Paper industry accused of rights abuses<\/p>\n
Agencies, New York\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia's booming paper industry is responsible for
\nwidespread attacks on indigenous communities in Sumatra, said a
\nHuman Rights Watch report released Monday.<\/p>\n
The New York-based watchdog said police are helping suppress
\nprotests against the seizure of forest land.<\/p>\n
Land seizures and \"brutal\" assaults on local residents were
\ncommonplace and the human rights group urged international donors
\nto Indonesia to pressure Jakarta into taking action.<\/p>\n
The Consultative Group on Indonesia, a major donor meeting
\nconvened by the World Bank, is scheduled for later this month in
\nBali.<\/p>\n
\"Donors should urge President Megawati Soekarnoputri and her
\ngovernment to take immediate steps to end these abuses,\" said
\nMike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director of Human Rights Watch's
\nAsia Division.<\/p>\n
\"They should also call for longer-term measures to curb the
\nproblems of impunity and land confiscation underlying conflicts
\nin the paper industry,\" Jendrzejczyk said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's pulp and paper industry has rapidly expanded since
\nthe late 1980s to become one of the world's top 10 producers.<\/p>\n
But the industry has accumulated debts of more than US$20
\nbillion and Human Rights Watch said expanding demand was
\nconsuming wide swathes of Sumatra's lowland tropical forests.<\/p>\n
Much of the land is claimed by indigenous communities, who
\ndepend on it for rice farming and rubber tapping.<\/p>\n
\"The loss of access to forests, together with companies'
\nhiring from outside the province, has been devastating to local
\nlivelihoods, leading to violent conflicts,\" the 90-page report
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The report detailed cases where protesting local residents had
\nbeen attacked by club-wielding militias paid by the paper
\ncompanies.<\/p>\n
The report, for instance, singled out Indonesia's largest pulp
\nproducer Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) for being \"complicit\" in a
\nstring of bloody attacks by security forces on villagers
\ndemonstrating against logging activities by APP and its forestry
\nunit, Arara Abadi.<\/p>\n
\"APP and its sister company Arara Abadi have been complicit in
\nhuman rights abuses,\" the report said. \"They also benefited from
\nstate security forces that intimidated, harassed, and assaulted
\nvillagers who opposed the company's operations and its
\nacquisition of land.\"<\/p>\n
\"The acquiescence of state security forces and, sometimes,
\ntheir direct assistance in the company militia attacks has meant
\nthat villagers have nowhere to go for help,\" said Jendrzejczyk.<\/p>\n
\"The lack of rule of law and spiraling rural violence
\nthreatens not only the well-being of rural communities, but also
\nforeign investment and national economic growth,\" he added.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for Indonesia's Sinar Mas Group, which controls
\nAPP, said he was unaware of the Human Rights Watch report.<\/p>\n
The land disputes are likely to complicate the Singapore-based
\ncompany's efforts to restructure its US$13.9 billion debt with
\ninternational creditors, the group said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/paper-industry-accused-of-rights-abuses-1447893297",
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