EU’s Everything But Arms initiative is impoverishing Cambodian farmers: Trade scheme must be reformed to safeguard human rights
(Brussels) – A European Union (EU) trade initiative intended to reduce poverty in the world’s poorest countries has driven thousands of Cambodian farming families into destitution and led to serious human rights violations, Inclusive Development International (IDI) and Equitable Cambodia and said in a report released Monday. The report, Bittersweet Harvest, assesses the human rights […]
Child Labor on Cambodian sugar plantations is well-documented: A joint statement in response to Tate & Lyle’s threats and denials
The Guardian newspaper recently ran a damning expose of child labor on the KSL Group sugar plantations in Cambodia that supply the sugar giant Tate & Lyle Sugars. Rather than acting quickly to address the abuses, the companies seem to have resorted to a strategy of denial and legal bullying in an attempt to defend […]
The Guardian: Cambodia’s sugar rush leaves farmers feeling bitter at ‘land grab’
(Kate Hodal, The Guardian, July 09, 2013) – The plantation extends as far as the eye can see, row after row of green leaves swaying against the dusky blue light until, finally, it merges with the horizon. There are no houses, no animals, no people. Just sugar. Standing by a rickety wooden fence that separates […]
Cambodia Resettlement Debacle Cover Up: ADB Conceals Critical Expert Report
Inclusive Development International (IDI), Equitable Cambodia (EC) and Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) regret the Asian Development Bank’s refusal to disclose a critical independent expert report on the impacts of involuntary resettlement caused by the Railway Rehabilitation Project in Cambodia. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has denied disclosure of an independent monitoring report by the world-renowned […]
Joint Statement: Investigation into Human Rights Violations Related to Trade Preferences for Cambodian Agro-industrial Products Must Begin Now
Eleven Cambodian and international organizations, including IDI, wrote to European Commissioner for Trade Karel de Gucht today following upon an open letter they sent to the Commissioner on June 26th outlining evidence of grave human rights abuses in the Cambodian agro-industrial sector directly linked to the EU’s Everything But Arms (EBA) preferential trade scheme. These communications have followed two […]
IDI submits complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission on AusAID’s railway debacle
Families resettled by Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project filed a complaint today with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) alleging that they have suffered serious violations of their human rights as a result of resettlement under the project, which is partly funded through a grant from AusAID. The complaint, which was jointly submitted on behalf of […]
Families Displaced by Cambodian Railway Development Seek Justice from the Asian Development Bank
Families displaced from their homes and livelihoods by the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-financed project to rehabilitate Cambodia’s railway have filed a complaint to the Bank’s Compliance Review Panel (CRP) stating that they have suffered serious harms, including impoverishment, because of the project. The complaint, which was filed on behalf of affected families by Inclusive Development […]
Think sugar is sweet? Watch this video
In Cambodia today, hundreds of thousands of people are being displaced from their homes, farmlands, forests and fisheries as investors plunder the country for private profit in the name of ‘development’. In rural […]
Open letter to EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht on human rights and trade with Cambodia
IDI has written an open letter to EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht, together with nine other Cambodian and European civil society organizations, calling upon the European Commission to investigate escalating human rights abuses in Cambodia resulting from the granting of economic land concessions for agroindustrial development, in connection with goods being exported to the […]
Victory! BKL 13 are released
Inclusive Development International welcomes the release from prison of 13 women from Boeung Kak lake, Phnom Penh, following a ruling by the Appeals Court on June 27 that upheld the convictions but reduced their sentences to time already served. On May 22nd the land rights activists were arrested during a peaceful protest, convicted on baseless […]