In the Media
Laos: NA urges govt to review land rights policy
June 27, 2012
Vientiane Times
National Assembly (NA) members have called for the government to review its land rights policy to ensure that legitimate benefits flow to local people who are affected by development projects.
NA member for Khammuan province Mr Inthava Moundala told the Third Ordinary Session of the NA’s Seventh Legislature this week about how local authorities violated the rights of villagers who lost their land to development projects.
He highlighted the fact that villagers who have been earning a livelihood on a piece of land for decades don’t have official title to the land. When a development project encroaches on this land, local authorities come and tell the villagers “this is not your land” and refuse to compensate the families affected.
Minister of Planning and Investment Mr Somdy Duangdy accepted that people’s land rights had been breached by some projects in the past due to the absence of thorough surveys and proper land allocation.
Please click here to read the original news item published on Vientiane Times from LaoFAB.
Keywords: Asia, deforestation, encroachment, Eucalyptus, land concession, land policy, Lao PDR, Laos, mining, plantations, rubber