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ExxonMobil: stop killing for gas

TAPOL joins international day of action against ExxonMobil and demands accountability for human rights abuses in Aceh, Indonesia

10 July 2001

TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, will tomorrow add its voice to all those around the world calling for drastic action to improve ExxonMobil's abysmal record on the environment and human rights.

Over the past three decades, ExxonMobil (formerly Mobil Oil) has spent millions of dollars in hiring Indonesian security forces to protect company natural gas extraction facilities in Aceh in full knowledge that troops were committing gross violations of human rights against civilians.

Carmel Budiardjo of TAPOL says:

"Justice requires ExxonMobil to account for the suffering of Acehnese citizens at the hands of security forces employed to protect company assets. While ExxonMobil and the Indonesian Government enjoy massive revenues from the company's operations, local people are abused and denied a fair return on their own resources".

A law suit filed against the company in Washington DC, US on 11 June 2001 on behalf of 11 Acehnese victims implicates the company in serious rights abuses including crimes against humanity, torture and sexual violence.

According to the lawsuit, by the time of the merger of Exxon and Mobil in 1999, there was a 'clear public record of pervasive and systematic human rights violations perpetrated upon the innocent non-combatant villagers of Aceh by the [armed forces] troops hired to provide "security"' for the project.

This included provision of two military barracks used by Kopassus (special forces) units to interrogate, torture and murder Acehnese civilians suspected of engaging in separatist activities. It also included the provision of heavy equipment so that the Indonesian military could dig mass graves and the use of roads constructed by the company to tranport victims to the graves located near the company premises.

ExxonMobil has ignored pleas by numerous human rights groups to cease its operations in Aceh until it can make arrangements to operate without using the armed forces for security. TAPOL supports this demand and urges the US authorities to investigate ExxonMobil's involvement in human rights violations by Indonesian troops.

Aceh, with a population of four-and-a-half million, is located on the north-western tip of Sumatra. It is resource-rich in natural gas and has been supplying the Indonesian State with around $2 billion a year in revenue. Liquefied natural gas accounts for a fifth of Indonesia's exports, of which a third comes from Aceh. Only a fraction of this wealth has benefited the Acehnese.

Widespread and systematic violations of human rights have been committed by the security forces in operations to crush the separatist, Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Unarmed civilians have borne the brunt of the atrocities, but no attempt has been made to bring those responsible to justice. A new military operation, which started on 2 May 2001, has as one of its aims the resumption of ExxonMobil operations, halted earlier for security reasons. An additional 2,000 troops have been deployed to the site of company's operations. Over 900 people have been killed in Aceh this year, the majority civilians.

ENDS

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