Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Landmark Settlement in Cambodian Land-grab Falls Short for Many Villagers

   It has been more than a decade since 64-year old Khorn Khorn lost three
   hectares of land to a close ally of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
   The controversial senator Ly Yong Phat wanted the holding to expand a
   sugarcane plantation in Kampong Speu province.

   At her house in Sre Chrab village, about 10 kilometers from the land
   she lost, the mother of seven recounts how the loss affected her life:
   she couldn't find work or make ends meet, her children dropped out of
   school, and she now has ever-growing debt, amounting to about $6,000, a
   substantial sum in a nation where the average annual income is $1,680,
   according to 2019 government statistics.

   "Before I lost the land, I had never been in debt," Khorn Khorn said in
   an interview with VOA Khmer last week. "I am afraid that I could not
   pay it. I don't know whether my son will be able to pay this month or
   not," she said. "I am very concerned every day."

   The sugarcane plantation was given to Ly Yong Phat as an economic land
   concession, a controversial land-lease program that resulted in
   thousands of land disputes across Cambodia. The decade-old plantation
   has been involved in [1]numerous counts of forced
   evictions,deforestation and [2]child labor.

   But, in a landmark settlement announced February 27, the Australian and
   New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to
   some 1,200 families affected by the protracted dispute with Ly Yong
   Phat's Phnom Penh Sugar company.
   

References

   Visible links
   1. https://english.cambodiadaily.com/news/anz-implicated-in-sugar-plantation-evictions-50980/
   2. https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sugar-company-axes-child-labour

   Hidden links:
   3. file://localhost/east-asia-pacific/australian-bank-compensate-cambodian-farmers-lost-land

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