Notes on the human rights concerns on Rubber plantations

Notes on the Human Rights Situation in Rubber Plantations
June 27, 2005

General introduction:

Since the arrival of the first settlers around 1822, Liberia’s history has been marked by conflict and exploitation, particularly of the indigenous peoples by the minority elite. This feature continues today in the management of rubber and other agricultural plantations across the country. Harsh labour conditions lead to tension and violence between management and workers. Concurrently, gross abusive exploitation of the environment and natural resources has fuelled armed conflict in Liberia and adversely affected the neighbouring States. The conditions in the rubber plantations have a profound effect on the lives of the people labouring and living on them. For sustainable peace to prevail to Liberia, the government as well as corporations must abide by the rule of law, human rights standards and good business practices. Establishing a human rights-based approach to the management of rubber plantations is therefore indispensable.

State Authority, Ownership and Concessions:

State authority and, as a result, the rule of law continue to be absent in several plantations. This has meant that the fundamental human rights of workers and their families, including those of the communities living in the surrounding area, remain hostage to either former LURD or MODEL ex-combatants. The management issue is compounded by the ongoing disputes over the legality of ownership. This problem has only been resolved in some cases, viz. the Cavalla rubber plantation, at the Circuit Court level. Furthermore, the concessions signed between various foreign and domestic companies and the government of Liberia have no safeguards for human rights - leaving the communities in the plantations at the mercy of the corporations whose inclination to respect any regulations from the national government is minimal.

Rule of Law and Post-Conflict Issues:

Currently, the Guthrie and Sinoe Rubber Plantations are respectively under the control of the former LURD and MODEL rebel ex-combatants. These groups claim not to have benefited from the DDRR process. The ex-fighters legitimize their presence on the plantations by referring to the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement. However, their presence and inappropriate management of the plantation have made the restoration of state authority and the rule of law impossible for those communities living within the plantations. As a result the plantations never really experienced a genuine 'peace process' since they continue to depend on decisions made by the former combatants. The government of Liberia appears to face a serious impasse: taxation is not implemented, services such as health, education, and sanitation are adversely affected and have become non-functional, therefore putting at stake the living conditions of the population. According to reports by CIVPOL and HRPS, on numerous occasions LURD and MODEL ex-combatants are committing serious crimes, including murder, aggravated assault, others. Under the conditions described above victims of these crimes have no access to justice or right to remedy because the continued intimidation and violence have created an atmosphere of total impunity.

In addition, private security firms, such as the PPD in Firestone rubber plantation continuously disregard the right to liberty of the workers and use executive authority to arrest individuals on the plantation and detain them illegally without notifying the Liberian National Police as required by the law (Ministry of Justice ‘Guidelines to Organize and Operate Private Security Agencies’).

Environmental degradation versus Workers’ Rights:

In the various plantations, i.e., Firestone, Cavalla, Liberian Agriculture Company, etc., workers live under unacceptable labour conditions. Besides the denial of their rights to fair wages, equal remuneration, the employees do not have a safe and healthy working environment. Cases of extreme exploitation comparable to contemporary forms of slavery have been identified by human rights defence NGOs where children are abused used as labourors. The forms of child labour cited have serious consequences for the health and development of the children and are very recurrent. Furthermore, the violation of the environmental rights in several plantations have been raised in regard to the disposal of industrial waste into bodies of water such as streams and creeks used for bathing and drinking by the populations working and living on the plantations. In addition, expansion of plantations are effected resulting in the destruction of crops and forcing entire villages to evacuate resettlement they have lived in for years without certain alternative places to resettle.

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:

Incompetent and continued misuse of natural resources in the plantation is likely to result in decreased yields from the plantations and could mean forest extinction. This would very negatively directly affect the communities in the future. The state of general insecurity caused by the LURD ex-combatants in the Guthrie rubber plantation currently impedes rehabilitation of social services.

The absence of institutional remedies places the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the members of the communities in the plantation at stake and will continue to be denied until a lawful management team, local authority and the rule of law is restored. Plantations need to be “open” to peace in order to benefit from opportunities offered in order to make the provision of basic services to the communities possible.

Forums for the reintegration and rehabilitation of former combatants, smooth transition to a genuine management involving vulnerable actors in the process, legal clarification of ownership, human rights standards implemented in concession agreements and the restoration of committed authorities are an imperative.