Finally, I open the newspaper for the day and it hit me ... so this is what Elmat was ranting about:
news.ft.com
US tries to halt rights suit against Exxon
By Edward Alden in Washington
Published: August 5 2002 22:02 | Last Updated: August 5 2002 22:02
The US is trying to quash a human rights lawsuit launched by Indonesian villagers against Exxon Mobil, claiming it could undermine the war on terrorism.
The State Department warned that the action alleging complicity in human rights abuses by the oil group could have a "potentially serious adverse impact" on US interests and the struggle against terrorism.
The lawsuit was filed last year by the International Labour Rights Fund on behalf of 11 villagers in the Indonesian province of Aceh. They claim Exxon Mobil, which operates a natural gas field in the province, paid and directed Indonesian security forces that carried out murder, torture and rape in the course of protecting the company's operations in the 1990s.
Exxon Mobil has denied the allegations.
The US government's intervention will raise new questions about its commitment to human rights in Indonesia at a time when Congress is considering lifting restrictions on US training of Indonesian forces. Colin Powell, US secretary of state, said in Jakarta last week that he wants to see the two countries resume military ties that were suspended in 1999 after Indonesian security forces were implicated in a wave of violence in East Timor. Phil Reeker, State Department spokesman, said the US remained "very engaged with the human rights dialogue in Indonesia".
The State Department's intervention could kill the case, which was filed under a law that lets foreign citizens use US courts to hold American companies accountable for violations of international law. A similar case filed against Rio Tinto, the mining company, was dismissed this year when Washington warned it might harm US interests in Papua New Guinea.
In a letter to the US district court in Washington, the State Department's top legal adviser said a decision against Exxon "would . . . risk a potentially serious adverse impact on significant interests of the United States, including interests directly related to the on-going struggle against international terrorism".
The letter, released by plaintiffs on Monday, warns that Indonesia is so concerned about the secessionist movement in Aceh - where support for radical Islam is strong - that interference by a US court could impair the entire relationship with the US.
Washington says, the lawsuit could discourage foreign investment in Indonesia, particularly in the energy and mining industries. That would in turn hurt government revenues and further weaken a key US ally. Exxon Mobil lawyers had argued for the State Department to intervene on foreign policy grounds.
Mila Rosenthal of the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights said that Washington's action in the case suggested "that the war on terrorism is now going to be used as a cover for all kinds of corporate malfeasance".
She noted that the intervention came just 18 months after the State Department persuaded many US and UK oil and mining companies to agree to stem abuses by security forces protecting their overseas operations. Exxon-Mobil did not to sign up to the voluntary principles. |
