PT KEM told to help authorities settle rapes and other human rights violation cases

Various cases of human rights violations, including rapes, in coal mining areas controlled by PT Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM), a subsidiary of mining giant Rio Tinto, in East Kalimantan must be handled in an integrated way, by involving all related parties, including the company itself, according to Minister of Women Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa and legislator Emir Moeis.

When meeting with victims of rapes and also victims of forced land acquisition who visited Jakarta on Friday (Jan. 26), Khofifah called on the company to help the authorities to uncover the various human rights violations by questioning its employees who were allegedly involved in those cases.

With its involvement, KEM's name would be restored from irresponsible acts of its employees, Khofifah said.

Meanwhile, legislator Emir Moeis of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) from East Kalimantan also called on PT KEM not to protect its employees who were allegedly involved in crimes such as rapes and other human rights violations.

"It needs to be realized that PT KEM is not here only for one or two years, but for tens of years," Emir said. "Therefore, please uphold the law by helping uncover these cases, and if its employees are convicted guilty, the company must take stern actions."

According to the victims of rapes and human rights violations who met with Khofifah, some of them were raped with promises that they would be employed by KEM. But until they bore children, the promise was never materialized.

Khofifah said that the victims could sue the rapists through civilian or criminal courts. "The victims of rapes, who bore children, could sue the rapists to bear all the costs from the childbirth to the children's schooling."

She said that his office would form a team to investigate those cases occurred in KEM's areas, and would report those cases to a coordination meeting of economic ministers. (*)