"Vietnam rubber firm reaches accord with Ratanakkiri ethnic villages", 27 July 2017

In an agreement mediated by the International Finance Corporation...a...Vietnamese rubber firm has reached a deal with 11 ethnic minority villages affected by its Ratanakkiri operations to return nearly 20 community “spirit mountains”, restore streams filled or polluted by its activities and repair roads and bridges.

The deal between the locals and the Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) rubber company was brokered by the IFC’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), and remains tentative pending government approval.

Sat Vannak, a senior Ratanakkiri Provincial Hall official...said authorities would only approve the agreement once a provincial hall task force demarcated the boundaries of the land HAGL promised to return to the communities.

A report published...by...Inclusive Development International states that HAGL “grabbed land from indigenous communities and decimated ancient forests” in Ratanakkiri. The IFC, said the report, had investments in HAGL via several Vietnamese equity funds.

Inclusive Development International Managing Director David Pred...called upon the IFC to take greater responsibility rather than delegating compliance to the CAO mechanism... 

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Note: Earlier this year, the Resource Centre posted a story about the IDI report mentioned above. Citing allegations made in the IDI report, we sent invitations to respond to the IFC and the companies.  HAGL did not respond to the invitation. IFC did. The story, together with the responses of IFC and some companies can be accessed here.