Court rules against forests and Indigenous people in Papua
Indonesia: Five Indigenous Papuans filed a lawsuit challenging a 135-kilometer road through their territory, where 2.7 million hectares of forest and land are being cleared for sugarcane, rice and oil palm plantations with the backing of the military. The court in Jayapura has now dismissed their case.
In March, five members of the Indigenous Marind people of South Papua – Simon Petrus Balagaize, Sinta Gebze, Liborius Kodai Moiwend, Kanisius Dagil and Andreas Mahuze – filed a lawsuit challenging the construction of a 135-kilometer road through their ancestral territory. The Jayapura Administrative Court (PTUN Jayapura) has now dismissed their case.
Read more about the Marind’s legal challenge to the road through their territory: Indonesia pits the military against Papua’s forests and Indigenous peoples
Stand with the Indigenous Marind against the brutal destruction of 2.7 million hectares of forest. Sign the petition Indonesia: Stop the destruction of Papua’s Marind forest!
Simon Petrus Balagaize is deeply disappointed: “Neither a lawsuit nor the facts on the ground can change this – the law is not on our side as Indigenous people.”
Tigor Hutapea, a lawyer with our partner organization Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, calls the decision unjust: “The judges disregarded all the evidence, including witness testimony and expert reports showing that the road construction violates numerous rights of Indigenous people.”
The Indonesian government is building the road through the site of the food and energy project in southern Papua (PSN Merauke). The project is destroying 2.7 million hectares of land and forest to make way for rice fields, sugarcane plantations and oil palm plantations.
This is the world’s largest planned deforestation project, with an unprecedented level of military involvement.
Clearing and road construction began in August 2024, more than a year before the environmental permit was issued in September 2025. Work began without the required process of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) by the affected communities. Some Marind clans spoke out, set up blockades or erected red crosses as signs of protest. Their opposition is being ignored.
- March 5, 2026: Five Marind representatives file a lawsuit with the administrative court in Jayapura challenging the environmental permit to build the road .
- June 2026: The court begins hearing evidence. The plaintiffs ask the court to suspend construction until it rules on the case.
- June 9, 2026: Presiding Judge Merna Chintia orders a halt to road construction. Construction continues.
- July 2026: The court hears testimony from numerous witnesses, including people affected by the project, the regent of Merauke and the minister of defense. The military’s involvement in road construction is described as a “non-war military operation.”
- September 18, 2026: The Jayapura Administrative Court dismisses the lawsuit.
Road construction has destroyed the Marind’s ancestral forest and deprived them of their livelihoods. The area has become hotter and dustier, and the water is no longer fit to drink. The Marind also face intimidation by the military.
Despite his disappointment, Simon Balagaize says: “We will continue to defend our ancestral territories. We believe that the truth is on our side.”
Assessment of human rights violations
Pusaka 2026, 98 pages, English
Sugarcane, palm oil and timber companies operate without restrictions. This is the main driver of human rights violations against Indigenous communities. The companies are interested only in acquiring land, manipulating traditional systems of land ownership and use.
They confront Indigenous resistance with the help of the military and police, who protect their business operations.