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Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto delivering a keynote speech at a webinar by the Indigenous People of the Archipelago (AMAN) of Tana Luwu, Saturday (31/7/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham W. M.

Saturday, July 31, 2021 | 16:10 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto delivered one of the presentations at a webinar organized by the Indigenous People of the Archipelago (AMAN) of Tana Luwu on Saturday, July 31, 2021. In his presentation on “Human Rights Protection in Mining Areas,” Justice Aswanto described the relationship between mining companies and human rights.

He believes every human being has the right to enjoy a healthy environment, but mining companies often lead to pollution and human right violations. He said human rights reflected the times. Even a country’s democracy status depends on its effort to uphold human rights. If a country ignores the times and many human right violations occur, it can be ostracized internationally and embargoed economically.

Justice Aswanto said he had observed environmental damage due to mining in Tana Luwu, so the Mining Law reflects the state’s responsibility in selectively giving mining permits to companies and businesspeople, as the Constitution mandated that mining relates to the welfare of the people.

“Businesspeople and companies must be recorded and if any causes damage, they must be blacklisted. If pollution occurs, the state must play a role. In theory and in formal juridical terms, the government must be committed in conserving the environment, including the natural resources in Indonesia,” he said.

Not Degrading Constitution

Justice Aswanto said mining legislation should not degrade the provisions in the Constitution. In practice, this can be seen in the government’s stock ownership in mining companies. Meanwhile, in juridical terms, the state obviously intent to conserve the environment. For example, Justice Aswanto said, Law No. 3 of 2020 on Mineral and Coal Mining stipulates that the utilization of natural resources including mining should not cause environmental damage. This is echoed in the Law of Limited Liability Companies (PT), which stipulates that the community can sue companies for environmental damage not only financially. In addition, these companies are obligated to rehabilitate the environments that they damaged.

This is also in line with Article 74 of the Environment Law, which stipulates that compensation and initial efforts before the start of a mining business must take precautions so as not to damage the environment around the mine. With regard to mining businesses and community welfare, Justice Aswanto also observed the social phenomena in mining areas. He said mining communities should be prioritized to receive benefits from mining activities in their environment.

“The Constitutional Court in its decision has emphasized that mining companies who export mining products cannot export raw materials. They must process the raw materials first,” he revealed.

The webinar was organized by the Indigenous People of the Archipelago (AMAN) of Tana Luwu to answer the community’s questions of mining and the rights of indigenous peoples around mining areas, especially Tanah Luwu. Other speakers from various backgrounds also delivered presentations at the webinar—Tanah Luwu AMAN chairman Bata Manurun talked about “Indigenous People in Tana Luwu and Mining,” the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Bambang Hendroyono talked about “Forestry Development Policy”, while AMAN secretary-general Rukka Sombolinggi talked about “Mining and Indigenous Peoples.” The webinar was attended by 117 participants as well as North Luwu regent Indah Putri Indriani and East Luwu regent Budiman Hakim.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 8/2/2021 15:17 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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