Background

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Anchored in two decades-long struggles, the anti-POSCO to ongoing anti-Jindal movement in Odisha, India, and the resistance against PT. Hardaya Inti Plantations in Buol, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia- this session will spotlight how local communities, particularly women and indigenous leaders, have mobilized against corporate land grabs, environmental destruction, and state-backed repression. Supported by national and international civil society networks, these communities have deployed protest, litigation, and international grievance mechanisms (e.g., OECD NCPs, ANZ complaints, UN mechanisms), alongside cross-border solidarity, to challenge corporate impunity and extractivist development models across Asia.

 

Despite severe reprisals, including SLAPPs, arrests, surveillance, violence, and criminalization- these movements have demonstrated extraordinary resilience, using and testing both national legal frameworks and international non-judicial mechanisms. The session will critically examine the inherent limitations of these frameworks, the power imbalances faced by affected communities, and the urgent need for institutional responses rooted in equity, participation, and justice. By drawing comparative lessons from India’s industrial land grabs and Indonesia’s palm oil abuses, the discussion will underscore the shared structural challenges communities face across the region and the potential for a principled, coordinated Asia-Pacific model of human rights action and corporate accountability.

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Key Objectives

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• Examine how community-led movements in India and Indonesia have emerged, sustained themselves, and advanced accountability despite repression, highlighting the role of women and indigenous leaders.

• Identify and compare the strategies and outcomes of local, national, and international mechanisms-including litigation, OECD NCPs, and UN processes- in resisting corporate and state abuses, assessing their strengths and limitations.

• Develop actionable recommendations for governments, businesses, and civil society to strengthen mandatory human rights due diligence (mHRDD), protect defenders and civic space, ensure access to remedy, and foster stronger regional cooperation rooted in solidarity and justice.

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Guiding Questions

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• What structural and systemic factors enable decades-long community resistance to corporate and state-led abuses, and how can these lessons be applied across the Asia-Pacific region?

• How do national legal frameworks and international grievance mechanisms support- or fall short in providing- effective remedy for affected communities?

• What role does cross-border solidarity play in advancing corporate accountability, and how can it be strengthened to anchor progress and regional leadership in times of crisis?

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Format

• Spotlight session focusing on the the lived experiences on human rights defenders in countering corporate power in India and Indonesia through movement building and cross-border solidarity 

 

Session Partners