Deal #8779

- Some of the affected villages consist entirely of one ethnic group, and others contain a mix of ethnicities, both indigenous and non-indigenous. They have strong connection with and reliance upon the surrounding natural resources for their socio-economic and spiritual well-being. - They are traditionally animist, and their culture, livelihoods and identities are intimately tied to the land, forests and other natural resources of the region. Also distinguishing them from Cambodia’s Khmer ethnic majority is their customary system of collective land and resource tenure that governs each village’s territory. - The communities practice shifting cultivation and rely heavily on forest resources for their livelihoods

- Results of a human rights impact assessment of HAGL’s concessions in thirteen affected villages or communities showed that there was no attempt by either the Cambodian government or the company to consult affected communities or seek their free, prior and informed consent to conduct operations. The company provided no notification and very little information to affected communities prior to commencing operations. - in breach of the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination, there was no attempt from the company to consult affected communities or seek their free, prior and informed consent to conduct operations. - Nearly half of the key informants first heard about the project from a local authority including a commune or district official after the concession contract was already signed

- Often, the concession contract was done without the knowledge or consent of communities living on the land, leading to violent protests and forced evictions across the country. - eleven out of the thirteen affected villages have submitted a complaint about the concession and the company’s activities in an effort to reclaim their land. Most of these communities have submitted at least one petition and/or made at least one verbal complaint to local authorities, usually at the commune and district levels. In some cases, villagers complained verbally to company workers. - Kam village submitted a petition with approximately 150 thumbprints to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, but received no response, and then later another complaint through the Cambodian NGO Adhoc that was reported in the media. - Household respondents who have not complained gave various reasons. One obstacle is limited education and knowledge about how and to whom to file a complaint. Women in Mass village, for example, said that their village has never complained to the company and they do not know how to do so. Another obstacle is fear of the company, which people perceive as too rich and powerful to challenge. The government and company are messaging to the villages that the concession is legal to have also dissuaded some from protesting. - In February 2014, 15 of the villages submitted a complaint to the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) internal accountability mechanism, the Compliance Advisory Ombudsman, with the support of a number of NGOs, including Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International. The complaint highlighted IFC’s financing of HAGL through a financial intermediary, VEIL/Dragon Capital. - No communities or households have attempted to bring a lawsuit through Cambodia’s court system, despite strong grounds under Cambodian law.

The use of police and military as security guards intimidated people and precluded their free expression of opposition to the project. In some cases, threats of violence and other forms of retribution for attempts to enter concession boundaries or to oppose the company’s activities have been more explicit. - One-quarter of household respondents said that they were threatened when they tried to get their land back. Some said they were warned by local authorities not to make any complaints against the company. Others said the company threatened not to give them any compensation at all if they refused to accept their offer. Villagers from Srae Angkrong 1, 2, and 3 were threatened with imprisonment by local authorities if they complained

- laying waste to two spirit mountains, wetlands, old-growth forest as well as traditional hunting areas and burial grounds of spiritual value to the villagers. - It has also chipped away at the communities’ collective identity and animist traditions which are deeply intertwined with their customary forest - At the communal level, they lost access to state forests, grazing lands, water sources, reserved lands, spirit forests, burial grounds and other sacred sites. - The firm impaired the villagers’ livelihoods because they can no longer collect wood, traditional medicine, honey, fruit, and other forest products the way they used to; More than a hundred households in affected communities experienced loss of household property such as orchid lands, rice fields, animals, crops and structures.

- neither the company nor the government provided compensation to any of the villages for communal losses - Most of the households that were offered compensation had their chamka or rice fields cut out of HAGL’s concessions and returned to them through a nation-wide Prime Ministerial program ostensibly aimed at curbing and reversing land seizures connected to ELCs. The compensation was, in these cases, a purchase “offer” by the company in order to reestablish control of the plots.

Of the 164 households that lost residential plots and/or individually held farmland to the company, 101 received cash compensation for seized land. The rate of compensation differed from village to village, with the vast majority of households reporting that they received less than USD 300 in total.

- HAGL has provided all villages except Kresh and Mass with “gifts” such as rice (50kgs per household), salt and sugar (2kgs of each per household), and small amounts of cash. - Other contributions from the company, such as roads, wells, a community center and medical examinations and assistance by a Vietnamese doctor