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Pari Islanders fighting the occupation of their territory were given a glimmer of hope last month after a prominent environmental defender, Pak Sulaiman, was found not guilty of a land breach.

"Currently, we, the indigenous people, traditional villagers and forest people, and the places where we are living are under pressure and face sustained injustice and social tension due to large-scale “development’ activities conducted by plantation and commercial logging companies."

A landmark declaration in 2010 brought human rights abuses by business activities into the spotlight. Since 2017, we have seen significant advances in legislating requirements for human rights due diligence in key markets, and in 2018 negotiations began on a possible Binding Treaty on business and human rights.

Delegates at the 8th Southeast Asian regional conference on Human Rights and Business in Chiang Khong, Thailand have released the Mekong Statement, committing to strengthening collaboration on confronting human rights abuses related to business activities in the region.

Indonesian, Liberian and International NGOs have just filed five (5) new complaints against Indonesia’s largest palm oil company, Golden Agri Resources (GAR), after its failure to comply with RSPO standards.

Indonesian NGOs have protested strongly to the Indonesian government authorities and RSPO about an incident they recorded on 18th December 2017, when police security forces shot and wounded two farmers. The shootings allegedly took place in one of Wilmar International’s oil palm plantations in Central Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has upheld a complaint by Forest Peoples Programme against logging company PT Kemakmuran Berkah Timber (PT KBT).