"French court drops case of nearly 100 Bunong families in rubber plantation dispute", 15 July 2021

Civil rights groups are decrying the erosion of indigenous land rights after a French court dropped a lawsuit from a collective of 97 Bunong minority families from Mondulkiri province in a long-running dispute with Cambodian rubber plantation firm Socfin-KCD.

Attorneys in Cambodia confirmed to ... that … the Tribunal in Nanterre had ruled the families in Bousra commune had no legal rights or title to the disputed land, where Socfin-KCD under its parent company Bollore Group has been developing a plantation.

The Bunong families expressed their frustration and disappointment with the ruling in a Wednesday statement, writing that the court decision failed to uphold their rights as indigenous people.

“It is because the state did not register us that we don’t have a communal land title. We have other rights to that land and forest, but Bollore through Socfin-KCD has destroyed it all,” the statement read. “We were landlords before the establishment of the Cambodia Land Law, we have been cultivating that land [and gathering] forest products as is our tradition.”

Kroeung Tola, a representative of the Bousra commune villager, told … the families will appeal the decision. He said he had lost about two hectares without any compensation…

… Sek Sophorn, a lawyer representing the Bunong families, said most indigenous people haven’t registered for a communal land title but have practiced traditional, rotational cultivation since the time of their ancestors.

“It is an injustice for them because the court in France has only considered the land title, but they didn’t consider other protective rights as the right of using land and the right of cultivating,” Sophorn said, …