News
Mitr Phol disputants file complaint to UK government against Bonsucro
Alleged victims of land grabbing in Oddar Meanchey province have filed a formal complaint to the UK government against Bonsucro, the sugar industry’s sustainability certification body, accusing it of breaches of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. ...
Niem Chheng
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mitr-phol-disputants-file-complaint-uk-government-against-bonsucro
Community reps claim ministry rejected sugar ELC petition
Representatives from communities in four provinces evicted to make way for sugar plantations alleged during a press conference yesterday they were barred from delivering petitions to the Ministry of Land Management. ...
Bun Sengkong and Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/community-reps-claim-ministry-rejected-sugar-elc-petition
Rights report decries sugar firm’s tactics
Asia’s largest sugar producer, Mitr Phol, is responsible for violating the rights of hundreds of villagers in Oddar Meanchey who saw their land grabbed, homes destroyed and livestock killed to make way for plantations, according to the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT). ...
Phak Seangly and Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rights-report-decries-sugar-firms-tactics
Sugar firm ready to compensate evictees, rights body says
Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol has hired a Swiss firm to carry out a damage assessment and agreed to compensate the hundreds of families its nowdefunct plantations in Oddar Meanchey province have robbed of their land, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand announced Wednesday. ...
Zsombor Peter and Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sugar-firm-ready-to-compensate-evictees-rights-body-says-98641/
Mitr Phol families petition for land
Villagers who have lost their land first to a Thai sugar company supplying Coca-Cola and then to a military unit in Oddar Meanchey province’s Samroang district yesterday petitioned the Agriculture Ministry to ask for it back. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mitr-phol-families-petition-land
Evictees ask gov’t for return of abandoned Thai plantations
A half-dozen villagers from Oddar Meanchey province traveled to Phnom Penh on Wednesday to ask the highest levels of government to return the farmland that thousands of families say they had stolen from them by a trio of Thai-owned sugarcane plantations. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/evictees-ask-govt-for-return-of-abandoned-thai-plantations-85783/
The bitter aftertaste of a sugar deal gone bad
Houy Mai has lost everything to the global demand for cheap sugar and biofuel. The 54-year-old mother-of-eight has fought a years-long battle with Mitr Phol, Asia’s biggest sugar producer and one of three major suppliers to Coca-Cola. Her family was left homeless and without a sustainable ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/bitter-aftertaste-sugar-deal-gone-bad
Beverage companies wary of ‘blood sugar’ in supply chain
Two major US beverage companies say they are mindful of alleged human rights abuses amid sugar plantations in Cambodia and will not do business with those proven to be involved in them. Representatives from Coca-Cola and Pepsi both said in emails to VOA Khmer that they ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/beverage-companies-wary-of-blood-sugar-in-supply-chain/2647451.html
Mitr Phol disputants to testify
Representatives of Oddar Meanchey villagers who allegedly lost their homes in a 2008 land grab by Thai-owned sugar giant Mitr Phol are hopeful a settlement may soon be reached after they testify before Thai human rights officials today. Witnesses representing more than 400 families are slated ...
Sean Teehan
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/mitr-phol-disputants-testify
Thai Sugar Company Accused of Rights Abuse in Cambodia
A Thai sugar company with major shares in Cambodian sugar cane is being investigated for human rights violations in operations along the border between the two countries. The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand recently investigated allegations that villagers were forced from their homes to make ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/thai-sugar-company-accused-of-rights-abuse-in-cambodia/2411955.html
NGO declares Coca-Cola’s visit compromised by police
Auditors from the Coca-Cola Company visited Oddar Meanchey province on Friday to investigate allegations of land grabbing against sugar plantations that supply the global drinks giant, but called off a community meeting because of a heavy police presence, an NGO said Sunday. Chun Bora of the ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-declares-coca-colas-visit-compromised-by-police-53395/
Coca-Cola Company confirms audit of Cambodian suppliers
The Coca-Cola Company on Thursday confirmed that it has sent a team to Cambodia to assess long-running allegations of land grabbing and forced evictions at the sugar cane plantations that help sweeten the global drinks giant’s sodas. The team’s visit follows the company’s pledge in November ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/coca-cola-company-confirms-audit-of-cambodian-suppliers-53328/
Coca-Cola auditors visit sugar suppliers
Third-party auditors hired by The Coca-Cola Company are conducting an audit of Cambodian sugar suppliers, NGO and community representatives said yesterday. “Coke has commissioned them to conduct an assessment on their suppliers. They will talk to all parties, the community, NGOs and the company,” said Eang ...
Kevin Ponniah and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/coca-cola-auditors-visit-sugar-suppliers
EU Parliamentarian Finds Abuses Fueled by Trade Scheme
Sugar plantations that benefit from the European Union’s Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme, which allows preferential access to the E.U.’s market, have further impoverished Cambodia’s poor, and an investigation needs to be launched, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) said on Friday. Patrice Tirolien, MEP ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-parliamentarian-finds-abuses-fueled-by-trade-scheme-51188/
Thai Sugar Firm Meets With Koh Kong Evictees
Koh Kong Sugar has offered to settle its yearslong dispute with Cambodian families who accuse its plantations of stealing their land, but the farmers remain wary of being able to secure a fair deal. The firm, a subsidiary of Thailand’s Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Limited (KSL), ...
Zsombor Peter and Chhorn Chansy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thai-sugar-firm-meets-with-koh-kong-evictees-46811/
Authorities Deny Abuses at Thai Plantation Tied To CPP Senator
Oddar Meanchey province deputy governor Lon An yesterday confirmed CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat’s involvement in a trio of sugar cane plantations that rights groups took to the National Human rights Commission of Thailand last week, but denied their allegations of rights abuses. The deputy ...