Rights violations rife in mining areas, NGO says
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)