FSC to investigate renewed complaints of human rights violations by Roda Mas Group

Bonn, Germany, 4 June 2020

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) today announced it would investigate claims of human rights violations against the Indonesian indigenous community of Long Isun.

FSC notified Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) that the Policy for Association (PfA) complaint brought on behalf of the community against Roda Mas Group (RMG) has been formally accepted for investigation. This is the second FSC complaint filed against RMG and its affiliated companies in the last three years by the community of Long Isun.

Due to delays caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the results of any investigation are not expected to be published until May 2021, during which time the parties to the complaint – Long Isun and RMG – are expected to come to an agreement addressing the outstanding grievances.

The acceptance of the complaint provides Long Isun – an Dayak Bahau Busaang community in Mahakam Ulu District, East Kalimantan – with the first opportunity to test the robustness of FSC’s complaint mechanism as a remedy procedure whereby RMG is held accountable for the serious human rights violations carried out during its forestry operations since 2013. These abuses range from the intimidation and criminalisation of community leaders, to the destruction of thousands of hectares of rainforest, ancient burial sites, hunting grounds and critical water sources – all of which took place without community consent and have contributed to the erosion of Long Isun’s traditional livelihoods.

Under FSC’s rules, companies in a corporate group associated with the FSC are prohibited from violating traditional and human rights across all their operations. The FSC policy aims to ‘uphold the legal and customary rights of local communities’ and prevent its certificate holders from conducting ‘unacceptable forest-related activities harmful to FSC’s reputation’. RMG’s treatment of Long Isun over the last decade has breached both the FSC’s standard and the trust of the community. Operating through its subsidiary, PT Kemakmuran Berkah Timber (KBT), the logging outfit obtained a forestry business permit (Hak Pengusahaan Hutan) from the government in 2008 to an area covering 82,810 hectares – some 13,150 hectares of which overlaps the traditional territory of Long Isun.

The Long Isun community did not become aware that their territory was inside the company’s logging concession until KBT bulldozers and chainsaws started to cut the community’s forests in 2013. The conflict quickly escalated with one prominent community leader imprisoned in 2014 and others threatened with criminalization.

Tipung Ping, a member of Long Isun’s women’s farming cooperative, is one of hundreds of Long Isun’s residents to have opposed KBT’s operations since they began in 2013.

 

“We don’t want any company to disturb our land, the land of our ancestors. Before the company came, we lived in peace. Our lives were tranquil”.

 

– Tipung Ping, Long Isun

These words are echoed by another Long Isun women, Patrisia Awing. “The forest, our land, our rivers are the mothers that give birth to our way of life. This is our home where we hunt, farm and collect our medicines. It is our responsibility to care and look after her, a task passed from generation to generation. This is not easy, but we know if we don’t do this, the destruction of our forests will be the extinction of our identity as a Dayak people”.

It was this resilience that drove Long Isun to assert their right to say ‘no’ to logging operations imposed on them without their consent.

Martha Doq, the director of local NGO, Perkumpulan Nurani Perempuan (PNP), said that her organisation “welcomes the news that FSC will investigate this second complaint in the hope that FSC will do justice to the peoples of Long Isun who have suffered for a decade under RMG’s operations that have severely damaged numerous Dayak sub-tribes of the Upper Mahakam.”

“This could be the crucial step to providing proper remedy for the numerous human rights and environmental abuses RMG and KBT have committed over the years,” she said.

These hopes were shared by Long Isun’s village representatives. In a message to local partners, Yosep Silam, Long Isun’s newly elected leader, said “The community feels buoyed by the response from FSC. We hope that the FSC will encourage the company [RMG] to compensate Long Isun for the extensive damage to our customary lands”.  

Silam added that there is a desire for the disputes process “to guarantee that [RMG] companies will never again carry out forestry operations on the traditional territories of Long Isun”.

It is hoped through this process, the community will finally be able to put this painful chapter behind them.

Background to the complaint

In 2017, the long-standing tenurial conflict was formalised through the first PfA complaint submitted with the help of the local indigenous women’s rights organisation, Perkumpulan Nurani Perempuan (PNP). That complaint resulted in KBT losing its FSC Responsible Forest Management certificate. Crucially, however, the wider company group continued to hold the coveted FSC seal. All the while Long Isun and local activists have steadfastly insisted on recognition of their customary rights and have demanded remedy for the damages caused by KBT’s operations carried out without their consent on their lands.

These efforts compelled an Indonesian Forestry Ministry Commission to look into the community’s complaint which culminated in an agreement between the Mahakam Ulu District government, RMG and Long Isun in 2018. The agreement stated that the community’s lands inside the company’s concession would be recognised as customary forest.

“The agreement was not implemented” said Cristina Yeq Lawing, Long Isun’s spiritual leader. “The company continues to operate as if nothing has happened. This makes our people very worried that our forests will again be under attack. You see, you kill our culture when you cut our trees.”

“For generations we have managed our forests and you can see it is still virgin. The emergence of [RMG] onto our land is extremely detrimental to our way of life. When our forests are damaged, our living space is threatened, and our water sources polluted, ” said Lawing.

Since the 2018 agreement, community members continued to be intimidated by RMG company representatives and threatened with retribution should Long Isun not accept the company’s presence on their ancestral lands. It is this continued lack of respect for Long Isun’s traditional rights that spurred the community into taking further action against RMG through FSC’s dispute resolution mechanism.

Explaining the reasoning for this second course of action, Cristina Yeq said “The community does not want the forest to be damaged again by RMG’s activities. By giving us back the rights to our land, you are not only saving the forest, you are saving the peoples that depend on the forest to survive.”

For further information

Angus MacInnes: Tel: +44(0)7526819460 Email: angus@forestpeoples.org