Asian sugar giant accused of human rights abuses

Asia's largest sugar producer is accused of burning down homes and confiscating Cambodian village farm lands, a human rights group said.

The Thai conglomerate Mitr Phol Sugar Corp. is accused to burning homes in rural Cambodian villages and orchestrating the arrest of a pregnant activist who protested of the company's practices to human rights groups.

Equitable Cambodia filed a complaint, obtained by the Phnom Penh Post Monday, on behalf of 600 villagers detailing the company's alleged abuses. Mirt Phol owns nearly 20,000 hectares in the area, the Post said.

The abuses left families homeless, unemployed and in many cases starving, the group said.

People were left with "extreme food insecurity and impoverishment [for] affected households," the report said.

A Mitr Phol spokesman couldn't be reached to comment on the report.

(2013-06-04/upi)