Cambodian communities reach settlement with sugar industry actors after decade-long campaign for redress
Two hundred Cambodian families whose land was forcibly seized to make way for a sugar plantation in Cambodia’s Koh Kong province have reached a financial settlement with key sugar industry supply chain actors. The settlement comes following more than a decade of advocacy and legal action in pursuit of justice for communities driven from their […]
Thai Court Greenlights Trial Against Global Sugar Supplier Mitr Phol
Thailand’s Court of Appeals last week denied Mitr Phol’s motion to dismiss a historic class action lawsuit filed against the company by plaintiffs representing hundreds of Cambodian families who were violently displaced to make way for one of the Thai sugar giant’s industrial sugar plantations. The case also shines a light on the serious human […]
Sustainable sugar group Bonsucro ignored rights abuses by member, UK body finds
Women watch their farm houses burn during forced eviction of Bos village (October 2009) (Phnom Penh) – The UK-based “sustainable sugarcane” certification body Bonsucro violated its international human rights responsibilities, according to a statement released by the UK National Contact Point (UK NCP), a government body that handles complaints against British multinational enterprises. The NCP […]
U.S. Court Orders Coca-Cola to Turn Over Evidence in Thai Human Rights Case
Lead Plaintiff Hoy Mai with her children (Atlanta, GA.) – A U.S. federal court in the Northern District of Georgia last week ordered the Coca-Cola Company to turn over evidence related to an ongoing class action against Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol in the Thai courts. The decision, an important victory for plaintiffs representing hundreds […]
Cambodians Seek Coca-Cola Company’s Help in Case Against Asia’s Largest Sugar Supplier
Read this release in Khmer here. Today, plaintiffs representing hundreds of families who were violently displaced to make way for an industrial sugar plantation in Cambodia have filed a petition in the Northern District of Georgia asking the U.S. Court to help them obtain evidence from Coca-Cola. The evidence would be used to support their […]
Peugeot: act against land-grabs in Cambodia now
Inclusive Development International joined partners Equitable Cambodia and Mighty Earth in an open letter to Peugeot, a global automobile brand, calling on the company to use its substantial influence to ensure the return of land, restoration of degraded forests and waterways, and full compensation to Indigenous communities in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province whose land and livelihoods […]
Time for Mitr Phol, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Mars Wrigley and Bonsucro to live up to their human rights responsibilities
This week from Geneva, the United Nations is hosting its annual Forum on Business and Human Rights. Thousands of participants from government, business and civil society groups from around the world will gather online to discuss current issues regarding the implementation of the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights – which outline the […]
Thai Appeal Court decision on Mitr Phol paves the way for Asia’s first transboundary class action on human rights abuses
The transboundary class action Hoy Mai & Others vs. Mitr Phol Co. Ltd. is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. It was filed under Thai laws permitting a class action to be brought by foreign plaintiffs for abuses committed by a Thai company overseas. The complaint accuses Mitr Phol of complicity in the forcible […]
Vietnamese agribusiness firm HAGL accused of clearing indigenous land in Cambodia | Mongabay
Hoang Anh Gia Lai, a publicly listed Vietnamese real estate, energy, mining and agribusiness giant, is at the center of recent allegations of clearing land in Cambodia that had been earmarked for local indigenous communities. HAGL, as the company is known, is involved in a diverse range of business sectors, but is best-known in Cambodia […]
Vietnamese Agribusiness Giant HAGL Destroys Indigenous Lands
Indigenous villages in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province had waited years for Vietnamese rubber company Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) to finally return their sacred lands, as they had promised to do in a 2015 mediated agreement. Instead, during March, HAGL carried out sweeping clearances of land that had been earmarked for return to the communities through […]