Cambodia: 'AIDS Colony' Violates Rights

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Before the eviction: residents of Borei Keila pose for a photo in front of their home. © 2009 Nicolas Axelrod 58222
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A resident carries his belongings out of his house to a nearby truck. On June 18, 2009, 20 HIV-affected families were evicted from Borei Keila and relocated to Tuol Sambo, a remote, semi-rural resettlement site 25 kilometers from Phnom Penh. © 2009 Nicolas Axelrod 58222
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A Borei Keila resident packs up on eviction day. © 2009 Nicolas Axelrod 58222
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Families were dumped with their meager possessions at Tuol Sambo, far from their former jobs, hospitals, and social services in the central city. © 2009 Licadho 58222
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On the left, the crude metal sheds provided by the government to the HIV- affected families to live in at Tuol Sambo. On the right, just a few feet away, is considerably better-quality brick housing which is being built, with the assistance of an NGO, for other homeless families who are not known to be HIV-affected. Before the evicted families even arrived, local people were calling the green sheds “the AIDS village”. © 2009 Licadho 58222
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A family in their Tuol Sambo home. Each family, regardless of size, is given only one room, measuring 3.5 m x 4.8 m. © 2009 Nicolas Axelrod 58222
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The sheds at Tuol Sambo do not meet international minimum standards for even temporary emergency housing with respect to size, fire safety, and sanitation. With little space between buildings, the metal sheds are poorly ventilated and extremely hot. © 2009 Licadho 58222
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Sanitation is sub-standard and toilet pipes flow out to open sewers such as this. © 2009 Licadho 58222
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Former Borei Keila residents wash at the only well in Tuol Sambo. © 2009 Nicolas Axelrod 58222
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Kids play on construction site material in front of their homes at Tuol Sambo. © 2009 Nicolas Axelrod 58222
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A family in their Tuol Sambo home. © 2009 Nicolas Axelrod 58222
In June and July 2009, the Cambodian government forcibly relocated HIV-affected families living in Borei Keila, a housing development in Phnom Penh, to substandard housing at Tuol Sambo, a remote site 25 kilometers from the city. The families were resettled into crude, green metal sheds that are baking hot in the daytime and lack running water and adequate sanitation.
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