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Just Earth!

Indonesia –

A culture of impunity for human rights violations continues to prevail in Indonesia despite efforts at political reform by the administration of Megawati Sukarnoputri. According to a 2003 U.S. State Department report, the Indonesian government's human rights record remains poor. Indonesian security forces continue to commit numerous severe human rights violations, including arbitrary shootings of civilians, torture, rape, beatings, and other violations. The most egregious of these violations are committed in the oil and mineral rich regions of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) and Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya), sites of two of the largest U.S. corporate investments in Indonesia.

Land disputes are a major source of tension throughout Indonesia, including in the mineral rich areas inhabited by Indigenous peoples. Compensation for appropriated land is often minimal or nonexistent. Decisions regarding development projects, resource-use concessions, and other economic activities are generally carried out without participation or informed consent of the affected communities. As noted in a U.S. State Department human rights report, when the interests of Indigenous people clash with those promoting private sector development projects, the developers almost always prevail.

ExxonMobil in NAD

ExxonMobil operates a major natural gas facility in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) where the armed opposition group, the Free Aceh Movement (Garakan Ache Merkada, GAM), has been fighting Indonesia troops for decades. Mobil Oil began operating the Arun gas fields in 1968 through a production sharing agreement with Pertamina, the Indonesia State Oil Company. This led to the creation of PT Arun, a joint venture that includes Pertamina, 55 percent; Mobil Oil Indonesia (MOI), a wholly owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil, 30 percent; and Japanese-Indonesia Liquid Natural Gas Company, 15 percent. The joint venture began producing and exporting oil and liquid natural gas in 1978. After Exxon bought Mobil in 1999, the merged company, ExxonMobil, took over the operation of the Arun gas fields. Today ExxonMobil has exclusive drilling rights to the Arun gas fields in NAD and the company has taken drastic measures to protect its investments.

Government and Military Relations
ExxonMobil has from the very beginning forged close relationships with the Indonesian government, initially that of General Suharto (1966-1998), and the Indonesian military, known for its history of grave human rights violations in Indonesia. The company hasdescribed its close relationship with the government of General Suharto as mutually beneficial. For example, ExxonMobil's contract with Indonesia requires it to pay the government for military and police presence around its sphere of operations. Reports by human rights organizations have documented instances where soldiers guarding ExxonMobil's operations have tortured and killed civilians.

Since 1992, ExxonMobil has been receiving complaints of human rights violations perpetrated by government security forces operating around its facilities. There have been regular reports of harassment, intimidation, torture, rape, “disappearances,” and extrajudicial execution of Acehnese civilians. A Business Week investigation conducted in late 1998 revealed that Indonesia security forces perpetrated serious human rights abuses including torture, kidnapping, and murder on or near P.T. Arun's property, which is jointly owned by ExxonMobil and Pertamina. The article also alleged that the company provided "crucial logistical support to the army," that ExxonMobil's buildings and facilities were used for interrogating and torturing local people, and that equipment was used to dig mass graves following reports of a massacre in the neighboring village of Bukit Sentang. In August 2001, the Asia edition of Time Magazine reported that ExxonMobil paid the soldiers that protect its sites and that local people would eagerly "line up to tell stories of abuse and murders committed by the troops they call Exxon's Army."

ExxonMobil has sought to defend itself from these allegations and avoid responsibility by professing ignorance. When confronted with allegations of complicity in human rights violations, former Mobil Chairman, Lucio Noto responded, "(i)f anything happened because someone used the equipment in a wrong way, I'm sorry about that." The president of Pertamina denied that the joint venture had financed government troops in Indonesia but conceded that it provided health, housing, and transportation facilities for the military.

Citing security concerns, ExxonMobil announced on March 9, 2001 that it had closed three of its liquid natural gas fields in NAD. Following the company's decision to suspend operations, the Indonesia military increased its operations in the region. On March 12, 2001, the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid, under pressure from the military, ordered a "limited security operation" against the GAM insurgents in NAD. The suspension of operations in NAD had serious repercussions on the economy of Indonesia and underscored the influence of ExxonMobil on the government of Indonesia. ExxonMobil resumed its operations four months later when faced with threats against its interests by the Indonesian government. Unfortunately, it failed to use its influence to insist on an end to human rights abuses in NAD as a condition of its return to the region.

Seeking Accountability
On June 20, 2001, the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) filed a civil suit in the U.S. under the Alien Tort Claims Act against ExxonMobil on behalf of 11 villagers in NAD. The ILRF charged that the company "contracted with the Indonesia military to provide security for its Arun natural gas project and controlled and directed the units assigned to it." The suit alleges that ExxonMobil is complicit in these human rights abuses with Pertamina and that the company looked the other way as the military terrorized Acehnese villagers.

ExxonMobil denies these allegations. The company also successfully petitioned the U.S. State Department to issue an opinion in the case. On July 29, 2002, the State Department asked a federal judge to dismiss the ILRF lawsuit against ExxonMobil. In making its argument, the State Department claimed the case would interfere with U.S. foreign policy, harm the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism, and diminish the U.S. government's efforts to promote human rights in Indonesia. Shortly before the U.S. government sent its opinion to the judge, the Indonesian Ambassador to the U.S. sent a letter to Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State, warning that the lawsuit "will definitely compromise the serious efforts of the Indonesia government to guarantee the safety of foreign investments, including in particular those from the United States." The U.S. Administration’s position clearly subordinates human rights concerns to commercial interests, and a July 2004 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court supporting deference to the foreign policy concerns of the Executive branch suggests that this position might prevail.

ExxonMobil's situation is symptomatic of the dilemma faced by big multinational oil and mining companies when they do business in politically unstable regions and under the protection of ill-trained and unaccountable foreign armies that have little or no respect for human rights.

Freeport McMoRan's Grasberg Mine operations destroy the Papua landscape. (© Panos)

Freeport-McMoRan in Papua

U.S. based Freeport-McMoRan is one of the world's largest producers of copper and gold. It is also one of the most environmentally destructive companies in the world with serious links to human rights abuses. For more than three decades, PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), a majority owned subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan, has operated the world's largest copper and gold mining operation in the Papuan district of Mimika. The operation has deprived the Indigenous Amungme and Kamoro peoples of West Papua of their basic human rights and continues to cause a negative impact on the environment.

Early seeds of conflict with Indigenous communities were sown when PTFI signed its first Contract of Work (COW) with Indonesia's newly established New Order government headed by General Suharto in April 1967. That was two years before Indonesia exerted full sovereign control over Papua.

The COW drafted by Freeport provided the company with broad powers over the local Indigenous population and resources, including the right to take land and other property and to resettle Indigenous inhabitants while providing "reasonable compensation" only for dwelling and other permanent improvements. The agreement disregarded Kamoro and Amungme customary land rights and provided inadequate protection for their right to livelihood, adequate housing, food, health, and right to practice their cultures. It also ensured that the Indigenous population had no legally available right of refusal, of informed consent, or right toadequate compensation. The contract gave Freeport the right "to take and use" on a tax free basis the water, timber, soil, and other natural resources in the project area and other parts of the territory. No social or environmental impact assessment of the project was required or conducted.

Under international human rights law, all peoples have the right to self-determination and to sovereignty over all their natural resources. Freeport's mining operation has caused massive, permanent, and increasingly disruptive damage to the lives of the Indigenous inhabitants. With their sacred mountains and religious sites destroyed, their cultural rights and ability to subsist decimated, the Amungme people are being forced to relocate to make room for mining operations.

Environmental Damage
In addition to taking over the land and resources, the company dumps at least 200,000 tons of tailings into local waters everyday, spreading deadly pollutants over vast areas. The Indonesian government approved a request from Freeport to raise production capacity to 300,000 tons of ore per day in 1997. A deadly landslide occurred in May 2000 prompting WALHI, Indonesia's leading environmental organization, to launch a case against Freeport. On 28 August 2001, WAHLI scored a landmark victory when the South Jakarta District Court declared Freeport guilty of violating Indonesian environmental law. The company was ordered to reform its waste management systems, and the court ruled that Freeport had deliberately concealed information and given false and inaccurate explanations, thereby misleading the public. Despite this ruling, another deadly landslide occurred on 9 October 2003, killing two workers, with anothersix missing and presumed dead.

Government and Military Relations
The Indonesia military and Freeport have sought to block efforts by local communities to address their grievances concerning both the mining operations and human rights violations. In May 1998, Indonesian security forces barred Amungme community leader and 2001 Goldman Environmental Prize recipient, Yosepha Alomang from traveling to London, where she was scheduled to give a speech critical of Freeport to Rio Tinto shareholders and management at the company's Annual General Meeting. In 1994, Indonesian soldiers had held Yosepha prisoner, torturing and interrogating her for one month for allegedly giving food to Papuan fighters resisting Indonesian sovereignty and Freeport's land seizures.

Freeport maintains close ties to the Indonesian military that has been accused of serious human rights abuses. Since the early 1970s, the Indonesia military has used Freeport infrastructures (airport, roads, port site) for military operations against Papuan civilians and the Free Papua Organization (Organisasi Papua Merdeka - OPM), a poorly armed independence movement. Reports by the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELSHAM), Papua's leading human rights organization, and other Indonesian academic researchers have documented more than 150 cases of individual killings of Amungme and other Indigenous peoples in and around the mine since the 1970s, as well as hundreds of additional deaths amongst these populations from illness and injury due to forced relocation and military attacks. Amnesty International is not able to independently verify these reports,however, allegations of human rights violations were also made in a report by the Catholic Bishop of Jayapura, the capital of Papua. The report included details of human rights violations including 16 extrajudicial executions, four “disappearances,” arbitrary detentions and torture between December 1994 and May 1995. Like other earlier reports, it alleged the involvement of PT Freeport Indonesia security officers in the violations and the use of PT Freeport security posts and equipment for detaining individuals. Those detained by soldiers included Amungme community leader Yosepha Alomang. PT Freeport Indonesia have denied the allegations.

Freeport also provides financial and logistical support to the Indonesia military and police. The police provide security for Freeport COW areas and elements of the military have been known to incite violence and unrest to wrest more money and concessions from Freeport. According to figures cited in a report presented to the International Conference on Soldiers in Business in Jakarta, Freeport reportedly agreed to pay the military a one-time sum of $35 million, to be supplemented by an annual donation of $11 million. Citing internal company documents, a July 10, 2000 article in the London New Statesman revealed that Freeport had paid for the construction of military headquarters, recreational facilities, parade grounds, and ammunition storage facilities. There have also been reports that company management ordered Freeport helicopter pilots to transport troops on patrol missions, which led to violent attacks on local populations both within and outside Freeport's COW area.

A confidential document, written in response to queries from Freeport’s shareholders who were said to be uncomfortable with Freeport’s security arrangements in Papua, was leaked to the media in February 2003.It revealed that Freeport McMoran paid the Indonesian military $5.6m in 2002and $4.7m in 2001 to protect their employees at Papua's Grasberg mine. The money paid for the employment of about 2,300 personnel, and covered costs for housing, fuel, travel and vehicle repairs. The military has also been accused of taking part in the ambush and murder of two American teachers and a Freeport employee in 2002.

Both the Indonesian police and ELSHAM have indicated that the military may have been involved in the attack by unidentified gunmen on a convoy of schoolteachers in August 2002, in which one Indonesian and the two U.S. citizens were killed. According to ELSHAM's report, a Freeport vehicle carrying members of the military was identified at the scene just prior to the attack. While the army has denied any role in the murders, shortly after news of the attack the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta described it as a "terrorist attack," despite the fact that only sketchy details were known.Amnesty International has urged the Indonesian authorities to carry out an independent and effective investigation into the killings and has also urged Freeport to use its influence to press for a proper resolution.

Starting in December 2003, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation sent agents to Papua three times to join an Indonesian team investigating the killings. After hearing reports from the team, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to block further military aid and training to the Indonesian military, stating that the shooting "appears likely to have been perpetrated at least in part by members of the Indonesian military." However, the Justice Department announced in June of 2004 that the joint investigation had led to the indictment of aPapuan who it is alleged is a member of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatist group. Local human rights groups contend that the attack, which took place in an area tightly controlled by the Indonesian military using automatic weapons, could not have been carried out without military support.

Seeking Accountability
In September 1995, Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights concluded that clear and identifiable human rights violations had occurred in and around Freeport's project area, including indiscriminate killings, torture, and inhuman or degrading treatment, unlawful arrest and arbitrary detention, disappearance, excessive surveillance, and destruction of property. The Commission stated that these violations "are directly connected to [the Indonesian army]...acting as protection for the mining business of PT Freeport Indonesia." Company officials have claimed that Freeport's COW requires it to provide logistical support to the Indonesian military and police; however, it includes no such stipulation.

Papuan community leaders and some of Freeport's U.S.-based institutional investors have called for an end to the company's support of the armed forces. Responding to concerns, Freeport's Board of Directors in 1999 adopted a Social and Human Rights Policy and subsequently instituted internal human rights monitoring. According to Business Week, the company has devoted little resources into the initiative and the policy is being only partially implemented.

The community has fought back with lawsuits and peaceful protests. In 1996, the Amungme tried unsuccessfully to sue the company in U.S. federal and state courts in Louisiana where the company is headquartered. Meanwhile, activists for socially responsible investment have pressured pension funds and other investors to either divest funds from Freeport, or to use their influence to force meaningful improvements in how Freeport deals with the Papuan community.

Continuing Human Rights Violations

Human rights defenders continue to be targets of violations in both NAD and Papua. At least 18 human rights defenders in NAD are believed to have been extrajudicially executed or “disappeared” between January 2000 and May 2003. Others have been arbitrarily detained and tortured. Harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in both provinces is also common place.

On December 4th 2002, the body of a 26-year old human rights defender and university student, Musliadi, was discovered in Sibreh village in NAD Besar. He had been taken from his office in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh four days earlier by unidentified men. It is believed that he may have been killed because of his human rights activities. At least eight other human rights activists have been killed in NAD since 1999 and three have "disappeared." Among the unresolved cases is that of three staff members of a humanitarian organization, Rehabilitation Action for Torture in Aceh (RATA), who were tortured before being extrajudicially executed on December 6, 2002. Four members of the military were arrested, but were later released because their detention order expired. Four civilians also arrested in connection to the killing of the RATA members escaped from police custody.

No one has been formally charged in these killings. No one has been arrested or brought to trial for the killings of U.S.-based Acehnese human rights activists, Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, either. He was abducted in Medan, North Sumatra in August 2000 and his badly tortured body was found the following month. Sukardi, a 30-year old staff member of the Indonesia Bamboo Thicket Institute, an environmental and community development group, disappeared on January 31, 2000 in Sawang Sub-district, South Aceh. His body was discovered the following day. He appeared to have been brutally tortured before being killed.

In Papua, human rights defenders have been subjected to harassment and intimidation. Members of ELSHAM have received death threats in connection with human rights investigations they have carried out including the investigation into the killings of the school teachers close to the Freeport mine in August 2002.Criminal charges of defamation were brought by the military against two members of ELSHAM after they alleged military involvement in the attack. ELSHAM lost the case and has been ordered to publicly apologize to the military and to pay a substantial fine.

US Position
As the world's largest Moslem country, Indonesia is a focus of President Bush's war on terror following the tragic terror attacks of September 11, 2001. The U.S. government has moved quickly in the aftermath of September 11th to reestablish military relations with the Indonesia government. Indonesia is now part of the alliance against the "global war on terror." Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced on July 29, 2002 that the Bush administration intends to resume aid and training for the Indonesian Army and pledged support for the country's territorial integrity. Amnesty International is concerned that such unconditional support for the Indonesian military may be regarded in Indonesia as tacit approval for continued repression in the oil and mineral-rich provinces of NAD and Papua.Thus,the U.S. government’s position is incompatible with promoting and protecting human rights in the country.

In June 2003, members of both houses of the U.S. Congress wrote tothe President and Secretary of State Colin Powell urging them“to ask the Indonesian government at the highest level to end the use of U.S. equipment in Aceh.” Instead, Powell subsequently pledged 50 million dollars to the country aimed at fighting terrorism, 47 million of which would go to Indonesian police. Most recently, a series of meetings between top US and Indonesian military advisors suggests that normalization of military relations between the two countries may be on the horizon.

Recent Developments
A ceasefire agreement between the Indonesian government and GAM was signed in December 2002. However,the agreement broke down and a military emergency was declared at midnight on 19 May 2003 in NAD. Since then,there has been a dramatic escalation in human rights abuses in the province. Although the military emergency was downgraded to a civil emergency in May 2004,the operations are continuing and human rights abuses by both the security forces and GAM are still being reported.

The gravity and pervasiveness of the abuses have adversely affected virtually all aspects of the lives of ordinary citizens . The military claims to have killed nearly 2,500 GAM members since May 2003 but local human rights activists believe that many of those killed were civilians. Amnesty International has itself received eyewitness accounts of extrajudicial killings. In addition, over 2,000 people are believed to have been detained since the beginning of the military emergency – the vast majority are believed to have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment which is routine in both military and police detention in NAD. Amnesty International is in possession of dozens of first hand testimonies of torture and ill-treatment through methods that included beatings, burning with cigarettes, having plastic bags placed over their heads, and electric shocks. It has also received credible accounts of rape and other forms of sexual violence against women. Hundreds of people have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment after unfair trials. Many of the convictions are based on confessions of GAM membership or support for GAM that have been extracted under torture.

Even after the official end of the military emergency in NAD, organizations that seek to protect human rights face constant threats, most often under the false pretense of alleged involvement with the GAM. "We are just normal villagers, but if you are in the age range of 14 to 45 you are considered GAM," said one refugee in a recent interview.In the past year and a half, at least 24 activists have been arrested. Six have been charged and put on trial. Although they have been accused of links with GAM,Amnesty International believes that most, if not all, have been detained solely on account of theirlegitimate human rights activities.

Among those arrested were five human rights and student activist in February 2004. All have since been released except for Iwan Irama Putra, a member of the Network of Lingke Students (Ikatan Mahasiswa dan Pelajar Lingke, IMPEL) whose activities include providing assistance to internally displaced persons. He has been charged with “rebellion” which carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment, or under some provisions, the death penalty.He has been accused of taking part in an attack on attack on Brimob (Brigade Mobil) post in 2000 in whichthree members of Brimob are alleged to have been killed. A female activist, Harlina, who is a member of the Aceh Democratic Women’s Organization (Organisasi Perempuan Aceh Demokratik, ORPAD), a group that works for the education and empowerment of women,was released on March 9, 2004 It is thought that she may still be a suspect in the case. Both Harlina and Iwan Irama Putra were reported to have been beaten in police custody.

In a separate case, two members of the humanitarian organization, the People’s Crisis Centre (PCC), are serving prison sentences of one year and one year and six months having been found guilty of rebellion. The two were accused of having links with GAM, but Amnesty International is concerned that the two men may have been arrested solely on account of their legitimate activities to provide assistance to internally displaced persons with the PCC.

Amnesty International is also concerned about recently received reports that the political activist, Muhammad Nazar, who is Chairman of the Aceh Information Referendum Center (Sentral Informasi Referendum Aceh, SIRA), and who was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in July 2003, has been beaten while in police custody. Amnesty International regards Muhammad Nazar as a prisoner of conscience and is calling for his unconditional and immediate release.

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