Coca-Cola Dragged into Brazilian Tribe's Land Conflict
Coca-Cola Dragged into Brazilian Tribe's Land Conflict
By Sanskrity Sinha | December 17, 2013 07:15 AM GMT
The Guarani tribes of Jata Yvary in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state have accused the Coca-Cola Company of buying sugar from a company that has grabbed the tribe's ancestral land. Coca-Cola sources sugar from Bunge, which buys sugar cane from five farms located on the tribal lands.
"Coca-Cola must stop buying sugar from Bunge. While these companies profit, we are forced to endure hunger, misery, and killings," a Guarani spokesperson told UK-based tribal rights group, Survival International.
A recent Oxfam report states that at least four million hectares of land have been acquired for sugar production in 100 large-scale land deals since 2000 in Brazil.
"These acquisitions have been linked to human rights violations, loss of livelihoods, and hunger for small-scale food producers and their families," Oxfam said in the report, adding that major food and beverage companies should "take steps to ensure that land rights violations and conflicts are not part of their supply chains".
More:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/coca-cola-dragged-into-brazilian-tribes-land-conflict-1429292