Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) Sumbawa chapter and the Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE) today filed complaints with the National Contact Points (NCPs) of the governments of Australia, Belgium, South Korea, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States against 14 multinational companies based in those countries linked to Indonesia’s PT Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara (PT AMNT) over adverse human rights and environmental impacts of PT AMNT’s planned expansion of mining operations affecting Indigenous Cek Bocek/Selesek Reen Sury community in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara.
The complaints filed citing violations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct target the following companies for their failure to use their leverage over PT AMNT to prevent and mitigate human rights and environmental violations against the Indigenous Cek Bocek community:
1. Australian Winders Pty. Ltd, Macmahon Holdings Ltd, R. Moore & Sons, and Bureau Veritas Minerals Pty. Ltd based in Australia;
2. Bachelet Laboratories of Belgium;
3. LS Metals & Materials Inc. (LS MnM) of South Korea;
4. Glencore International AG, Hartree Metals Sárl, Kuehne + Nagel International AG, and UBS Group AG of Switizerland;
5. Anglo American Marketing Ltd, Alfred H Knight International Ltd, and Blackrock Advisors Ltd in the UK: and
6. Thermo Fisher Scientific based in the US.
PT AMNT, a subsidiary of the AMMAN group, is advancing the Elang Project, an open-pit copper and gold mine expansion planned for the Elang Dodo Forest, the 28,975-hectare ancestral territory of the Indigenous Cek Bocek community. The Elang Dodo Forest is home to over 1,500 ancestral graves, four sacred tributaries, and serves as the site of the community’s annual Jango Kubir ritual. The forest also sustains the community’s economy through sugar palm production, hunting, gathering, and river fishing.
The Elang Project is advancing without the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the Cek Bocek community, despite the community having continuously inhabited and governed this territory for centuries – with recorded presence dating to 1492. PT AMNT has remained unresponsive to repeated requests for dialogue, human rights assessments, and information disclosure from the community.
In May 2026, the Indonesian government designated the Dodo-Rinti mine area, which encompasses the Elang Block, as a National Strategic Project (NSP). This status grants PT AMNT extraordinary powers, including the deployment of state military and police forces to secure the project and the legal mechanism to forcibly acquire customary territories under the guise of “public interest.” For the Cek Bocek community, this dramatically escalates the risks of forced eviction, criminalization of land defenders, and irreversible destruction of their ancestral forests.
The conflict over the Elang Block dates back to 1986, when PT AMNT’s predecessor company PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) began exploration activities in the Cek Bocek community’s customary territory without meaningful consultation or FPIC. The community has carried out resistance through dialogue, public hearings, boycotts, and direct action for nearly four decades – all of which has been ignored.
In 2021, PT AMNT’s heavy machinery entered the Elang Dodo Forest to open access roads and damaged ancestral burial sites. In September 2024, community members installed signboards at 21 sacred grave complexes to protect them from PT AMNT’s activities and were warned by PT AMNT and Indonesian National Police to stop.
In August 2025, the Indigenous Cek Bocek community (locally recognized as Berco tribe) filed a complaint with The Copper Mark‘s grievance mechanism demanding immediate suspension of PT AMNT’s certification as a responsible mining operator. Indigenous Peoples and civil society organizations worldwide subsequently condemned the certification decision of The Copper Mark for the PT AMNT. In response to the complaint, facilitated dialogues under that mechanism are ongoing. The NCP complaints filed today address the responsibilities of buyers and investors of the PT AMNT under the international due diligence standards of the OECD Guidelines – a dimension that The Copper Mark does not fully cover.
In September , seven UN Special Procedures formally communicated with the Indonesian government about the sustained human rights violations faced by the Cek Bocek community within the wider concerns of human rights situation of Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia.
In the complaints to the NCPs, AMAN Sumbawa and AIPNEE have requested mediation of the NCPs to address the breaches of the OECD Guidelines by the multinational companies due to their relationship with the PT AMNT. For that, they have called on the companies to use their leverage over PT AMNT for addressing the breaches and take steps to prevent and mitigate adverse impacts for ensuring compliance with the Guidelines.
Further, they have called on the companies to:
1. Acknowledge their direct link to the harms inflicted on the Cek Bocek community through their business relationships with PT AMNT;
2. Engage with the affected community and their representatives to ascertain and address their concerns, beginning with efforts to obtain FPIC in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP);
3. Condition future purchases from PT AMNT on independent verification that FPIC has been obtained from the Cek Bocek community;
4. Vote against management in shareholder meetings and demand transparency on the land conflict until the grievance is resolved (applicable to investors of the PT AMNT – UBS FM and UBS AM);
5. Consider responsible disengagement, including temporary suspension of their business relationships with PT AMNT, while pursuing leverage-based mitigation.
