Australia’s ANZ to compensate Cambodian families over land loss – Nikkei Asian Review

Bank admits due diligence “failings” in loan to sugar company that bulldozed villages. Australia’s ANZ will compensate hundreds of families forcibly evicted by a Cambodian sugar plantation and refinery to which it loaned $40 million a decade ago. Experts say the settlement sets an important precedent for how other major banks deal with human rights […]

UK Government Body Accepts OECD Complaint against Sugar “Sustainability” Group

A Win for Corporate Accountability and Displaced Cambodian Communities The UK National Contact Point for the OECD, a government body that monitors the operations of British businesses overseas, has ruled admissible a landmark complaint against the sugar industry’s sustainability certification body, Bonsucro. The decision establishes that London-based Bonsucro is bound by OECD standards on responsible business conduct […]

Cambodian indigenous communities win back their sacred land from Vietnamese rubber developer

(Banlung) – Twelve indigenous communities in Cambodia’s northeastern province of Ratanakiri scored a major victory today when the government announced it was returning to them 20 spirit mountains and dozens of other spiritually significant areas that had been grabbed by the Vietnamese agribusiness giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL). The communities have been embroiled in […]

Calling out the BS in BonSucro

Evicted Cambodian Family

Commentary: Why multi-stakeholder initiatives need to be held accountable for their rights-abusing members, by David Pred and Natalie Bugalski READ FULL ARTICLE ▶

Thai court accepts Cambodian land grabbing case, orders mediation

(Bangkok) – A Thai court has accepted a landmark lawsuit filed by plaintiffs representing a class of over 700 Cambodian farming families accusing Asia’s largest sugar producer of grabbing their land and destroying their livelihoods. In line with Thai legal procedure, the judges have asked the plaintiffs and the defendant, the Thai sugar giant Mitr […]

Forcibly Displaced Cambodians File Historic Lawsuit against Asia’s Largest Sugar Producer

Displaced farmers from Cambodia have filed a landmark class-action lawsuit against the Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol. The legal complaint was filed in a Thai civil court by two plaintiffs representing a class of approximately 3000 people who were violently displaced and dispossessed of their land and livelihoods in five remote villages in northwestern Cambodia […]