In Defense of Human Rights: A Monitoring Report on Land Conflicts

This monitoring report was prepared in six Asian countries to understand the nature, cause, and impact of land conflicts and to highlight the human rights issues intertwined with them. The report provides an overview of some of the available conflict resolution mechanisms in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines, and outlines recommended actions for addressing land conflicts.

Land and resource governance is crucial in determining whether people, communities and others are able to acquire rights, and associated duties, to use, manage and control land, water, forests and natural resources. Many land and resources conflicts arise because of unequal distribution of land and resources, lack of access to land especially for poor people, unclear or insecure tenure rights and weak governance.