"Shipibo Konibo community condemns RSPO complaint mechanism", 25 Nov 2017

On the eve of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO) annual meeting the Shipibo Konibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya and its representative organisation FECONAU has condemned the failure of the organisation’s complaints mechanism to secure justice for their community.

...The community of Santa Clara de Uchunya whose ancestral lands and forests have been devastated by a former member of the RSPO (Plantaciones de Pucallpa), currently reconfigured as Ocho Sur PE SAC... and FECONAU are now calling on the RSPO to close glaring loopholes in its existing complaints mechanism including the ability for members to withdraw from the RSPO during a formal complaint process and thereby escape being held to account.

...Their statement... came in the wake of confirmation from the RSPO that no further action would be taken on the case.

...Although the case was the first complaint brought against an RSPO member company based in Peru, it exposed structural failings of the RSPO complaint mechanism, which have been used elsewhere by member companies to avoid accountability. 

[Read the Santa Clara de Uchunya community statement here]