UN experts denounce Indonesia’s US$3 billion tourism project

UN human rights experts on Wednesday (31 Mar) urged the Indonesian government to respect human rights and the rule of law amid reports that a US$3 billion tourism project on Lombok island has involved aggressive land grabs, forced evictions of Sasak indigenous peoples, and intimidation and threats against human rights defenders.

“Farmers and fisher folks have been expelled from their land and have endured the destruction of their houses, fields, water sources, cultural and religious sites, as the Government of Indonesia and the ITDC (Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation) groomed Mandalika to become a ‘New Bali’,” said Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

The experts noted that credible sources have found that the local residents were subjected to threats and intimidations, to the extent they were forcibly evicted from their land without compensation.

“Despite these findings, the ITDC has not sought to pay compensation or settle the land disputes,” they stated.

Mandalika set to be turned into an integrated tourism complex

Mandalika, in Lombok’s poor West Nusa Tenggara Province, is set to be turned into an integrated tourism complex, comprising a Grand Prix motorcycle race circuit, parks, luxury hotels and resorts, including Pullman, Paramount Resort, and Club Med.

The project is partly financed by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and has attracted more than US$1 billion investment by private businesses.

French group VINCI Construction Grands Projets is its largest investor, in charge of the Mandalika Circuit, hotels, a hospital, a water park, and other facilities.

Source: Invest Islands

Criticism from UN experts on lack of due diligence by the higher-ups

The UN human rights experts also criticised a lack of due diligence by the AIIB and private businesses to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for how they address adverse human rights impacts, as set forth in the ‘UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights‘.

“In light of the dark history of human rights violations and land grabs in the region, the AIIB and businesses cannot look the other way and carry on business as usual. Their failure to prevent and address risks of human rights abuses is tantamount to being complicit in such abuses,” they asserted.

“The Mandalika project puts Indonesia’s laudable commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals and its underlying human rights obligations to the test. Large-scale tourism development that tramples on human rights is fundamentally incompatible with the concept of sustainable development,” said De Schutter.

He continued, “The time has passed for racing circuits and massive transnational tourism infrastructure projects that benefit a handful of economic actors rather than the population as a whole. Post-COVID economies should focus on empowering local communities, enhancing their livelihoods and participation in decision-making.

“We urge the Indonesian Government to ensure that the ITDC respects human rights and the rule of law, as well as the AIIB and private businesses not to finance or engage in projects and activities that contribute to human rights violations and abuses.”