The exhibition is supported by the advocacy group Oxfam.
WASHINGTON DC - A new
exhibition of photography that displays the effects of land grabs in Cambodia
is now on display in Washington.
“Cambodia: Losing Ground,” works by photographer Emma Hardy,
a regular contributor to New York Times Magazine, shows forced evictions and
its effects. The exhibition is supported by the advocacy group Oxfam.
“We know that every two days, an area of land the size of
Chicago is bought up by foreign investors in poor countries, and that is
forcing many people from their lands and from their livelihoods,” Hannah
Stoddart, head of Oxfam America’s economic justice policy team, said at a
recent opening for the exhibition.
“It’s powerful to see the impacts that people feel, in terms
of how much their lives are changed, and the hardships that they are going
through,” said Vicky Rateau, a campaign manager for Oxfam.
Hiram Smith, a contractor at Department of Labor who attended
the exhibition, called the images “moving.”
With land grabs, many people are facing problems ranging from
a lack of resources to poor living conditions, narrow spaces and an inability
to farm, he said.
Oxfam has been pushing for better protection of people’s land
rights, including from the World Bank, whose failed land titling program led to
evictions at the Boeung Kak lake area in 2008. Many of the photographs in the
exhibition show the effects of that eviction, which was undertaken to make way
for a commercial and residential development.
An Oxfam statement called for Cambodians to use smartphones,
Twitter and and Facebook to send photos of more effects of evictions, to keep
pressure on international policymakers.
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