26/05/2011 (Free Malaysia Today) - The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has been urged to stop issuing sustainability certificates to IOI Corporation until it has reached an amicable agreement with the native community in Long Teran Kanan, Sarawak.

IOI is in a legal tussle with the natives over their native customary rights (NCR) land.

Speaking on behalf of several NGOs here, Tenaganita’s Irene Fernandez took RSPO to task for dragging its feet on addressing public grievances on the matter.

RSPO is non-profit organisation that promotes the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards by engaging various stakeholders.

On March 16, about 130 villagers erected a blockade to stop IOI from encroaching on NCR land belonging to the Kenyah and Kayan communities, claiming the latter was trespassing the property.

The natives resorted to this action after the authorities failed to act against IOI although the Miri High Court had ruled in favour of the villagers last year.

The villagers had also filed two police reports against the plantation giant.

In April, the plantation giant issued a statement denying that the court had granted an injunction against it, saying the court had actually ruled that native customary land rights (NCR) can be extinguised by paying compensation to the villagers.

Fernandez said that the RSPO grievance panel had, during its meeting last month, established that IOI had breached the certification body’s code of conduct and partial certification requirements.

It then granted the company a 28-day grace period to resolve the issue amicable with the affected communities.

“IOI however has shown no remorse for its actions. Instead, the plantation giant tried to intimidate the villagers by filing police reports against individuals involved with the community action to reclaim the native land.

“And despite all that, RSPO still granted IOI an additional 21 days grace period to work on a settlement,” said Fernandez.

She then reminded the RSPO that IOI had also encroached on Indonesian boundaries in Danau Manis Mata forest reserve last year, which was detected by Friends of Earth.

“We are very disappointed by all this. We cannot accept the fact that RSPO continues to issue sustainability certificates to IOI despite the violations perpetrated,” she said.

Among the NGOs in support of the community are Borneo Resource Institute (Brimas), Sarawak Indigenous Lawyers Association (SILA), Friends of Earth and Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia).