Indonesia: Land disputes: Lessons from West Papua | Land Portal

By: Richard Welford
Date: March 16th 2016
Source: CSR Asia

A new report compiled by the Brisbane Catholic Justice and Peace Commission’s Shadow Human Rights Fact Finding Mission to West Papua, has documented human rights abuses and the complicity of businesses in West Papua.

The report documents religious, social and economic discrimination, including how the use of land for major developments has benefited multinationals has excluded Papuans from ownership and jobs. The government is accused of carving up land and giving it to some 50 multinational companies.

The report accuses local government of inviting companies to come to the area and gives them permits for operations. Local villagers are often shocked when the companies arrive, showing them the permit and the map. If the villagers don’t agree to the proposal, the company goes back to the local government and returns with the police. There is clear evidence of ongoing violence, intimidation and harassment by the Indonesian security forces, according to the report.

The controversy in West Papua demonstrates that while commercial investment in land has the potential to contribute to economic development opportunities, it is often a major source of controversy and conflict over land tenure. The recent increase in large scale land deals in Asia has benefited domestic elites as well as foreign investors. However, development opportunities have often been missed or even reversed where land acquisition has disadvantaged local communities and especially the poor, indigenous peoples, women and other vulnerable groups.

Weak land governance systems, powerful elites, corruption, inequality and power imbalances feed into practices where communities are evicted from land, customary land use rights are ignored, community land is sold and compensation is inadequate. Poor, marginalised and vulnerable people and communities often lack the power to advance their interests and have little recourse to grievance mechanisms. Moreover, it is not only large scale land deals that impact on poor people but also smaller scale “land grabs” that have disregarded smallholders when their land is taken away.

The private sector has a role to play in helping to protect the land rights of vulnerable and marginalised people and in ensuring that human rights associated with land tenure issues are not abused. Businesses can play an important part in protecting smallholders and communities along their value chains through more inclusive business practices. In so-doing they will benefit from a healthy and secure supply chain.

By being part of the solution to strengthening land rights, businesses need to be part of multi-stakeholder initiatives aimed at protecting the poor and vulnerable. The role of smallholders and fair practices in integrating small producers in value chains is a key focus for sustainable business practices in both agriculture and aquaculture where small producers often lose out to big business over land and resource rights.

As part of a commitment to the protection of land rights for local communities, initiatives to make value chains more inclusive can help to give communities, local indigenous peoples and women a greater role in determining land use and changes in that use. Responsible and inclusive business practices should therefore consider land rights, including sustainable natural resource use, efforts to counter land grabbing practices, the effective management of business impacts on land and the risks associated with conflicts.

What is needed in places like West Papua is proactive business engagement in respecting land rights and ensuring responsible and inclusive practices associated with land use, access to natural resources and development opportunities. In the long run, businesses will benefit from such an approach.

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Photo source: Axel Drainville via Flickr/Creative Commons (CC By-NC-ND 2.0). Photo: © Axel Drainville

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