Seven Takeaways from LEITI’s 13th Report

August 31, 2022

Top: Sand mining on the Robertsfield highway. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Gabriel M. Dixon

MONROVIA – Since its establishment in 2009, Liberia Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative has provided information on the governance of extractive resources, and encouraged openness and sound management of Liberia’s natural resources and the revenues generated therefrom by the government. In June this year, LEITI released its 13^th report to the public in keeping with its Act. The report covers mining, oil and gas, agriculture, and forestry.

It provides insights and depths into the activities and operations of companies in the extraction of minerals and logs, and the production and processing of rubber, oil palm, cocoa, and others.

Here, The DayLight highlights seven takeaways from the report you need to know:

Iron Ore Leads Export

Ships at the Freeport of Monrovia. The DayLight/Harry Browne

Extractive resources remain the main export commodities for Liberia. The country is heavily dependent on its natural resources with mining the largest contributor. Between 2019 and 2020, Liberia exported iron ore, diamonds, gold, bauxite, and other base metals. It also exported rubber, cocoa, and round woods from the agriculture and forestry sectors.

ArcelorMittal was the sole producer of iron ore, with Europe being the main destination of the commodity. Iron ore represented 78.6 percent of the value of export in 2019-2020. Diamonds accounted for three percent of export value, with Israel the main destination of the precious minerals.

Mining Is Once More On Top Of Extractive Industries

Sand mining operation in Margibi County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

Mining interjected the highest revenue from extractive activities in the domestic economy. It contributed US$45.243 million in the 2019/2020 fiscal year out of US$70.915 million in total revenue.

Minerals currently being mined in Liberia include iron ore, gold, diamonds, bauxite, and several base metals. Income from those minerals represents 63 percent of revenues generated from the entire extractive industry for the fiscal period the report covers. Second to mining was Agriculture which generated US$17.455 million, mostly from concession-related operations in the rubber and oil palm subsectors. Agriculture was followed by forestry, netting US$7.312 million primarily from logging operations.

Mining, agriculture, and forestry were the three highest performers in the extractive sectors in 2019/2020. Oil and gas also contributed to tax income despite low investment activities. It contributed US$0.905 million to the revenue stream of Liberia for the period.

Rubber was the largest export commodity in the agriculture sector. it represents 81 percent of the total value of commodities exported by agriculture companies in 2019/2020. The Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC) exported more rubber than any other company during the period, representing 56.7 percent of the total rubber exported.

Crude Palm Oil and Kernel were exported by two companies, LIBINCO Oil Palm and Golden Veroleum Liberia. Both companies exported US$27.063 Million value of crude palm and kernel oils in 2019/2020. Total tax income from agriculture for the period was US$17.455 million with Firestone contributing 36.2 percent of the amount.

ArcelorMittal Is Liberia’s Biggest Taxpayer

Mining giant ArcelorMittal again tops the list of taxpayers. The company paid US$30.966, making it the biggest contributor of tax dollars in the extractive sector. It exported 9.5 million metric tons of iron ore between 2019 to 2020 on which the company paid taxes to Liberia. Firestone Rubber Company, the largest agriculture company in Liberia, paid US$6.318 million in taxes, making it the second biggest taxpayer. The company occupies the biggest land concession area in the history of Liberia with 405,000 hectares of land. oil palm companies Golden Veroleum in Sinoe County, and Equatorial Palm Oil in Grand Bassa County came third and fourth, with tax remittances of US$2.254 million and US$0.773 million, respectively.

ArcelorMittal and three other companies accounted for 92.2 percent of total tax income generated from mining in 2020. The other companies are BEA Mountain Mining Company, MNG Gold Liberia, Inc., and Hummingbird Resources, Inc. Arcelor Mittal is the sole producer of iron ore while BEA Mountain, MNG Gold, and Hummingbird are all involved in the extraction of gold, according to the report.

Community Forests Exported More Logs Than Forest Concessions

A man marks logs harvested from the Korninga A Community Forest in Gbarpolu. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman

There were more logging activities in community forest management areas (CFMA) than in forest management contracts (FMC) areas in Liberia, according to LEITI. Community forests produced 65,997.52 cubic meters or 75 percent of round logs in 2019-2020, while large-scale concessions produced 21,999.18 cubic meters of timbers. Total annual production for the period was 87,996.7 cubic meters according to information provided by the FDA to LEITI.

The export value of round logs was US$4,023,280, representing payments by 20 logging companies. The total volume of round logs exported was 230, 642 cubic meters with community forest exporting 54. 7 percent of the total volume while large-scale concessions and other forest agreements accounted for 48.3 percent.

Community Forest Management Agreements and Forest Management Contracts are the two main types of agreements that produce round logs for export. Asia was the main destination of Liberian woods with China accounting for 62.4 percent of export There were more logging activities in community forests than in large-scale forest concessions. Out of the 87,996.7 cubic meters of round logs that were produced.

Community forests exported 127,139 cubic meters of round logs or 55.1 percent of the total round wood production for the fiscal period of 230,654 cubic meters. The total value of round woods exported was US$4,023,280.

Community forests and large-scale concessions or forest management contracts are the two main types of agreements that produced round logs for export.

Agriculture Companies Employed More

Workers of Golden Veroleum Liberia in Butaw, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

The agriculture sector was the largest employer in the extractive industries. The sector workforce stands at 14,845, second only to the mining sector. Firestone remains the largest contributor to employment in the agriculture sector.

The sector is also the largest benefactor to social and environmental expenditure and it accounts for 68.5 percent of the total expenditure highlighted in both the agriculture and mining sectors. Total social expenditure by the agriculture sector was US$1.924 million in 2019 and 2020.

The International Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (IEITI), the parent oversight body of LEITI, defines Social and environmental expenditures as “a form of contributions from companies with the aim of supporting social development or to account for potential environmental impact.” In some cases, these social or environmental payments are based on legal or contractual obligations. In other cases, companies make voluntary social or environmental contributions.

LEITI agreed that based on the 2019 report, any public social expenditure such as payments for social services, public infrastructure, fuel subsidies, national debt servicing, etc. made by NOCAL i.e., outside of the national budgetary process be regarded as a quasi-fiscal expenditure

Companies Are Hiding Their Owners

A camp of International Consultant Capital in Tappita District, Nimba County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

The LEITI Act requires companies to disclose information on those who own them. but the institution found that many companies are not providing “ beneficial ownership” information as required by the Liberian Business Association Act of 1976 as amended in 2002.

The report said only 31 of the 132 companies that applied for or had licenses, were active in the mining sector. From the 31, only seven have declared who their owners are.

In the forestry sector, 28 companies but just three of them actually disclosed ownership. One company also provided partial owners’ identities. What it means is that 86 percent of companies engaged in logging in 2019/2020 did not disclose to government regulators who their owners are but were allowed to operate.

Similarly, in the agriculture sector, one company provided detailed information on the company ownership, and another company provided moderate ownership information to regulators from 13 active licenses issued in that period.

The Oil & Gas sector reported two active licenses issued to Chevron Liberia Holdings (Limited), and Deeco Oil & Gas. Chevron is a listed company on the international market. But Deeco Oil & Gas did not provide information on its owners.

Concealment of company beneficial ownership enables many illegal activities, such as tax evasion, corruption, money laundering, and financing of terrorism, to take place out of the view of law enforcement authorities. Governments and international financial and business regulators now require companies to declare shareholders or ownership information to the public as part of global transparency initiatives.

The Business Association ACT of 2002 empowers the Liberia Business Registry to implement beneficial ownership disclosures which enhance transparency in doing business. In 2021, Liberia signed up for the Opening Extractive Program (OEP). OEP is intended to assist Liberia to implement the beneficial ownership (BO) regime. Under the 2009 ACT of LEITI companies are required to disclose once every year the data on payments and other revenues.

Companies Are Not Providing Relevant Information

Rubber is one of Liberia’s major export commodities. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Section 7.2 of the LEITI Act mandates the institution to report on a regular basis, to the president of Liberia and the general public. Such a report should include payments and revenues, audits, and/or reviews of concessions and contracts between the government and companies in the extractive sector.

The report, however, said companies are not providing all of the information mandatory for full disclosure of contracts. It said it has “noticed that some mining contracts were not publicly disclosed on any of the agency’s (Ministry of Mines and Energy) platform” despite the companies being actively engaged in mining activities during the reporting period. It further stated that “While all mining licenses are being disclosed on a license portal, the terms and conditions associated with those licenses are not disclosed.”

Villagers Struggle to Honor the Dead After Losing Graveyards to Investors

March 20, 2022

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Top: Luke Paye Toe stands at the spot where the graves of his parents used to be before Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO) demolished them in 2016. The DayLight/Gabriel M. Dixon

By James Harding Giahyue, Varney Kamara and Gabriel Dixon

SALALA DISTRICT, Bong County/DISTRICT FOUR, Grand Bassa/GARWULA DISTRICT, Grand Cape Mount-It is early morning and Pastor William Binda and two other villagers offer prayer in a short memorial ceremony at the St. John Lutheran Church in Qua-ta.

This is how Binda and many people in this small village in the Salala District of Bong, and their neighbors in Margibi have observed Decoration Day since they say Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC) cleared several villages and their graveyards for the expansion of its plantation in 2010. Binda’s grandfather, Dugba Flomo, had been buried in a village called Dede-Ta One but his grave was demolished with a horde of others, their debris dumped in a nearby creek, locals tell The DayLight.

“I feel bad. No way to even go there to decorate,” Binda says in an interview following the short ceremony. “They have [a] rubber farm there. They brushed the whole place, we just pray for our parents [whose graves we lost] for their souls to rest in peace.”

In 2019, Binda and other villagers lodged a complaint with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which in 2008 invested US$10 million in SRC to rehabilitate its facilities and expand its plantation. They accused SRC of several counts of human rights abuses, including land-grab, water pollution, and destruction of ancestral graves and shrines, which contravene IFC’s standards. SRC denies clearing graveyards and planting rubber on them. The company told the IFC the land it cleared was part of 100,000 hectares it leased from the Liberian government in 1959, and that it supported the communities to perform cleansing rituals. The IFC is still investigating the matter.

The situation in Salala is a constant feature of Liberia’s concessional history. Beginning with Firestone in 1926, Liberia has leased over a million hectares of land to rubber and oil palm investors. It depends heavily on money generated from agriculture, with the sector contributing US$26,009,261 or 32.66 percent of total revenue in the 2018/19 fiscal year, according to the latest report by the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI). Rural people, who had lived on the land even before the country got its independence in 1847, did not participate in the concession-awarding processes. This also happened in Grand Cape Mount, Sinoe and Grand Bassa with Sime Darby, Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) and Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO), respectively—just to name a few.

Because of that, many rural communities affected by these agricultural concessions—like the one Binda lives in—have seen their ancestral gravesites leveled in some of the worst land-grabs in human history. The Liberian Legislature had set aside the second Wednesday in March each year to honor the dead, which goes in line with the customs and traditions of rural people. This has left villagers in concession communities across the country with no graves to decorate—the most relevant part of this 104-year tradition—creating an atmosphere of sadness and anger.

“I am feeling bad on this day because others are cleaning their relatives’ graves but I don’t have any grave to [decorate] on this day,” says Kandakai Blasuah, a 46-year-old father of four in Ballah Town, Grand Cape Mount County, whose sister’s grave was demolished by Sime Darby in 2010. That was a year after the company signed a 63-year US$800 million agreement with the Liberian government to develop oil palm and rubber on 220,000 hectares of land in Bomi, Cape Mount and Gbarpolu Counties.

“On this day, I remember we used to cook food and bring it to the site for everyone to eat. Some people would be brushing around the grave, while others are cleaning and clearing the dirt. After that, we would all sit and joke about the good old days with the deceased,” Blasuah adds.

The communities in Cape Mount got justice for the destruction of their ancestral burial places, sacred sites and shrines. In 2011, the communities affected by the land-grab filed a complaint with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the global watchdog for the oil palm industry. RSPO prohibits its member companies such as Sime Darby, EPO and GVL from acquiring lands, among other things, without local communities’ free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). In 2015, it ordered the Malaysian company to pay US$1 million. Four years later, Sime Darby left Liberia, turning over the concession to Mano Palm Oil Industries Limited, which must continue the payment up to 2069.

Kandakai Blasuah, who lost his sister’s grave to Sime Darby, points to where it stood before the company illegally cleared it in 2010. The DayLight/Varney Kamara

The situation in Grand Cape Mount County involving Sime Darby might be slightly different from the one in Grand Bassa County with EPO. However, in both instances, local communities lost graves to the investors.

In 2008, EPO signed an agreement with the Liberian government to lease 169,000 hectares of land in Grand Bassa, River Cess and Sinoe. The agreement was a takeover and extension of a 1965 deal between the country and LIBINC Oil Palm Inc. In a bid to replant its plantation, the new deal saw EPO clear farms and graves, locals say. Some of the graves were restored but some were not, including those of the parents of Luke Paye Toe, a community leader in Jogbahn Clan.

“I felt discouraged that I can’t see my parents’ graves again,” he tells The DayLight, pointing to a spot on the ground blanketed by palm trees, with sunlight piercing through their upright V-shaped leaves. “Sometimes if (when) I dream about them they tell me ‘We are in the darkness. We are in the bush. What are you people waiting for?’” Toe and other villagers say they will file a complaint with the RSPO.

EPO denies any wrongdoing, telling The DayLight last year that the areas locals speak of fall within its concession. Toe and other villagers say they will file a complaint with the RSPO.

‘Spiritual Divorce’

The emotions Toe shows are common in rural communities with that problem, as villagers in the three counties The DayLight interviewed expressed the same concerns.

Losing the grave of a loved one can have long-term effects on rural people given the role the dead play in their lives, and recovery takes more than damage payments, according to experts.

“It is painfully devastating. The dead are believed to still be around providing protection, guidance, consultations, and other forms of support to the family,” says Rev. Dr. Jerry Kulah, I., dean of the Bishop John G. Innis Graduate School of Theology at the United Methodist University in Monrovia. “They demonstrate this by prayers that are often offered to the dead at the time of their burial, and the occasional visits to gravesites to seek guidance, etc.

“For some rural community dwellers, the destruction of relatives’ graves symbolizes a spiritual divorce from their ancestors. The land on which they are buried belongs to them as well as to the living (current stewards of the land) and the unborn who shall be inheritors in the future,” says Dr. Kulah, adding it would take a reburial or a memorial to appease the spirit of the dead.

Dr. Emmanuel Urey, a land rights expert and the lead character of The Land Beneath Our Feet, an intriguing documentary depicting the 1926 Firestone land-grab, agrees with Dr. Kulah and calls on the government and investors to recognize rural communities are attached to the spirit of their ancestors. He urges actors in the agriculture sector to protect rural communities’ belief systems. He recommends innovative approaches such as surveying and mapping all ancestral graveyards, sacred places and shrines to prevent future problems.

“If the development experts could just take into consideration, the damage they cause by destroying and desecrating burial grounds, they would have a different approach to development,” Dr. Urey tells The DayLight in an interview.

“It is important for local knowledge to form part of the development. Don’t just design the development in Monrovia, in Europe and other places. Go and speak with the people who have inhabited the land for a very long time, they will be able to guide you on how to carry out the development so that it does not negatively impact their lives,” adds Dr. Urey.

On paper, Liberia has an impressive array of laws and has signed on to international best practices that guarantee rural communities’ right to their land and cultural practices. Some date as far back as the 1960s. The Public Lands Law of 1956 gave traditional chiefs and elders a right to participate in land-lease agreements. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights all provide culture as a basic human right. The Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia mandates the participation of local communities affected by concessions. The most monumental of all land and culture-related laws is the Land Rights Act of 2018, which gives customary areas ownership of their ancestral land. These are also consistent with the RSPO’s principles and criteria, which provide for the involvement of locals in the demarcation of their territories from that of plantations.

Locals say this rubber bush in Lango-ta in the Salala District of Bong County used to be a graveyard. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Efforts to get comments from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Bureau of Concessions did not materialize. We visited the offices of both institutions twice last week but officials we met there said they could not speak on the matter. We will update the story once we speak to them.

Campaigners say the history of concessions in Liberia shows laws and standards are not enough to protect rural people and their traditions.

“The government should give urgent priority to the implementation of the Land Rights Act (LRA),” says Simpson Snoh, an advocate with the Alliance for Rural Democracy, which, alongside other nongovernmental organizations, lodged the complaint against SRC on behalf of villagers in Salala. Snoh says communities that have lost ancestral graveyards must be paid reparations and their ownership of their land recognized henceforth by all players in the agriculture industry.

A native of Tarjuwon, Sinoe County, Snoh is himself a victim of land-grab. A 2018 RSPO report did not find the company cleared graveyards but established it wiped out sacred sites, revered by locals for generations. The Indonesian company had signed a concession agreement with the Liberian government to grow palm on 350,000 hectares of land in the country’s southeast in 2010 for 65 years. The RSPO ordered GVL to remap its boundaries with affected places, negotiate a compensation deal with villagers and stop work in disputed areas. Following the ruling, GVL stormed out of the international certification scheme, only to see its move rejected. Snoh and other victims are still pursuing their case against the company, four years on.

Villagers we interviewed in Grand Bassa and Bong are seeking redress, too.

In Salala, Binda hopes he and other townspeople win the case against SRC the IFC is investigating, and receive damages for the graveyards the company allegedly cleared.

“They should remove their rubber from our land,” Binda says. “They should pay us for [clearing] our people’s grave.”

Others want their land returned.

“I want the spot back to do decoration,” says Emmanuel Kpaingbah, an elder Qua-ta, who lost his relatives’ grave. His late uncle Dede was a traditional healer, famed for curing snakebites. “Money will not do that.”

“Let them give our land back to us,” says Joseph Nelson, the town chief of Ballah Town in Cape Mount who lost his grandparents’ graves. “The new gravesite they identified for us is too small [and] the graves will soon enter the town.

“We are doing this for our future generation.”

Honoring the dead is a huge part of the Liberian way of life as seen on Decoration Day March 9, 2022, in Weala, Margibi County. However, many in rural communities have lost relative graves to agriculture concessions. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Funding for this story was provided by the Green Livelihood Alliance (GLA 2.0) through the Community Rights and Corporate Governance Program of the Sustainable Development Institute. The DayLight maintained complete editorial independence over the story’s content.

CSOs Want EU Add Rubber, Investors to Draft Regulation on Deforestation

March 12, 2022

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Top: Liberian civil society actors have called on the European Union to include rubber to the list of commodities to be produced sustainably in a proposed regulation. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Varney Kamara

MONROVIA – Liberian civil society actors have suggested that the European Union include the rubber industry and financiers in the proposed European Union’s new regulation on agriculture products linked to deforestation and land degradation across the country.

The European Union, the second-largest importer of agriculture products from Africa next to Asia, named oil palm, cocoa, coffee, and timbers under its proposed deforestation-free products regulation but did not capture the rubber industry, which occupies 405,008.229 hectares or 14.8 percent of Liberia’s total forestland, according to an analysis by The DayLight.

Deforestation, which involves the clearing of wide areas of trees, undermines biodiversity and heightens the impact of climate change. Liberia, which covers 42 percent of the remaining area of the Upper Guinea Forest containing important animal and plant species, faces increasing threats from plantation owners expand.

“The regulation is good, but we need to look at other issues,” said Jonathan Yiah, a forest campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI). “There is a need for us to include issues of accountability that will cover both producers and EU countries, including rights of communities.”

The EU guideline meant to improve governance across agriculture and forestry sectors also failed to include financiers of companies who have received billions of dollars from European Banks that have largely contributed to deforestation. A report by the Global Witness last year found Dutch Banks have spent US3.1 billion through loans provided to oil palm projects in West Africa. Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), the country’s largest oil palm company, reaped US$375 million of this amount through loans it secured from the Utrecht-based, Rabobank the report said.

Campaigners say adding companies’ financiers to the regulation would halt European investment in deforestation-related projects.

“Adding financiers to the regulation will send out a loud message of deterrence for people who may want to continuously use [their] money to exploit the system,” Yiah said at a daylong review of the document over the weekend, founded by the EU.

The proposed regulation on deforestation is a supporting arm of the VPA, a legally-binding trade agreement between the European Union and a timber-producing country outside the EU. Like the VPA, regulation “No 995/2010” seeks to ensure that timber and timber products exported to the EU market come from legal sources and that they are in compliance with the local and international trade regulations. Going forward, exporters must provide documents on land use rights, clearance on environmental protection assessment, sales rights, among others.

The review formed part of an ongoing consultation process taking place across producer countries in West Africa. The review was also meant to strengthen the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and its Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with producer-countries. Next year, European parliaments are expected to finalize the document after their assessment of the inputs of civil society with its enforcement scheduled for 2024.

Former GVL Workers Receive Payoffs after Labor Ministry’s Ruling

October 23, 2021

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Banner Image: An ex-worker of GVL receives his severance pay after a settlement with the company earlier this month. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Varney Kamara

GREENVILLE, Sinoe County – Sixteen former workers of Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) have received their severance benefits after they reached a settlement with the company, one year and eight months after they filed a complaint with the Sinoe County Labor Office over their illegal dismissals.

The former employees, mainly field workers, had been dismissed by the Indonesian company without benefit for allegedly participating in the May 25, 2015 riot in Butaw, according to documents from the Labor Office on the case. The disturbance left one dead and over US$7,000 of the company’s properties destroyed. They were all jailed without trial and released a year later. One inmate died in prison and another shortly after their release in 2016.

“I feel happy but I am also sad because when I was in prison, my father, who used to feed and clothe me, is no longer alive to enjoy this money,” said Adolphus Tarpeh, who received US$2,111.40, like all the other former workers, except a woman who received US$3,484.

In total, GVL paid them US$35,541.

“I can only sing praises to God for protecting my life… but I am not also happy because the one who is supposed to enjoy the fruit of her labor is not alive today,” Felecia Karwell, who received the payment for her mother Beatrice Koon, a former GVL worker, who died in 2018.

The other workers include Sunday Okusu Sackor, Vincent Koon, Otis Chea, Franklin Duaryenneh, Luton Snohtee, Edwin Palay, Obie Karbah, Josephus Weagbah, Rufus Tiawroh, Titus Teah, Fred Henry and Samuel Yabbah and Erick Dayklee. They worked in GVL’s palm plantation in Butaw.

Jubilant former workers took selfies, shared hugs and laughter before and after the payment ceremony at the County’s service center, where local government activities take place. The Heritage Partners and Associates, the law firm that represented the former workers, and the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), which supported the ex-employees, oversaw the payment.

“This is a real victory for justice,” Sackor Sunny Okusu Sackor, a victim of GVL’s bad labor practice said in a separate interview with this online news platform. “The payment today shows that a poor man can fight a rich man and get justice in return,” he said after receiving US$2,111.40 as his payoff.

SDI relished the payments. “We joined this fight because we wanted to send out a clear message of deterrence to GVL and other big concessions in this country said Sampson Williams, SDI’s national program assistant. We want them to realize that it is always important to protect the rights of the people and communities who give you land to operate.”

“This struggle is connected to thousands of other struggles from communities and activists around the world against the system of industrial monoculture plantations,” said Danielle van Oijen of Friends of the Earth Netherlands, which supported the former workers. “The victory can inspire others to stand up and claim their rights. But the plantation sector is known for its structural rights abuses and environmental harms.

“This week, governments have a chance to fix that and negotiate for a strong UN Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights that provides access to justice.”

On February 18 last year, four years after their release, the onetime GVL employees filed a complaint at the labor commissioner office in Greenville, Sinoe County, claiming “constructive dismissal and unfair labor practice”. The workers said they were verbally told of their dismissals and denied access to their workplaces, the case documents show.

Following its investigation, the Labor Office in Sinoe ruled against GVL and urged the company to reinstate or negotiate with the dismissed employees but GVL rejected the report and requested a transfer of the case to Monrovia, where labor authorities intervened after it moved to a full-scale investigation. The case finally reached a conclusion after authorities at the Labor Ministry found GVL guilty and urged the company to settle with its ex-workers.

Larry Noah, a labor inspector in Sinoe, described the workers’ legal victory over GVL as an important milestone in the country’s quest for fair labor practice. “Our report from the investigation shows that the workers were never served a letter of dismissal. It also showed that the workers were not investigated internally and found guilty of the charges brought down against them by the GVL, and all of this went contrary to the labor law of Liberia.”

A former fieldworker of Golden Veroleum Liberia receives US$2,111.40 as severance pay after he and other workers reached a settlement with the company. The DayLight/Harry Browne

GVL, Liberia’s largest oil palm company, holds 220,000 hectares of land in Sinoe, Maryland and Grand Kru for 65 years in a 2010 deal worth US$1.6 billion. But communities are not happy about its operation. GVL’s decade and a year stay in Liberia has seen its oil palm production engulfed by issues of land-grabs, complaints of bad labor practices and deforestation.

Dismissed GVL Workers’ Case Transferred to Monrovia

July 29, 2021

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Banner Image: A GVL Signboard in Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Varney Kamara

MONROVIA – A case involving 14 dismissed workers of Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) and the company has been transferred to Monrovia from Sinoe County, an important stage in the parties’ efforts to reach an out-of-court settlement.

GVL had requested the transfer of the case. It said that the Elwood Monger, who was hearing the matter, recused himself as he had already been retired as labor officials of the county.

“I therefore advise that based on their request and attached documents, the case be [transferred to] Monrovia with all relevant documents for adjudication,” a communication to Sinoe County’s Labor Office from the office of the regional labor affairs in Monrovia read.

In February last year, 14 former workers of GVL filed a complaint at the Labor office in Sinoe County. In their grievance, the workers accused GVL of constructive dismissal and unfair labor practice.

Butaw, Sinoe County, the setting of a 2015 riot in which at least one person died. The DayLight/Harry Browne

The former employees, mainly fieldworkers, were accused by the Indonesian company of participating in the infamous May 25, 2015 riot in Butaw, according to documents from the Labor Office. The riot left one dead and over US$7,000 of the company’s properties destroyed. The former workers were all jailed without trial and released a year later. One inmate died in prison and another shortly after their release in 2016.

The workers allege in their complaint they were verbally told of their dismissals and denied access to their workplaces, the case documents show.

“GVL has not only refused to permit us to return to work but refused to pay us our salaries and other benefits we are entitled to by virtue of the contracts of employment,” they say in the complaint.

“Allow us to resume work in our respective positions and places of assignment, pay us our salaries and other benefits for the period of our detention up to and including the date and time we are recalled,” they say in the complaint, adding they would accept a payoff.

Employees affected by the sacking include Sunday Okusu Sackor, Vincent Koon, Adolphus Tarpeh, Otis Chea, Franklin Duaryenneh, Luton Snohtee, Edwin Palay, Obie Karbah, Josephus Weagbah, Rufus Tiawroh, Titus Teah, Fred Henry and Samuel Yabbah and Erick Dayklee.

They all worked in GVL’s palm plantation in Butaw. They are being represented by Atty. Sagie Kamara of the Heritage Partners and Associates Inc. (HPA).

The dismissals have also triggered angry reaction from human rights and civil society groups. Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) and Friends of the Earth Netherlands accuses GVL of “trying to deny the dismissed workers justice”. Golden Agri Resources (GAR), GVL’s investors, denies the accusation.

GVL, Liberia’s largest oil palm company, holds 220,000 hectares of land in Sinoe, Maryland and Grand Kru for 65 years in a 2010 deal worth US$1.6 billion. The latest dispute is just one of several bad labor cases that have engulfed the company’s 11-yearf operation in Liberia. In 2018, GVL was reprimanded by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)—the certification body for oil palm companies across the world—for land-grab and labor breaches.

Transferring the case to Monrovia, one of three regions in Liberia’s southeast where GVL operates its oil palm concession, is a major twist in attempts aimed at amicably resolving the matter.

The company’s legal team headed by Jones and Jones law firm and the company’s in house lawyer, Atty. Garpeh Wilson, has attended only three of 10 pre-investigation hearings, according to minutes of the proceedings The DayLight analyzed. Between October 22 last year—when the first hearing took place—to April 29—the last one—GVL has given an excuse for bad roads, asked for the recusal of the hearing officer Elwoods Monger, and denied it received the former workers’ complaint.

The matter, which is at the conference stage could result to an amicable resolution or lead to a lawsuit , depending on the outcome of the labor officials’ investigation.

GVL’s Reason for Layoffs Due To Road Repair Was Illegal

July 27, 2021

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Gvl2 — A GVL signboard in Butaw, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

Banner Image: A Golden Veroleum Liberia signboard in Butaw, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Varney Kamara

MONROVIA – One of the three reasons Golden Veroelum Liberia (GVL) gave to lay off 440 people last year was illegal, an investigation by The DayLight has uncovered.

GVL said the layoffs were due to high cost of road repairs in addition to the impacts of coronavirus pandemic and the slump in the palm oil prices on the world market. It said it had to take the action.

But this is violation. GVL’s concession agreement with the Liberian Government mandates the company “to construct, install, maintain, and or repair, at its own expense, infrastructure within the concession area, and additional areas.”

The agreement also added that “The investor (GVL) shall only be responsible for ongoing maintenance or repair of any such infrastructure in the developed areas and to the extent specified in the approval of [the] government.”

The company’s action came as Liberia battled its first wave of the pandemic. At the time of the layoffs, the country recorded 626 cases and 34 deaths, according to the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL). They also came at a time when the prices of palm oil fell to US$103.87 a ton or 16.34 percent on the world market, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for the global commodity.

Majority of employees affected by the redundancies were fieldworkers who received between $115 and $130 as monthly wages. They came from Tartweh, Tarjuowon, Butaw, Kabada, and Wadabo, in Liberia’s southeastern Sinoe and Grand Kru counties.

Both GVL and the Ministry of Public works—the government agency responsible for infrastructure—eluded several attempts for an interview. This reporter sent emailed queries on the matter, and made follow up phone calls and text messages to the company and the ministry but got no reply.

However, GVL, said earlier this year it had spent up to US$2.4 million on road repairs during the coronavirus pandemic last year. “Our production has also dropped from twice a month to just once monthly,” GVL Vice for Strategy and Stakeholders’ affairs Elvis Morris, told FrontPage Africa at the time.

A schoolboy walks on a road in Golden Veroleum Liberia’s palm plantation in Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

Laying off workers over road maintenance also violates a 2019 memorandum of understanding it signed with the Liberian government. GVL agreed in that MoU to rehabilitate a 277 kilometer lateral road connecting Pleebo in Maryland and Tarjuowon in Sinoe.

The layoffs increased poverty in many households in the two affected counites. Of the total number of workers that were laid off, 80 came from Butaw, 125 in Tarjuowon, 81 in Kpanyan, 54 in Wedabo, 34 in Garaway, 24 in Soroken, 16 in Kabada and 28 in Tartweh.

Between 2015 and 2017, GVL also breached MoUs it signed with communities, locals on whose land the company expanded its plantation. It has failed to provide jobs and development as it promised in those documents. That violation was captured in an April 2017 report by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the global watchdog for the oil palm sector. GVL’s concession mandates it to follow the RSPO’s principles, the only oil palm concession in Liberia that has that clause. It is a member of the certification scheme through its parent company Golden Agri Resources (GAR), the world’s second-largest palm oil company. The RSPO later reprimanded the company for land-grab a year after the report and ordered it to negotiate with the communities on employment opportunities and other issues. GVL would pull out of the RSPO only to reenter shortly after.

GVL, Liberia’s biggest oil palm company, signed a 65-year concession agreement with the Liberian government in 2010, leasing 220,000 hectares of land in Grand Kru, Maryland, River Cess, River Gee and Sinoe, the largest palm oil concession in the country. But people living in these areas had no say in the concession agreement. In 2015, a riot between residents of Butaw and armed police left at least one dead, scores of people injured and over US$700,000 properties destroyed.

This story is a part of The DayLight’s Human Rights Reporting Series.

Fourteen Dismissed GVL Workers Fight To Get Back Their Jobs

May 11, 2021

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A signboard welcoming visitors to the Butaw estate of GVL in Sinoe County. Harry Browne/The DayLight

Banner Image: A Golden Veroleum Liberia signboard in Butaw, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By James Harding Giahyue

Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) dismissed 14 of its workers for their alleged involvement in a riot in Butaw in May 2015

The former employees lodged a complaint against the company for constructive dismissal and unfair labor practice with the Sinoe County Labor Office in February last year

GVL lawyers have failed to attend seven out of 10 pre-investigation hearings and case has been moved to a full investigation

Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) and Friends of the Earth Netherlands accuses GVL of “trying to deny the dismissed workers justice”. Golden Agri Resources (GAR), GVL’s investors, denies the accusation

BUTAW, Sinoe County – Fourteen former workers of Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), have challenged their dismissals by the company at the Sinoe County Labor Office, and are demanding reinstatement and retroactive pay or a payoff.

The former employees, mainly fieldworkers, were accused by the Indonesian company of participating in the infamous May 25, 2015 riot in Butaw, according to documents from the Labor Office on the case. The riot left one dead and over US$7,000 of the company’s properties destroyed. The former workers were all jailed without trial and released a year later. One inmate died in prison and another shortly after their release in 2016.

The 14 complainants are Sunday Okusu Sackor, Vincent Koon, Adolphus Tarpeh, Otis Chea, Franklin Duaryenneh, Luton Snohtee, Edwin Palay, Obie Karbah, Josephus Weagbah, Rufus Tiawroh, Titus Teah, Fred Henry and Samuel Yabbah and Erick Dayklee. They all worked in GVL’s palm plantation in Butaw. They are being represented by Atty. Sagie Kamara of the Heritage Partners and Associates Inc. (HPA).

They filed the “constructive dismissal and unfair labor practice” case on February 18 last year, more than four years after their release. In it, they allege they were verbally told of their dismissals and denied access to their workplaces, the case documents show.

“GVL has not only refused to permit us to return to work but refused to pay us our salaries and other benefits we are entitled to by virtue of the contracts of employment,” they say in the complaint.

“Allow us to resume work in our respective positions and places of assignment, pay us our salaries and other benefits for the period of our detention up to and including the date and time we are recalled,” they say in the complaint, adding they would accept a payoff.

GVL, Liberia’s largest oil palm company, holds 220,000 hectares of land in Sinoe, Maryland and Grand Kru for 65 years in a 2010 deal worth US$1.6 billion. The company was reprimanded in 2018 by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)—the certification body for oil palm companies across the world—for land-grab and labor breaches.

NGOs Urge GVL Investors to Take Action

GVL’s legal team headed by Jones and Jones law firm and the company’s inhouse lawyer, Atty. Garpeh Wilson, has attended only three of 10 pre-investigation hearings, according to minutes of the proceedings The DayLight analyzed. Between October 22 last year—when the first hearing took place—to April 29—the last one—GVL has given an excuse for bad roads, asked for the recusal of the hearing officer Elwoods Monger, and denied it received the former workers’ complaint.

Some GVL employees at work in Butaw, Sinoe County. Harry Browne/The DayLight

The Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) and Friends of the Earth Netherlands, who are supporting the complainants in the case, have written Golden Agri Resources (GAR)—GVL’s majority shareholders—on the company’s alleged stalling of the proceedings.

“We are constrained to, however, draw your attention to the dilatory tactics being employed by your investee GVL to frustrate the ends of justice and deny members of the indigenous community their right to be heard as well as fair and fast trial,” the two nongovernmental organizations said in the letter to the world’s second largest palm oil company last week.

“Given that you have significant management of and other control over GVL, including the obligation for GVL to adhere to your social and environmental policy, we request your timely intervention to promote, protect and ensure the rights of customary communities and GVL workers,” it added. GAR prohibits firms it invests in from violating the rights of workers.

GAR, however, denies its Liberian subsidiary did anything wrong but said it was investigating the matter.

“Based on the information available to us right now, there is no evidence to confirm that GVL has intended to delay the legal proceedings,” said Dr. Götz Martin, the head of the Singaporean company’s sustainability implementation, in an email. “GVL is keen to seek an amicable solution with the complainants.”

An amicable solution might be possible but the case has been moved to full investigation. Christian Tababo, Sinoe County’s Labor Commissioner, has replaced Monger, who recused himself from the rest of the case. Once the Labor Office concludes its investigation, the matter could be moved to court.

The next hearing is yet to be announced.

6 GVL Lies in the Last 5 Months

October 6, 2024

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GVL has lied about its operations several times in the last five months. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By James Harding Giahyue

MONROVIA—In August, The DayLight started a series of investigations into Golden Veroleum Liberia’s (GVL) operations. The newspaper has published over a dozen stories, pinpointing GVL’s abuse of communities’ rights and degradation of the environment.

Amid overwhelming evidence, the newspaper has published—documents, pictures/videos and interviews—GVL vehemently denies any wrongdoing.

But often those denials include false claims in attempts to mislead the public, as the company defends its well-documented, tainted record.

Behold six of the lies GVL has told in the last five months as the result of The DayLight’s reporting:

Must Seek Communities’ Consent to Share MoU

GVL has a list of MoUs it signed with communities on its website but the documents are not downloadable.

Before that first story, The DayLight asked the company for copies of the MoUs. However, GVL’s spokesman Alphonso Kofi denied the newspaper’s request.

In July, Alphonso Kofi, GVL’s spokesman, said that local communities needed to consent before the company could share the documents. “It can be shared if we obtained written consent for the communities,” wrote Kofi in an email.

Kofi’s claim contradicts the Freedom of Information Act and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s rules, known as principles and criteria.

Under the FOI Act, MoUs arising from concession agreements are public records.

Likewise, the first principle and criterion of the RSPO requires GVL to comply with such national law, and such documents are “made publicly available.” It even mandates GVL to keep records of requests for information and responses.

Concealing the MoU and GVL’s flawed interpretation of the document appears as a strategy to misinform the public. The DayLight obtained the documents from elsewhere, uncovering the company’s wrongdoings.

Unclear Responsibility to Maintain Hand Pumps

In response to the first part of The DayLight’s series in August—exposing GVL’s failure to build and maintain hand pumps in Tartweh-Drapoh, Sinoe County—GVL claimed that the MoU with the chiefdom was unclear as to who was responsible for maintaining the facilities.

A GVL signboard in Tartweh-Drapoh Chiefdom, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

“GVL acknowledges feedback from communities that some hand pumps that it has constructed are not operating properly and require maintenance,” it said in a press release. “We also recognize that more clarity is needed to define who is responsible for maintaining pumps built by GVL and other parties.”

That claim contravenes the MoU. There is no need for clarity as the document plainly obligates GVL to build and repair the pumps, and even train locals to maintain the facilities.

Environmental Audit Found No Issues

In the same August press release, GVL claim that a DayLight report that a routine, independent audit found the company’s operations of a palm oil mill in the Tarjuwon District polluted water sources.

“We also ensure that water testing is done annually by an independent party as required by EPA regulations, read the press release. “Recent assessments conducted in 2023 and 2024 did not identify any issues. The results are available to the public.”

Turns out, the audit found the exact opposite: improper management of wastewater led to pollution of watercourses in the area. It revealed that there was a high risk of runoffs from poorly managed empty palm husks empying into waterways. A University of Liberia laboratory test showed an illegal level of phosphate and other substances in water samples harmful to humans.

An elevated view of GVL’s plantation in Tarjuwon, Sinoe County, showing three wastewater ponds an environmental audit found to be mismanaged. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

Also, water quality testing is done once every two years, not once every year.

A characteristically adamant GVL repeated the false claim earlier this month. The company accused The DayLight of inaccuracies and misleading views, without providing evidence.

Environmental Audit ‘Identified Recommendations’

In a press release earlier this month, GVL made more false claims, lessening the magnitude of the report’s findings. “While positive of GVL’s overall environmental record, the Tarjuwon [audit] identified a number of recommendations for improvement…,” read the release.

On the contrary, audit exposed a long queue of violations of GVL’s environmental permit and the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia. It did not merely recommend as GVL implies. GVL mentioned “recommendation” five times in publication, avoiding the report’s walloping, negative findings.

The report even found that GVL had backslide on gains in a 2019 audit, and that it had not implemented auditors’ recommendations.

Takes Community Complaints Seriously

GVL claims that it takes community grievances seriously, stating a self-styled commitment to addressing complaints. It claimed in a release last month that it welcomed and addressed complaints.

The 2019 audit report supports that claim. However, the Tarjuwon audit report shows that GVL has relapsed in that part of its operations. Auditors graded the company 50-75 percent from a perfect score.

An April 2024 environmental audit report found speedy GVL trucks leave dust, a foul odor and dead domestic animals in their wake. It said GVL did not take communities’ complaint seriously, grading the company’s redress mechanism 50 – 75 percent. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Land Authority ‘Decided Results’ of Land Dispute

In a periodic report to the RSPO last month, GVL appeared to suggest that the Liberia Land Authority had resolved a boundary dispute between the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township and the Numopoh District.

GVL claimed that the Land Authority would communicate “the result to both communities… in [the fourth quarter] of 2024 with new government officials.”

But the Land Authority dismisses those claims. The Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah told The DayLight it was far from an outcome.

“We have not done that yet. The last solution we have is to go back and do the surveying and establish the boundary between the two communities,” Manobah said. “We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities.”

The Green Livelihood Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.

GVL Makes Progress But Township MoU 6 Years Late

October 2, 2024

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Top: A GVL truck transporting palm bunches in January 2023. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Matenneh Keita

DU-WOLEE, Sinoe County – Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) is progressing with a new MoU with affected communities in Sinoe’s Kpanyan District. However, that progress comes six years after the deadline given by the global oil palm industry’s regulator.

In 2018, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) ordered GVL to turn its current MoU with the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township into a permanent one within a month. The RSPO threatened to terminate GVL’s membership with the regulator, which could hurt the company’s brand.

But over six years after that order, GVL has not signed the new MoU, though it has recently relatively complied. The company presented locals with a daft MoU for the township’s input, according to several people The DayLight interviewed.

“We went to work, we finished with everything. Now we are coming to carry [the MoU] to them,” said Stephen Browne, Du-Wolee land rights committee’s chairman.

Progress followed pressure from the community. Augustine Jerbo, a member of Du-Wolee’s MoU committee, said townspeople had given GVL a year to draft the MoU. In March last year, the company presented the draft.

Liberia’s largest oil palm company, GVL signed a 65-year agreement with the country in 2010, covering 220,000 hectares of land in Sinoe, Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee and River Cess. The deal costs US$1.6 billion.

After the agreement, GVL signed an MoU with Du-Wolee Nyennue, guaranteeing the company over 2,367 hectares in the township. However, it obligates GVL to build clinics, schools and roads, and provide water for communities affected by its operations.

In 2013, Du-Wolee Nyennue joined other communities to file a complaint against GVL with the RSPO. The township accused GVL of encroaching on their land and coercing them to sign an MoU.

In 2018, the RSPO confirmed the accusations and ordered GVL to redo the MoU. The watchdog commanded GVL to work with the Liberian government to settle boundary disputes related to lands it sought to develop.

GVL is complying with the order, based on documents and interviews with representatives of the townspeople.

The National Bureau of Concessions (NBC) is working with the communities to develop the MoU. “We are right now at the point of finalizing the type of MoU,” then-Director General Edwin Dennis told The DayLight in July.

“Either we consolidate all those MoUs into one MoU, addressing all of the issues or keeping [the MoU] community-specific,” Dennis added. He said NBC’s legal department worked with the communities but disclosed he was unaware of the RSPO’s order.

Similarly, GVL has obeyed the RSPO’s order not to develop 463 hectares between Du-Wolee Nyennue and its neighbor Numopoh. However, there is an issue regarding a claim the company made last month.

A GVL truck transports palm bunches. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

In a recent report, GVL appears to mislead the RSPO that the Liberia Land Authority had “decided” on the conflict’s “results.” The company said it would communicate the results to both communities between now and the end of the year.

But in an interview on the sidelines of the just-ended National Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County, the Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah dismissed GVL’s claim.

“We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities. Until that is done, the issue is not really resolved yet,” Manobah told The DayLight.

Proforest, a UK nonprofit, worked with the Land Authority, the NBC and other government institutions over the dispute.

Earlier in May this year, Proforest presented its findings, according to an RSPO document. The document said the RSPO would determine the findings.

Also, GVL has been late with reports on its compliance with the RSPO’s order. late. The company only filed the April-June report earlier last month, over 60 days after the quarter ended. It did the same for the January-March report. Typically, quarterly reports are made up to two weeks after the end of each quarter.

In all, GVL celebrates the progress. “We have actively reviewed all of our MOUs and are working directly with communities to provide clarity and resolution in cases where commitments are disputed or have not been fulfilled,” it stated in an August email.

The MoU is currently with the Du-Wolee MoU committee, according to Daddy Nyenswah, its chairman. Nyenswah said Du-Wolee Nyennue’s residents had made input in the document and next was the Monrovia-based citizens of the township.

“When this MoU is signed…, we hope that all that has been placed in the MoU should come to pass,” said Jerboe, Nyenswah’s colleague.

“It should not be like the first one that GVL is not complying with most of the things that were placed there.”

Green Livelihoods Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.

Opinion: With Dutch money, our rainforest and our income will disappear

October 26, 2021

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The Fair Bank Guide will be published today, but many Dutch financiers are still far from sustainable, according to the cry for help from James G. Otto, program leader Friends of the Earth Liberia, partner of Milieudefensie.

Banner Image: A road passes through Golden Veroleum Liberia’s palm plantation in Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

Dutch banks and insurers still finance industrial plantations on a large scale in my country, Liberia. There is no such thing as fair and sustainable banking. These palm oil plantations swallow up the last remaining large tracts of Upper Guinea’s rainforest.

Millions of compatriots have lost their livelihoods because they live off the forest and land. That is why I ask the Dutch government to make these companies and financiers responsible for the environmental damage and human rights violations in Liberia and elsewhere.

Backed by financiers such as Robeco, Rabobank, ABN Amro, FMO (the Dutch development bank) and insurer NN Group, companies have managed to gain access to more than 750,000 hectares – almost five times the province of Utrecht – of our country. The locals have never given permission to use the land, which has often been in the family for generations, for plantations. The land and forest from which they were driven provided their livelihood. Villagers no longer have living space, we can no longer feed our families.

Working with dangerous pesticides

If one of us gets a job on the plantations, we have to work with dangerous pesticides. The working conditions are terrible and the wages are too little to live on. A group of 16 villagers was thrown in jail for more than a year as they protested the confiscation of their land. Farmers who reclaim land are criminalized. Drinking water is being polluted and communities, depending on forests, are losing their source of income.

We have written to and met the Dutch financiers in recent years. They have been told about the destructive consequences of their funding. But they didn’t hear us. Some, such as pension fund PGGM, have renounced controversial companies, others, including Robeco and Rabobank, are not taking any action. Not even after clear evidence of human rights violations and deforestation.

Apparently, they don’t change on their own, this has been going on for over twenty years. The Dutch government must therefore put a stop to this destructive financing. This autumn there is an opportunity to arrange this through the Responsible and Sustainable International Business Act. Create a law that holds companies and the financial sector accountable for human rights violations and environmental damage here and elsewhere.

This opinion was first published by Trouw on October 25, 2021.

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