PEKANBARU, The Indonesia Herald — Indonesia's government is
formulating new policy measures to strengthen legal protections for
environmental defenders and journalists facing intimidation, threats, and
criminal prosecution, a senior human rights official said on Saturday (22/8).
Deputy Human Rights Minister Mugiyanto told a public
gathering in Pekanbaru, Riau province, that state policy must undergo a
paradigm shift to place human rights and ecological conservation at the core of
national development planning rather than treating them as secondary concerns.
"Environmental defenders are part of human rights
defenders. They must be protected and cannot be intimidated or criminalized
simply for defending the environment and community rights," Mugiyanto said
at the event organized by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI).
Rights organizations in Southeast Asia's largest economy
have repeatedly raised concerns about the harassment, arbitrary detention, and
criminalization of activists and indigenous groups opposing land clearing,
resource extraction, and major infrastructure projects.
Mugiyanto noted that the planned policy framework aims to
shield both environmental advocates and journalists who report on community
rights violations. He added that civil society participation remains crucial to
identifying ground-level problems and ensuring state development initiatives do
not disregard constitutional protections.
"There is a paradigm shift that we are promoting,"
Mugiyanto said. "Human rights and the environment, which were previously
often on the margins, must now be placed in the center, becoming part of the
core of development."
Eko Yunanda, executive director of WALHI's Riau regional
chapter, stressed that environmental protection policies must be tied directly
to safeguards for residents defending their customary lands and natural
habitats.
"When people fight for the environment, at the same
time they are defending their living space and the rights of future
generations," Yunanda said. "Therefore, protecting them is an
inseparable part of environmental advocacy."
The initiative marks a growing acknowledgment by Indonesian
authorities of the legal pressures faced by grassroots activists, though civil
society groups continue to press for binding statutory reforms to guarantee
practical immunity from retaliatory lawsuits and criminal charges.
