Indigenous rights
The main Conference statement made the following points on indigenous rights:
* Development benefits do not reach indigenous peoples (masyarakat adat) because, inter alia, current laws do not adequately respect and protect indigenous land rights and there is no acknowledgement of indigenous institutions. Indigenous peoples are losing their land to industrial and infrastructure development, to forestry, mining and commercial real estate. Laws favour big business and are corruptly administered.
* The emphasis on growth leads to the commodification of land and the conversion of land from agriculture to other uses and gives rise to land disputes.
* The government is often coercive in implementing land policies, for example, in resettlement of people and seizure of land for 'public purposes' with little or no compensation and use of the military and physical violence.
* There are no adequate mechanisms for challenging government policies.
* INFID proposes an alternative vision which recognises the social value of land, promotes equitable distribution of development benefits, respects indigenous concepts and restrains the state and the market.
* Indonesia should recognise the existence of indigenous peoples and their rights by ratifying ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and other relevant UN instruments.
* Indonesia should support the development of the new UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
* The Basic Agrarian Law and other laws should be reformed to protect indigenous people's rights to manage their land and natural resources according to their own traditions. This should be done in consultation with indigenous communities.
* The World Bank/ AusAID Land Administration Project should be conducted in accordance with World Bank policies on information disclosure, the environment and indigenous peoples and should include meaningful partnership with the communities likely to be affected.
* Accessible land arbitration tribunals should be created to help settle land disputes and provide proper compensation.
* Democratisation and respect for human rights are fundamental to equitable development.
Freeport
The Conference also made a statement on the Freeport mine in Irian Jaya:
* INFID welcomed Freeport's public condemnation of human rights violation in and around its concession area, but stated Freeport has corporate responsibility for what happened and for the prevention of further abuses in the area.
* Freeport should work for a reduction of the military presence in Tembagapura and Timika, fully cooperate with all human rights investigations and encourage the establishment of an independent human rights body in Timika.
* INFID supports the efforts of indigenous communities to resolve their conflicts with Freeport through mediation and rejected Freeport's publicly advertised claim that it has finalised an agreement with local indigenous leaders.
* The Dames and Moore report is not a seal of approval of Freeport's environmental performance but contains many valuable recommendations.
* INFID welcomes Freeport's call for cooperation from NGOs but called for Freeport to stop its attacks on WALHI.
The full text of these statements and the other Conference
statements on labour, nuclear energy and the Ujung Pandang affair
are available from ACFOA, PO Box 1160, Collingwood Vic 3066,
Australia, tel (03) 9417 7505, fax (03) 9416 2746. Also available
from this address are (1) A set of the 18 Conference background
papers (AU$25.00 + p/h), (2) Dossiers on the labour and Freeport
public forums which preceded the INFID Conference (AU$5.00 +
p/h).
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