A new report, published by Friends of the Earth and indigenous rights groups LifeMosaic and Sawit Watch, said that increasing demands for palm oil for food and biofuels was causing millions of hectares of forests to be cleared for plantations and destroying the livelihoods of indigenous peoples.

The report, Losing Ground, said many of the 60-90 million people in Indonesia who depend on the forests are losing their land to the palm oil companies.

Pollution from pesticides, fertilisers and the pressing process is also leaving some villages without clean water.

"The unsustainable expansion of Indonesia's palm oil industry is leaving many indigenous communities without land, water or adequate livelihoods. Previously self-sufficient communities find themselves in debt or struggling to afford education and food. Traditional customs and culture are being damaged alongside Indonesia's forests and wildlife," the report reads.

It claims that oil palm companies often use violent tactics as they move in to convert the land to plantations.

"Human rights – including the right to water, to health, the right to work, cultural rights and the right to be protected from ill-treatment and arbitrary arrest – are being denied in some communities.

"If palm oil is to be produced sustainably, the damaging effects of unjust policies and practices in the Indonesian plantation sector must be addressed," the report said.

The alleged human rights abuses come after several recent reports have highlighted the environmental problems caused by the conversion of land for farming palm oil.

Last week a study by the University of Minnesota and Nature Conservancy, published in Science, found that the carbon lost through the clearance of forests, peat lands or even grasslands far outweighs the greenhouse gas savings that can come from biofuels.

Conversion of land for corn, sugarcane, palm oil or soybeans released 17 to 420 times more carbon than the annual savings from replacing fossil fuels with bioethanol or biodiesel, the researchers said.

Last month the Commons environmental audit committee called for a moratorium on targets for the use of biofuels until their impact could be better assessed.

The EU currently wants biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel to make up 10% of transport fuel by 2020. Britain has a separate target of 5% of biofuels in petrol and diesel by 2010.

In its energy directive last month, the commission proposed the introduction of sustainability criteria because of fears about the environmental impact of growing fuel crops.

But Friends of the Earth and LifeMosaic said the targets would drive a huge increase in palm oil in Indonesia, adding there were plans for a further 20m hectares of plantations by 2020 – an area the size of England, the Netherlands and Switzerland combined.

Friends of the Earth biofuels campaigner, Hannah Griffiths, said: "As well as being bad for the environment, biofuels from palm oil are a disaster for people.

"MEPs should listen to the evidence and use the forthcoming debate on this in the European parliament to reject the 10% target.

"Instead of introducing targets for more biofuels the EU should insist that all new cars are designed to be super-efficient.

"The UK government must also take a strong position against the 10% target in Europe and do its bit to reduce transport emissions by improving public transport and making it easier for people to walk and cycle," she added.

April 20, 2008
An Agricultural Crime Against Humanity
By George Monbiot
January-March 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
It doesn't get madder than this. Swaziland is in the grip of a famine and receiving emergency food aid. Forty percent of its people are facing acute food shortages. So what has the government decided to export? Biofuel made from one of its staple crops, cassava. (1) The government has allocated several thousand hectares of farmland to ethanol production in the county of Lavumisa, which happens to be the place worst hit by drought.

This is one of many examples of a trade described last October by Jean Ziegler, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, as "a crime against humanity." Ziegler calls for a five-year moratorium on all government targets and incentives for biofuel: the trade should be frozen until second-generation fuels—made from wood or straw or waste—become commercially available. Otherwise the superior purchasing power of drivers in the rich world means that they will snatch food from people's mouths. Run your car on virgin biofuel and other people will starve.

Even the International Monetary Fund now warns that using food to produce biofuels "might further strain already tight supplies of arable land and water all over the world, thereby pushing food prices up even further." (2) In November 2007, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization announced the lowest global food reserves in 25 years, threatening what it calls "a very serious crisis." (3) Even when the price of food was low, 850 million people went hungry because they could not afford to buy it. With every increment in the price of flour or grain, several million more are pushed below the breadline.

The cost of rice has risen by 20 percent over the past year, maize by 50 percent, wheat by 100 percent. (3) Biofuels aren't entirely to blame, but by taking land out of food production, they exacerbate the effects of bad harvests and rising demand.

At this point, the biofuels industry starts shouting, "Jatropha!" Jatropha is a tough weed with oily seeds that grows in the tropics. Because it can grow on marginal land, jatropha is claimed to be a "life-changing" plant, which will offer jobs, cash crops, and economic power to African smallholders.

Yes, it can grow on poor land and be cultivated by smallholders. But it can also grow on fertile land and be cultivated by largeholders. If there is one blindingly obvious fact about biofuel, it's that it is not a smallholder crop. It is an internationally traded commodity which travels well and can be stored indefinitely, with no premium for local or organic produce. Already the Indian government is planning 14 million hectares of jatropha plantations. (3) In August, the first riots took place among the peasant farmers being driven off the land to make way for them. (4)

If the governments promoting biofuels do not reverse their policies, the humanitarian impact will be greater than that of the Iraq War. Millions will be displaced, hundreds of millions more could go hungry.

Copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2007

Literature Cited:
1. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Swaziland: Food or biofuel seems to be the question. 25 October 2007. www.irinnnews
2. V. Mercer-Blackman, Samiei, H.,and Cheng K. Biofuel Demand Pushes Up Food Prices. 17 October 2007. International Monetary Fund Survey Magazine www.imf.org
3. Vidal, J. Global food crisis looms as climate change and fuel shortages bite. The Guardian. 3 November 2007.
4. Olden, M. Growing concern: Observations on biofuels. 25 October 2007. New Statesman. New Statesman

Mechai:
An Open Letter on Biodiesel in Thailand

April 19, 2008
Blogspot
Website

Hi Andy:

I ran across your web blog on bio diesel project in Thailand.

I have lived and worked in Thailand for many years, working with the Akha on human rights issues which include first of all land rights.

I currently have a case at the UNOHCR regarding the Queen of Thailand taking the land of the Akha people.

But this is not where the story begins.

Mechai is a long time rotating CEO of many organizations in Thailand. This includes PTT and the Petroleum Authority of Thailand. He also runs PDA of course.

High in the Akha mountains of Thailand Mechai and PDA took away thousands of acres of rice lands from the Akha to plant pine. Now we can expect the same for bio diesel related plants.

Did you know that Mechai has single handedly violated the human rights of the Akha people, forcing villages to be relocated, causing massive poverty, driving Akha women and men into unsavory jobs and giving the missionaries cause to say "you haven't enough to eat, give us your children"?

Bio diesel has an extreme human cost.

I quote from your site:
"The last few summers I partnered with the Population and Community Development Association, or the PDA, in Thailand. The PDA is an amazing NGO that's most famous for it's family planning program and AIDS prevention techniques in the early 70's. Today they're active in these two areas still, but they also focus on rural income development. I've worked in Thailand in promoting the production and use of biodiesel in rural areas. Thailand produces huge amounts of Palm Oil, which can be used for biodiesel, especially useful when the market is flooded with the feedstock. In addition, Jatropha, a native plant naturally grows in some areas of Thailand, and I have helped to try to optimize growing conditions for Jatropha in order to improve the crop growing efficiency. I love working with the PDA; one of their main philosophies is that an idea must be sustainable economically in order for it to be successful, and have tried to do so with the rural biodiesel production project. I couldn't have done it without the gracious funding from Mr. Donald P. Kanak, the donor for the UNC Entrepreneurial Public Service Fellowship that I received."

Yes, PDA is amazing and what they are up to amounts to genocide, and we have filed a claim against Thailand for this with the International Criminal Court.

Now how many acres of Akha land will be taken for Jatropha?

My wife's family lives in a fairly remote Akha village in Chiangrai. ALL of the land of her village was taken by the Thai authorities. All in the name of these schemes. Now the village has no where to grow rice.

Will you supply it for them? Will Mechai?

Matthew McDaniel

Foreign Military Sales: Changes Needed to CorrectWeaknesses in End-Use Monitoring Program

April 18, 2003
In the report below, it is clear that weapons that are given to foreign militaries such as Thailand are not adequately monitored for who uses them and how they are used, and to see if human rights violations are occurring.
Military End Use Monitoring - Changes Needed

Southeast Asia: Better Human Rights Reviews Needed for US Assistance to Foreign Security Forces

April 18, 2008
Jeffrey Bergner, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Legislative Affairs, at the Department of State, referred us to this report.
Better human rights reviews for SE Asia security programs

The Seizure of Children In Texas a Gross Violation of Religious and Family Rights

Texas distress call a "hoax".
Having tracked the confiscation of Akha children for more than a decade by white missionaries, we can't help but note this case in America's Bible belt.

The incredible seizure of hundreds of children in Texas by the State brings back Waco, Texas and Janet Reno. Very little evidence has been presented in this case, there is very little probable cause to take all the children of a community based on the report of one child, which in fact did not come into 911 but supposedly came into a "hot line" and the state has yet to show proof it has any idea who the caller is. Anderson Cooper stated on the air that it is now known that the unfindable 16 year old is now a hoax. But the news websites keep repeating it.

Instead we have a case of the state taking children regardless of there being an accusation for each child or not, and no proof that any harm was being done to anyone. If children were forced to marry, it is not basis to take all the children from an entire town. This has never happened in recent history.

Where are the other Mormons, where is James Dobson, where are the other "family" people?
The seizure is a gross violation of civil rights.

The state of Texas is handing out yellow stars.

Thailand Plans to Export Bio Fuel - Food Shortage Fears

April 17, 2008
(Link Damaged)
We Strongly Oppose the Bio Fuel Movement as a Plan to Starve the World's Poor
February 28, 2008 (Bangkok Post) - Thailand is developing a master plan to build the country into the world's second largest green energy producer after Brazil. Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said she wanted to see the country become a net exporter of green energy to tap strong global demand.

To achieve the goal, authorities plan to develop a 15-year Renewable Energy Development Plan to cover the full range of alternative energy businesses including gasohol, biodiesel, biomass, wind and solar power, she said yesterday.

"The plan will set a strategy to ensure the development of the whole industry, such as the quality of products and supply volume," she added.

Lt Gen Poonpirom said the government and producers specialising in green energy needed to co-operate more effectively under the plan.

Financial support for investors would be provided through the ministry's incentive programme including tax breaks and tariff-free machinery imports.

Ethanol, for which Thailand is achieving economies of scale, would be the first target for export. Thailand produces 1.3 million litres a day of ethanol from nine plants, far above domestic consumption of 700,000 litres a day.

The government forecasts additional output of one million litres a day from seven to 10 new ethanol producers, which could add 2.3 million litres of output by the end of this year.

"We can turn this surplus into an opportunity by looking for a chance to ship [the ethanol] to other countries," Lt Gen Poonpirom said.

Biodiesel, however, would take five or six years to expand as new palm plantations are necessary.

Crude palm oil is at risk of shortage because most is used in the food industry.

The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives (BAAC) has extended assistance to palm planters to help them expand production.

Gasohol consumption is expected to reach 12 million litres a day by the end of this year from the current seven million litres. Gasohol is a mixture of ethanol and gasoline. B2, a mixture of 2% biofuel with diesel, made its debut this year and replaced all high-speed diesel.

The government also plans to launch B10, a mix of 10% biofuel mixed with 90% diesel, within this year.

Sirivuthi Siamphakdee, president of the Thai Ethanol Manufacturers Association, expressed concern that the food sector may face constraints if raw materials are used by fuel makers.

Lt Gen Poonpirom also expects to increase local crude oil output from the current 200,000 barrels to 250,000 barrels by 2011 by pumping additional output from existing deposits to reduce dependence on imported oil.

Thailand and Jatropha for Bio Fuel - We OPPOSE It!

April 17, 2008
Playing with fire
Thailand looks to deadly nuts for biofuel
Pacbiofuel.blogspot.com
Thailand is considering planting thousands of acres in jatropha, a plant that produces a nut high in oil content that can be used as a biofuel.

The west would seem to have initiated a slippery path in mono crops and biofuels that now have machines greedily competing with starving humans for food. Something only a science fiction movie could have produced in the past, has become a reality.

Queen's Project Fails Due to Drought

April 17, 2008
Should the Queen spend more time listening to landowners?
"Sufficiency Economy" village project has severe drought problems
Budget cancellation leads to financial difficulties

CMM Reporters
The Ban Thaepon Daeng "sufficiency economy" villages, which are being run as a Royal Project and are located in the highlands of Mae Hong Son, is suffering severely from a shortage of water caused by the present drought conditions in the area. After the Yoo Dee Mee Suk project's budget was cancelled, lack of adequate water supplies has resulted in a 50 % loss in both the agricultural and fish breeding sections.

In an attempt to remedy the situation, village headmen had committed as yet unreceived funds from a district-approved 100,000 baht budget to purchase water pumps in order to be able to take water from the nearby Pai river. When the budget was cancelled, villagers who had gone ahead with the scheme found themselves in financial difficulties, as credit for the purchase of the pumps had already been set up.

Another attempt to use tap water for irrigation failed because of cost. Provincial authorities have not visited the area, nor have they attempted to find solutions to the problem. Mae Hong Son's Provincial Fishery department had already warned fish breeders to stop maintaining the wells where the fish were kept, because of the water shortage. Another problem faced by the breeders is that the price of fish food has recently rocketed. Fruit farmers are also badly affected, as more than 600 out of the 100 fruit trees donated by Her Majesty the Queen have died due to lack of water.

Local provincial administration officials have been requested to provide water for drinking and cooking, and to set up a water distribution centre in each affected village. They should also provide water for agriculture. Requests have also been made that administrators should assist in creating income and short-term support and occupations for affected villagers, that they should oversee health and sanitation, and that they should cooperate with local police in the suppression of theft of equipment, animals and rice seeds. There is also a risk that entire rice crops may be stolen, due to its present high price.

Markus Young Promoting Pine in Hill Tribe Areas

April 15, 2008
Missions Planting Pine?
www.divineinheritance.com?
It boggles the mind but runs according to a script that now mission websites ask donors to donate money to plant pine.

Pine, the tree that was a justification for generals and others to seize thousands of acres from the Akha, is now promoted by missionaries such as Markus Young of "Divine Inheritance". Is this the inheritance that Jesus asked us to promote when he said "thy neighbour as thyself"?

The Petroleum Authority of Thailand and Mechai's PDA joined to plant pine on land stolen from the hilltribe, and now CIA buddies like the Youngs have joined the bandwagon. Promoting pine as an investment, while thousands of acres were already turned into mono crop forests lacking in one single animal or bird, the undergrowth destroyed, the soil spoiled. These decisions contributed to rice shortages that now exist in the world, as indigenous peoples and their knowledge were shoved aside for profit. Markus speaks of 120 years of mission in the region, he fails to mention his one relative a weapons dealer and his other relative, Bill Young, a drug dealer.

Funny how missionaries so readily forget while joined to the despots who oppress the poor.

The public should be very concerned when missionaries are promoting mono crop forests in food growing regions.

Akha.org Gets New Server

We have just upgraded our server to give you better service, 6 or 7 times the speed and tripple the space, making it easier for you to download data and giving us a lot more room for documents and other content. We still have considerable documents to add to the site, and rebuilding all of our photo section.

Blog Archives Here

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ONGOING CASES

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The UNESCO - Missionary Alliance Bangkok

We speak with UNESCO about content on the UNESCO website showing partnership between UNESCO and missionary organizations in Thailand which are committed to the destruction of Akha culture and oral traditions.
Letter to UNESCO The following information comes from the UNESCO Website under the Secretariat.
UNESCO External Relations and Cooperation (ERC)
"B. Cooperation with non-governmental organizations Efforts will be made to link UNESCO with the increasingly significant civil society actors and to draw on their potential contribution for the achievement of UNESCO’s strategic objectives. Within the statutory framework for interaction and cooperation with international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Organization will assess its cooperation with NGOs in order to optimize modalities of cooperation and develop synergies for effective programme implementation. Outreach efforts will also aim at foundations and similar institutions which are able to make a contribution to the realization of the Organization’s mandate."
External Relations Cooperation

The fact that UNESCO has chosen to do this with organizations which have as THEIR mandate the destruction of Akha culture, is shocking.

One of the organizations that UNESCO is partnered with, is New Life Foundation, the brain child of Paul W. Lewis, who ran sterilization operations on the Akha.

Missions and missionary activities associated with NLF emphasize the destruction of Akha culture as one of their goals. UNESCO also is in partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Chiangmai.

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The Drug War Against the Akha

Index of the Drug War
Drug War Overview Jan. 2006
The Drug War Creates Mass Death of the Akha From Disease and Starvation. Death Rate As High as 20% in Some Villages. Forced Relocations, No Land, No Food, No Jobs. Data Supported by Independent International Reports.
The Drug War has a violent effect on Akha communities that goes beyond just police prosecution of would be offenders. Military and police violence against the Akha has been a standard event in Thailand. Extra-judicial killings and killings for no reason are what the Akha expect.
Use Google to Search This Site. There Are Hundreds of Drug War Articles in News
DRUG WAR DEATH PICS - Killings Paid For With YOUR Tax Dollars
Death Pics with Many Captions

Creates Mass Death of the Akha From Disease and Starvation. Death Rate As High as 20% in Some Villages. Forced Relocations, No Land, No Food, No Jobs. Data Supported by Independent International Reports. has a violent effect on Akha communities that goes beyond just police prosecution of would be offenders. Military and police violence against the Akha has been a standard event in Thailand. Extra-judicial killings and killings for no reason are what the Akha expect.

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The Queen's Royal Project Seizes the Land of Hooh Yoh Village

Royal Project Should Give Back the Land at Hooh Yoh

Project Tries to justify taking the land
Theft of Akha Land
Update - Volunteers Harrassed by Thai Army
Tourists in one village were harrassed because a foreign tourist had gone and taken a picture of the Project at Hooh Yoh. The Thai Army said "no one can take pictures of this project"
The Army proceeded to go through the inside of the house where tourists were staying, took their photos and checked their passports.
Your Support URGENTLY Needed to Back Up Hooh Yoh Akha
Contact your nearest Thai Embassy. Request that these details be investigated.
Information and Pictures
High Resolution Pics Of Hooh Yoh!
Activist Contact Data for the Queen
In 2003 the Project took away all the land of Hooh Yoh Akha, some 4500 acres (8500 Rai) of land. 1500 Akha villagers are displaced and they are made to work at half minimum wage on the land that belonged to them.
We need volunteers to continue to protest to the Thai Government and Embassies about the seizure of this land.
In addition to this seizure of Hooh Yoh land, the project has gone on to seize tea lands of Pai a Prai Akha village, in the same district, Ampur Mae Fah Luang, Chiangrai Province.
The Thai government terrorizes the Akha in order to keep them suppressed. The occasional brutal murder works to this end. Though there are many Akha who would gladly have their photos on this website, or run a column here, they can not speak out in such a public way if they want to stay alive.
Your protest supports and strengthens the Akha people.

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Activism For Helping the Akha People

Akha Human Rights
What You Can Do To Help

Areas of Focus: 1. Missionary removal of Akha children and coerced conversion.
2. Thai seizure of rice lands, forced relocations, extra-judicial executions
3. The US Supported Drug War in Thailand which rubber stamps profiling and violence against the Akha and other ethnic groups.
4. Missing Akha Refugees in the US, Sacramento area.

Your volunteer time and energy is needed to protect the Akha people.

Approximately 70,000 Akha reside in Thailand. 320 or more villages. The Akha have the least rights in Thailand of any country, suffer the greatest level of abuse and imprisonment. Their culture is destroyed by US missionaries.

Protect the Akha Peace and Justice Center
The Akha Peace and Justice Center, set up in 2004 (after the slaughter of the 2003 Drug War) to protect Akha villages in the regions of Chaingrai Province, has been a steady destination for western volunteers seeking to assist the Akha people with direct action to protect their human rights. You can visit the center and assist the villagers. Bpah Mah Hahn and Pah Nmm Villages, Ampur Mae Fah Luang, Chiangrai Province! Write us for details.
We call on all supporters of the Akha to protest in the strongest
terms to the nearest Thai Embassy.
Your Assistance and Action Will Help the Akha People.
List of Thai Embassies and Consuls World Wide.
List of Thai Consuls and Embassies World Wide
If any of the Thai Cosul or Embassy addresses bounce then go to another embassy or look also on this page:
Full List of Thai Government Sites
Contact Your MP and Embassy HERE!
MP List
Post to any indymedia site and for your local area.
Indy Media

Suggestions for Action
Sign Akha Petition #1 (500 plus signators)
1. Get an article published, air a radio interview, get a spot on TV.
2. Write letters to Thai Embassies.
3. Post our link on your website
4. Do volunteer work, research.
5. Plan a trip to do photography and video documentation.
6. Write protest letters to missionary groups.
7. Do a fundraising project.
8. Host a presentation in your area.
9. Pay for literature to be printed.
10. Hand out literature at your library, university and church.
11. Post to any Indymedia site and for your local area.
Indy Media

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Ongoing Projects

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Akha Video Project

Videos with the Akha people.

3rd Akha Journal

Currently Assembling

Laos Bed Net Project

Providing Mosquito Nets to the Akha of Laos

Akha TV

Akha TV presentations in the Akha Daily Video Section

Activism and Publicity

Promoting accurate knowledge of the Akha, their lives, culture, and human rights situation.

Prisons

Thai Prisons are a cruel life for the Akha people. The Thai government imposes many harsh conditions on the Akha people, and takes their land. Then when the Akha make any infraction of the law they are sent off to prison for many years. There are many old Akha in prison, both women and men, who were imprisoned for such infractions years ago. We believe that the Thai people should receive similar harsh treatment at the hands of the international community be they business people or tourists.

Bang Kwang Prison Web Site Bang Kwang Net 

Save a Life

Alternate Akha Prisoners Site

Alternate List Site

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If you see any corrections or errors in factual information on this site, please contact us. We strive to continuously verify information and update this site.
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The Choice
After considering the facts as a human rights activist, when it comes to choosing between following the teachings of christianity or following Jesus Christ, I have decided to follow Jesus Christ.
Matthew McDaniel

Full Redemption
Jesus Christ offers full redemption, in all spheres of human life, justice, land, food and the rights to one's own children. We should not ignore or overlook any aspect of human existence and fail to mention it in the redemption of the human condition. This includes the Akha and their need for security and the protection of rights. It does no good to claim that redemption only applies to the life here after, while ignoring the incredible suffering inflicted on these people. Individuals who claim that the great difficulties that the Akha face helps convert them, have distorted and deformed the gospel.