News
On Coast, Chinese Development Pushes Thousands From Land
Thousands of villagers in a remote district of the coastal province of Koh Kong have been evicted or are facing eviction in the face of a Chinese resort development project. Some families have moved unwillingly to relocation sites. But others are refusing to leave, setting the ...
UK Sugar Firm Investigating Child Labor Claims
U.K. sugar firm Tate & Lyle on Wednesday said it was looking into recent allegations of child labor on two plantations in Koh Kong province it has been buying sugar from since 2010, but rebuked NGOs for not bringing the claims to its attention sooner. The ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/uk-sugar-firm-investigating-child-labor-claims-36637/
Ethical Sugar Group Suspends Tate & Lyle Over Plantations
An international group that promotes the ethical sourcing of sugar for the food and energy industries has suspended the membership of U.K. sugar giant Tate & Lyle for failing to answer complaints that it was buying from Cambodian plantations accused of stealing land from local ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ethical-sugar-group-suspends-tate-lyle-over-plantations-35438/
UK Lawsuit Against Sugar Firm Heading to Trial
A lawsuit filed by families in Koh Kong province accusing U.K. sugar giant Tate & Lyle of wrongfully profiting off land stolen from them is heading to trial after efforts to mediate a settlement fell through earlier this month, according to those involved. Law firm Jones ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/uk-lawsuit-against-sugar-firm-heading-to-trial-35233/
Group Considers Complaint Against Sugar Giant
A London-based sugar trade association aiming to promote a more ethical and sustainable industry will meet early next month to consider a request from Cambodian farmers that it eject U.K.-based sugar firm Tate & Lyle from the group unless it gives them back their land. Some ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/group-considers-complaint-against-sugar-giant-32001/
Sugar Firm Staff Protest Over Unpaid Wages
About 250 laborers working at a newly opened $90-million sugar factory complex in Kratie province-hailed by the government as a boon to Cambodia’s economy-staged a protest last Saturday morning demanding to be reimbursed for two weeks worth of unpaid wages. District governor Heng Soha acted ...
Sugar firm under fire
Asia’s largest sugar company has been accused of torching hundreds of homes, orchestrating the imprisonment of a pregnant activist and using security forces to beat villagers – among a raft of other grave human rights abuses – by communities in Oddar Meanchey province. The allegations levelled ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060366024/National/sugar-firm-under-fire.html
EU Won’t Investigate Land Concessions—for Now
The trade commissioner and foreign affairs representative of the European Union (E.U.) have turned down a request from 13 members of the European Parliament that they immediately investigate Cambodia’s much criticized economic land concessions, but said they were monitoring the issue closely. In a March letter ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-wont-investigate-land-concessions-for-now-25194/
Cambodia Plantations Not IFC’s First Controversy
In the wake of a new report from environmental rights group Global Witness rebuking the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Deutsche Bank for investing in rubber plantations accused of illegal logging and forced evictions, both institutions have denied responsibility and deflected the blame ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-plantations-not-ifcs-first-controversy-23793/
Sugar Firm Files Defense in Cambodian Lawsuit
British sugar firm Tate & Lyle has denied knowing of the alleged abuses at two Cambodian plantations accused of illegally driving hundreds of families off their farms and says that the families have no right to ask the company for compensation, according to the firm’s ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/uk-sugar-firm-files-defense-in-cambodian-lawsuit-21913/
Tate & Lyle Defends Sugar Plantation Deal In Koh Kong
A U.K. firm being sued by 200 Cambodian farmers over the loss of their land to two sugar plantations has defended its business dealings, claiming that the affected families were dealt with legally and were properly compensated for the loss of their properties. Local farmers ...
Cambodian Exports to EU See Rapid Growth in 2012
Cambodia’s exports to the European Union (E.U.) grew to $2.32 billion in 2012, a 23 percent increase compared to the previous year, according to the E.U.’s latest trade figures. The figures, released this week by the European Commission’s trade office, testify to the region’s growing role ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodian-exports-to-eu-see-rapid-growth-in-2012-18329/
Duty-Free Sugar Exports to EU Hit $13 Million
The European Union (E.U.) last year continued to import millions of dollars worth of duty-free sugar from Cambodian plantations that have forced hundreds of families off their land despite calls from European lawmakers for the trade benefits to end, according to the latest E.U. data. Thailand’s ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/duty-free-sugar-exports-to-eu-hit-13-million-18114/
Thai Representative Meets With Koh Kong ‘Blood Sugar’ Families
Some 200 Koh Kong farmers locked in a long-running land dispute with two sugar plantations met Tuesday with a representative of the Thailand-based owners for the first time since the land dispute began in 2006. Khamrom Phochai, a Thai national and representative of Thailand’s Khon Kaen ...
Complaint to Be Filed in US Over Koh Kong Sugar Plantations
Families in Koh Kong province will today file a complaint with the U.S. government against American Sugar Refining (ASR) over farmland they claim they were violently evicted from to make way for two sugar plantations that supply the New York-based company. The 207 Koh Kong ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/complaint-to-be-filed-in-us-over-koh-kong-sugar-plantations-4956/
Cambodian Activists Call for International Sugar Boycott
Human rights monitoring groups and Cambodian activists are calling for an international boycott of Tate & Lyle and Domino Sugar, who do business with sugar suppliers accused of participating in government-sanctioned land grabs and illegal evictions throughout rural Cambodia. According to the Cambodian League for the ...
Koh Kong Land Dispute Case Delayed Again
The Koh Kong Provincial Court yesterday postponed the hearing of a controversial case against a Thai-owned sugar company that more than 200 families alleged had taken their land for the company’s sugar plantations, lawyers and village representatives said yesterday. Ny Sorphornneary, the lawyer for the families, ...