Übersicht / Overview
Der ursprünglich belgisch-luxemburgische, mittlerweile von der Schweiz aus gesteuerte Palmöl- und Kautschukkonzern Socfin erwarb 2008 und 2013 im Hochland von Kambodscha drei «Economic Land Concessions» vom Staat – in einem Waldgebiet, in dem Hunderte indigener Bunong-Familien von Bu Sra Land- und Weidewirtschaft sowie Waldnutzung betrieben und mit heiligen Stätten und Gräberfeldern spirituell beheimatet waren. Der Staat erteilte die Konzessionen, obwohl die vorgeschriebene vorgängige Konsultation und Zustimmung der indigenen Gemeinschaften nicht erfolgte, Staat und Konzern weitere Verfahrensfehler begingen und vor allem das Land gemäss kambodschanischem Landgesetz gar nicht für eine Konzessionserteilung verfügbar war.
Damit sind die Konzessionen aus rechtlicher Sicht höchstwahrscheinlich illegal. Die Annahme solcher Konzessionen und die Errichtung von Kautschukplantagen in indigenem Territorium stellt einen schwerwiegenden Verstoss gegen die menschenrechtliche Verantwortung von Unternehmen dar.
Der Verlust grosser Teile ihrer Heimat, deren Umwandlung in Kautschuk-Monokulturen und die erzwungene Umstellung auf eine stationäre Restflächen-Landwirtschaft war und bleibt für die Bunong ein gewaltiger Schock, der ihren Alltag, das soziale und spirituelle Leben zerriss und sie in eine Empfindung von Leere und Orientierungslosigkeit stürzte. Der Konzern stellte die betroffenen Familien vor die Wahl, entweder Ersatzland andernorts oder eine Entschädigung zu akzeptieren oder zu Kautschuk-Vertragsbauern zu werden.
In 2008 and 2013, the Belgian-Luxembourgian palm oil and rubber company Socfin, which is now operated from Switzerland, acquired three «Economic land concessions» from the state in the highlands of Cambodia – in a forest area where hundreds of indigenous Bunong families of Bu Sra practised agriculture and pasture farming as well as forest use and were spiritually rooted through sacred sites and burial grounds. The state granted the concessions even though the required prior consultation and consent of the indigenous communities did not take place, the state and the company committed further procedural errors and, above all, the land was not even available for the granting of a concession according to the Cambodian land law.
This means that the concessions are most likely illegal from a legal point of view. Accepting such concessions and establishing rubber plantations in indigenous territory is a serious violation of corporate human rights responsibilities.
The loss of large parts of their territory, its conversion into rubber monocultures and the forced conversion of their agriculture into stationary farming on residual land was and remains a tremendous shock for the Bunong, disrupting their daily, social and spiritual lives and plunging them into a perception of emptiness and disorientation. The corporation gave the affected families the choice of either accepting replacement land elsewhere or financial compensation, or becoming rubber contract farmers.
► Dokumente von FIAN Schweiz / Documents from FIAN Switzerland
► Berichte, Artikel und Briefe / Reports, articles and letters
► Karten / Maps
► Rechtliche Grundlagen, offizielle Dokumente und Behörden / Legal bases, official documents and authorities
► Organisationen und Websites / Organisations and websites
► Dokumente von Socfin / Documents from Socfin
Dokumente von FIAN Schweiz / Documents from FIAN Switzerland
8. Oktober 2023: Artikel Kolonialismus in Kambodscha durch einen luxemburgisch-schweizerischen Agrarkonzern: Zum zweiten Mal weissgewaschen – aber Luxemburg zeigt erste Einsicht
6 October 2023: «Cambodian Land Dispute Independent Mediation»: Comment on the Evaluation Report of the Australian Disputes Centre
2. Juni 2023: Artikel Missbrauch indigenen Territoriums in Kambodscha durch einen europäischen Agrarkonzern: Appell an die Regierung Luxemburgs
6 January 2023: Article Colonialism today: How a Swiss-luxembourgian agribusiness corporation whitewashes land grabbing in Cambodia with support of European States
29. November 2022: Artikel Kolonialismus aktuell: Wie ein Schweizer Agrarkonzern mit Schweizer Unterstützung Landgrabbing in Kambodscha weisswäscht / Artikel als PDF
20. September 2021: Mitteilung Landkonflikt in Kambodscha zwischen Indigenen, Staat und Schweizer Konzern
26. Mai 2020: Mitteilung «Business as usual» bei SOCFIN trotz Corona-Krise?
Berichte, Artikel und Briefe / Reports, articles and letters
(in chronologisch absteigener Reihenfolge / in chronologically descending order)
FIAN Switzerland, BIPA (Cambodia), SOS Faim (Luxembourg), Action Solidarité Tiers Monde – ASTM (Luxembourg), FIAN Germany, FIAN Belgium, HEKS (Switzerland), Solidar Suisse, 27 November 2023: Reply of civil society organisations to the government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg regarding the land conflict between indigenous communities in Cambodia and the Luxembourg-based company Socfin
CamboJa News, 27 September 2023: Article Years-Long Mediation Leaves Bunong Farmers Indebted to Multinational Rubber Firm
Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of the Luxembourg Government, 1 August 2023: Reply letter to the statement of civil society organisations
FIAN Switzerland, BIPA (Cambodia), SOS Faim (Luxembourg), Action Solidarité Tiers Monde – ASTM (Luxembourg), FIAN Germany, FIAN Belgium, HEKS (Switzerland), Solidar Suisse, 16 Mai 2023: Statement of civil society organisations to the government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg regarding the land conflict between indigenous communities in Cambodia and a Luxembourg-based transnational company
Cambodianess, 20 February 2023: Article Cameroonians Give Bunong People a Glimpse of Hope in their Long-Lasting Lawsuit Against Bolloré in France (here article as PDF in printable form)
CamboJa News, 4 November 2022: Article After Rubber Firm Deal, Bunong Fear Broken Promises, Uncertain Land Tenure
Mekong Eye, 17 October 2022: Article Indigenous Cambodians stripped of ancestral land
Khmer Times, 4 October 2022: Article Bousra villagers agree to accept Socfin-KCD compensation
Socfin-KCD and Mediated Community Parties, September 2022: Joint statement on dispute settlement through independent mediation between the local communities in Bousra Commune and the Economic Land Concessions Varanasi and Sethikula (Socfin-KCD company), and Coviphama
Nine Bunong individuals representing the plaintiffs in the case against Bolloré before Nanterre Court, July 2021: Declaration on the decision by the judge of 2nd of July 2021, in English and French
France 24 with AFP, July 2021: Court dismisses Cambodian farmers accusing Bolloré group of land grabbing / Ouest France, July 2021: Cambodia. Standing up to Bolloré, the Bunong ethnic group mourns its forest / Le Monde, July 2021: Land grabbing in Cambodia: 80 Bunongs sue in France, but their case is dismissed at first instance
Esther Leemann, 2021: Alert and press release on the arrest of three young indigenous Bunong farmers in Bu Sra Commune, Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia
Provincial Committee for Land Management and Urban Planning, 2021: Mondul Kiri Provincial Spatial Plan Technical report
UN OHCHR Cambodia, 2021: Collective land titling in Cambodia – a case for reform?
Cambodian Center for Human Rights CCHR, 2020: Briefing Note on Business and Human Rights: Corporate Accountability in Land Rights Violations
Radio Free Asia, 2020: Inability to Resolve Cambodia’s Land Disputes Tied to Official Complicity: Minister of Interior (referring also to the Bunong community)
Mekong Region Land Governance MRLG, 2020: Land Dispute Settlements signed in Mondulkiri between indigenous communities and Socfin Cambodia (also on FDFA website)
Mekong Region Land Governance MRLG, 2020: Land conflict resolution through a mediation process between a company and the local communities in Cambodia
Mekong Region Land Governance MRLG, 2020: Land conflicts between Economic Land Concessions and smallholder farmers in Bousra commune (Cambodia): What Are the Policy Implications?
Mekong Region Land Governance MRLG, and Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, 2019: State of Land in the Mekong Region
Patricia Jolly, 2019: Les paysans cambodgiens accusant Bolloré de spoliation invités à produire des preuves
Esther Leemann, 2019: Who is the community? Governing territory through the making of ‘indigenous communities’ in Cambodia
Renaud Lecadr, 2019: Des paysans cambodgiens réclament réparation à Vincent Bolloré
Long Kimmarita, 2019: Bunong group attends French court hearing over land dispute
Dan Israel, 2019: Des Cambodgiens à Paris pour demander des comptes à Bolloré
Eléonore Sok-Halkovich, 2019: Au Cambodge, une ethnie lutte pour ses terres
Cédric Vallet / Médor, 2019: Socfin/Cambodge : Les terres rouges des Bunongs perdues à jamais ? / public link without pictures
Cambodian Center for Human Rights CCHR, 2019: Fact Sheet: Business’ Responsibility to Respect Human Rights (with Case Study: Land Dispute with Socfin-KCD, Bu Sra Commune, Pech Chreada District, Mondulkiri Province)
Cambodian Center for Human Rights CCHR, 2018: Briefing Note on Business and Human Rights: Preventing, Mitigating and Remedying Land-Related Rights Violations in the Kingdom of Cambodia: Seven Areas for Improvement
Independent Mediation Organization IMG, 2018: Alternative Land Conflict Transformation: A Cambodia Innovation
Jean-Christophe Diepart and Laura Schoenberger, 2016: Concessions in Cambodia: Governing Profits, Extending State Power and Enclosing Resources from the Colonial Era to the Present
Brennpunkt Drëtt Welt, 2016: Discussions ouvertes, problèmes toujours en cours
Parliamentary Institute of Cambodia, 2016: Briefing Note Land Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in Cambodia
Esther Leemann, 2015: Indigenous People’s collective land titling process in Bu Sra commune
Parliamentary Institute of Cambodia, 2015: Briefing Note Community Land Registration and Economic Land Concessions in Mondulkiri Province
Dan Israel, 2015: Bolloré attaqué en France pour ses plantations au Cambodge
Laetitia Van Eeckhout, 2015: Le groupe Bolloré assigné en justice par les Bunongs du Cambodge
Bernard Thomas, 2015: Rubber Soul. De l’Afrique tropicale aux montagnes du Cambodge, en passant par Belair : la Socfin et ses plantations de palmiers et d’hévéas. Enquête sur une holding luxembourgeoise
Michael B. Dwyer, Emily Polack and Sokbunthoeun So, 2015: ‘Better-practice’ Concessions? Some Lessons from Cambodia’s Leopard Skin Landscape
Ioana Cismas and Patricia Paramita, 2015: Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Cambodia: Where Do (Human Rights) Law and Practice Meet?
Christophe Gironde, Christophe Golay, Peter Messerli et al., 2014: Large‐scale land acquisitions in Southeast Asia: Rural transformations between global agendas and peoples’ right to food. See particularly chapter 3 «Large‐scale land acquisitions and human rights».
Cambodian Center for Human Rights CCHR, 2014: Briefing Note: The Failure of Land Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
Brennpunkt Drëtt Welt, 2014: Entretien avec Neth Prak: „Le gouvernement vole nos terres et dit que c’est du développement“
Manami Sekiguchi and Naomi Hatsukano, 2013: Land conflicts and land registration in Cambodia
Sarah Milne, 2013: Under the leopard’s skin: Land commodification and the dilemmas of Indigenous communal title in upland Cambodia
Jeff Vize and Manfred Hornung, 2013: Indigenous Peoples and Land Titling in Cambodia: A Study of Six Villages
Surya P. Subedi, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, 2012: A human rights analysis of economic and other land concessions in Cambodia (A/HRC/21/63/Add.1/Rev.1)
Fédération internationale pour les droits humains FIDH, 2011: Cambodia – Land Cleared for Rubber, Rights Bulldozed
NGO Forum on Cambodia, 2010: Case study – Bousra, Mondolkiri Province; excerpt from the submission «The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Cambodia» to the United Nations‘ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Woxx, 2009: Bolloré chez les Bunong
Community Legal Education Center, 2009: Draft Legal Memorandum: Economic Land Concession in Bousra Commune, Mondulkiri Province
Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), 2009: Losing Ground. Forced Evictions and Intimidation in Cambodia
NGO Forum on Cambodia, 2006: Indigenous Peoples in Cambodia
Indira Simbolon, 2002: Access to Land of Highland Indigenous Minorities: the case of plural property rights in Cambodia
Karten / Maps
Provincial Committee for Land Management and Urban Planning, Mondul Kiri Provincial Spatial Plan
Technical report, 2021: Map 16 Land Titling
Provincial Committee for Land Management and Urban Planning, Mondul Kiri Provincial Spatial Plan
Technical report, 2021: Map 13 Forest management schemes
LICADHO: Cambodia’s Concessions
Socfin: Concession boundaries of KCD plantation
Socfin: Socfin KCD Concession and Socfin Coviphama Concession-map
Rechtliche Grundlagen, offizielle Dokumente und Behörden / Legal bases, official documents and authorities
Allgemein / General
Law on Land (2001)
Sub-Decree on Economic Land Concessions (2005)
Sub-Decree on Procedures of Registration of Land of Indigenous Communities (2009)
Law on Forestry (2002)
National Authority for Land Dispute Resolution (NALDR)
Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, 2019: Press release on land registration and a land dispute resolution mechanism
National Policy on the Development of Indigenous peoples (Draft, 2009)
Hor Peng, Kong Phallack, Jörg Menzel (Eds.), 2012: Introduction to Cambodian Law
Open Development Cambodia:
► Overview of policy and legal framework
► Law and Judiciary
► Legal aid providers
Fall Bu Sra – ELCs / Bu Sra – ELCs case
Indigenous Community Title Bu Sra
Indigenous Community Title Lam Mes
Indigenous Community Title Pu Lu
Indigenous Community Title Pu Teut
Contract on the investment of rubber and agro-industry plantation between the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Khaou Chuly Development Co; Ltd (KCD) (Varanasi) (2008)
Organisationen und Websites / Organisations and websites
active in the case (formerly or at present)
Bunong Indigenous People Association BIPA
► Booklets on BIPA, Agricultural training, Student dorms
Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)
Cambodia Indigenous Peoples Alliance (CIPA)
Cambodia Indigenous Peoples Organisation (CIPO)
Cambodian Indigenous Youth Association (CIYA)
Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC)
Independent Mediation Organization (IMG)
Indigenous Community Support Organization (ICSO)
Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC)
Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG)
in Cambodia
Cambodian Center for Human Rights CCHR
Open Development Cambodia
► Land
► Economic land concessions
Dokumente von Socfin / Documents from Socfin
2022: Sustainability Report 2021 Socfin Cambodia
2020: Sustainability Report 2019 Socfin Cambodia
2019: Mondolkiri – Conflit Bunong : Socfin-KCD répond aux accusations