of our traditions. Some of
us no longer speak our traditional languages. This does not mean that we
are no longer indigenous people. We still retain many other parts of our
indigenous identity.
Our
communities are generally defined by a common belief in a village Neak Ta
or Arak. Ceremonies to these Neak Ta or Arak are generally performed on an
annual basis with many variations and similarities between indigenous
groups.
Our
indigenous communities have a traditional form of management that is
different from the new structure that includes village and commune
authorities. Traditional structures are usually characterised by
traditional leaders, elders and often involve participation by the entire
village in decision-making.
The
new structures imposed from the outside have been eroding the role of
traditional structures and systems and this is of great concern to our
communities.
Indigenous
Management of Land and Natural Resources
We
traditionally manage and use a very wide range of land and other natural
resources including forest lands, agricultural lands, water resources,
etc.
Most
of our indigenous communities have been conducting rotational swidden
agriculture for a very long period of time and in most cases it is an
integral part of our culture.
The
traditional boundaries of our forests and community lands are generally
defined by agreement with neighbouring communities, elders playing a
significant role in this defining work.
In
most areas, these traditional boundaries are clearly defined by mountains,
streams, ponds, etc.
Sometimes
traditional village areas involve areas of forest of joint management
between more than one community or have multiple village user rights.
All
of these lands that indigenous communities have traditionally used remain
important to our indigenous peoples’ livelihoods and culture.
Traditionally
we do not sell land to people outside of our ethnicity. This is considered
to be a serious violation of indigenous culture and is not allowed.
We
allocate individual user rights to families within our communities. This
is generally done following the traditions and customs of each ethnicity.
Those
individual rights over community land do not include the right to sell.
Land is considered to be community property. It is allocated to families
or individuals within the community for use but not for sale.
Individual
and family rights over community land can be passed on to younger
generations within the same family and can be transferred to others in the
community.
If
our community sells land to outsiders, we believe that this will create
great problems for the life and future of our indigenous communities.
Problems
that Communities are Currently Facing:
Indigenous
communities in Cambodia are facing serious threats to the security of
their lands.
State
land concessions, mining concessions, land sales, land grabbing,
immigration of people from outside the community, and alienation of land
through other means are having a severe impact on indigenous culture and
livelihoods of indigenous people.
The
level of sales of indigenous land and land alienation through other means
is devastating and leading to complete loss of land. It is a problem that
we must solve immediately if we are to protect our way of life and protect
our indigenous cultures. In some areas, some indigenous cultures have
almost disappeared and this is a great loss for everyone in Cambodia.
New
governance structures are sometimes undermining the traditional indigenous
management systems of communities and are weakening the social structure
of communities.
Many
of the areas of forest used by communities, especially spirit forests and
burial forests, are extremely important to our livelihoods and culture,
but many spirit forests and burial forests are being destroyed by illegal
activities. When we lose our agricultural lands this also impacts on the
forest. We need ownership
over at least these special parts our traditional property.
We
are concerned about the loss of our culture and language that results from
a lack of education and information that are appropriate to our languages.
Solutions
and Recommendations:
We
consider our indigenous cultures and communities to be a special part of
Cambodia.
The
recognition of communal land titling for indigenous communities by the
2001 Land Law is important to the future of our indigenous communities,
natural resource management and indigenous culture. We strongly support
communal land titling. Communal land titling is consistent with our
traditions and our way of managing land, and can help to protection
indigenous culture from the violations of our land that we are currently
encountering.
We
do not want private title to our lands. It is the experience of many of us
that private title leads to land loss from the community and private title
is against the basics of indigenous culture. Our traditional land
management systems give rights to individuals similar to ownership rights,
but they cannot sell the land, and in traditional land management systems
there isn’t a risk of land loss.
While
we are waiting for recognition of communal title over our lands, it is
important that our lands are protected from land grabbing, land selling
and other forms of alienation.
In
order to protect our culture, land concessions and mining concessions on
indigenous people’s traditional lands need to be stopped.
The
forests and water resources traditionally used by indigenous communities
of are also part of the traditional management and ownership of indigenous
communities. We need management rights or ownership of these resources.
Areas
of forest of water resources that are of special significance to our
culture need to be included in our communal land titles. We cannot feel
comfortable with these areas not under our ownership.
Traditional
structures must be respected for community solidarity and culture to be
kept strong. New governance
structures need to respect and consult traditional systems.
We
want Khmer language education but also request education and management
systems that respect and strengthen our cultures and languages.
We greatly appreciate the efforts of government officers to support indigenous people. We need to meet together again in order to collect information to provide to those drafting the sub-decree and policies and supporting our indigenous culture and customs.