Civil society organizations call on ASEAN and member states to treat the April 2026 mercury seizure as a test case for the region’s new environmental rights framework
JAKARTA / MANILA, 22 June 2026 — The April 2026 seizure of 760 bottles of mercury concealed in carpet rolls at Indonesia’s largest port is not an isolated customs success. It is a window into an integrated criminal supply chain running from the forests of West Seram, Maluku, through Ambon and Tanjung Priok (Indonesia), to the illegal gold fields of Davao, Mindanao (Philippines) — entirely within ASEAN’s borders. Investigators believe the route has operated since at least 2021.
Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia, Bantay Kita, and Resource Justice Network Asia Pacific are calling on ASEAN and the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines to treat this corridor as what it is: a transnational green financial crime demanding a binding regional response.
Why mercury fuels illegal gold mining
Mercury is widely used in illegal artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) as a convenient, yet expensive shortcut to extract gold from ore. Miners mix liquid mercury directly with gold-bearing ore; it bonds with gold particles to form an amalgam, which is then heated to vaporise the mercury and recover the gold. The process requires no sophisticated equipment, which is why it remains the default method for informal miners across the Global South despite being banned or heavily restricted in most countries. Without a steady illicit supply of mercury, illegal ASGM at the scale seen in Mindanao could not function. The Tanjung Priok seizure did not intercept a chemical, it intercepted the fuel of an illegal gold economy.
A financial crime, not merely an environmental violation
The scale of the underlying illicit economy is stark. Indonesia’s financial intelligence unit PPATK estimated that illicit financial flows linked to illegal artisanal gold mining between 2023 and 2025 reached Rp 992 trillion — more than a quarter of Indonesia’s 2026 national budget. PPATK itself coined the term “Green Financial Crime” to describe this phenomenon. The falsification of shipping documents to disguise mercury as textiles is textbook trade-based money laundering, precisely the mechanism documented by the Financial Action Task Force in its landmark 2021 report on environmental crime typologies.
“This seizure exposes a Green Financial Crime network, not merely an environmental violation,” said Aryanto Nugroho, National Coordinator of PWYP Indonesia. “The manipulation of customs documents to smuggle mercury is trade-based money laundering in practice. Both governments must pursue this through an anti-illicit financial flows lens, demanding beneficial ownership disclosure across the mercury supply chain and monitoring of illicit gold transactions.”
Communities are paying the price
The human cost is already visible. In Maluku, mercury contamination at Gunung Botak on Buru Island has polluted the Patipulu River at levels up to 16 times above safe thresholds. Indonesia committed to eliminating mercury from illegal small-scale gold mining by 2025 under its National Action Plan. That target was not met. In the Philippines, illegal ASGM cases across Mindanao have grown substantially since 2021, reaching unprecedented levels in 2025 and 2026 alongside historically high gold prices. Illegal mining has penetrated environmentally sensitive areas including Mt. Apo Natural Park, and contributed to deforestation and mercury contamination of the Iponan River. Frontline communities continue to bear the heaviest burden.
A test case for ASEAN’s new environmental rights framework
In October 2025, ASEAN adopted the Declaration on the Right to a Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment (ADER) — the region’s first framework explicitly linking environmental protection with human rights. The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) is currently developing a Regional Plan of Action under the Philippines’ ASEAN Chairmanship. The Seram-to-Davao mercury corridor is a direct test of whether that commitment carries real weight.
“ADER must not become another regional promise without enforcement. The Seram-to-Davao mercury corridor is a concrete test of whether ASEAN can treat illicit mineral supply chains as what they are: cross-border environmental rights abuses that poison communities and enrich criminal networks,” said Angela Asuncion, Resource Justice Network Asia Pacific.
The three organisations are calling on ASEAN and AICHR to establish a binding regional framework for tracing mercury and illicit gold across borders, and to integrate this case explicitly into the ADER Regional Plan of Action. They are urging Indonesia and the Philippines to establish joint financial intelligence cooperation between PPATK and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, mandate beneficial ownership transparency across the mercury supply chain, and ensure the meaningful participation of affected communities in Maluku and Mindanao in any resulting investigation or policy process.
About the organisations
PWYP Indonesia is a coalition of 33 civil society organisations promoting democratic and inclusive governance in the energy and natural resources sector, and a member of Resource Justice Network.
Bantay Kita is a Philippine civil society network promoting transparency and accountability in natural resource governance, and a member of Resource Justice Network.
Resource Justice Network (formerly Publish What You Pay) is a worldwide civil society network uniting over 1,000 organisations across more than 50 countries advocating for equitable and transparent governance of natural resources.
Media contacts:
Aryanto Nugroho, PWYP Indonesia — aryanto@pwypindonesia.org
Beverly Besmanos Bantay Kita — bfbesmanos@bantaykita.ph
Angela Asuncion, RJN Asia Pacific — aasuncion@resourcejustice.org