Special Economic Zones and Land Dispossession in the Mekong Region

ABSTRACTED FROM WEB INTRODUCTION: While industrial zones of various types played a key role in shaping Thailand and Vietnam’s export-oriented industrialization in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the 2000s that really saw special economic zones (SEZs) take off in the Mekong region as a model to drive industrialization and national economic growth. Over the past decade, all five Mekong region governments – including Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand – have been actively reforming their laws and institutions to promote SEZ development, attract private sector investment and facilitate access to land for factories and infrastructure. This brief is a summary of a report that examines regional- and country-level policies, laws and impacts of SEZ development and their intersection with land governance. While dynamics play out in ways specific to each individual country, the confiscation of land from smallholders by the state to provide inexpensive sites for investors in manufacturing and other commercial activities is occurring across the Mekong region. Trends and processes which are common to all countries include the adoption of laws and governance structures that protect business interests at the expense of people’s rights and the environment; an absence of meaningful consultation with affected communities; lack of transparency and accountability in land acquisition and the development of SEZs; inadequate resettlement and compensation for lost land and livelihoods; and difficulties in seeking legal redress for impacted communities. Land Watch Thai undertook the study in collaboration with independent researchers and activists from the five Mekong region countries. The report is based on a review of existing literature, complemented by field visits to selected SEZs where authors have been engaged in monitoring and advocacy.

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