Rubber prices in northern Laos have fallen significantly over the last few years, eroding much of the initial enthusiasm of both farmers and government officials about rubber providing a way out of poverty for poor upland farmers.

In the Mekong region, conflicts between local communities and large scale land concessions are widespread. They are often difficult to solve.

In this book research focuses on a comparative analysis of the collective strategies employed by indigenous and peasant women to gain access to justice for the sexual violence and other human rights violations they suffered in the context of armed conflict and transition in Colombia and Guatemala