U.N. criticises Cambodian land-grabs

PHNOM PENH, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The United Nations criticised Cambodia on Monday for failing to protect the rights of the poor, saying land was being routinely seized by large businesses with government connections and the courts were doing nothing.

"Indigenous people are losing their lands. Their lands are being stolen," Yash Ghai, the U.N.'s human rights envoy to the impoverished southeast Asian nation, told a news conference at the end of a 10-day visit.

During his trip, he went to the jungle-clad northeastern province of Rattankiri, where ethnic minority hill-tribes are in a protracted legal dispute over a 500-ha (1,200-acre) plot of land with the sister of the finance minister.

"People told me that their lands were taken away and they preferred not go to the court," Ghai said.

He also described as "completely unacceptable" reports of villagers being beaten up at the scene of another alleged land-grab south of Phnom Penh.

There was no immediate response from the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who has been in charge for the last two decades.

After a previous visit in which Ghai accused him of ruling with an iron fist, Hun Sen branded the Kenyan a "long-term tourist" who should be fired. (Reporting by Ek Madra; editing by Ed Cropley)