With continuing human rights concerns over land grabbing, and in the wake of the Cambodian government‘s recent land policy issuing thousands of land titles to people in land conflict areas, study is needed to understand how people construct and experience security and insecurity over land, and action is needed to bridge the gap between people‘s experience and policy and investment practice in land.

This project uses a novel way looking at land issues in Cambodia by focusing on human security as a holistic tool for understanding the problems the people face in terms of freedom from fear, freedom from want, and freedom from indignity as well as the risks involved. It builds on other research and action projects by focusing on understanding the types of insecurities people in land conflicts areas face, as well as what provides people with security and how insecurity is experienced differently across gender and different age and ethnic groups.

The overall objective of this project is to increase knowledge, dialogue, and guidance toward human security-centered land policy and practice by government, private sector, and community members, in order to strengthen land security for marginalized people in Cambodia and promote social cohesion – social relation, social responsibility, and social inclusion such as rights to fair compensation and transparency, equal access and fair opportunities to all and not only benefit the higher classes, the psychological feeling of belonging, to name a few.