Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX-N) will file motions in U.S. courts that seek to dismiss a US$6-billion lawsuit over alleged human rights abuses near the Grasberg gold mine in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
The lawsuit attempts to hold Freeport responsible for crimes and human rights abuses allegedly committed by security forces as well as for alleged environmental damages around the copper-gold operation, which is operated by Freeport’s Indonesian subsidiary. The suit was filed by New Orleans attorney Martin Regan on behalf of an Indonesian citizen.
Similar suits against the company have been dismissed as groundless, and, according to Freeport spokesman Garland Robinette, the latest legal action “has no basis in law or fact [and] will be dismissed as well.” Among the abuses the security forces are alleged to have committed are murder, torture and unlawful arrest and detention. Although the investigations of five different agencies, including the U.S. and Australian embassies, the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia, the Catholic Bishop of Jayapura, and the Red Cross, determined that human rights abuses did occur, they also concluded that neither Freeport nor its subsidiary was involved. The U.S. Embassy found “no credible evidence substantiating charges of human rights abuses by Freeport personnel.”
In an attempt to ease tensions
in the area, Freeport Indonesia and the Indonesian government have launched the Integrated Timika Development plan. The program is designed to improve local living conditions through education, health care, and job creation and training.
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