Cambodian Forced Evictions - Part 1

George Nickels is a photographer based in Siem Reap, Cambodia. His photo essay ‘Slokran Commune Evictions’ deals with the on-going upheaval of fractions of both local and foreign peoples in Cambodia. 

Nearly 400 Cambodian and Vietnamese families have been evicted from their homes beside the Siem Reap river in the Slokram commune of the city. The decision has been made by officials - with the reasons stated as: needing to develop the surrounding area, widen the river and make new communal gardens. The Vietnamese and Cambodians I spoke to told me how after notification by letter, they expected to have until the 1st of April to take down their fragile wooden shacks on stilts, and find a new home elsewhere. On the 26th of March, a considerable police force arrived in the early hours, and demanded that all families and businesses had one day to leave, or their homes would be destroyed. - George Nickels

  

All images below are subject to copyright and should not be republished without permission of the photographer.

“Where will I go now?  I have no husband and three children; the authorities have compensated me $550 with no relocation plan.  I’m scared of what the future holds for me and my family.”

“Armed police show no emotion as they prepare to remove another of many families evicted along the riverside on that dark day’

“Police watch on as a Vietnamese resident is forced to deconstruct his home”

“After this photograph was taken I was invited to attend a meeting organised by the governor of Siem Reap. When we arrived back at the business, people employed by the local authorities were dismantling their coffee shop of fifteen years”

“A Vietnamese resident stands in the debris of the shell which was once her home”

''A man sits helpless in the destroyed remnants of what once his family of ten years.''

''A young girl walks past what was once her family home''

Please take a moment to view the work of George Nickels at gnpj.tumblr.com

Many thanks again to George for his contribution to NGOinsider.

If you want to contribute in any way to NGOinsider.com please send an email to: 

tom@ngoinsider.com