‘<scp>I</scp>ndigenous <scp>P</scp>eoples’ and land: Comparing communal land titling and its implications in <scp>C</scp>ambodia and <scp>L</scp>aos

Abstract

Abstract In 2001 a new L and L aw was adopted in C ambodia. It was significant because – for the first time – it recognised a new legal category of people, ‘ I ndigenous P eoples’ or chuncheat daoem pheak tech in K hmer, and it also introduced the legal concept of communal land rights to C ambodia. I ndigenous P eoples are not mentioned in the 1993 constitution of C ambodia or any legislation pre‐dating the 2001 L and L aw. However, C ambodia's 2002 F orestry L aw also followed the trend by recognising ‘ I ndigenous P eoples’. These laws have been both symbolically and practically important, as they have provided government‐mandated legitimacy to Indigenous identities and associated land and forest rights, including communal land rights, and have been ontologically significant in dividing I ndigenous and non‐ I ndigenous P eoples on legal grounds. Over a decade after the 2001 L and L aw was promulgated, this article considers some aspects of its effects. In particular, when compared with the potential for developing communal land rights in L aos, one has to wonder how advantageous it is to adopt Indigenous identities and the types of communal land rights and community forestry rights presently possible in C ambodia.