Human rights violations in Aceh, Indonesia occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s when

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

hired Indonesian military units to guard their

Arun gas field The Arun gas field is a natural gas field located in the Aceh province on north Sumatra, Indonesia. It was discovered by Mobil Oil Corporation in 1971 and has been described as the "the most lucrative LNG operation in the twentieth century." The f ...

, and these military units raided and razed local villages. Government inquiries have extensively documented these abuses. Victims allege that ExxonMobil knew about the atrocities, which include assault, torture, and murder, and should be liable for them. The company denies these accusations; its primary defense is that the human rights violations which were occurring were not a result of specific intention of the organization and therefore it cannot be held liable. In 2001, Eleven Indonesian villagers affected by this violence filed the lawsuit ''John Doe v. Exxon Mobil Corp.'' in the US. Exxon attempted to have the case dismissed nine times, dragging the lawsuit out for over 20 years. In July 2022, a

US District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

denied ExxonMobil's motions to dismiss the case, clearing the way for the lawsuit to go to trial, although no trial date was set. In 2015, ExxonMobil sold its Aceh operations to

Pertamina PT Pertamina (Persero), formerly abbreviated from ''Perusahaan Pertambangan Minyak dan Gas Bumi Negara'' (lit. 'State Oil and Natural Gas Mining Company'), is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was cr ...

History of the Aceh gas fields

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

is located on the northern tip of the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n island of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

. The region is rich in natural resources, including oil and natural gas. In 1992, it was reported that Aceh provided 15% of Indonesia's total exports, and the value of the oil and gas fields was estimated in 2003 to generate US$1.2-1.5 billion annually. In 1968, Mobil began operating the

s, which are owned by the Indonesian state oil company,

. In 1971, Mobil Oil Indonesia discovered massive reserves of natural gas in north Aceh, which led to the creation of the Lhokseumawe Industrial Zone (LIZ). After Exxon bought Mobil in 1999, the merged company, which is based in

Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...

, took over the management of Arun. The gas fields there, until their closing in March, contributed to the Indonesian budget with about $1 billion in revenue annually. Aceh, the home for the natural gas field has been witnessing an armed resistance organized under the banner of the

Free Aceh Movement The Free Aceh Movement ( id, Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM; ace, Geurakan Acèh Meurdèka / Gěrakan Aceh Měrdeka) was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra, Indonesia. GAM fought against Indonesian government f ...

. From 1989 to 1998, the Indonesian government designated Aceh as a Military Operation Area, with thousands of troops assigned to defeat the armed independence force. Since the late 1980s,

Corporation, along with its predecessor companies,

Mobil Oil Corporation Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

and Mobil Oil Indonesia, hired Indonesian military units to provide security for the

in Aceh, Indonesia. Fearing for the lives of its employees after a series of attacks, ExxonMobil shut down its Arun natural gas operations in Aceh in March 2001.

The litigation

The

International Labor Rights Fund The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., U.S., that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world." ILRF, formerly the "International L ...

took on the cause of people claiming to be victims of abuse. In 2001, ILRF filed '' Doe v. Exxon Mobil Corp.'' under the

Alien Tort Claims Act The Alien Tort Statute ( codified in 1948 as ; ATS), also called the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), is a section in the United States Code that gives federal courts jurisdiction over lawsuits filed by foreign nationals for torts committed in viol ...

(ATCA) in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of 11 villagers from Aceh claiming to be victims of human rights abuses by security forces hired by ExxonMobil. The suit alleges that ExxonMobil employed military troops to protect its operations, and aided and abetted human rights violations through financial and other material support to the security forces. In addition, the suit alleges that the security forces are either employees or agents of Exxon Mobil, and thus Exxon Mobil is liable for their actions. In 2005 a US federal judge ruled that the case could proceed on

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

state law claims, including wrongful death, theft by coercion and assault and battery, but dismissed claims under the ATCA and the

Torture Victim Protection Act The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA; ) is a statute that allows for the filing of civil suits in the United States against individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, committed torture and/or extrajudicial ...

. In 2006 a motion to dismiss filed by ExxonMobil was dismissed, as was an appeal in 2007. In 2008 the US Supreme court, having invited the US Solicitor General to comment, declined to hear an appeal. In 2009 the District Court accepted Exxon's motion to dismiss, based on lack of standing by the plaintiffs' in a US court; this was reversed in 2011 by the appeals court. In 2014, a US federal court decided that the case could proceed; in 2015 that the claims sufficiently "touch and concern" the United States that they may proceed in US court.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Exxonmobil Violations In Indonesia ExxonMobil litigation History of Aceh ExxonMobil controversies Allegations Insurgency in Aceh Human rights abuses in Indonesia Environmental justice