NGOs outraged IOI treated with kid gloves

More than a dozen Malaysian and international non-governmental organisations have expressed "disbelief and outrage" at the failure of a body responsible for certifying ‘sustainable' palm oil to act against an industry giant despite alleged violations of its own guidelines, environmental laws and other regulations.

The groups said it was also dismayed that the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - the secretariat of which is in Kuala Lumpur - had dragged its feet in acting against conglomerate IOI Corporation Bhd, despite the many complaints and grievances that have been filed against the palm oil giant.

In a jointly-signed letter to RSPO dated May 26, the Borneo Resource Institute (Brimas), Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) and the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) in Malaysia and about 13 other local and international NGOs, said IOI had encroached upon the land rights of the indigenous community of Long Teran Kanan in Sarawak.

Making up the first of two grievances filed with RSPO by the groups, the complaint cited IOI's appeal of a Miri High Court decision to recognise the rights of the Long Teran Kanan residents and order their compensation for the losses and damages done to their land by a company subsequently owned by IOI.

IOI had earlier promised the villagers that it would not appeal the High Court ruling, the groups claimed.

The second complaint concerns the clearing of more than 10,000 hectares in Indonesia allegedly without valid permits, which they said violates both IOI's own corporate social responsibility policies as well as Indonesian laws.

"The company lied to local authorities in writing, saying that no land would be opened up before its environmental impact reports were approved. At that time, half of the aforementioned areas had already been opened up," said the groups, citing satellite images.

IOI has publicly denied the allegations and claims "there was no law violation."

Groups contest 'green and sustainable' claim

Despite such alleged violations of laws and RSPO's own code of conduct and certification requirements, the groups said RSPO has allowed IOI to continue selling its palm oil as "green and sustainable", said the groups.

Not only has RSPO failed to suspend recognition of IOI's palm oil to stop it from claiming its products as "green and sustainable" pending investigations, but has given the corporation 21 days to redress the grievances filed.

In a statement posted on its website on May 25, RSPO said there had been "considerable progress" in the past 21 days with regards to interaction between the involved parties.

"The proposition submitted by IOI and the comments received from the local community and complainants have been vigilantly reviewed by the RSPO. 

"The RSPO is working closely together with IOI towards a clear and responsible roadmap to address the issues related to this grievance.

"However, this necessitates some additional time beyond the stipulated deadline of 25th May 2011. We will keep all the stakeholders and public notified on the final decision very soon," said the statement, which was posted also by IOI on its website.

The signatories to the grievance against IOI filed with RSPO are Brimas, Sadia, the Sarawak Indigenous Lawyers Association, workers rights group Tenaganita, PAN AP, Grassroots, Sawit Watch, Lembaga Gemawan, WALHI Kalimantan Barat, Save our Borneo and Kontak Rakyat Borneo in Indonesia, Rainforest Action Network in the US and Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Friends of the Earth Europe in Brussels.

"We are dismayed with another prolongation by RSPO, and the lack of transparency in handling the process. The complainants of the grievance have seen no improvement in the interaction with IOI nor with RSPO," said the groups in their letter.

"Our feedback to RSPO, given jointly by all complainants, has also made sufficiently clear that we are deeply concerned that IOI Group's current proposal will not resolve the issues," they said.

"We again call on the RSPO to take more decisive action to hold IOI Corporation to account, including a suspension of all RSPO certificates for IOI's estates and mills, until the grievance issues are indeed solved."

In a statement issued in response to the groups' letter, RSPO's grievance panel said it was currently deliberating on a resolution through the internal grievance process.

As stated earlier, said RSPO on May 27, all stakeholders and the public will be kept notified.

IOI, meanwhile, said it will not be issuing any statement for the moment on the matter.