This report from EIA highlights an illegal trade in banned timber from Laos into Vietnam, where it supplies a booming furniture industry. The report suggests that this is the result of weak law enforcement and poor governance in Laos. A number of recommendations are made to address this situation, including improved cooperation between the two countries. The findings are based on undercover operations conducted in 2010 and 2011.

As Vietnam continues to search for its ideal balance between Communist control and a market-led economy, land rights emerge at the forefront of the discussion concerning the tension between traditional Socialist ideals of people-owned and state managed property versus neoliberal ideals of private property rights. The purpose of this study is twofold.

OPENING PARAGRAPH OF REPORT: Land is a contested issue in Cambodia. During the Khmer Rouge regime, all cadastral records were destroyed, private property was abolished and large parts of the population were forcibly resettled or forced to flee due to the war. During the 1990s largescale refugee repatriation programmes were implemented. Over the next decades, mainly due to population growth, spontaneous settlements developed on land that was either formally part of the state domain, or of which the legal status was unclear.

In late June and early July 2012, more than 1,000 student volunteers were dispatched to targeted provinces across the country, accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC), to implement Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Order 01BB. The student volunteers were trained in basic measurement techniques, kitted out with military uniforms bearing the MLMUPC’s logo, transported by army trucks, and directed to measure land and grant land certificates to rural residents.

Part of a 3 year collaboration among the national human rights institutions of the region. Each of 8 national studies aims to pull together in a simple form, updated information about large-scale land acquisitions in the region, with the aim of identifying trends, common threats, divergences and possible solutions. As well as summarising trends in investment, trade, crop development and land tenure arrangements, the studies focus on the land tenure and human rights challenges.

Under the motto “old policies - new action”, in June 2012 the Cambodian Prime Minister initiated a massive land registration campaign on untitled former forest land. Unauthorised settlers and other long- term users of these lands, including those inside Economic Land Concessions, had been considered illegal before. Those of them who are poor now receive full property title by way of donation. The campaign was planned for 12 months and targets 470,000 families on 700,000 parcels comprising a total of 1,8 Mio hectares. The campaign might be extended though into the year of 2014.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In accordance to the land confiscation documented in this report, the Burmese military regime has not only constantly violated the domestic laws in Burma like the Nationalisation Act, the Land Acquisition Act and also Customary Law but also international law, such as the UDHR charter, CEDAW, CRC, ICESCR and farming protection rights.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The overall QSEM program aims to provide a descriptive picture of rural life in Myanmar. It examines different livelihood strategies and activities, the wider factors that shape these strategies, and how the broader social and institutional features of community life affect people’s livelihoods choices and outcomes. Specifically, it explores how external assistance affects individual behavior, coping mechanisms, and community social structures. How do those social structures shape the local economic environment?

OPENING PARAGRAPH OF EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Whereas 2011 had seen a sharp increase in the number of Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) granted by the Royal Government of Cambodia to private companies, in 2012 conflicts became more acute and protests multiplied. The government showed that it had understood the seriousness of the situation by taking initiatives aimed at resolving land disputes, addressing some of the issues related to ELCs and granting thousands of land titles to rural families.

The issue of women’s access to land is often framed in the context of oppression, emancipation, or Vietnamese uniqueness. This study report examines contemporary women’s access to land across ten provinces outside of these traditional narratives. Ten selected research sites reflected a diveristy of rural-urban locations, lineage patterns, and ethnic diversity.

Land distribution to the poor is discussed in the broader context of the Cambodian land reform which is considered to follow a liberal approach based on the re-introduction of private property rights in land following Cambodia’s socialist period. This approach has produced good results for providing private land titles for existing land use on state private land but has turned out to be quantitatively ineffective in the distribution of state public land for the poor through social land concessions.

This publication presents the first nationwide analysis of land concessions and leases in the Lao PDR. It comes at a pivotal moment after investment in land has expanded significantly throughout the country, sparking increased dialogue and a greater level of scrutiny regarding the impacts of this expan- sion, both inside the Government of the Lao PDR (GoL) and throughout wider civil society. Investment in land, particularly foreign direct investment, has been championed as an effective development tool by a number of actors.