Indonesia Law puts food and environmental rights at stake

On World Food Day, FIAN Indonesia together with FIAN International and dozens of national and international organizations express their concern over the ratification of the Omnibus Law (also called the Omnibus Law on Job Creation) on October 5th, 2020, which was done in an undemocratic and hasty manner. The Omnibus Law overrules more than 70 existing laws and regulations, and includes controversial articles that threaten the right to food and nutrition of millions of Indonesian labourers, small-scale food producers, indigenous peoples, migrant workers, and other marginalised groups.

This view is expressed in a statement of solidarity signed by 55 national and international organizations.

“On this World Food Day, Indonesia continues to grapple with the pandemic and its derivative impacts, but this country has passed the Omnibus Law which increases the vulnerability of small-scale food producers and consumers in already fragile food systems,” explained Laksmi Adriani Savitri, Chair of the National Board of FIAN Indonesia.

The Omnibus Law contains articles that will adopt the food liberalization agenda, thus creating acute dependence on imported food, building corporate monopoly on the food supply chains, and causing environmental destruction by further pushing agricultural industrialisation and deforestation.

“In fact, food liberalization has proven to impact availability, accessibility, adequacy and sustainability of food, especially for rural communities and indigenous people who fulfil their food needs from food sources available in nature,” said Sofía Monsalve, Secretary General of FIAN International.

Several national sections of FIAN from various countries such as Colombia, Norway and Sweden together with other civil society organizations also expressed their solidarity with this statement, condemning the creation process of the Omnibus Law, which did not involve the Indonesian people in the drafting process.

They are also concerned about the existence of the Omnibus Law which contradicts the international legal instruments that guarantee human rights that have been signed by Indonesia, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP).

Signatories of the statement urge the Indonesian Government to uphold the principles of justice and democracy and to respect and fulfil the right to food and nutrition of the Indonesian people.

The full statement is available in this link

Contact:
Laksmi Adriani Savitri (Chair of the National Council of FIAN Indonesia, email: laksmi.adriani@gmail.com)
Yifang Tang (Case Work and Research/Asia of FIAN International, email: tang@fian.org)