COLOMBIA URGENT ACTION: Contact Daabon Corporation to protest eviction of Colombian farmers
CPTnet 13 November 2009 COLOMBIA URGENT ACTION: Contact Daabon Corporation to protest eviction of Colombian farmers
CPT Colombia is calling on individuals, churches, groups, and civil societies around the globe to contact the Colombian Company Daabon and protest the eviction of 123 families from the Las Pavas farm.
Background
Daabon had 123 families (more than 500 people) evicted from the Las Pavas farm, in the state of Bolivar, on 14 July 2009. Riot police prohibited the people from returning to their fields and Daabon workers destroyed their entire 60 hectares of food crops. Fourteen houses that belonged to the community were demolished. Daabon cut down a communal forest and is drying up wetlands in order to plant palm. CPT Colombia began accompanying the people of Las Pavas in April 2009 and is part of a coalition of human rights organizations that are working to enable the community to return to the farm.
More info about the history:
The Green revolution turns the color of blood
TAKE ACTION!
Write letters and/or a email to Daabon that include the points in the sample letter below:
Mr. Alberto Dávila Diaz
Presidente de Daabon Organic
Sede Principal
Carrera 1 No. 52-58
Edificio Bahia Centro
Santa Marta, Colombia
adavila [at] daabon [dot] com [dot] co (adavila [at] daabon [dot] com [dot] co)
mdavila [at] daabon [dot] com [dot] co (mdavila [at] daabon [dot] com [dot] co)
Dear Mr. Dávila,
I'm writing to urge you to live up to the values expressed by your company and to take action to halt the destruction caused by Daabon on the Las Pavas farm in the province of Bolivar. Daabon states that it is "a socially and environmentally responsible leader in organic agriculture," but your company had 123 families (more than 500 people) evicted from Las Pavas on 14 July of this year. Riot police prohibited the people from returning to their fields and Daabon workers destroyed their entire 60 hectares of food crops. Fourteen houses that belonged to the community were demolished. Daabon cut down a communal forest and is drying up wetlands in order to plant palm.
I received information about this situation from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), which began accompanying the community in April 2009. CPT has witnessed the destruction caused by Daabon during several visits to Las Pavas.
The families organized themselves as the Buenos Aires Farmers Association (ASOCAB) and began working communally on the Las Pavas farm in 1997. Colombian law enables people to take possession and use abandoned land; after five years, they are entitled to legal ownership of that land. The government agency responsible for that process, the Colombian Institute for Rural Development (INCODER), visited Las Pavas in June 2006 and verified that the families met the conditions for ending the ownership of Emilio Escobar and beginning the process of receiving title to the land.
After the INCODER visit, Escobar came to Las Pavas and, shortly after, a group of armed men threatened the farmers. A paramilitary group also went to the farm in late 2006 and threatened to kill the people if they did not leave. The farmers abandoned Las Pavas, and a few months later, a Daabon subsidiary signed a contract with Escobar for the land. Daabon claims that this contract was made in good faith which means that either means you did not investigate the situation of Las Pavas, or chose to ignore the families who were living there and their constitutional right to that land.
In January of this year, ASOCAB members felt that the threat of violence had diminished and they returned to Las Pavas and planted their food crops. Daabon sought a court order to have them evicted and riot police carried out that order on 14 July 2009.
Daabon is able to sell products at a premium price because consumers believe your company is defending human rights and protecting the environment.
I urge you to uphold those values by:
1. Stopping all activities at Las Pavas and withdrawing from the land
2. Allowing the community to return to the land and cultivate their crops
3. Providing full compensation to the community for the damages they suffered because of the eviction
4. Upholding both the general and country-specific principles and criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) of which Daabon is a member.
I look forward to hearing from you soon about the actions that you have taken to protect human rights and the environment in Las Pavas. In the meantime, I will be sharing my concerns with friends and family and I will not be purchasing any products from companies such as The Body Shop that buy materials from Daabon.
Sincerely,
(Name)
(Address)
