Deal #3746

In Ivory Coast for RSPO certification, community members seem to have been selected by the company and in the village of Oueoulo, for example, SOGB invited only four people to talk with the auditor. Despite its importance, the association of displaced villages (AVD) - a formal structure that should represent the interests of 13 villages ‘deguerpis’ (kicked out) vis-à-vis the SOGB - says it was not consulted. In Ivory Coast, community members say they are still waiting to see reports and resolution of the audit and a plantation mapping session done by the audit team on their customary land. This lack of information and transparency prevents rights-holders and stakeholders from preparing in time for informed participation in the consultation. In Ivory Coast, a SOGB staff member attempted to intimidate a local community organisation so they would not give interviews to the research team without prior authorisation from the company. The research team was told by one SOGB staff member that they were instructed by SOCFIN not to receive the Milieudefensie consultants. interviewees stated that the RSPO auditor depended on company resources - such as transport in company vehicles with company drivers and accommoda􀀊on - to conduct the field audit visits. Moreover, some RSPO meetings with stakeholders were held in the premises of the company, such as during the SOGB meetings in Ivory Coast.

In Ivory Coast the dispossession of community lands by the state dates back to the 1970s. Thirteen villages have been displaced without FPIC or compensation. The privatisation in the 1990s did not address the grievances and claims from the communities and recent expansions or delimitation continue to cause conflict. Since 1974, affected communities claim they do not have sufficient living space and they demand the return of their land as well as compensation from SOGB to meet basic standards of living.