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Article

29 May 2014

Author:
Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Indonesia probes violations of indigenous rights in contested forests

Indonesia’s Human Rights Commission has launched the country’s first national inquiry into alleged human rights violations related to land conflicts involving indigenous people…Around 140 cases have been reported to Komnas HAM as part of the inquiry…[A] member of the Dayak Punan tribe, one of the oldest indigenous communities in Kalimantan, said his tribe has suffered as a result of the government’s policies, from “forced” migration to the granting of timber concessions in the tribe’s customary forests…[T]he Punan tribe’s 22,000 hectares of traditional forest are now threatened by timber concessions. “These companies ... come to our forests and just leave it damaged. They have destroyed fruit, trees, rattan and rubber which are the main commodities for the Punan people,” said Kaharuddin…