Home Complaints database IDI, EC, and LICADHO v. Bonsucro
Complaint

IDI, EC, and LICADHO v. Bonsucro

Sugar industry MSI fails to address Cambodian land grabs

Date filed
11 March 2019
Keywords
Countries of harm
Current status
No resolution
Sector
NCP

Allegations

On 11 March 2019, representatives of more than 700 Cambodian families who were violently displaced to make way for a sugar plantation have filed a formal complaint with the UK NCP against Bonsucro, the sugar industry’s sustainability certification body, for breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (Guidelines). The complainants allege that Bonsucro failed to hold a member company, Mitr Phol, accountable after the Thai sugar giant grabbed their land and left them homeless and destitute. Bonsucro is headquartered in the United Kingdom and has operations that span the globe.

The complaint was filed on behalf of the Cambodian families by the U.S. organization Inclusive Development International and the Cambodian organizations Equitable Cambodia and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO).

Complainants assert that families were forced off their land to make way for Mitr Phol’s sugarcane plantations between 2008 and 2009. Those who sought to defend their rights were jailed. The families have endured more than a decade of impoverishment and related hardships as a result of the land seizures. Complainants assert that although the Thai National Human Rights Commission found Mitr Phol responsible for the land grab and called upon the company to “correct and remedy the impacts,” Mitr Phol has refused to provide any form of compensation to the Cambodian families.

Representatives of the evicted families submitted a complaint against Mitr Phol to Bonsucro’s grievance mechanism in 2011. A year later, the Thai company withdrew from Bonsucro rather than address the complaint. In 2015, Bonsucro quietly reinstated Mitr Pohl and never restarted the complaint process. Inclusive Development International, Equitable Cambodia and LICADHO filed another complaint in 2016, which Bonsucro’s board dismissed in December 2018 on the grounds that it had not received “cogent evidence that…Mitr Phol breached the terms of Bonsucro’s Code of Conduct in place at the time.”

Relevant OECD Guidelines

Outcome

On 25 September 2019, the UK NCP issued an initial assessment accepting the complaint . The NCP noted that a precise definition of multinational enterprises is not required for the purpose of the Guidelines and that it considered that the Guidelines apply to Bonsucro as a company with member organisations established in more than one country.

The NCP then formally asked the parties whether they were willing to engage in a mediation/conciliation process, with the aim of agreeing how the issues identified could be successfully addressed. Mediation between the parties took place in 2020, however, the parties did not come to an agreement. The UK NCP then conducted further investigation on the complaint.

On 11 January 2022, the UK NCP released its final statement. In it, the NCP determined that Bonsucro not complied with the standards in the Guidelines. The NCP found:

  • That Bonsucro was a multinational enterprise covered by the Guidelines;
  • That it was directly linked to the harms due to its business relationship with the parent company that pays dues and reaps reputational benefits;
  • That because the harms were outstanding once Mitr Phol became a member of Bonsucro, and Bonsucro was aware of them, it had leverage to address them after 2011.
  • That as a membership organisation, Bonsucro does have leverage over its members and failed to use its leverage appropriately with Mitr Phol when it readmitted it.
  • That Bonsucro did not undertake an appropriate level of due diligence (asking new members to fill out a self-assessment questionnaire) for the context of its operations.

The NCP made the following general recommendation to Bonsucro: “[take] steps to continually improve their internal processes in order to uphold the highest levels of ongoing due diligence of its members.”

The UK NCP will follow-up on the implementation of its recommendation in 2023.

On 29 October 2025, the UK NCP published its follow-up statement on Bonsucro’s progress on implementing its recommendation and other updates relevant to the case. The NCP was satisfied that Bonsucro had taken sufficient steps to implement its recommendation. The NCP detailed improvements to Bonsucro’s internal processes regarding the ongoing due diligence of its members in line with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, including updates to its Code of Conduct and Membership Due Diligence Process, which clarify that members have a responsibility to respect human rights in line with internationally recognised human rights standards and that members can be suspended in cases of non-compliance. High risk applicants and existing members are asked to develop time-limited action plans to address areas of non-compliance. The NCP acknowledged the steps that Bonsucro has taken to improve its leverage over its membership by establishing clear links between its membership policies and Code of Conduct, and by maintaining senior-level oversight of membership compliance.

The NCP also considered how Bonsucro had applied these updated policies to Mitr Phol as a member and Mitr Phol’s human rights violations in Cambodia. Bonsucro informed the NCP that its updated policies has allowed it to use its leverage with Mitr Phol by keeping its membership under review. Since 2021, Mitr Phol has completed and submitted its annual Code of Conduct self assessment which allows Bonsucro to monitor its compliance with its due diligence policies. The NCP acknowledged Bonsucro’s effort in this regard, but noted:

“… [T]he overall outcomes of this monitoring of [Mitr Phol]’s compliance remain unclear. Going forward, the UK NCP encourages Bonsucro to communicate clearly with stakeholders, including potentially impacted stakeholders and rightsholders and their representatives on the outcomes of its monitoring of members and the steps it takes if any members are found to be ‘high-risk’. This will ensure Bonsucro’s due diligence policies represent a genuine commitment and have actual impact on the ground, and is line with the enhanced stakeholder engagement expectations in the 2023 OECD guidelines, which state that enterprises should “engage meaningfully with relevant stakeholders or their legitimate representatives as part of carrying out due diligence and in order to provide opportunities for their views to be taken into account with respect to activities that may significantly impact them related to matters covered by the guidelines”

The NCP further encouraged Bonsucro “… to ensure that it draws from findings of their risk assessments to update and strengthen processes to better track information and flag risks before adverse impacts occur, and to ensure that it has adequate systems, staff training and resourcing in place to accurately monitor compliance with its membership policies so that any breaches can be acted on without delay. This should in turn help to cease, prevent and mitigate adverse impacts in line with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance.” The NCP also encouraged Bonsucro to set specific timeframes for reviews of member due diligence processes, including estimated timelines and benchmarks for improvement and outcomes, in line with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance.

The NCP’s follow-up statement also detailed the parties engagement in dialogue in relation to the issues raised in the complaint concerning Mitr Phol. According to the NCP, IDI had continued to express concerns that despite changes to Bonsucro’s policies, Bonsucro had failed to appropriately use its leverage to influence Mitr Phol to address the issues. However, following this dialogue, IDI acknowledged the role that Bonsucro had played in aiding a satisfactory resolution of the complaint by using its leverage on Mitr Phol. The NCP further encouraged Bonsucro “to ensure that any ongoing work to improve its due diligence processes and use its leverage with members involves consultation with representatives from the affected community to understand their perspective. This consultation would be in line with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance on determining the appropriate forms of remedy which states that “the perspective of those affected on what is appropriate remedy is important for human rights impacts”.

The NCP made the following observations on Mitr Phol’s stakeholder engagement:

“… Bonsucro’s membership criteria and due diligence processes do not set out explicit expectations for its member organisations to engage with local communities, or other individual and corporate stakeholders with business relationships with Bonsucro member organisations, workers, workers’ representatives, trade unions, community members, civil society organisations, investors and professional industry and trade associations. It also highlights the need for local communities and rightsholders to feature in businesses’ stakeholder engagement commitments. The UK NCP acknowledges Bonsucro’s efforts to engage with its members with commercial links to [Mitr Phol] on the use of collective leverage in relation to the complaint and further encourages Bonsucro to set clear expectations for its member organisations to engage with local communities and other stakeholders to reinforce their due diligence and stakeholder engagement practices. This engagement could help members when assessing potential negative impacts of their activities on local communities and would be in line with the paragraph 15 of Chapter II (General Policies) of the updated 2023 OECD guidelines, which states that enterprises should “engage meaningfully with relevant stakeholders or their legitimate representatives as part of carrying out due diligence and in order to provide opportunities for their views to be taken into account with respect to activities that may significantly impact them related to matters covered by the guidelines”.”

More details

Defendant
Complainants
Affected people
Date rejected / concluded
11 January 2022

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