An Oral Statement to the 29th Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organization in General Consultative Status
INDONESIA: Human rights violations in the mining and plantations sectors
Thank you Mr. President,
The Asian Legal Resource Centre welcomes the report of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
The ALRC would like to draw the Council’s attention to the human rights violations occurred in the area of mining and plantations in Indonesia.
In 2014, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its concluding observations, requested the Government of Indonesia to review legislation, regulations and practices in the mining and plantations sectors.[1]
The Master Plan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Development (MP3EI), launched in 2011, is a government project. It has resulted in violations, and has great potential for further human rights violations. Since 2011, the government has promulgated 44 regulations for providing land to investors. These regulations are, in fact, being used to legitimize the government’s confiscation of land from farmers and communities, including the indigenous people.
The ALRC’s sister organisation, Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), has documented cases of land confiscation. The Wira Karya Sakti Company (also known as PT WKS) has confiscated and continues to occupy thousands of hectares of land belonging to peasants.[2]
The police and military have been involved in many conflicts to facilitate mining and plantation. They invariably stand on the side of the company. For instance, in March 2015, in Ramunia Village, Pantai Labu Sub-district, North Sumatera Province, the Military attacked peasants at the time of grabbing their land.
In another case the police brutally attacked women and mothers who protested against the Cement Company in Rembang, Central Java Province. Moreover, the police forcibly dispersed peaceful demonstrations by local peasants in Karawang Regency, and shot at them with rubber bullets.
Indonesian Constitutional Court (MK) passed a verdict in 2012 (No. 35/PUU-X/2012), recognizing the customary ownership of land of the local community and the indigenous people. In reality, land grabbing against customary owners of land for mines and plantations still continues.
The ALRC requests the Working Group to ask the government why the authorities violate the country’s Constitutional Court’s decision.
The Indonesian government should be obliged to:
- Ensure the protection of the land rights of local communities and indigenous peoples, and to consistently implement the recommendation of the Constitutional Court not issue permits to companies on customary land;
- Implement its policy on land reform to end agrarian conflict;
- Properly investigate the allegation of human rights violations conducted by security forces without undue delay, and prosecute offenders.
Thank you,
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About the ALRC: The Asian Legal Resource Centre is an independent regional non-governmental organisation holding general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is the sister organisation of the Asian Human Rights Commission. The Hong Kong-based group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human rights issues at the local and national levels throughout Asia.
[1] Concluding observation on the initial report of Indonesia, available at http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/TBSearch.aspx?Lang=en&TreatyID=9&DocTypeID=5
[2] For further information see an Urgent Appeal made by AHRC: Mr. Indra Pelani, a land rights activist brutally murdered in Jambi. http://www.humanrights.asia/news/hunger-alerts/AHRC-HAC-004-2015
