| March
05, 2003 Local Bureaucracy
Shuts The Land Privatization Hopes Down Recently, Mr.Saintogtoh's dwelling was removed by force during his absence. Local police officers and the officers of City Construction Department of Bayanzurkh district came in and "freed" the piece of land under the reason of "not having a certificate to posses the land" where Mr.Saihantogtoh's family lived in. Mr.Saihantogtoh, the head of a big family of 10, complained to the Mongolian Human Rights Commission twice that he had been persistently applying for the certificate for three straight years and was always denied to get one without any reason. "I did not have any failure in my registration or documentation or something else which would disqualify my application for land permission. I built up my dwelling according to the written permission of city architectural and planning authorities. Since September 2000, I have been constantly applying for getting the final permission form the district governor's office" said Saintogtoh in his second complaint to the MHRC. Byanzurkh district authorities, namely Mr.Gantumur, the Governor and Mr.Batjargal, chief of land relation division, have given land permission certificates to 23 families who have applied at the same time with Saihantogtoh and who live in nearby to Saihantogtoh's family during last two years. However, Saihantogtoh was denied without any concrete reason. He can not understand why his district authorities were so bureaucratic and whether it was discrimination against himself or the local authorities hoped for bribe. Mongolian Human Rights Commission criticized in its letter of March 1, 2003 written to the Bayanzurkh district City Construction Department that the removal of Saihantogtoh's dwelling by force while restricting him to have land permission was a serious breach of basic human rights of Mr.Saihantogtoh and they should reimburse his loss and give land permission to Mr.Saihantogtoh. Liberty Center's concern on the case is that Mr.Saihantogtoh lost his family's future private land just before the land privatization which is expected to start by May 1, 2003. The location relatively near to the center of Ulaanbaatar is expected to reach quite high price which is crucially important issue for Saihantogtoh's poor and big family. According to the Mongolian Law on Land Ownership by Citizens, a citizen will be entitled to claim for ownership of land for his/her household need if the land is already possessed lawfully by citizens. It means that the land permission certificates given by the local authorities for land possession will be the decisive document for families to claim for private land. "Land robbing has begun openly and is expected to continue widely against poor and helpless families and people" warns Mr.Bat-Uul, the leader of the Fairer Land Privatization Movement, while advocating importance of immediate and serious watch on the land privatization. |