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In 2004, the Land Law Implementation Network (LLIN), which
consists of various NGOs working on land issues, was formed and began to work
together in assisting poor and vulnerable people affected by land issues in
Cambodia. The network builds upon the knowledge, skills, lessons learnt and
experience of its members with regard to land problems, seeking to work more
effectively through joint advocacy and through coordination with relevant
institutions. The network commits itself to work together under a mutually
agreed Terms of Reference.
Rationale
Many NGO Forum members are engaged in
work that is directly or indirectly related to land rights. Several problems
that existed before the Land Law was passed are still being experienced four
years after the enactment of the law and there is uncertainty with regard to why
this is the case and what individual NGOs could or should be doing in order to
make a difference. In response, a Land Issues Project commenced at NGO Forum in
2004 that will continue to find answers to key questions raised by NGO Forum
members:
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What are the main impacts of the
implementation of the Land Law?
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What factors impede its full
implementation?
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How does the land titling programme
affect poor people? Does it reduce poverty or does it lead to poor people
losing land?
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Are the new law and the cadastral
commissions any more successful than earlier laws and mechanisms or does
injustice and anarchy still prevail?
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Will the sub-decree on economic
land concessions make the processes for granting economic and agricultural
concessions more transparent and fair?
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Can social concessions work?
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What is the relationship between
land titling, land dispute resolution and poverty reduction?
Project Approach – Enhancing and Complementing
This project proposal is based on the
assumption that NGOs already engaged in land issues are doing good work, and
that the NGO Forum project should aim at strengthening their effectiveness.
This is being achieved by providing to NGOs that are already engaged in land
work with information and networking services and a means for doing joint
advocacy. These services are also enabling the mobilization of a broader range
of NGOs and other stakeholders, especially in the provinces.
The project is enhancing and
strengthening the work of individual organisations such as:
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Ativities
of members of the Land Law Implementation Network such as disseminating the 2001 Land Law, contributing to the drafting of
implementation sub-decrees,
monitoring and supporting new institutions and mechanisms such as systematic
land titling, cadastral commissions and social concessions;
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Activities
of human rights NGOs (such as ADHOC, Vigilance and LICADHO), legal aid
organizations (such as LAC, CLEC/PILAP and CDP), and development organizations
(such as LWF and DPA) in defending the victims of land expropriation cases;
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Policy
research and advocacy by organizations such as Oxfam’s Livelihoods Project.
It also aims to complement work such
as:
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The constituency building, policy
research and advocacy of the NGO Forum Forest Livelihoods Project and its
partners;
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The research and advocacy of the
Resettlement Action Network which seeks to advocate and protect the rights of
people displaced by development projects or by urban development.
Conditions for Success
The project is also based on the
assumption that NGO land work will only be able to become more effective if
members are able to contribute increased time and resources to the issue, and to
agree to work together.
Other key contributions that will be
required in order to enable the success of the project will include:
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The motivation of NGOs in the Land
Law Implementation Network
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The formation of a Working Group to
Support Victims of Land Grabs by NGOs involved in this work, and the upgrading
and management of a shared GIS based database
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The formation of a Working Group in
each province to monitor the Land Management and Administration Project,
including the commitment of an organization to liaise with the Provincial Land
Department and to coordinate this work.
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The willingness of organizations
with policy research and analysis capacity to read policy and project
documents relating to poverty reduction and land reform and to contribute to
debates on these issues
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The willingness of development
organizations to go outside their immediate target areas in order to
participate in key strategic monitoring or research activities.
Land reform in Cambodia is seen as key
to attempts to reduce poverty in the Kingdom. The population is predominantly
rural and expanding. Neither urban development nor diversification of rural
incomes will be sufficient to provide for or respond to the needs of this
expanding population. Creating and safeguarding secure livelihoods for the
rural poor will therefore depend greatly on how key natural resources –
forestry, fisheries and agricultural land – are managed.
NGO contributions to land policy in
Cambodia have been highly regarded. NGO research and advocacy have helped to
shape a pro-poor Land Law. NGOs have also been involved in the struggle to
protect families who are the victims of land grabs by the powerful. Despite
strenuous efforts, these struggles have overwhelmingly been dispiriting and
unsuccessful.
Government attempts to reduce poverty
through land reform are now based on a Land Management and Administration
Project (LMAP) supported by the World Bank and the governments of Germany and
Finland. Key elements of this project include:
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Systematic land titling – which aims to give title to all land in Cambodia;
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Cadastral Commissions – which will aim to solve land disputes both related to
the systematic land titling process and outside it;
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Social
Concessions – which will be a mechanism for transferring state land into the
private ownership of poor landless people.
These processes are unlikely to be
successful unless they are properly monitored, and the problems faced by poor
and powerless groups are raised in a systematic way. To achieve this, NGOs
working on land issues need to improve their analysis and strengthen their
dialogue with the government and donor agencies. At the same time, a critique
of current methods of land reform is needed.
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