BABC Calls Upon the European Union to Investigate Human Rights Abuses Fueled by its Everything But Arms Initiative
Image used with the permission of LICADHO
On September 3, Bridges Across Borders Cambodia and other Cambodian civil society groups met with the European Union Delegation to Cambodia and called upon the EU to account for the human rights implications of its Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative. EBA is a European preferential trade scheme that allows Cambodia-based firms to export sugar and other goods to the EU without import duties and with a guaranteed minimum price. Among the beneficiaries of these trade preferences are companies implicated in land-grabbing and other human rights abuses.
The meeting was held in response to a letter sent to the EU Delegation by BABC, Licadho, and the Community Peace-building Network (CPN) requesting that the EU conduct a thorough investigation of the human rights abuses associated with the industry. If the ongoing human rights abuses are not stopped and past abuses redressed, the groups called for suspension of EBA benefits in line with the human rights safeguard provisions of European trade regulations.
The groups expressed disappointment at the public dismissal of concerns regarding the link between the EBA initiative and human rights violations in Cambodia by the EU Charged ” Affairs, Rafael Dochao Moreno, who told Radio Australia on August 16:
It's like accusing for instance, where there's a drunk driver killing a pedestrian, you accuse the manufacturers of cars of this killing … There is a relation, because the car has killed a person, but it is not a direct responsibility of someone that is manufacturing cars.
What we cannot do at a European Union level is to say, 'Well, we are going to stop Everything But Arms, that is benefiting the whole of Cambodia because in a specific area in a land economic concession ... an abuse has been committed with the people in that area'.
The groups took issue with the assertion that the EBA initiative is benefitting the whole of Cambodia and his suggestion that the human rights problems amounted to an isolated abuse. BABC Executive Director, David Pred, told the European Union Delegation: "These trade preferences have fueled the expansion of a model of industrial agriculture that is in fact very harmful to poor farmers and rural communities and has been directly tied to violence and the abuse of human rights in dozens of villages across three provinces.”
Over the last two years, there has been a rapid expansion in the Cambodian sugar industry, with more than 100,000 hectares being granted in Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) for sugarcane production. Human rights organizations and the media have documented serious human rights abuses directly linked to these concessions, including forced evictions, seizure of farmland, destruction of property and crops, and the use of violence against, and arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights defenders.
Koh Kong province
In Sre Ambel, Koh Kong province, thousands of families have lost farmland and livelihoods, and hundreds have been forcibly evicted in order to make way for the sugar concessions of Koh Kong Sugar Industry and Koh Kong Plantation. The two concessions, 9,400 hectares and 9,700 hectares respectively, are in reality a single plantation controlled by three parties in a joint venture between the Thai company Kohn Kaen Sugar (KSL), Cambodian Senator Ly Yong Phat and Ve Wong, a Taiwanese company – a clear attempt to circumvent the legal limit on granting a maximum of 10,000 hectares per concessionaire.
A 2006 Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) appeal detailed the forced eviction of 250 families in Chikor Leu commune, Sre Ambel district, to make way for this plantation, which now appears to be exporting duty-free sugar to Europe. The report notes: “The police destroyed the villagers' crops and houses by bulldozer and brutally attacked the villagers who resisted the eviction. Five villagers were reportedly injured by the police assault and two others were injured by police gunfire.” This long-running dispute remains active. The company continues to clear disputed land, and already impoverished villagers have been forced to leave with little or no compensation.
According to a Bangkok Post article of January 2010, "KSL has signed five-year contracts with the UK-based firm Tate & Lyle to supply all of its output from Cambodia and Laos at the price of 19 cents a pound." In early June of this year, 10,000 tons of sugar destined for the United Kingdom left Koh Kong.
Oddar Meanchey province
Similarly, in October 2009, security forces burned down and bulldozed over 100 houses in Oddar Meanchey province to make way for a sugar concession measuring almost 20,000 hectares. This concession, which is also connected to Senator Ly Yong Phat, is actually registered as three concessions – all in the names of Thai nationals. These Thai nationals are connected to the Thai sugar company Mitr Pohl. Mitr Pohl has told the Bangkok Post that it plans to expand sugar production into Cambodia in order to benefit from the EBA status of the country.
Amnesty International and Licadho documented how the women and children of Bos village - after being made homeless - fled to the local temple to seek refuge, while the men fled to the jungle fearing arrest and retribution for resisting the forced eviction. This eviction was conducted with the aid of Battalion 42 of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.
Image reproduced from the Phnom Penh Post October 14th edition
Kampong Speu province
In early 2010, violence erupted around another 20,000 hectare sugarcane concession granted to another of Senator Ly Yong Phat's companies in Kampong Speu province. Farmers assert that the concession encompasses over 2000 hectares of land belonging to over 800 families in Amleang commune, Thpong district. Affected residents have been told that they must move, and although the company has offered some affected families replacement land nearby, it is at the foot of a mountain and too rocky to cultivate. The area is now under patrol by Battalion 313 of the Cambodian armed forces, a former Khmer Rouge battalion. In March 2010, police arrested and held two community leaders under extremely dubious circumstances, and only released them when villagers occupied the National Highway and demanded their release. Several villagers were injured by security forces whilst attempting to travel to the court.
European Trade Regulations and Human Rights
The groups also took issue with Mr. Moreno’s drunk driver analogy, citing European Commission Council Regulation No 732/2008. “By extending EBA benefits to Cambodia without implementing these human rights safeguards,” the groups stated in their letter, “the EU is indeed acting as a car manufacturer, but one that is selling cars with faulty breaks.” Mr. Pred told the Delegation: “We are simply asking the EU to implement its regulations, which require the European Commission to take precautionary measures to bring Cambodia into compliance with international obligations. If those measures are not successful, preferential treatment for Cambodian sugar should be suspended.”
See media reports on this story:
ABC Radio Australia News: Evictions at gunpoint
Reuters AlertNet: EU urged to probe Cambodian farmers’ rights violations
DPA: EU trade sweetener driving land grabs, rights groups say
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