'No justice in sight for World Bank project-affected communities in Liberia’ 3 February 2025

More than a year late, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation has finally submitted its response to an investigation that found evidence of grave human rights violations at the Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC) that it helps fund in Liberia. The IFC, established to fund private sector development in poor countries, loaned $10 million to SRC to rehabilitate and expand its plantations in 2007. Affected communities filed a complaint with the finance institution’s independent grievance body, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, alleging failure to prevent abuses by SRC. Communities living in and around the Salala rubber plantation accuse SRC, owned and operated by Belgian multinational Socfin from 2007 until 2024, of land grabbing, sexual harassment of workers, pollution of water bodies, and the destruction of sacred sites and graves. Years of complaints raised directly with SRC’s management, local and national governments in Liberia, and the parent company in Belgium failed to win redress, forcing the communities to take their grievances to the CAO.

Since the CAO investigation was completed in December 2023, the IFC has asked for multiple deadline extensions to submit a required management report and action plan (MAP) outlining the measures it will take together with SRC to address the ombudsman’s findings. “We are hoping that the action points of the MAP will be carried out so that community tension can ease,” said Windor Smith, a member of the Liberian civil society organization Alliance for Rural Democracy (ARD), which works on land and customary rights issues with rural communities. For civil society groups supporting affected communities, the IFC’s delay is no coincidence. Paul Larry George, also from ARD, said the CAO’s recommendations included compensation for lost crops, which, if adopted by the IFC, could set an unwanted precedent for the finance institution in other cases where communities have faced losses in connection with its investments.

…The CAO’s investigation report and a final version of the MAP will only be published after approval by the World Bank’s board, currently expected in March 2025. As chair of ARD, one of the groups that supported communities file their complaint, George has seen both. He told Mongabay that the IFC has watered down many of the strong recommendations made by the ombudsman. “We think this will give way to continued grievances of the communities on the plantation.” In June 2024, riots broke out at Salala after workers protested against working conditions under Socfin, and the search for redress became more complex when Socfin announced the sale of Salala to a Liberian investment company, Jeety Rubber LLC, shortly afterward…

While hopes for finding remedy through the World Bank fade, civil society organizations in Liberia are anticipating the outcome of a lawsuit filed against Salala in the local courts. The case, lodged by Liberian human rights organization Green Advocates, seeks recognition for communities in Margibi county as the rightful owners of the land where the Salala plantation is located. A recent interim judgment ordered a “confirmatory survey” to measure the extent of land in contention, which is currently being prepared by the Liberian Land Authority.