Europe’s ‘blood sugar’ – POLITICO

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — In 2006, the Cambodian sugar industry was so negligible as to be non-existent. A decade on, it has grown into a multi-million dollar commercial enterprise — largely thanks to a European policy known as “Everything But Arms” (EBA), which provides tariff-free access to the common market for exporters from the world’s […]

Victims put pressure on ANZ over the loss of their land — The Age

Pheun Ra, 42, was visiting her mother in hospital when security guards from the ANZ bank-financed Phnom Penh Sugar Company arrived at her small plot of land in Cambodia’s south. Over several hours, the guards demolished her home as part of a land grab to make way for a new sugar plantation backed by one […]

More Evictees May Have Recourse Through IFC – The Cambodia Daily

Rights groups say families being forced off their land by development projects recently revealed to have World Bank Group backing could probably file successful complaints against the […]READ FULL ARTICLE ▶ Photo: Villagers in Stung Treng province gather in March last year ahead of a ceremony to curse the officials and businessmen behind the Lower […]

New complaint challenges Thai company’s membership in sustainable sugar group

Blood Sugar: life in the Cambodian sugar plantations

(Phnom Penh) – Inclusive Development International and two Cambodian partners filed a com­plaint with the global sugar industry group Bonsucro for re-­admitting Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol Group despite the fact that thousands of fam­ilies forced off their land to make way for the company’s for­mer plantations in Cambodia have yet to receive redress. Bonsucro was founded in 2008 to oversee sugar industry standards.  The organization […]

ADB Compliance Review Panel calls for urgent action to help families living along the railway

(Phnom Penh) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Compliance Review Panel has released a new report calling upon the bank to “take urgent steps” to address the grievances of families impacted by the ADB-financed project to redevelop Cambodia’s railway who have not yet received resettlement assistance. The Railway Rehabilitation Project has impacted approximately 18,000 people […]

Major Breakthrough in Mediation Between Hoang Anh Gia Lai Company and Fourteen Indigenous Villages

(Siem Reap) – A major breakthrough was reached in the mediation between fourteen Cambodian indigenous communities and the Vietnamese rubber firm Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), during meetings held this week in Siem Reap, Cambodia. On 15-19 September 2015, community representatives of fourteen indigenous villages affected by HAGL’s land concessions in Ratanakiri province, company representatives of HAGL and its subsidiaries, and the communities’ advisors, including Inclusive […]

Families Threatened by Cambodia Railway Development Again Seek Justice from the Asian Development Bank’s Accountability Mechanism

Woman sitting on railway

(Manila) – Families threatened by the Asian Development Bank-financed project to redevelop Cambodia’s railway have once again filed a complaint to the bank’s Compliance Review Panel about the controversial project. The Railway Rehabilitation Project has impacted approximately 18,000 people living alongside Cambodia’s 642-kilometers of dilapidated railway tracks.   At least 1200 families, encompassing approximately 5160 […]

Coke’s zero tolerance for land grabs proves difficult to fulfill

Blood Sugar: life in the Cambodian sugar plantations

(Washington, DC – Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Coca-Cola Co has made a good start in axing land grabs from its supply chain, but it must work harder in proving that its bottlers and sugar suppliers do not violate land rights, development experts told the company. Coke declared two years ago that land grabbing is […]

Commencement of Cambodian ‘blood sugar’ reparations process a crucial step towards justice

Trucks are loaded inside the sugar cane plantation of Omlaing. Omlaing commune, Kompong Speu Province - Cambodia. 09 Jan 2013. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Inclusive Development International welcomes the commencement of a joint EU-Cambodia process to assess displacement claims pertaining to sugarcane plantations in Cambodia. This development represents a pivotal step towards justice for thousands of Cambodian people who have suffered enormously at the hands of the sugar industry. The European Commission has announced a tender for the procurement of independent […]

Eleven Cambodian human rights defenders jailed in three days

(Civil Rights Defenders) – In the span of 72 hours, the Cambodian authorities have arrested, tried and sentenced eleven housing rights activists. They were arrested for participating in peaceful protests relating to the forced evictions around the Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penh.  The rights activists, ten women and one man, a monk, were sentenced […]