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8th Meeting of the Government-Donor Coordination Committee (GDCC)
on 5 October 2006
Intervention on Land Conflicts by H.E. Pius Fischer, Ambassador of Germany
Your Excellency Chairman Senior Minister, Excellencies, Colleagues.
On behalf of development partners, allow me the following remarks:
Development partners remain concerned about the continuous negative impact
of land conflicts on Cambodia’s development. As the Prime Minister and
donors have stated on several occasions, the proliferation of unresolved
conflicts about land have the potential to create social unrest. Moreover
these ongoing disputes hamper Cambodia’s progress towards reaching the
Cambodian Millennium Development Goals and reducing inequality. Land
grabbing widens the gap between the poor and the rich and contributes to
the growing number of landless people deprived of even the most meagre
source of income. New poverty is also created among the victims of forced
evictions, who in many cases do not receive fair and just compensation
according to Article 5 of the Land Law.
The management of land and natural resources, especially the handling of
land conflicts, is a major social concern. The weak implementation of
existing law and the impunity of those violating it raise doubts about the
political determination and rigour to strengthen the rule of law in this
important area. The adoption of good laws is not enough. The Land Law of
2001 is a good law, but the letter of the law is often not enforced. This
seems to be the case particularly when powerful vested interests are
involved, even though important examples have been stated by the
prosecution of two high ranking officials in Rattanakiri and Kampot.
We would like know whether the recent creation of the National Authority
for the Resolution of Land Disputes, had produced tangible results on
preventing the further spread of land disputes. Furthermore, its
relationship with the jurisdiction of cadastral commissions and the courts
needs clarification as it raised general legal concerns.
For indigenous communities, expropriation from their traditional land
leads to social disintegration. The granting of economic land concessions
over indigenous land will have serious economic, social and cultural
consequences for indigenous communities, and impacts upon the availability
of land for registration of indigenous collective title. Progress so far
seems insufficient to meet the Joint Monitoring Indicator, which envisages
that the Royal Government of Cambodia adopts a strategy and necessary
regulations for indigenous people until end of 2006. Clarifying the
process of registration of collective titles over indigenous land should
be a priority. While this is taking place, there is an urgent need to
enforce measures to protect indigenous land, and declare a moratorium on
further land sales or alienation, including through economic land
concessions.
We are aware of some progress with regard to land registration and first
steps to increase transparency through the disclosure of some information
on Economic Land Concessions. We are not aware of any progress in granting
social land concessions. Development partners urge the Royal Government of
Cambodia to step up its efforts to stop land grabbing and illegal dealings
in land, and to enforce the land rights of all Cambodian citizens.
Thank you
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