(Banlung, June 15, 2024) – Twelve Indigenous villages in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnamese agribusiness giant HAGL Agrico, following a breakthrough in a decade-long mediation process aimed at resolving a protracted land dispute.
The communities have been embroiled in a conflict with HAGL Agrico since 2010, when the Cambodian government granted their ancestral lands and forests to the company to develop large-scale rubber plantations. In 2014, with the support of Inclusive Development International, Equitable Cambodia, and three Indigenous Peoples Organizations, the communities filed a complaint to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) regarding IFC’s financial ties to HAGL Agrico. The complaint details extensive adverse environmental and human rights impacts resulting from the company’s wholesale clearance of intact forests, waterways, pastures, orchards, spirit forests, graveyards and other sacred areas belonging to Jarai, Kachok, Tampuon and Kreung communities in Ratanakiri. The complaint triggered a dispute resolution process, convened by the CAO, which has been ongoing for the past ten years.
This week, with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the parties, the communities are on the cusp of reaching a groundbreaking resolution. The MoU signals that the company is prepared to return over 700 hectares (approximately 1,730 acres) of land that the communities hold sacred and provide financing for the communities’ local development aspirations. A final agreement between the parties is expected in the coming months.
Read the Memorandum of Understanding here: https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/MoU_HAGL_12-Villages_3-languages.pdf
Read more about the case here: https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/cases/cambodia-hoang-anh-gia-lai-rubber-plantations/