ABSTRACTED FROM OPENING PARAGRAPHS: Land confiscation is one of the leading causes of protest and unrest in Burma, having led to the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in recent years. It also undermines Burma’s fragile peace processes. The 2008 constitution and subsequent laws are used to legitimize arbitrary land confiscation, deny access to justice, and perpetuate an environment of impunity.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Half a decade into the global land rush, land-intensive investment throughout Southeast Asia continues to confront social and environmental issues such as land conflict and improperly regulated forest conversion. This study uses publicly available financial and spatial data to examine the geography of land-intensive investment in Southeast Asia, and to identify the limits imposed by problems with data availability.

The Government of Vietnam has identified the conversion of forests to plantations of industrial crops such as rubber as one of the five drivers of deforestation and degradation in the country. Presently, Vietnam is actively participating in various international initiatives such as the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) programmes.

INTRODUCTION: Over the years HURFOM has produced a number of accounts highlighting the hardships faced by Mon farmers who became victims of land confiscation or unjust land acquisition.1 In this report HURFOM follows-up on previously documented abuses and concentrates on an emerging new trend: farmers’ active and collective pursuits for rights to their land. Disputed Territory aims to elaborate on the activities of and express solidarity with farmers who are resolutely, and in some cases for the first time, seeking justice regarding their land.

While there is ample evidence of state and corporate complicity in the serious and systematic human rights violations that have surrounded the development of industrial sugarcane plantations in Cambodia, nobody has been held accountable and those affected have been denied access to an effective remedy at the local and national levels. Unable to obtain redress through Cambodian institutions, affected communities have turned to Europe in search of accountability.

This briefing note presents the findings of seven case studies conducted from May to June 2014. The studies were conducted in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal and Thailand and looked into the livelihood and food security among indigenous shifting cultivation communities in South and Southeast Asia. The briefing note provides a summary of the main findings of the case studies and the common recommendations from a multi-stakeholders consultation held August 28-29 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This report is an independent assessment of human rights issues related to the German-Cambodian Land Rights Program (LRP), which began in March 2011. The assessment was neither tasked to evaluate the impact of German predecessor programs in the land sector nor to undertake a legal assessment of the LRP’s sphere of influence and thus does not do so. The assessment aims to gain insights which can be used for management decisions by the BMZ as well as for a possible next phase of the LRP (03/2013- 02/2016).

ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Of the many challenging issues that will require resolution within the peace processes currently underway between the government of Myanmar and various ethnic groups in the country, few will be as complex, sensitive and yet vital than the issues comprising housing, land and property (HLP) rights.

This paper examines the main drivers of resource conflict in Myanmar. The author first looks at the major resource-related projects that could crate conflict in the country, namely the Myitsone hydroelectric dam project, the Letpadaung copper mine and the Shwe oil and gas project. He then explores some of the other areas connected to resource conflict.

In June 2012, the Cambodian Government issued a policy directing the private titling of all plots throughout the country’s rural areas. In this study conducted in collaboration with seven NGOs throughout 79 indigenous villages in Ratanakiri Province, indigenous leaders reported negative impacts of the policy including loss of communal land, lack of transparency and information, and coercion to privatize land.

In light of the increasingly volatile nature of the land conflict in Cambodia, this Report aims to describe the sources, forms and impact of the conflict throughout the country. The Report offers an overview of the land conflict throughout the country and provides recommendations to the RGC. Chapter 1 (Introduction) provides a brief overview of the status of land rights and the different ownership system throughout Cambodia’s history and of the land situation in today’s Cambodia, before discussing the scope, methodology and purpose of this Report.

The purpose of the report is to provide documentary evidence of land disputes recorded throughout 2013. This evidence was gathered from articles on land disputes from local printed media, meetings with Land and Housing Right Network (LAHRiN)2 members, and through on site data collection.