Rio Tinto

Posted on 09/05/05 by admin

Rio Tinto is a mining company that has been heavily criticised for its operations in Indonesia. Open cast mining in Indonesia’s protected forests is incredibly environmentally damaging, yet big mining companies like Rio Tinto continually apply pressure to the Indonesian government to grant exceptions to the protective legislation. This is incredibly greedy considering the fact that 35% of Indonesia’s land area is already under lease to the mining industry. Mining projects in protected areas devastate biodiversity, massively increase the risk of flooding, and seriously threaten the livelihoods of indigenous people.

Rio Tinto has also been implicated in some appalling human rights abuses, involving the behaviour of the Indonesian state authorities at their mines (in the early 1990s, thousands of local people were forced to leave their land at gunpoint). If that weren't bad enough, staff at one mine have been accused of raping members of the local community.

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/rio_tinto_exposed_for_mini.html

“I urge Rio Tinto shareholders to heed our message, and join our opposition to making a few more dollars out of destroying Indonesia’s environment. Foreign governments and foreign companies must respect Indonesia’s communities, our forests and our laws designed to protect them” - Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM) spokesperson, Siti Maimunah