Old policies - new action: a surprising political initiative to recognize human rights in Cambodian land reform

Under the motto 'old policies, new action', in June 2012 the Cambodian Prime Minister initiated a massive land registration campaign on untitled former forest land. Unauthorised settlers and other long-term users of these lands, including those inside Economic Land Concessions, had been considered illegal before. Those of them who are poor now receive full property title by way of donation. This article is a first and incomplete attempt to describe the political background, some technological and organizational issues and the current status of the campaign in terms of land surveyed, titles delivered and type of state land reclassified. Paper prepared for presentation at the "Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty," The World Bank, Washington D.C., 2013.