Indonesia has yet to ratify the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Despite it being implied in several technical regulations, legal protection for environmental defenders remains extremely weak in Indonesia. Conversely, those enjoying benefits from mining, plantation expansion, reclamation and forestry businesses, as well as specific projects frequently use repressive means – intimidation, threats, criminalization, assaults, and even taking lives – to silence environmental defenders.

Being in such a situation, Auriga Nusantara is encouraging regulatory improvements for legal assurances over the safety of environmental defenders. Aware that procedures and protocols in ministries and associated state agencies, including law enforcers, have yet to side with environmental defenders, Auriga Nusantara is in the process of designing a series of activities pushing for improvements in such procedures and protocols.

Considering the weak protections afforded by the law and government institutions, environmental defender safety can be enhanced by environmental defenders themselves through pertinent awareness raising, knowledge, and skills. Accordingly, Auriga Nusantara actively networks and exchanges knowledge with other environmental defenders, including on preparing security protocols for environmental defenders.