The internal compliance unit of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has found a complaint filed by LICADHO eligible for an environmental and social compliance review. The complaint was filed by LICADHO on behalf of complainants who have suffered human rights harms from private-sector companies that are promoted under the UN agency’s investment project.

The complaint, submitted in March, alleges that UNDP failed to conduct due diligence and adhere to its environmental and social policies during the creation of the “SDG Investor Map for Cambodia”. The complaint details how UNDP selected private-sector actors and categorized them as “partners” for the project, lending reputational support to companies with documented involvement in coerced land sales, forced evictions, deforestation of protection areas and Indigenous lands, child labour, trafficking in persons, and other harms.

LICADHO argued that through UNDP’s selection of “partners” on the SDG Investor Platform, the agency failed to comply with standards meant to safeguard “Community Health, Safety and Security”; “Displacement and Resettlement”; and “Indigenous Peoples”. Concerns regarding the project were raised directly with the UNDP Cambodia country office as early as December 2022, but the UN agency failed to resolve these problems sufficiently for more than a year prior to the filing of the complaint.

The Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU) found the complaint eligible earlier this month, publishing its decision in both English and Khmer. It found that the complaint relates to a UNDP-supported project or program; that it raised actual or potential issues related to compliance with UNDP policies; and that as a result of noncompliance, complainants may be or have been harmed. The SECU said it will move forward with an investigation of the allegations made in the complaint.

“The acceptance of this complaint is an important step toward ensuring that UNDP’s activities in Cambodia follow the agency’s own policies. Private-sector investment cannot come at the cost of human rights,” said Naly Pilorge, Outreach Director of LICADHO. “We want this investigation to move forward quickly, and for the serious problems with these programmes to be addressed and resolved.”

For more information, please contact:
▪ Am Sam Ath, Operations Director of LICADHO, on Signal at (+855) 10 327 770 (Khmer)
▪ Naly Pilorge, Outreach Director of LICADHO, on Signal at (+855) 12 214 454 (English)

PDF: Download full statement in English - Download full statement in Khmer
MP3: Listen to audio version in Khmer