Housing and Land Rights Issues in Cambodia

ABSTRACTED FROM INTRODUCTION: This document is prepared as an Annex to the Parallel Report and focuses on land and housing rights issues. Violations of housing and land rights are widely viewed as the major human rights concern in Cambodia. This document is intended to assist the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in its review of Cambodia during its 42nd Session, 4 to 22 May 2009. The document was prepared for the purpose of providing recommendations to the State party and other actors as well as facilitating civil society input into this procedure. The document focuses in particular on the right to adequate housing in Cambodia, as well as related human rights concerns. Matters addressed include (i) forced evictions; (ii) gaps in the legislative and policy framework on evictions, and a lack of implementation of existing laws and regulations; (iii) the absence of legal security of tenure for many households and obstacles to accessing title; (iv) concerns regarding the donor funded titling system: LMAP and LASSP; (v) land disputes and concerns regarding the efficacy, independence and transparency of dispute resolution bodies; (vi) displacement and other adverse impacts resulting from economic land concessions and mining; (vii) concerns regarding land rights of indigenous peoples; and (viii) the persecution of housing rights defenders.

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