A majority of Cambodians face challenging circumstances in their day to day lives. While some are fighting for their land that has been taken over by a corporation or the state, others are in dispute over their workplace conditions or wages, and some just want out of a predatory cycle of lending that is crippling communities.
The In Dispute page will track these conflicts, how they play out, who is affected by it and who are the perpetrators. This page can include people affected by loss of land, loss of jobs or loss of their basic rights, keeping them in dispute.
The Land Disputes page tracks over 100 land conflicts that have affected Cambodian communities — some for decades and with no resolution in sight. Kamnotra has mapped out these conflicts and will regularly update information available on them.
In the coming months, Kamnotra will look to include information on labor disputes that are ubiquitous in Cambodia’s critical garnet manufacturing sector.
Analysis
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The Gaps, Conflicts in Cambodia’s Land Titles
Land ownership in Cambodia is not as simple as paying for a deed. The strength of a person’s claim to land depends on the kind of land title they have and which government office granted it.
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Understanding Cambodia’s Land Law
The 2001 Land Law, which came about as the result of a controversial World Bank-influenced process, underpins Cambodians’ fraught ownership of land and the government’s mass land privatization drive.
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Three Trends Behind Cambodia’s Land Disputes
As of Kamnotra’s launch, a total of 120 land disputes across the country have been identified from news reports between 2019 and 2023, encompassing more than 260 incidents such as petitions, protests, arrests and government interventions.