Since last year’s groundbreaking settlement with Mitr Phol Sugar Company, Inclusive Development International has been working with our partners at Equitable Cambodia and community representatives to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of the settlement funds.
This week, we transferred the final payments to more than 600 families who were forcibly dispossessed to make way for the company’s sugarcane plantations in Northwestern Cambodia in 2008 and 2009—allowing them to move on and focus on rebuilding lives that were upended by violence and displacement so many years ago.
We are thrilled to share this news, along with a new short film documenting how the Oddar Meanchey families, with the support of our team and partner organizations, were able to secure a measure of justice after so many years.
A follow-the-money model for success
The film tells the story of how, after our follow-the-money research revealed that the Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol—supplier to global brands including Coca-Cola and Nestlé—was behind the land grabs, affected communities were able to leverage buyer advocacy, a series of complaints to international human rights and corporate accountability mechanisms, and a groundbreaking transboundary class action lawsuit to hold Mitr Phol accountable.
This process was not easy and no community should have to wait more than 15 years for justice. But contrary to the adage, justice delayed is still justice in the eyes of these families, who fought long and hard for this outcome and are thrilled that it has finally come.
We are beyond proud of our team, partners and especially the community leaders and plaintiffs in this case for their tireless advocacy and perseverance.
This story is a testament to what is possible when communities affected by harmful investment projects have the support they need to follow the money and gain leverage to hold powerful corporations accountable. It is an example that our team, as well as other advocates and communities, can learn from for a long time to come.