A/HRC/42/60 Floating villages on Tonle Sap 40. First, the Tonle Sap floating communities in Kampong Chhnang, who are affected by relocation plans, brought to light important discrepancies between the way the Khmer communities and those of Vietnamese descent are treated. The authorities have undertaken the relocation to conserve biodiversity and the environment, reducing pollution and so directly promoting the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goals 14 and 15. The people affected most are poor and at risk of being left behind. Many are now living at temporary (and some at permanent) relocation sites. 41. The Special Rapporteur noted that some of the relocation sites lacked safe water, sanitation, electricity, transport infrastructure and sufficient access to appropriate livelihoods to support an adequate standard of living for the communities. She welcomes the fact that, before her visit in November 2018, the local authorities suspended the relocation of the ethnic Vietnamese to a location called Damboh Krakas in order to improve access to economic and social rights. Further suspensions were secured during provincial meetings in May. That is appropriate to ensure that these communities are not left behind in efforts to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals. 42. However, since her mission in May 2019, the Special Rapporteur remains concerned at the situation in the temporary relocation sites. In addition to the issues identified above, she was deeply concerned that the level of solid and plastic waste and non-secured wastewater at temporary relocation sites, especially at Chhnok Trou commune, would lead to serious pollution when the water rises, creating a negative impact on the rights to health and to water of the inhabitants. She was also concerned that many of the relocated houses at the temporary sites and even at some of the permanent relocation sites are currently below the high-water line but may no longer be able to float when the water inundates the land, raising concerns about the right to adequate housing. The Special Rapporteur is also concerned about the fact that people have been relocated inside the inundated forest that is considered a biosphere reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). She recommends that the relevant authorities ensure that the conditions at all relocation sites, both temporary and permanent, respect the economic and social rights of the individuals and communities as a matter of urgency. 43. The Special Rapporteur highlights the especially vulnerable situation of ethnic Vietnamese families who have been living in Cambodia for generations but lack citizenship and administrative documentation. Not only are they more affected by the relocation than the Khmer communities who can have access to land equipped with better facilities (roads, electricity, water), but the lack of administrative and citizenship documents adds an additional risk where documentation is needed to access social rights. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the efforts of the Government to provide the ethnic Vietnamese with documents, including permanent immigration cards, but raises the issue of the absence of rights attached to their possession. Children in ethnic Vietnamese communities might not be able to gain access to schools, as they cannot get birth certificates, thus denying their right to education. 12 Given the vulnerabilities of this community, specific attention is needed to address their rights to ensure that meeting some of the Cambodian Sustainable Development Goals related to the environment and biodiversity protection does not result in the denial of other social rights and of the Cambodian Goals related to healthy lives, quality education, water for all and reduction in inequality. For the Vietnamese communities, fulfilling target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals on providing legal identify for all, including birth registration, is essential. Drug users 44. A second example of people at risk of being left behind concerns drug users, the subject of a national anti-drug campaign, launched in January 2017. Combating organized crime, including in the field of drugs, is important and is recognized in target 16.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (although the Special Rapporteur notes that the Cambodian 12 See, inter alia, UNICEF, Inclusion and Quality in Islamic Schools, Buddhist Monastic Schools and Floating Schools (June–September 2018). 11

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