Cambodia is gripped by a major land crisis with protests tied to land development occurring nearly every other day. Rural dwellers complain that they are displaced with little or no compensation when the government grants land to private companies. Under what the government calls economic land concessions, or ELC's, some of the country’s best land is carved out for the well-connected, with rural villagers having little say in the process. By 2012, ELC’s accounted for more than half of Cambodia's total arable land, some rights groups say.
At the same time, dubious land policies in urban areas and apparent moves to silence activists highlighting land grabs and unfair exploitation of natural resources have fueled an alarming pattern of violent disputes. While some say the root of the land turmoil goes back to the days of the notorious Khmer Rouge regime, which had forced large-scale relocations throughout the country, others blame the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen for the mess.
2012 land data provided by LICADHO, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights