Cambodia: “Little to nothing has changed,” say villagers affected by Coca-Cola supplier’s alleged land rights abuses – includes companies’ comments
“No Relief for Evictees One Year on From Coca-Cola Visit”, 14 February 2015
Nearly a year after beverage giant Coca-Cola sent a team of researchers to Cambodia to probe alleged human rights abuses by the sugar producers that help sweeten its drinks, NGOs and the families that have lost land to those suppliers’ plantations say little to nothing has changed…The visit followed the beverage firm’s high-profile pledge the year before of “zero tolerance” for land grabbing by its sugar suppliers…“The research [in Cambodia] was not a social compliance audit, but a process that gathered facts and perspectives. Hence, the company will not publish the Cambodia research,” said Sharolyn Choy, Coca-Cola’s spokeswoman for the Pacific region…In comments it sent in 2012 to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre…[Coca-Cola supplier] Mitr Phol said it did not support encroachment on private land or the destruction of private property…[refers to Mitr Phol, Tate & Lyle Sugars]