‘Open Letter to His Excellency, Dr Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone’ 30 March 2020

We, an international coalition of civil society organizations, welcome the finalization of the Investigation Report which concludes the investigative phase of the conflict resolution process concerning the land conflict between the multinational palm oil company SOCFIN and communities in the Malen Chiefdom of Sierra Leone. As organizations that have closely followed this case over the years, in close communication with the affected communities and our Sierra Leone civil society organisation partners, we view the completion of this report as an important step towards finding a resolution to the long-standing land dispute.

We are encouraged to see that the main findings of the Technical Committee highlight several of the allegations voiced by the affected communities since 2011. They confirm, among others, that the land lease agreements are unlawful; that payments of lease rent and other land charges were or inadequate or paid to the wrong persons; that the parcels of land were not properly surveyed and demarcated; that buffer zones between communities and SOCFIN plantations have not been respected and that this has negatively impinged upon the communities' capacity to live in dignity; that the Paramount Chief's conduct was inappropriate and potentially illegal; that SOCFIN's development projects in the communities were inadequate; and that there are serious pollution concerns linked to the company's activities.

While we welcome the important findings of the report, we note that there are several key elements pertaining to the land conflict that are either absent from the report or, in our view, insufficiently addressed in it. Are lacking: a human rights approach and the reference to the relevant legal framework; detailed information on the land acquisition process and the working conditions on SOCFIN's plantations; due attention to the criminalization of members of the communities and allied civil society organizations; mention of the significant gaps in the implementation of SOCFIN's corporate social responsibility action plan; a comprehensive investigation of all allegations of corruption (see the annex for an in-depth analysis of the report – information bellow).