A/HRC/33/39
and by company, and briefings on relevant thematic issues, such as the rights of indigenous
peoples.4
59.
From October 2015 to February 2016, OHCHR carried out preliminary research on
six social land concessions. According to a subdecree on social land concessions issued in
2003, a social land concession is “a legal mechanism to transfer private state land for social
purposes to the poor who lack land for residential and/or family farming purposes”. Few
official sources of information, including on the process and outcomes of the mechanism,
are actually available. To assist the Government in improving its implementation of the
concessions, addressing shortcomings, and disseminating and replicating positive
experiences, research focused on the processes and outcomes in land distribution through
social land concessions in rural areas in five provinces. It entailed interviews with more
than 640 households, local authorities and other stakeholders. The research data are being
analysed for discussion with the Government; the final results are expected to be published
by the end of 2016.
60.
OHCHR continued to expand its focus on business and human rights, working
directly with national and subnational authorities, civil society organizations, community
representatives and business actors to increase their understanding of the Guiding Principles
on Business and Human Rights and their application in Cambodia. In partnership with nongovernmental organizations, selected business people, and professional institutions, such as
the Lawyers Training Centre of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, OHCHR
organized and delivered a number of seminars, training sessions and consultations that were
attended by more than 400 representatives of targeted professional groups (such as lawyers
and members of the media), government agencies, private businesses and civil society
organizations (including youth groups). In addition, OHCHR aired six live interactive radio
talk shows on related themes, with a variety of guest speakers, including from grass-roots
associations, national and international non-governmental organizations, government,
United Nations agencies, businesses, and individual experts.
61.
In Mondulkiri province, in October 2015, OHCHR initiated a pilot project to support
negotiations between indigenous communities affected by an economic land concession
and the company to which it had been granted. A tripartite committee comprising
representatives of the local authorities, the company and the indigenous villagers was set up
at the initiative of local stakeholders. OHCHR was invited to support the process. With the
negotiation skills of the indigenous representatives strengthened by OHCHR-organized
training, as at June 2016, compensation agreements were being finalized concerning one
sacred site, and clear and time-bound commitments had been made by the company to
review all pending land claims. Two multi-stakeholder meetings for indigenous
representatives, local authorities, land concession representatives, non-governmental
organizations, the United Nations and development agencies were organized to review the
progress made.
62.
OHCHR continued to work with the Ministry of Land Management, Urban
Construction and Planning, local authorities and civil society organizations to support
efforts by indigenous peoples to apply for collective land titles, and to provide legal aid to
communities that had been subjected to land rights violations. In Cambodia, securing a
collective land title is a complex, three-step process: first, communities must be identified
by the Ministry of Rural Development as “indigenous communities”; second, communities
must be legally registered with the Ministry of the Interior as a “legal entity”; third, they
must apply to have their land registered communally with the Ministry of Land
Management. As at June 2016, 162 indigenous communities were in the process of
4
12
See Open Development Cambodia at https://cambodia.opendevelopmentmekong.net.
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