Palangkaraya, 25-26 February 2020—following the earlier consultation in Sumatra, civil society groups from every province in Kalimantan were consulted on the draft security protocols for environmental defenders. In addition to WALHI branches from each of Kalimantan’s provinces, also attending the event were Green for Borneo, Save Our Borneo, the Palangka Raya Legal Aid Institute, AMAN Central Kalimantan, Yayasan Petak Danum, JPIC Kalimantan, Pokker SHK, Yayasan Betang Borneo, Lembaga Dayak Panarung, and Solidaritas Perempuan Mamut Menteng.
Threats to environmental defenders are relatively high in Kalimantan. Examples include the arrests of Anyun, Yohanes Singkul, and Bethyawan by police in West Kalimantan in 2014 in connection with the three’s efforts to protect the environment from activities by the oil palm company PT Swadaya Multi Prakarsa, a First Resources subsidiary, or the attack on the East Kalimantan office of the Mining Advocacy Network in 2016, which in all likelihood was connected with the organization’s efforts to protect the environment from further degradation by the coal mining company PT Multi Harapan Utama.
Participants provided a lot of important input on the draft protocols, including digital security, investigation security, proposing safe houses, etc. Auriga Nusantara then formulated this input to become security protocols that can hopefully become a reference/guide for environmental defenders.
