Rights violations rife in mining areas, NGO says

JAKARTA (JP): Violations of indigenous people's basic rights are rife in the operations areas of PT Kelian Equatorial Mining in East Kalimantan and PT Freeport Indonesia in Irian Jaya, according to an influential non-governmental organization.

The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, which conducted an investigation into human rights issues in the mining areas, recorded eight gross human rights violations allegedly committed by the government and the companies.

The basic rights the state and the companies violated include unwarranted arrests, the loss of rights to a decent life, freedom from fear and freedom from torture and violence by public officials, the institute reported.

Other violations that the NGO found include the loss of people's source of income, children's right to protection, and adequate health standards.

"People's right to determine their destiny, for instance, has been curtailed with the establishment of the mining plants," Dianto Bachriadi, who led the field survey from October to December last year in Kelian in East Kalimantan and Timika in Irian Jaya, said.

According to Dianto, there are at least three causes of the violations: the state's denial of indigenous people's ownership of ancestral land, the state's denial of the indigenous people's social structure, and the forced takeover of the people's land to make way for mining projects.

"The first situation is what happened to Amungme and Kamoro tribespeople in Irian Jaya whose property was taken away just like that for the establishment of Freeport mining projects," Dianto, who was accompanied by the institute's chairman Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, said.

"It also happened to the Bahau and Dayak people who live in Kelian and along the Mahakam river in East Kalimantan whose property was appropriated for the establishment of Kelian mining projects."

The government, he said, does not respect the traditional social structure of the Amungme and Dayak tribespeople.

"They've been ignored by the state in several negotiations with both PT Freeport and Kelian Equatorial Mining," he said.

A 1967 law on mining puts natives in a weak position as far as land acquisition is concerned. This, according to Dianto, often left people with no choice but to surrender their property.

"This particular law also allows the government to decide policies on land appropriation to be used in mining projects without consulting the natives," he said.

With the termination of people's right to determine their own fate, Dianto said, the people also lost their right to work on their own land, and consequently lost their source of income. (08)