The publication “Case Dossier: Cambodia. Sugar cane plantations, human rights violations and EU’s ‘Everything But Arms’ initiative” prepared by FIAN Germany and the Transnational Institute includes an analysis of the so-called Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) in Cambodia. With relevant parts based on a report by “Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International: Bittersweet Harvest: A Human Rights Impact Assessment of the European Union’s Everything But Arms Initiative in Cambodia, 2013“, the dossier addresses the role of the sugar industry, which is strongly incentivized by the European Union’s trade initiative “Everything But Arms” (EBA). The discussion touches the domestic land conflicts arisen from this industry, as local communities are forcibly deprived of their access to land, water and other natural resources, resulting in the violation of their human right to food, to housing and to water. The dossier ends with a human rights-based approach to right to food violations in Cambodia. It suggests a right to food approach on land governance to end infringements to the right to food in this country, and addresses the need for policies supporting the obligation to fulfil the right to food in all states, including Cambodia. Prepared by FIAN Germany and the Transnational Institute for Hands Off the Land Alliance, this dossier is partly based on a report by Equitable The policy brief “Policy Shift: Investing in Agricultural Alternatives” takes seriously the call for a paradigm shift in favour of investment in agricultural alternatives by identifying a set of ten key policy changes required to support and promote positive alternative investments. The approach adopted is both a normative one, informed by prevailing human rights norms, and an empirical one, informed by practical, on-the-ground examples of positive agricultural investments. In order to set up the framework for such analysis, four premises or starting points are outlined at the beginning. The brief ends with a discussion as to how these recommendations can feed into existing policy initiatives and regulatory tendencies around agricultural investment, most notably the ongoing discussion on responsible agricultural investment (rai) at the Committee on World Food Security. In Cambodia there has been a dramatic escalation in the granting of agro-industrial concessions to private companies. The record increase in new concessions in 2011 brought the amount of land under the control of agro-industrial firms to roughly 12 percent of Cambodia’s total land mass. The result of this sell-off has been an alarming erosion in the enjoyment of the fundamental human rights of affected people, who have suffered from forced eviction, reduced access to farming and grazing land, and the destruction of forests that they depend upon for their livelihoods. Monitoring by human rights organizations indicates that at least 700,000 people across the country have been affected by this land-grabbing epidemic since 2000, including approximately 51,000 people in the past year alone.Sugarcane is the one of the leading ‘boom crops’ driving the Cambodian land-grabbing today. The Boycott Cambodian Blood Sugar Initiative calls on the sugar industry to stop bleeding Cambodian farmers by taking their land. Read the open letter to the EU Trade Commissioner below. A series of global crises – financial, environmental, energy and food – in recent years is fueling a dramatic rush on farmland and resources in much of the Global South, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Hands Off the Land Alliance is composed byTNI, FIAN, FDCL and Instytut Globalnej Odpowiedzialnosci (IGO) The urgency of this mandate has since grown, with global food shortages and reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that nearly one billion people are suffering from grave undernourishment. However, according to Olivier de Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food, “FIAN is doing much more than just combating hunger. To be able to feed yourself is a human right”. FIAN’s mandate has always focused on supporting the struggle of those fighting against unjust and oppressive practices that prevent them from feeding themselves and their families. This long-term, sustainable view is reflected in the organization’s strategy. “Our objective is to achieve concrete solutions in the form of real policy changes to secure people’s access to the resources they need in order to feed themselves both now and in the future,” states FIAN’s Secretary-General Flavio Valente. In order to support those struggling to realize their right to food FIAN rigorously reports on human rights violations and helps to build the capacity of individuals and communities to defend their rights in courts of law against complicit governments and corporations. The brain-child of a group of committed activists, FIAN remains the only international human rights organization working exclusively to promote the right to food. “The organization pioneered the defense of economic, social and cultural rights as human rights, while most of the other human rights organizations were limited to civil and political rights”, recalls Rolf Künnemann, one of the founders. Over the past 25 years FIAN International has formalized its role as a supporter of those struggling for the right to food, expanding from a basement headquarters to a network of national offices in 18 countries. FIAN was granted consultative status to the United Nations in 1989. This has enabled the organization to influence the human rights protection system in favor of vulnerable groups including peasant farmers, the landless and women. It has contributed to the elaboration of the UN General Comment No. 12 on the Right to Food in 1999, now the most authoritative legal interpretation of the right to food in international law. The organization was also a key player in the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food by the FAO member states in 2004 and in the adoption of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. FIAN will celebrate its anniversary at several national and international events throughout the year and especially on the occasion of World Food Day on October 16, 2011. Published in October 2010. You can download the WATCH here (available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese) Published in October 2009 You can download the WATCH here (available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese) 
Posted in Non classé
Communities in Cambodia lack access to their natural resources
Read dossier below
Case Dossier: Cambodia
Cambodia and Inclusive Development International: “Bittersweet Harvest: A Human Rights Impact Assessment of the European Union’s Everything But Arms Initiative in Cambodia, 2013″.In need of a Policy Shift: Investing in Agricultural Alternatives
Read policy brief below:
Human Rights Abuses in Cambodia – Call for EU Investigation
Hands Off the Land
FIAN – 25 Years Supporting the Struggle for the Human Right to Adequate Food
Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2010
Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2009
