This handbook is an introduction to the human rights of indigenous women. It provides some detail on the CEDAW as the only instrument specifically for women. It also provides a brief overview of the other available human rights mechanisms.

The series of studies discussed in this overview pull together updated information about large-scale land acquisitions in the region, with the aim of identifying trends, common threats, divergences and possible solutions. As well as summarising trends in investment, trade, crop development and land tenure arrangements, the studies focus on the land tenure and human rights challenges.

This publication reveals that the majority of Southeast Asian countries already have plural legal systems, and to some extent custom is recognised as a source of rights in the legal framework of a number of them. National and international courts have affirmed indigenous peoples’ customary rights in land. And all these countries have endorsed and ratified key international human rights laws and treaties-- thus, the basis for securing indigenous peoples’ rights through a revalidation of customary law exists.