Shadow Report on Women’s Land Rights in Cambodia - Analysis of the status of compliance with CEDAW articles 14, 15 and 16

ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Following such collection and compilation of relevant information on issues of women’s land rights, this report begins by introducing the centrality of the issue of women’s land rights, the developments in this context, and the remaining challenges with respect to complying on Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the CEDAW on the particular issue of women’s access to land and related resources. This is followed by recommendations for various key actors who are involved in ensuring the related compliance. One key point noted in this report is that while formal guarantees exist in law and practice, enshrining women’s access to land – a key resource which can form the basis of their social welfare, substantively, this has not been the case in practice. Culture and prevailing practices have resulted in women being ill-informed of their land and resource rights and unable to have the relevant laws and policies enacted for their benefit. Moreover, the issue has been further complicated by large-scale land acquisition, which has taken place without the provision of free, informed and prior consent of the people or adequate, just compensation. Women, who are most vulnerable, are unable to resist such acquisition, which can lead to the dispossession of their land and livelihood, and can cause a further descent into poverty due to the accumulated debts and migration they have to undertake in order to find some means to support themselves and their families. At the end, as ILC Director, Dr. Madiodio Niasse says, there is “no ready-made solution” to address the issue of land reforms and access to land and related resources for the different populations and groups in a country. Instead, equitable and fair access to land and resources can be only formed on the basis of “socially negotiated decision-making”, and women as equal members of our society need to have a say in this decision-making. Equally, women need to be heard in order to ensure their equal rights and guarantee to the land and resources of our country.

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