Deal #3458

22 Liberian Indigenous communities Over the decades, the Petitioners — residents of Gleagba, Bloomu, Dokai (old), Dokai (new), Bondolon, Massaquoi, Martin, Deedee-ta 2, Kuwah-ta, Jorkporlorsue, Gorbor, Kolledarpolon, Monkey-tail, Ansa-ta, Lango, Garjay, Dedee-ta 1, Kolongalai, Sayue-ta, Tartee-ta, Varmue, and Pennoh Villages –have been ejected from their ancestral farmlands due to successive waves of expansion by SRC’s rubber plantation.

Residents of 22 indigenous Kpelle communities, dispossessed of their customary land, cultural sites, and livelihoods, have filed a groundbreaking legal action against the Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC) and the Liberian Government.

lack of consultation as early as the original establishment in 1959. The current investor did not take this lack of consultation into account when it gained the rights to the land. Local communities have not been consulted on further expansions since 2007. Rural people, who had lived on the land even before the country got its independence in 1847, did not participate in the concession-awarding processes.

communities filed a complaint with the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) at the IFC on 27 May 2019 alleged that the expansion has undermined their livelihoods and has been accompanied by violence against women and community leaders.

communities filed a complaint with the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) at the IFC on 27 May 2019 alleged that the expansion has undermined their livelihoods and has been accompanied by violence against women and community leaders. The abuses include mass land seizures and displacements of indigenous, destruction of sacred heritage and livelihood sites. In December 2021, it was recorded that the company among other companies received Dutch investments through their parent companies to knock down the forest and take away land belonging to rural communities. Subsidiaries of multinational companies operating in Liberia have all been investigated and found liable for land grab

forced eviction and economic displacement. One report said that farmers are dislodged from their habitat and dispossessed of their livelihoods with little or no compensation with the acquiesce of their government. The company is so powerful that it appears to get very incense when called to account for excesses committed in its operations and it gets really hopeless for the ordinary people whose survival depend wholly on the very land they are contesting with the powerful. The company evicted us from our own village and the person who opened this village allowed us to stay here,” says David Sumo, a 75 year-old man of Monkey Tail Town, one of the 22 affected communities.

The Bread for All report mentions incidents of a wide range of issues such as polluted water, lower food security, loss of sacred forests, evictions and violence used against workers and community members. Land grab and forced eviction, economic displacement and loss of livelihood, employment cond.The residents claimed that the latest attacks by the group, comprising current employees and contractors of the company have led some residents including local activists to flee the area for fear of their lives, while most of them who left behind are now living with fear of intimidation and labor rights violations, water pollution, gender-based violence and threats of reprisals and intimidation.Nora Massa, a youthful resident mentioned that they were born and raised in this town but they are not going to school. Before we work, except they have sex with us. If we disagree, we will not work.” Subsidiaries of multinational companies operating in Liberia have all been investigated and found liable for deforestation, land grab, and human rights abuses. In 2019, Binda and other villagers lodged a complaint with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which in 2008 invested US$10 million in SRC to rehabilitate its facilities and expand its plantation. They accused SRC of several counts of human rights abuses, including land-grab, water pollution, and destruction of ancestral graves and shrines, which contravene IFC’s own standards. SRC denies clearing graveyards and planting rubber on them. The company told the IFC the land it cleared was part of 100,000 hectares it leased from the Liberian government in 1959, and that it supported the communities to perform cleansing rituals. The IFC is still investigating the matter.he Liberian Legislature had set aside the second Wednesday in March each year to honor the dead, which goes in line with the customs and traditions of rural people. This has left villagers in concession communities across the country with no graves to decorate—the most relevant part of this 104-year tradition—creating an atmosphere of sadness and anger. The massive loss of their land has had dire consequences for the Petitioners and their communities. Parents who once provided adequately for their children are unable to feed their families or pay school fees. Women are exposed to sexual and gender-based violence when they cross the plantation or seek contract work from SRC.

One report states compensation was not paid.

"He revealed that his company in 2014 started the construction of a six classroom school building for the benefit of the citizens of Kwata but had to halt the work due to some disagreement that ensued between management and citizens of the town."

The benefits (school, clinic, roads, capacity building) mainly accrue to the company's employees and not to the wider local community members. "He revealed that his company in 2014 started the construction of a six classroom school building for the benefit of the citizens of Kwata but had to halt the work due to some disagreement that ensued between management and citizens of the town." In August 2021, a report stated that the Management of the Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC) has distributed rice among over 5,000 residents in communities near its concession, including its employees in Margibi County. The company said the rice distribution done during the Independence Day festivity recently is an annual initiative of the company that is intended to sustain food security in the area. The company also used the food distribution exercise to caution residents against acts that would undermine the fight against COVID-19.Management also donated sanitary materials and COVID-19 preventive materials including nose masks among the over 5,000 families at its plantation and environs.

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) was investigating land grab, economic displacement and loss of livelihood, labor rights violation, gender-based violence and threats of reprisals and intimidation by SRC.GAI and her partners including Alliance for Rural Democracy (ARD), the Natural Resources Women Platform, and Yeagbamah National Congress for Human Rights filed a complaint with the IFC against SRC in 2019. communities filed a complaint with the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) at the IFC on 27 May 2019 alleged that the expansion has undermined their livelihoods and has been accompanied by violence against women and community leaders. Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) responded to the communities that their complaint meets its three eligibility criteria in June 2019. on Monday, May 27, 2019 a coalition of ten international NGOs, filed a lawsuit against the French Bollore Group. Alliance for Rural Democracy (ARD), Green Advocates (GA), Natural Resource Women Platform personnel and an international partner are assisting the community. They were in the village investigating the community claims when they and community were attacked- they are blaming the investor.