US tries to halt rights lawsuit By Edward Alden in Washington
The US is trying to quash a human rights lawsuit launched by Indonesian villagers against Exxon Mobil, claimingit could undermine the war on terrorism.
The State Department said the action alleging complicity in human rights abuses by the oil group could also have a "potentially serious adverse impact" on US interests.
The lawsuit was filed last year by the International Labour Rights Fund on behalf of 11 villagers in the Indonesian province of Aceh. They claim Exxon Mobil, which operates a natural gas field in the province, paid and directed Indonesian security forces that carried out murder, torture and rape in the course of protecting the company's operations in the 1990s.
Exxon Mobil has denied the allegations, and a company spokesman said yesterday that the charges are "completely without merit".
The State Department's intervention could kill the case, which was filed under a law that lets foreigners use US courts to hold US companies accountable for violating international law. A similar case against mining company Rio Tinto was dismissed this year when Washington said it might harm US interests in Papua New Guinea.
Addressing the US district court in Washington, the State Department's top legal adviser wrote that a decision against Exxon "would . . . risk a potentially serious adverse impact on significant interests of the US, including interests directly related to the struggle against international terrorism".
The letter, released by plaintiffs yesterday, warns that Indonesia is so concerned about the secessionist movement in Aceh - where support for radical Islam is strong - that court interference could impair relations with the US.
Washington also says the lawsuit could discourage foreign investment in Indonesia. That would hurt government revenues and weaken a key US ally. Exxon Mobil lawyers had argued for the US to intervene on foreign policy grounds.
Mila Rosenthal of the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights said Washington's action suggested "that the war on terrorism is now going to be used as a cover for all kinds of corporate malfeasance".
She noted the intervention came 18 months after the State Department persuaded many US and UK oil and mining companies to agree to stem abuses by security forces protecting overseas operations. Exxon-Mobil did not to sign up to the voluntary principles.