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OPENING PARAGRAPH OF REPORT: Land is a contested issue in Cambodia. During the Khmer Rouge regime, all cadastral records were destroyed, private property was abolished and large parts of the population were forcibly resettled or forced to flee due to the war. During the 1990s largescale refugee repatriation programmes were implemented. Over the next decades, mainly due to population growth, spontaneous settlements developed on land that was either formally part of the state domain, or of which the legal status was unclear. In 2001, a new Land Law provided the legal basis for the management and administration of land use and ownership rights. This was the official starting point of Cambodia’s comprehensive land reform. With the aim of legally securing access to land and land tenure, as essential steps in realizing basic human rights such as food and shelter, GIZ’s Land Rights Programme (LRP) has supported the Royal Government of Cambodia in their ambitious reform from the outset.
