A Taiwanese timber company defended itself Tuesday against claims by workers that they were forced to labor in subhuman conditions on a plantation in Koh Kong province, saying local contractors were to blame for any work site illegalities.
A spokesman for Green Rich Co Ltd said that he and perhaps Green Rich managers from Taiwan will visit the site later this week. But he is confident the group didn’t do anything wrong.
What contractors might do at the site “is not the company’s fault,” spokesman Chu Sinphong said.
Green Rich, which earlier this year began clearing forest inside Botum Sakor National Park to plant acacia trees for paper production, has come under fire for the alleged mistreatment of its workers, who in recent weeks started fleeing the site in droves.
Koh Kong district penal police last week helped rescue by boat between 30 and 40 workers from the work site, which is not accessible by road. Scores of others hiked through the forest or swam by river to escape, police said.
Rescued workers told reporters and human rights group Licadho that Green Rich contractors and recruiters had pushed them into a cycle of debt, selling them overpriced foodstuffs while they labored without wages or access to medical care inside a malaria-ridden forest.
The workers’ stories have also drawn the attention of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is investigating the case. Between 200 and 300 workers remain at the site, Koh Kong police said last week.
Provincial officials visited the site last week to address complaints of withheld wages, but also to encourage the company to replace fleeing workers with local hires, Koh Kong Deputy Governor Cheam Him said Tuesday.
Chu Sinphong said Green Rich’s $1 billion plans for the 18,000-hectare plantation include a hospital, a school and a pagoda, but the company could not provide such amenities in the project’s early stages.
