Ivorian Communities Hire Belgian Lawyers to Assert Their Rights – CIDSE

Ivorian Communities Hire Belgian Lawyers to Assert Their Rights

“We will continue to reclaim our land and our rights”, say the communities. 

PRESS RELEASE, 9 SEPTEMBER 2024


Communities in Côte d’Ivoire are demanding compensation for the damage caused by the activities of the Belgian company SIAT, which specialises in the production of rubber and palm oil. Supported by European human rights organisations, they have appointed Belgian lawyers to present their demands to the company’s head office in Zaventem on Monday 9 September.


Land and social conflicts on SIAT’s oil palm and rubber plantations have gone on for too long and must be resolved. For more than a decade, communities in Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire have risen up to denounce the many violations of their rights as a result of the SIAT Group’s activities. They accuse the company of land grabbing, deforestation, undermining their food security and other human rights violations. According to (local) communities, the company is also complicit in a crackdown that has resulted in the arbitrary arrest and detention of more than 70 people, led to the death of two people and left dozens injured.

On Monday 9 September, a dozen representatives of the Prikro communities in Côte d’Ivoire submitted a claim for compensation [available here] to the SIAT Group via FIAN and Entraide et Fraternité, CIDSE Belgian member organisation. They are claiming compensation of more than one billion CFA francs (more than €1.6 million) for all the damage suffered and are positioning themselves as the multinational’s first creditors.

The amount may seem high, but it will never be enough to compensate us for the distress and hell we went through. How can we put a monetary value on the torture we suffered in prison? How can we assess the impact of the months and months of arbitrary detention? How much for not having been able to feed our children for years, for lack of land to cultivate?” testifies a community spokesman, himself arbitrarily detained in prison for more than six months.

Lawyer Pauline Delgrange confirms:

Our clients have suffered considerable loss and damage as a result of SIAT SA’s wrongful activities over a number of years. SIAT SA has an obligation to repair the damage it has caused. This is an unusual approach, but it is well-founded”.



Signatories:
ADDE – Côte d’Ivoire; CIDSE – International; CNCD-11.11.11 – Belgium; Entraide et Fraternité – Belgium; FIAN Belgium; JVE Côte d’Ivoire (Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement – Côte d’Ivoire); JVE Ghana (Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement – Ghana)

Additional information:
The new documentary “Landgrabbed”, directed by Magdalena Krukowska, will be screened in Brussels on Wednesday 11 September at 5 PM. The film looks at the struggle of these West African communities against SIAT. The screening will be followed at 6.30 PM by a debate on “The role of the European Union in the Geneva negotiations on a binding United Nations human rights treaty against corporate impunity”, with the participation of representatives of the European Commission, the Belgian government and civil society.

Contacts:
– Florence Kroff, FIAN Belgium, +32 475845624 – florence(at)fian.be
– Francesca Monteverdi, Entraide et Fraternité, +32 456152125 – francesca.monteverdi(at)entraide.be
– Elise Kervyn, CNCD-11.11.11, + 32 488703208 – Elise.Kervyn(at)cncd.be
– Susana Hernández, CIDSE, +32 456204075, hernandez(at)cidse.org

Cover photo: delegation of African communities in front of the headquarters of SIAT-Group in Brussels, June 2022. Credit: CIDSE

Share this content on social media