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 ▶

Treize villages guinéens portent plainte contre la Banque mondiale pour le financement d’une mine de bauxite nocive

Les populations de 13 villages situés à l’Ouest de la Guinée ont déposé une plaintecontre la Société financière internationale (SFI), institution du groupe de la Banque mondiale chargée du secteur privé, pour avoir financé le développement d’une mine de bauxite nocive. Les 540 plaignants affirment que la Compagnie des bauxites de Guinée, qui pilote le projet financé […]

ANZ bank issued rare rebuke by Australian oversight body

Blood Sugar: life in the Cambodian sugar plantations

ANZ Banking Group violated its own policies and international human rights standards by financing a Cambodian sugar company that seized land from local farmers, according to a statement released today by an Australian government body that monitors corporate behavior overseas. In a rare rebuke of a commercial bank, the Australian National Contact Point found it […]