Security guards from a Chinese development firm in Koh Kong province have allegedly prevented civil society groups from gathering data they planned to use for a petition asking for compensation for evictees.

Tianjin Union Development Group security guards blocked representatives from rights group Adhoc and the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee over the weekend when they tried to enter the firm’s property to see how it is using an economic land concession (ELC), Neang Boratino, a provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said yesterday.

“People said they have not been compensated for their rice fields yet,” Boratino said.

Some 50 families in Ta Noun commune have received farming land in exchange for property they lost from the granting of the ELC in 2008, but have not seen payment for their rice paddies, said Than Eng, 56.

Botum Sakor district governor Orn Phearak said the land is private property and all payment for it has been settled.