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Article

30 Oct 2017

Author:
Bram Ebus, Mongabay

Colombia: Advocates caution against expansion of palm oil industry after FARC peace agreement due to security risks; workers decry labour conditions

"Palm Oil Mounts "New Offensive" in Colombia While Workers Decry Labor Conditions," 27 October 2017

...Colombia produces more palm oil than any other country in Latin America, and is the fourth-largest producer worldwide... Conflict can...be a byproduct of the palm oil industry, with accusations of land-grabbing and even murder reported in many areas around the world where plantations are expanding. Such is the experience of Calderón [the legal representative of a local palm workers union in Magdalena Medio, Colombia], who says he knows of several co-union workers who were assassinated allegedly because of their involvement in palm oil workers’ unions... [Whereas] the work in the extraction plant is hard, risky and exhausting...plantation work has an even worse reputation... Payment is also an issue...

The palm oil production company that was visited for this report did not respond to requests for comment...

Research by the government-run National Center of Historical Memory (CNMH) indicates palm oil and forced displacement often go hand-in-hand in at least five Colombian departments. CNMH found violence was aimed both at farmers who had land that was suitable for oil palm cultivation and at union leaders fighting for decent labor conditions and who were considered liabilities by palm oil companies...

A new wave of palm oil expansion may be on the horizon following successful peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)... Large territories that formerly were under the control of FARC guerrillas are now safe to enter. Conservationists worry this might mean a big push by agro-industry, including the palm oil sector... [A]dvocacy organizations caution Colombia is facing a grave security crisis for human rights defenders, unionists, community activists, and indigenous and Afro-Colombian leaders, with more than 120 social leaders reportedly killed so far in 2017...