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Cambodian companies tied to abuses promoted by UN program, rights group alleges

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PHNOM PENH — A rights group in Cambodia has accused a United Nations project of promoting private sector actors tied to human rights and environmental abuses. The U.N. Development Programme’s SDG Impact – Private Sector Capital project includes the SDG Investor Platform and Cambodia SDG Investor Map, which aim to assist in facilitating investment in Cambodian companies. The complaint, filed by the organization Licadho, alleges a failure in the UNDP’s due diligence prior to establishing the project, resulting in companies alleged of abusing rights and environmental crimes being listed as potential investment opportunities. “UNDP selected private sector actors and categorized them as ‘partners’ for the project, lending reputational support to companies with documented involvement in coerced land sales, forced evictions, deforestation of protection areas and Indigenous lands, child labor, trafficking in persons, and other harms,” Licadho wrote in a May 24 statement. Licadho is representing victims, whose identities have not been revealed, in the complaint that was filed with the UNDP’s Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU) on March 6. “Licadho raised concerns both in-person and over email about aspects of this project as far back as December 2022,” said Naly Pilorge, Licadho’s outreach director. “UNDP Cambodia representatives responded that the project did not fall under UNDP’s due diligence policies, leaving us no other option but to proceed with a formal complaint. We strongly disagree with UNDP Cambodia’s assessment that this does not fall under their due diligence policies, and we hope the SECU will clarify this issue as part…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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