Under the Khmer Rouge dictatorship, private land ownership was forbidden in Cambodia. The Pol Pot regime destroyed all land ownership records. The present political stability and economic growth have once again made land a valuable possession. The absence of rules and any clear title records it is however the law of the jungle that prevails. According to a recent study, at least twenty percent of landowners have lost their property to their more powerful countrymen. John Vink photographed the spreading struggle, which is leading to a new landless generation. In Cambodia, eighty percent of the population lives off the land.

Freelance photographer John Vink (Belgium/Cambodia, b. 1948) devotes himself to long-term projects, particularly in the third world. In 1986 he won the Eugene W. Smith Award. Vink is a member of Magnum, and lives and works in Cambodia. His report on the land problem is a work in progress.

Courtesy Magnum Photos