Jakarta, 5 July 2026 — Civil society representatives in the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Indonesia welcome and fully support the recent official statement issued by the EITI Board, which reaffirmed the importance of protecting civic space for the successful implementation of EITI worldwide, including in Indonesia.
In its statement, the EITI Board—comprising representatives of implementing countries, supporting countries, companies, and civil society—reaffirmed that meaningful, representative, and independent civil society participation is an essential prerequisite for the credibility and effectiveness of EITI and for accountable natural resource governance. The EITI Board also called on all stakeholders to utilize the EITI Standard and the Civil Society Protocol to create an enabling environment in which such participation can take place safely and free from pressure.
Data from the CIVICUS Monitor cited in the statement indicate that civic space is closed, repressed, or obstructed in 122 countries and territories, including 43 EITI-implementing countries. Specifically, CIVICUS classifies Indonesia’s civic space as “Obstructed.” This designation means that civil society in Indonesia faces serious challenges, where legal instruments are frequently used in a repressive manner to criminalize citizens. Such repression has direct implications for weakening state accountability.
As highlighted during the launch of the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the decline in civil liberties and access to justice has become a major threat undermining anti-corruption efforts in Indonesia (Transparency International Indonesia, 2026). The transparency mandate promoted through the global EITI framework is further undermined by policy realities at the domestic level. This is clearly reflected in the irony that Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) categorizes essential documents, such as Environmental Impact Assessments (AMDAL) in the mineral and coal subsector, as exempted information. Restricting access to such fundamental information amid an already “Obstructed” civic space not only weakens citizens’ ability to protect their living environment but also creates opaque conditions that foster corruption risks in resource-rich regions.
The protection of civic space is becoming increasingly urgent amid the rapid expansion of extractive projects and energy transition initiatives. Data from the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) in 2023 documented an escalation of agrarian conflicts, reaching 241 cases, with plantations, property development, and mining sectors accounting for the largest share. In the mining sector alone, the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM) recorded 45 conflicts in 2020 that affected more than 700,000 hectares of land. Another alarming trend is the widespread use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). According to a report by Auriga (2023), the energy and mining sectors dominated with 60 documented cases of threats against environmental defenders between 2014 and 2023.
Activists defending affected communities and residents living around mining sites continue to face recurring patterns of repression—including physical intimidation, criminalization, as seen in Riau, West Nusa Tenggara, and Central Sulawesi, as well as coordinated digital attacks and stigmatization through accusations of being “foreign agents” aimed at delegitimizing critical public advocacy. These conditions are further exacerbated by ongoing legislative processes. As highlighted in the Civil Society Coalition’s Press Statement on 25 June, the substance of the proposed Human Rights Bill (RUU HAM) could further threaten civic space. The draft law still contains provisions restricting civil rights, a narrow definition of human rights defenders that fails to recognize the specific vulnerabilities faced by women human rights defenders and environmental defenders, and weak recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
A Critical Moment for the Government and Extractive Industries in Indonesia
As part of the global EITI community, we view the EITI Board’s statement not merely as a normative appeal, but as a mandate that must be translated into concrete actions by all EITI stakeholders in Indonesia. Therefore, we urge:
1. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to immediately revoke the exempted-information status applied to AMDAL documents and mining permits. Fulfilling the right to public information is consistent with the requirements of the EITI Standard. Transparency in contracts and licensing is a prerequisite for meaningful civil society participation.
2. The Ministry of Human Rights, the Ministry of Law, and the House of Representatives (DPR RI) to evaluate and strengthen the legal framework for civic space protection, including by ensuring that the Human Rights Bill contains no provisions restricting civil rights. The bill must comprehensively and explicitly provide protections for Indigenous Peoples, women, and environmental defenders monitoring governance in the extractive sector. We also call on the Indonesian National Police to ensure that civil society actors carrying out their oversight role are protected from criminalization, intimidation, and physical violence.
3. Local governments in natural resource-producing regions to strengthen mechanisms for protecting civic space so that local communities can participate safely in decision-making and oversight processes, free from interference by individual law enforcement actors.
4. Extractive industry actors to actively respect civic participation, cease all forms of intimidation through legal mechanisms such as SLAPPs, and comply with the EITI Civil Society Protocol in all reporting, data verification, and multi-stakeholder dialogue processes.
5. The Indonesia EITI MSG to collectively adopt and operationalize the civic space risk monitoring and response mechanism approved by the EITI Board in March 2026, and to integrate it into routine MSG work at both national and subnational levels.
6. All stakeholders to strengthen collaboration, coordination, and dialogue to prevent the shrinking of civic space, particularly in regions where extractive activities are prone to resource conflicts. Civic space is essential to ensuring that communities can monitor natural resource governance, provide input, access information, and participate in decision-making without fear, thereby ensuring that natural resource management promotes justice and public benefit.
“The EITI Board’s statement serves as an important reminder that transparency without a safe and free civic space is merely a formality. We appreciate the Board’s firm stance, but this appreciation must be followed by concrete action from both the government and extractive industries in Indonesia. Amid the current push for critical mineral downstreaming, the silencing of communities and the withholding of licensing documents undermine the credibility of EITI Indonesia itself. We therefore demand an immediate evaluation at the MSG level,” said Astrid Debora Meliala, civil society representative in the Indonesia EITI MSG.
As civil society representatives within the Indonesia EITI MSG, we will continue to monitor and advocate for the full implementation of the EITI Standard, including the protection of civic space, as an integral component of efforts to strengthen fair, transparent, and accountable natural resource governance in Indonesia.
About EITI Indonesia
EITI Indonesia is the national implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Standard, bringing together government, companies, and civil society through a Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) to promote transparency and accountability in the management of extractive natural resources, including oil, gas, and minerals.
Civil Society Representatives in the Indonesia EITI MSG
- Astrid Debora Meliala – astrid.dmeliala@gmail.com
- Rocky Ramadani – kelinci.indah@gmail.com
- Dwi Arie Santo – dwiariesanto@gmail.com
- Ibrahim Zuhdhi Badoh – fahmybadoh@gmail.com
- R. Mouna Wasef – mouna@pwypindonesia.org
- Yusnita Ike Christanti – heningmaiyah@gmail.com