In Cambodia, land is power. For those at the top, land confers sugar and rubber monopolies, development, money and status. For those at the bottom, land is heritage, family, food, life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During its reign from 1975-1979, the Khmer Rouge abolished land ownership and forced a mass internal migration, leaving survivors inside Cambodia the choice to reclaim their homeland or resettle in a new place \u2014 while opening up once-claimed territory to opportunists. Since then \u2014 as the country rebuilt its economy, government and identity from scratch and ultimately cemented an authoritarian leader \u2014 land has become one of Cambodia\u2019s biggest ongoing battlegrounds, with disputes touching farmers, tycoons and everyone in-between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although it\u2019s impossible to catalog every conflict nationwide, the available evidence shows clear trends. First, while land disputes reach everyone, Cambodia\u2019s power structures mean that those with the least resources are often pitted against those with the most. Second, due to the country\u2019s unique history of land ownership, some disputes drag on for decades, making their histories difficult to detangle and therefore all the more challenging to solve. Third, as the political regime has become ever more lopsided in favor of elites, attempts from communities to protest are often met with criminalization, beatings, arrests and even alleged killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cambodia\u2019s land prices have risen dramatically in recent years, up to thousands of dollars per square meter in central Phnom Penh neighborhoods with substantial increases even in the most remote neighborhoods. Mere rumors of new developments will send investors running toward a deal, buying up hundred-hectare plots or pursuing economic land concessions for long-term leases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One roadblock to riches, however, are the people who currently use, farm and live on an investor\u2019s new asset. In some cases, residents can chart their ownership back decades, even holding land titles from the 1980s or 1990s<\/a>, as in the case of dozens of families facing eviction in Phnom Penh\u2019s Boeng Tompun for a reservoir project. Those with proof of long-standing residency are, by Cambodian law, the rightful owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet tycoons whose developments are backed by law enforcement have little reason to be concerned about current residents. When residents in Kandal\u2019s Kandal Stung district protested what they said was low compensation offered by tycoon Pung Kheav Se\u2019s OCIC group for taking their land to build the New Phnom Penh Airport<\/a>, police and military police destroyed their village roads. Police have similarly been called to kick residents off of land granted to Mondulkiri\u2019s Pacific Joint-Stock companies<\/a>, a chain of similarly-named ELCs owned by Cambodian and foreign business partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, some tycoons appear to bite off more than they can chew, leaving plots undeveloped for years. In this way, six Chinese-owned sugar plantations in Preah Vihear<\/a> were left to their original small-holder farmers to restart their crops. Other communities manage to live and farm in parts of a tycoon\u2019s concession that are going unused, as they do in Koh Kong and Kampong Speu plantations reportedly tied to Ly Yong Phat<\/a>, or the Union Development Group<\/a>\u2019s sprawling resort compound on the coast of Koh Kong. This allows the communities to maintain their claims or sustain a demand for compensation, but at greater risk and personal insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some land disputes flare up and quickly fizzle out with compensation or a settlement. But many are drawn into long stalemates, leaving few satisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the roughly 400 ethnic Vietnamese communities<\/a> living off the shore of Phnom Penh\u2019s Prek Pnov district, for example, an eviction conflict sprang up practically overnight. One day in June 2021, authorities confronted the community<\/a> \u2014 who had called the area home for more than three decades \u2014 and said they were polluting the river and had one week to leave, leaving residents stunned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other conflicts build up over time, including some that drag out for decades. At Angkor Archaeological Park<\/a>, residents had been told since at least the early 2000s<\/a> that they would not be allowed to live in the Unesco-protected ancient heritage area. At first, the Apsara Authority held sporadic small-scale evictions, destroying shops and homes, before embarking on a longer-term eviction plan that unfolded over the better part of a year and prompted mass protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even organized resettlements can fail to end disputes and even exacerbate them. The few villagers who lived at a Union Development Group resettlement village in Koh Kong, for instance, said houses were poorly constructed and they could not grow no food on the land<\/a>: One man said he would have left if he had any money to invest. The World Bank\u2019s land reallocation system, LASED, intends to solve disputes and ensure people receive land; but in Kampong Thom<\/a>, residents have said houses distributed to them in 2019 did not go to people who needed them, and have been used as second homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crux of both fast-erupting and long-term disputes is a lack of governmental transparency and unclear documentation. Cambodian land ownership is not clearly defined, with residents making land titles in a slew of different offices that rarely seem to share information between each other, while long-standing residents\u2019 legitimate claims under the Land Law remain difficult to prove if not ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our database shows that among 120 active disputes reported in the past four years, at least four conflicts date back to the 1990s and 17 started between 2000 and 2010 \u2014 nearly one-fifth of the total conflicts as of the launch of this site. Of the remaining four-fifths, 52% started within the past five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNew Phnom Penh Airport and City<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Pacific Joint Stock Disputes<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Preah Vihear Chinese Sugar Plantations<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
LYP Sugar Disputes<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Koh Kong UDG Dispute<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
From Sudden Conflicts to Decades-Old Disputes<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Ethnic Vietnamese Evictions – Prek Pnov<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Angkor Park Residents Evicted, Sent to Run Ta Ek<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Doung Commune LASED<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Starting Years<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
For land conflicts active in 2019-2023<\/h5>\n\n\n\n\n