May 14, 2013
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Five-months pregnant, Im Chanthy was told that
her husband's body had been found in the trunk of his car, brutally
hacked to death for reporting on illegal logging and land concessions in
Cambodia.
Many of these concessions, a new report
by environmental watchdog Global Witness found, are owned by two Vietnamese rubber companies, which — with the financial support of
Deutsche Bank, an arm of the World Bank and local governments — have
acquired more than 500,000 acres of land in Cambodia and neighboring
Laos.
The companies and officials involved have made
millions growing resin trees and harvesting their sap to make rubber,
while thousands of poor Cambodians and Laotians lost the little they
had. Villagers have been sued and prosecuted, intimidated, threatened
and shot at while trying to defend their livelihoods.
Heng
Serei Odom, the journalist, paid with his life, and his wife Chanthy is
now raising their 5-month old daughter on construction sites. She works
carrying sand bag after sand bag for $2.50 a day — too little to eat
properly, or care for her sick child.
“I move around from
one construction site to the other, where I build small tents to stay
there temporarily. That's why my daughter is sick a lot, because she has
no proper accommodation to shade her and I don't have enough milk to
feed her,” Chanthy said.
The companies in question continue
undeterred despite allegedly being aware that many of their
undertakings, such as the extensive logging of timber in national parks,
are illegal, according to "Rubber Barons," the report released by
London-based Global Witness on Monday that sheds light on the secretive
operations of Hoan Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and the Vietnamese Rubber Group
(VRG).
Germany's Deutsche Bank, according to the report,
holds $3.3 million in a subsidiary of VRG, which is chiefly owned by the
Vietnamese government, and $4.5 million in the privately owned HAGL.
The International Finance Cooperation (IFC), which is an arm of the
World Bank, indirectly funds HAGL through its $14.95 million share in a
Vietnam-based fund that invests in HAGL.
“We’ve known for
some time that corrupt politicians in Cambodia and Laos are
orchestrating the land-grabbing crisis that is doing so much damage in
the region. This report completes the picture by exposing the pivotal
role of Vietnam’s rubber barons and their financiers, Deutsche Bank and
IFC,” said Megan MacInnes, who runs Global Witness’ land team.
Both
Southeast Asian governments have argued that the land concessions
granted to HAGL and VRG will help develop the poor countries and turn
simple, self-reliant farmers into plantation workers.
But
in reality, the 165,000 acres HAGL, VRG and affiliated companies hold in
Laos and the 445,000 acres Global Witness identified in northeastern
Cambodia have brought misery and despair to communities that depend on
the forests, the report shows.
Bulldozers arriving are often the first sign of a fight for land the
poor countryside stands to lose. Houses have been demolished, farms
flattened, cemeteries dug up, and trees in which holly spirits are said
to live have been uprooted.
“Losing the forest is like
losing life,” a villager told Global Witness, describing how essential
the fast evergreen and semi-evergreen forests are for the community.
HAGL
and VRG have made millions off the plantations and the illegal selling
of luxury wood. Between 2001 and 2011, prices for natural rubber
increased ten-fold and reached about $3,600 per tonne last year, when
Vietnam became the world's third-largest producer of rubber.
Most
rubber is shipped to China, where it is processed and exported to the
United States and Japan. As demand surges, the tight supply has fueled
HAGL's and VRG's land-grabbing in Cambodia and Laos.
In addition, luxury rosewood grows inside the land concessions, which is illegally logged and exported, Global Witness says.
“The
revenues are a planned part of the companies' financial plan for the
concessions — the impression given is that without these revenues, the
concession would not be economically viable,” says Josie Cohen, a
researcher for Global Witness.
In northeastern Cambodia,
Dong Nai, a member of VRG is estimated to have logged 30 percent of the
total forest in the area, amounting to about 10,000 resin trees, which
are used for the production of varnishes or perfumes, for example.
For
100 resin trees, the company offered to pay between $250 to $330 in
compensation, a sum the families would make from tapping the tree in two
to three months, they said.
But reports and complaints the
residents filed regarding Dong Nai's illicit activities went unanswered
— most likely due to the involvement of a cousin of prime minister and
strongman Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for almost 30 years. Senior
government officials, including the minister of land management, have
visited the community to convince residents of the company's good
intentions.
Residents protesting the illicit timber trade
in Cambodia are threatened by police and military police paid to guard
the concessions, and have even shot live rounds. May 16 marks the
one-year anniversary of the killing of a 14-year-old girl protesting a
rubber concession by officials.
Despite Deutsche Bank’s and
the IFC’s claim that they are respecting human rights, environmental
and anti-corruption standards, Global Witness says that they didn't
properly research the companies before investing millions of dollars in
HAGL and VRG.
“The suffering that [VRG and HAGL] have
inflicted on local people, however, gives claims that they contribute to
the two countries’ development a distinctly hollow ring. It also begs
the question: What sort of institutions could countenance financing
companies such as these?" the report concludes.
And while
hundreds of thousands of Cambodians see their existence threatened — or
already destroyed — a culture of impunity surrounds those responsible.
“We
very much hope — for the sake of the communities whose livelihoods,
forests, burial grounds and spirit forests have been destroyed — that
those responsible are brought to justice,” Cohen said.
Neither government holds a positive track record in pursuing powerful
and well-connected perpetrators. But international pressure has helped
in some recent cases, such as the killing of journalist Heng Serei Odom,
who worked to uncover similar ties between officials, rubber
plantations and illegal logging. Earlier this month prosecutors
announced that the case be reinvestigated.
Justice would offer some solace, Chanthy, the young mother, said.
“I
am so happy that the court decided to reinvestigate the killing of my
husband, and I hope that all perpetrators will be prosecuted and
punished,” Chanthy said.
1 comment:
Forget it, east of the Mekong are youns' provinces. They just haven't announced it.
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