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Rights body identifies violations in Sidoarjo disaster areas
The National Commission on Human Rights says the displacement of thousands of mudflow victims from their homes in the East Java town of Sidoarjo could be classified as a human rights violation
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The National Commission on Human Rights says the displacement of thousands of mudflow victims from their homes in the East Java town of Sidoarjo could be classified as a human rights violation.
The commission said based on the team’s findings, it was highly unlikely the incident was a natural phenomenon, but was instead caused by PT Lapindo Brantas Inc., a mining company owned by the family of Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.
Commission deputy head Hesti Amirwulan told a press conference Wednesday that essentially the mining company should be held responsible for the devastating consequences of the mudflow disaster.
Besides displacing around 13,000 families from their homes, the mudflow also led to an explosion at a gas pipeline belonging to state-oil firm PT Pertamina, which killed 14 people.
“There were deaths and injuries, and thousands of people displaced from their homes. The military was mobilized in the now-inundated areas to control the disaster,” Hesti said.
“It is the commission’s task to see whether or not gross rights violations indeed took place.”
The commission agreed in its plenary session Tuesday on the immediate establishment of an ad hoc investigation team to collect evidence related to the Sidoarjo case.
Law No. 26/2000 on the Human Rights Court classifies the widespread, systematic eviction of people from their homes a gross human rights violation.
The commission also found that violations of at least 15 economic, social and cultural rights of mudflow victims occurred during the displacement process.
Some of these included the right to settlement, food, health, education, security and the right to live and work.
The commission slammed the central government for issuing regulations that failed to protect the victims while blaming local administrations for acting too slowly and showing negligence in dealing with victims and their rights.
It also accused central and local politicians of not paying sufficient attention to the resolving the mudflow case early enough.
“The Lapindo mudflow disaster is an extraordinary case but is being handled in an ordinary way,” it said.
The commission will send copies of its report to the government, the East Java and Sidoarjo administrations, the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency (BPLS), the Attorney General’s Office and PT Lapindo Brantas.
