Indonesia: Investigate Suspicious Death of Environmental Human Rights Defender

Inclusive Development International joins civil society groups around the world in calling on the Indonesian government to launch a thorough and transparent investigation into the suspicious death of environmental human rights defender, Golfrid Siregar.
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In solidarity with Indonesian colleagues, Inclusive Development International joins civil society groups around the world in calling on the Indonesian government to launch a thorough and transparent investigation into the suspicious death of environmental human rights defender, Golfrid Siregar.  We call on the Indonesian government to urgently protect its human rights defenders.

Inclusive Development International is participating in an international action to deliver the shared concerns of over 200 civil society groups on this issue to Indonesian Embassies around the world. Groups across Asia, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and others will personally deliver our collective letter of solidarity and concern to Indonesian Embassies.

On October 6, 2019, long time environmental human rights defender Golfrid Siregar died under extremely suspicious circumstances in North Sumatra, Indonesia.  Siregar had been found a few days earlier lying gravely injured on the side of the road.  Although local Indonesian police claimed his death was the result of a traffic accident, the circumstances raise questions. His injuries did not reflect those of being in a fatal crash or accident – his clothes and body showed no scrapes or tears, and his motorcycle was relatively undamaged. Soil was found on Siregar’s body, even though the area in which he was found was paved. No bloodstains were found in the area.

As an environmental lawyer, Siregar worked with the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI) on a number of high profile and controversial environmental lawsuits in North Sumatra, including sand mining, palm oil plantations, and other projects opposed by local communities. Recently, he was involved in advocacy around the Batang Toru Dam project, which if built, would dispossess local communities of their livelihoods and threaten an entire orangutan species with extinction. Significantly, Siregar had been involved in exposing a major forgery in the environmental impact assessment in the Batang Toru case and had recently raised concerns about potentially illegal activities of local North Sumatran police regarding their management of criminal investigations related to the case.

There is an increasing trend of harassment and criminalization of human rights defenders around the world, including in Indonesia. Siregar’s death is a tragic example.  Human rights defenders in Indonesia are facing ongoing threats and intimidation for their efforts to protect Indonesia’s environment and its people. In the face of such injustice and danger, we refuse to stay silent. The Indonesian government should take urgent, immediate steps to protect human rights defenders. We believe that they are their country’s best and brightest, putting their lives on the line in the hopes of making their home more safe and more just.

Indonesian Civil Society Organizations have issued a joint statement calling on the Indonesian government to urgently take these actions. The joint statement can be found here.

Inclusive Development International’s letter to Indonesian Ambassador in Washington, DC Mahendra Siregar can be found here.

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