Human rights organizations and government institutions of Southeast Asia formed a joint statement after a four-day workshop in Bali, Indonesia, this past November. The workshop was convened by the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission and organized by Forest Peoples Programme and Indonesian NGO SawitWatch, with participation of 60 individuals from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia.
The workshop focused on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and challenges they face from agribusiness such as palm oil, an expanding market that has displaced Indigenous peoples in many countries in South East Asia and around the world.
As a result of the discussions, the group published the Bali Declaration on Human Rights and Agribusiness in South East Asia. The document delineates companies’ legal obligations to respect human rights even when national laws in the country of operation do not fully respect or enforce those rights. The Declaration also calls on states to protect their citizens from the new threats of agribusiness, and highlights the need to uphold the right of Indigenous peoples to Free, Prior and Informed Consent on any projects that affect the lands they have traditionally occupied.
The Declaration comes at a useful time for the Kuy people of Cambodia who are struggling against expandingagribusinesses and logging within the Prey Lang forest, where the Kuy people have been living in a sustainable way for generations.
For more information on the workshop, see the Forest Peoples’ Programme report of the event, here.
View the contents of the Bali Declaration here.
See our action alert to protect the Prey Lang forest in Cambodia, here.
