Economic Land Concessions in Cambodia - At the Expense of Adequate Housing? A Minor Field Study
(2015) JURM02 20151Department of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Idén till denna uppsats kommer från det utbredda fenomenet “land grabbing”, vilket bland annat har lett till att ett stort antal människor över hela världen har blivit tvångsförflyttade. Inom det internationella regelverket för mänskliga rättigheter finns det en rättighet till adekvat (lämplig) bostad. Att tvångsförflytta människor anses vara ett direkt åsidosättande av denna rättighet.
Uppsatsen består av en fallstudie på rättigheten till adekvat bostad i Kambodja, som är ett av de fattigaste länderna i Asien. Kambodja präglas fortfarande på många sätt av det inbördeskrig som härjade i landet under andra halvan av 1900-talet. Som en strategi för fattigdomsbekämpning började staten vid millennieskiftet att bevilja markkoncessioner för... (More) - Idén till denna uppsats kommer från det utbredda fenomenet “land grabbing”, vilket bland annat har lett till att ett stort antal människor över hela världen har blivit tvångsförflyttade. Inom det internationella regelverket för mänskliga rättigheter finns det en rättighet till adekvat (lämplig) bostad. Att tvångsförflytta människor anses vara ett direkt åsidosättande av denna rättighet.
Uppsatsen består av en fallstudie på rättigheten till adekvat bostad i Kambodja, som är ett av de fattigaste länderna i Asien. Kambodja präglas fortfarande på många sätt av det inbördeskrig som härjade i landet under andra halvan av 1900-talet. Som en strategi för fattigdomsbekämpning började staten vid millennieskiftet att bevilja markkoncessioner för storskaligt jordbruk. Sen detta system togs i bruk har det dock framförts stark oro kring systemets påverkan på åtnjutandet av mänskliga rättigheter, särskilt som många fall av tvångsförflyttningar har rapporterats.
Kambodja har ratificerat de mest centrala av de internationella instrumenten om mänskliga rättigheter, och med det som utgångspunkt är syftet med denna uppsats att utreda om Kambodja kan anses fullgöra sina internationella förpliktelser vad gäller rättigheten till adekvat bostad. Syftet är även att bedöma om systemet med markkoncessioner påverkar möjligheten att åtnjuta rättigheten till adekvat bostad.
Uppsatsen beskriver rättigheten till adekvat bostad utifrån det internationella regelverket om mänskliga rättigheter, och sen undersöker den hur denna rättighet är skyddad i Kambodja genom lagstiftnings- såväl som politiska åtgärder. Efter det presenteras de relevanta delarna av regleringen av markkoncessioner, och ett antal kontroversiella aspekter rörande bostadssituationen i Kambodja samt systemet av markkoncessioner granskas närmre. Dessa aspekter innefattar marktvister, fenomenet “jordlösa”, tvångsförflyttningar och vidarebosättning, tillgång till en rättvis rättegång, korruption och regeringens bristande transparens.
Två slutsatser dras i uppsatsen. Den första slutsatsen är att Kambodja inte kan anses fullgöra sina internationella förpliktelser vad gäller den mänskliga rättigheten till adekvat bostad, huvudsakligen på grund av att besittningsskyddet genomgående är allt för svagt i landet.
Den andra slutsatsen är att systemet med markkoncessioner påverkar möjligheten av att åtnjuta rättigheten till adekvat bostad. Till skillnad från det ursprungliga syftet med markkoncessionerna, att bekämpa fattigdomen, så har många av de fattiga i stället blivit ännu fattigare. (Less) - Abstract
- The inspiration to this thesis springs from the phenomenon of “land grabbing”, which have had forced evictions of numerous persons and communities across the world as one of its devastating effects. International human rights law recognizes a right to adequate housing, and instances of forced eviction are considered a prima facie violation of this right.
This thesis is a case study on adequate housing in Cambodia, a country that is one of the poorest in Asia and still suffers from the legacies of decades of civil war during the second half of the 20th century. At the turn of the millennium, a system of Economic Land Concessions was introduced as a strategy to reduce rural poverty. However, since the introduction of this system concerns... (More) - The inspiration to this thesis springs from the phenomenon of “land grabbing”, which have had forced evictions of numerous persons and communities across the world as one of its devastating effects. International human rights law recognizes a right to adequate housing, and instances of forced eviction are considered a prima facie violation of this right.
This thesis is a case study on adequate housing in Cambodia, a country that is one of the poorest in Asia and still suffers from the legacies of decades of civil war during the second half of the 20th century. At the turn of the millennium, a system of Economic Land Concessions was introduced as a strategy to reduce rural poverty. However, since the introduction of this system concerns regarding the human rights impacts of it have been reported frequently, and so has instances of forced eviction throughout Cambodia.
Cambodia has ratified all the core human rights instruments, and against this background the purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether Cambodia can be considered to fulfill its international human rights obligations regarding the right to adequate housing. The purpose is further to examine whether the system of Economic Land Concessions affects the enjoyment of the right to housing.
The thesis describes the right to adequate housing as set forth by international human rights law, and thereafter it explores how the right to housing is protected in Cambodia through legislative and policy measures. Relevant parts of the regulation on Economic Land Concessions are then brought up, and a number of controversial issues in relation to housing and Economic Land Concessions are highlighted, namely: land disputes, landlessness, eviction and resettlement, access to justice, corruption and the Government’s lack of transparency.
The thesis concludes that Cambodia not can be considered to fulfill its international human rights obligations regarding the right to adequate housing, mainly because of the low degree of security of tenure throughout the country.
The thesis further concludes that the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing can be considered affected by the system of Economic Land Concessions, and that this system many times have made the rural poor even poorer, contrary to the original purpose of it. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/5434299
- author
- Kozak Dehlin, Sanna LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JURM02 20151
- year
- 2015
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- public international law, human rights law, right to adequate housing
- language
- English
- id
- 5434299
- date added to LUP
- 2015-06-09 15:29:15
- date last changed
- 2015-06-09 15:29:15
@misc{5434299,
abstract = {{The inspiration to this thesis springs from the phenomenon of “land grabbing”, which have had forced evictions of numerous persons and communities across the world as one of its devastating effects. International human rights law recognizes a right to adequate housing, and instances of forced eviction are considered a prima facie violation of this right.
This thesis is a case study on adequate housing in Cambodia, a country that is one of the poorest in Asia and still suffers from the legacies of decades of civil war during the second half of the 20th century. At the turn of the millennium, a system of Economic Land Concessions was introduced as a strategy to reduce rural poverty. However, since the introduction of this system concerns regarding the human rights impacts of it have been reported frequently, and so has instances of forced eviction throughout Cambodia.
Cambodia has ratified all the core human rights instruments, and against this background the purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether Cambodia can be considered to fulfill its international human rights obligations regarding the right to adequate housing. The purpose is further to examine whether the system of Economic Land Concessions affects the enjoyment of the right to housing.
The thesis describes the right to adequate housing as set forth by international human rights law, and thereafter it explores how the right to housing is protected in Cambodia through legislative and policy measures. Relevant parts of the regulation on Economic Land Concessions are then brought up, and a number of controversial issues in relation to housing and Economic Land Concessions are highlighted, namely: land disputes, landlessness, eviction and resettlement, access to justice, corruption and the Government’s lack of transparency.
The thesis concludes that Cambodia not can be considered to fulfill its international human rights obligations regarding the right to adequate housing, mainly because of the low degree of security of tenure throughout the country.
The thesis further concludes that the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing can be considered affected by the system of Economic Land Concessions, and that this system many times have made the rural poor even poorer, contrary to the original purpose of it.}},
author = {{Kozak Dehlin, Sanna}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Economic Land Concessions in Cambodia - At the Expense of Adequate Housing? A Minor Field Study}},
year = {{2015}},
}