In defense of land rights: A monitoring report on land conflicts in six Asian countries 20 Legal disputes. Meanwhile, land-related conflicts are common, and land cases continue to clog the judicial courts. About two million hectares of land are currently under litigation, while land related cases need an average of 9.5 years for settlement. Cambodia Land in historical context. Cambodia is the only country that has experienced four major shifts in property regimes within a single generation, due to decades of internal war and foreign occupation. The period of French colonization ended with a return to monarchical rule (1953-1975), followed by land collectivization under the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979), then partial de-collectivization under Vietnamese occupation, and finally the shift towards private property under a liberal economy after 1989 (Quizon, 2013b). In 1975-79, the Khmer Rouge regime abolished private property, destroyed cadastral maps and wiped out the entire administrative and institutional infrastructure of the land system. Over three million people were killed. Decades of war and forced relocation resulted in the massive dislocation of millions of people and the loss of their property rights. Restoring property systems. After the Vietnamese departed in 1989, all lands were considered as State property, as all ownership of the pre-1975 period was lost. Sub-Decree 25 was enacted, which permitted Cambodians to buy and sell land. However, land disputes arose in the process of reclaiming lands. In the 1990s, Cambodia opened its borders to a free-market economy. In 1992, the Basic Land Law was promulgated; but in the period of 1993-2000, the recourse to land markets, land grabbing and abuses of power, and the absence of effective measures to protect peasants resulted in landlessness, land concentration, and land insecurity. Public institutions were weak and unable to tackle land conflicts. In 2001, the Land Law introduced a cadastral system, a central registry of titles, and a land classification system. ANGOC State-owned lands, ELCs, and land conflicts. In Cambodia today, the State controls and manages 80 percent (14.5 million hectares) of the country’s 18.1 million hectares. However, State land management has favored the granting of large-scale economic land concessions (ELCs) to private entities, while disregarding customary land rights. This has triggered conflicts between companies with State backing and local communities. As of 2016, over 20