The following is an excerpt from the original RFA report. Read the full piece on Radio Free Asia →
More than two-thirds of around 2,300 ethnic Vietnamese families living in a "floating village" on Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake have been evicted from their homes — a local official said Friday — despite concerns over a lack of infrastructure on the land demarcated for their relocation.
Authorities have removed all but around 700 families from the lake to land about one kilometer (six-tenths of a mile) away in Kampong Chhnang province and in the province's Rolea B'ier district, provincial deputy governor Sun Sovannarith told RFA's Khmer Service.
The families that remain have been allowed to stay because their homes use floating nets to farm fish, he said — adding that they "will be evicted by July."
"Those families who are raising fish, we will delay moving so that their fish will not be affected" — while authorities work to complete infrastructure on the land they will be relocated to, Sun Sovannarith explained.
Want to read the full report? Continue reading on rfa.org →
Why we're sharing this.
This RFA report gives the clearest progress snapshot we have of the Tonle Sap eviction policy in action. 2,300 families. 1,600 already moved. 700 remaining. July deadline.
Behind every one of those numbers is a household — children IHM serves, families IHM has medical records for, parents whose lives just changed without their consent.
And the 700 still on the water? They are running out of time.