Rights groups say rubber producer must halt work over disputed land

Oct 6, 2011
Source: Monsters and Critics

Phnom Penh - A coalition of international rights groups said Thursday that Luxembourg-based Socfinasia SA must cease work at its rubber concession in eastern Cambodia and properly compensate hundreds of impoverished ethnic minority families.

The International Federation for Human Rights said 7,000 hectares of land concessions granted to Socfinasia and its local partner in 2008 flouted Cambodian law, left villagers impoverished and destroyed spiritual areas and burial sites.

Thun Saray, who heads the Cambodian rights group ADHOC, said most of the ethnic minority Bunong families had been forced to sell their land 'at a very low price.'

Like most of Cambodia's ethnic minorities, the animist Bunong are subsistence farmers who rely on forest products to survive.

'The loss of their lands and the destruction of ancestral sites leave these communities in an extremely vulnerable state,' he said of the 850 families affected at Bousra in Mondolkiri province.

One of the government's rationales for such concessions is that they create steady jobs. However, the rights federation, which includes ADHOC, said 80 per cent of those employed at the Bousra plantations were in the precarious position of working as day labourers.

The two concessions are run by Socfin-KCD, which is a joint venture owned 80 per cent by Socfinasia and 20 per cent by the Cambodian firm Khaou Chuly Group.

Socfinasia is in turn controlled by Socfin SA, in which France's Bollore Group is a major shareholder.

Socfin did not reply to an emailed request for comment.

Souhayr Belhassen, president of the rights federation, called on Phnom Penh to declare a moratorium on economic land concessions and set up a monitoring programme to ensure respect for human rights.

She said the joint venture firm must act too.

Land disputes are a significant problem with tens of thousands of Cambodians evicted in recent years as land values have skyrocketed. Rights groups said ethnic minorities are particularly vulnerable.

The issue has donors worried. Some have called on the government to evaluate the impact of such concessions before granting them.

In March, the World Bank told the government it would halt new lending until Phnom Penh properly compensated the victims of a large, ongoing eviction in the capital.