Feronia/PHC

Plantations et Huileries du Congo, the DRC’s leading palm oil producer, plans to exponentially increase its palm oil production, but this strategy could exacerbate land conflicts.

La Repubblica Democratica del Congo (RDC) sta aumentando la coltivazione di olio di palma, con l'idea di diventare un Paese esportatore e di affacciarsi alla produzione di biocombustibili, rischiando però di mettere a repentaglio la sopravvivenza di intere comunità e di creare nuovi conflitti, in un Paese già ai primi posti delle classifiche mondiali per fame e insicurezza alimentare.

Already in conflict with local communities over land grabbing, Plantation et Huilerie du Congo (PHC) has just acquired new concessions to expand its palm oil plantations in Boteka. This deprived local communities of nearly 2,500 hectares of arable land.

A travers le cas des Huileries du Congo Belge, se dessine la responsabilité des entreprises durant la colonisation, de l’accaparement des terres et du travail forcé des populations colonisées. Loin d’être un débat du « passé » nous le verrons, l’exploitation des terres durant la colonisation continue de produire des conséquences encore aujourd’hui.

Communities living close to oil palm plantations run by PHC in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo are laying claim to just over 58,000 ha of land, and are demanding access to the company’s land titles to determine the boundaries of its concessions.

Les communautés riveraines des plantations de la société Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC) au nord-est de la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) revendiquent un peu plus de 58 000 hectares de terres et veulent accéder aux titres fonciers de la société pour connaître les limites de ses concessions.

Suite aux soupçons de malversations financières, le bras de fer s’intensifie entre l’État congolais et l’actionnaire SKKM2 au sein de PHC S.A. (anciennement Unilever)

Environmental rights defenders were arrested, and an environmental journalist was abducted after displaying three banners denouncing the mistreatment by the PHC company in Kinshasa.

Fourteen civil society organizations have expressed their disagreement with the manner in which the ongoing Independent Complaints Mechanism pertaining to the operations of company Plantations et Huileries du Congo is being handled.

Lord Leverhulme’s 1911 concession in the Congo, is now held by an African-run New York-based private equity firm with strong links to global philanthropy.

NGOs say a development bank mediation process is coercing communities into foregoing their rights to their territories and accepting a palm oil company's occupation of their lands without the time, resources, security and legal support required to adequately defend their interests.

Des ONG affirment qu'un processus de médiation des banques de développement allemande et néerlandaise contraint des communautés à renoncer à leurs droits fonciers et à accepter l'occupation continue de leurs terres par une société de huile de palme, sans avoir eu le temps, les ressources, la sécurité et le soutien juridique nécessaires pour défendre leurs intérêts.