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Acehnese human rights activist to speak at Exxon Mobil meeting in support of NYC resolution on abuses in Aceh
International Labor Rights Fund Press Release - May 23, 2005
New York City Pension System Calls on Oil Company To Report on Risks to Investors from its Payments to Brutal Indonesian Military
Mr. Munawar Zainal, Secretary General of the Acheh Center, USA will speak about human rights abuses at the ExxonMobil annual general meeting in Dallas Texas, on May 25th, in support of a New York City municipal pension fund system shareholders resolution. He will focus on atrocities associated with ExxonMobil's operations in Acheh, Indonesia.
The NYC pension fund resolution calls on ExxonMobil management to report to shareholders concerning the potential investor risks and liabilities resulting from corporate payments to Indonesia's notoriously brutal military for security services at the oil giant's facility in Acheh.
ExxonMobil currently faces a lawsuit by families and victims of torture and murder by Indonesian troops stationed at ExxonMobil's Acheh facilities. Human rights investigators and journalists have reported that the Indonesian military has used ExxonMobil facilities to torture its victims and used company equipment to dig mass graves for burial of murder victims.
Mr. Zainal was an activist with SIRA (Acheh Referendum Information Center), the peaceful student movement for self-determination in Aceh. He was forced to flee Aceh in 2000, following a government crackdown on SIRA.
Mr. Zainal is now Secretary General of the Aceh Center-USA, an organization that promotes grassroots people's movements in Acheh,. These groups emerged after mass peaceful demonstrations by students and others forced the resignation in 1998 of long-time Indonesian military dictator General Suharto. In the wake of Suharto's ouster, Achehnese students, women, farmers, small-business people, and others formed organizations and held mass demonstrations aimed at ending decades of Indonesian military repression and economic exploitation in Acheh.
A similar resolution put before Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. shareholders on May 5 by NYC's firefighters, teachers and police pension funds garnered more than 7 percent of the ballots, well above the percentage needed to carry forward a similar resolution during the next shareholders meeting.
Background
ExxonMobil holds a 100 percent interest in Aceh's Arun natural gas fields, which account -- together with satellite fields -- for 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas/day or 11 percent of ExxonMobil's global production for 2004.
According to the US State Department and other credible sources, Indonesian government forces have killed, tortured, involuntarily disappeared, and arbitrarily arrested and detained thousands of Acehense civilians. The Indonesian government largely has closed Acheh to foreigners since the implementation of martial law in 2003 and during the current period of civil emergency in place since 2004, contributing significantly to the problem of providing humanitarian aid to the victims of December's tsunami.
The ExxonMobil Annual General Meeting takes place the same day that newly elected Indonesian president General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono makes his first state visit to Washington, D.C., to meet with President George W. Bush and members of the US Congress.
For more information contact:
Abigail Abrash 603-357-2651 Munawar Zainal (c) 717-3430-1598
Mr. Zainal is available for media interviews.
Contact details: 603/357-2651 (during business hours, ET) 717/343 1598 (mobile)
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