Cambodians evicted from foreign-backed plantation take case to US

12 December 2012
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodians evicted from foreign-backed plantation take case to US (Credit: ABC)

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International action against Cambodia's sugar industry continues with the European Parliament calling on the European Commission to investigate "the escalation of human rights abuses" as a result of sugar plantations.

The Parliament also urged the Commission to temporarily suspend a duty-free trade deal on agricultural products from Cambodia "in cases where human rights abuses are identified".

For more than two years, civil society groups have argued that this preferential trade status has fuelled an explosion of illegal land concessions to private companies.

There's also action underway in the US, relating to more than 400 families in a south-western Cambodian province that were evicted in 2006 to make way for a sugar cane plantation and a refinery that are now owned by foreign companies.

In the years since, they have pursed their case unsuccessfully with local and regional authorities - but now the villagers are taking their case to Washington.

Correspondent: Kevin Ponniah

Speaker: Jonathan Kaufman, Earth Rights International