The following is based on a communication sent by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Governments of Indonesia, France and China, as well as companies Weda Bay Nickel, ANTAM, Eramet, Tsingshan Holding Group, PT Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd. and Zhenshi Holding Group Co., Ltd., on 19 August 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Governments and companies time to reply. Replies were received from the French Government and Eramet, and can be found at the below links. If further replies are received, they will be made public on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
Since the communication was sent, the Special Rapporteur received concerning reports that Dewi Anakoda had been the target of another physical attack at the end of September, while she was at the local traditional market. Once again, this incident happened shortly after she had provided support to journalists visiting the Indigenous Hongana Manyawa community.
In November 2025, Dewi Anakoda travelled to Europe to speak out against human rights violations committed in the context of mining operations on Halmahera Island. She was accompanied by Ngigoro Batawi, an Indigenous Hongana Manyawa human rights defender. As they prepare to return to Halmahera on 5 December 2025, the Special Rapporteur renews her concerns regarding Dewi’s safety as well as Ngigoro’s. Indonesian authorities must guarantee their safety and ensure that they are not the target of further intimidation and physical attacks in retaliation for their peaceful and legitimate work.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the violent physical attacks and intimidation attempts since 2024 against Indigenous woman human rights defender Ms. Dewi Anakoda, in apparent connection with her work exposing the human and environmental impact of nickel mining on Halmahera Island, Indonesia, in the context of Weda Bay Nickel’s operations (WBN), a joint venture between Chinese company Tsingshan Holding Group, holding the majority stake at 51.3 per cent, French company Eramet, holding a 37.8 per cent stake, and Indonesian state-owned company PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTAM), holding a 10 per cent stake.
Ms. Dewi Anakoda is a woman environmental human rights defender belonging to the Indigenous Tobelo people of Halmahera Island, in the North Maluku Province of Indonesia. Since 2024, she has acted as a guide and translator for Survival International, a UK-based NGO campaigning for the rights of Indigenous Peoples worldwide. She has also worked as a fixer and translator for international media on stories related to the Indigenous Hongana Manyawa people of Halmahera Island, where nickel mining operations led by the company Weda Bay Nickel are reportedly harming the environment and local communities.
ALLEGATIONS
Physical attacks and intimidation attempts against Ms. Dewi Anakoda
Physical attacks
On 6 January 2025, the British newspaper Daily Mail published in its online and print editions an article about nickel mining and the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Halmahera, which Ms. Anakoda had facilitated by acting as a fixer, guide and translator.
On 7 January 2025, Ms. Anakoda was hit by a car while riding a motorbike in Tobelo town, on Halmahera Island. The driver immediately drove away, making it impossible to identify them or the car’s plate number. Ms. Anakoda, whose leg was injured in the incident, was hospitalised for several days.
In April 2025, Ms. Anakoda started working with French news agency AFP on a story about the Hongana Manyawa people and the negative human rights impact of nickel mining. She notably accompanied journalists from the AFP Jakarta office to meet with Hongana Manyawa people and to witness the destruction of the rainforest related to Weda Bay Nickel’s activities.
On 7 May 2025, at around 1 a.m., Ms. Anakoda was walking back to her aunt’s house in Tobelo town after collecting water when two unidentified men approached her from behind on a motorbike. One of them got off the bike and hit her hard on the shoulder with a wooden object. Both men then fled on the motorbike. This physical attack left Ms. Anakoda with a torn shoulder muscle and a lot of pain, affecting her ability to work.
In late May 2025, following the publication of the AFP story that she had helped facilitate, Ms. Anakoda temporarily left Halmahera, in fear of a new attack, and went into hiding.
Digital security incidents and intimidation attempts
Since 2024, Ms. Anakoda has encountered several digital security incidents which she believes to be in relation to her campaigning and work on behalf of the Hongana Manyawa people.
In mid-2024, Ms. Anakoda reportedly became unable to access her Facebook account or WhatsApp, soon after publicly posting about the Hongana Manyawa people being affected by mining.
Throughout 2024 and 2025, Ms. Anakoda was also the target of online harassment, particularly through anonymous phone calls and messages, including from some unidentified individuals talking to her about the Hongana Manyawa people.
On 9 June 2025, Ms. Anakoda received a critical security alert from her Google account, which showed signs of a suspicious hacking attempt coming from Indonesia. Her phone was frozen for about two hours after this alert.
Wider context of adverse human rights impacts of nickel mining and smelting operations in Central and East Halmahera
The construction and operation of Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), a 5,000 hectare integrated smelter mega-project located in Central Halmahera, North Maluku, which is a joint venture of three Chinese companies (Tsingshan Holding Group, Huayou Cobalt, and Zhenshi Holding Group), and upstream nickel mining have caused significant harm to Indigenous Peoples and rural communities in Indonesia, including in terms of land grabbing and inadequate compensation for customary and legally owned lands; failure to respect Indigenous and cultural rights; environmental degradation, including deforestation, mangrove destruction, and water pollution; loss of traditional livelihoods such as fishing, farming, and hunting; increased health risks due to air and water pollution from coal-fired power plants and industrial waste; and intimidation and legal retaliation against community members who oppose land acquisition or protest environmental harms.
Background
Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of nickel, supplying 48 per cent of global demand in 2022. The country is investing in massive nickel industrial parks, where nickel ore is refined into usable materials for industrial applications and consumer products. In the past, nickel was primarily used for the production of stainless steel. Recently, demand has increased significantly due to its increasing use in renewable energy technologies, including electric vehicle batteries. It should be noted, however, that not all demand for nickel is linked to the energy transition and it can also serve other sectors that are contributing to climate change. Global nickel demand is expected to increase roughly 60 per cent by 2040. Strong government regulation and oversight are thus necessary to ensure that the growing critical mineral industry and related value chains do not replicate the adverse human rights impacts, including on labor and the environment, that have characterized the extractives sector in different parts of the world.
Nickel deposits were discovered in Halmahera, North Maluku, in 1996 and plans to mine nickel in the region began in the late 1990s. In 2015, the Government announced plans to build up Indonesia’s downstream minerals markets by incorporating nickel and electric vehicle production into the 2015-2035 national industrial master plan, thus setting the stage for the development of several large nickel industrial parks in the country, including IWIP.
In this context, IWIP was designated in 2020 as a “national strategic project” by the Indonesian Government. The concept of national strategic projects was announced by the Government in 2016 and prioritizes large-scale economic development projects across the country. These projects reportedly receive special benefits, including accelerated land acquisition and a guarantee that projects will not face political barriers – a guarantee that has led to an increase in land conflicts between project developers and local communities, including Indigenous Peoples, and serious environmental damage. IWIP began construction in August 2018 and nickel smelting operations began two years later, in April 2020.
The process for nickel mining and refining includes exploration, development, active mining, refining and waste management. In terms of refining, nickel ore mined in Halmahera is transported to IWIP to be processed. Conventional nickel refining involves grinding ore into small particles, heating materials in a rotary kiln and extracting metallic minerals through smelting. Alternatively, high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) is an energy-intensive process used to separate nickel and cobalt from low-quality nickel ores to obtain high-quality battery-grade nickel. This system operates by mixing milled nickel ore and acid in a container where they are subjected to extremely high temperatures and pressures. There are currently plans to develop an HPAL plant in IWIP. At each step of the nickel mining and refining process, industrial operations can pose significant and long-lasting threats to ecosystems, biodiversity and water resources.
Right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment that is free from toxic substances, right to safe drinking water and sanitation and right to food, and the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
Nickel smelting at IWIP has a massive carbon footprint. IWIP has built at least five captive coal-fired plants and ultimately will be home to an additional seven new coal-fired power plants, for a total of twelve coal-fired plants. Once fully operational, these plants will have a total of 3.78 gigawatts of coal capacity.
Further, nickel mining is a significant driver of deforestation, which contributes to the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. Studies by civil society and academia have determined that at least 5,331 hectares of tropical forest have been cut within nickel mining concessions on Halmahera, totaling a loss of approximately 2.04 million metric tons of greenhouse gases previously stored as carbon in those forests.
These changes are also affecting the way of life of communities in the area, who have depended on natural resources to sustain themselves as artisanal fisherfolks, farmers, sago-makers and hunters for generations. The degradation of freshwater resources and harm to fisheries linked to the nickel industry’s destruction of forests has made it difficult, if not impossible, for communities to continue their traditional ways of life. Nickel mining and smelting operations are thus threatening local residents’ right to safe, clean drinking water, as industrial activities and deforestation are polluting the waterways on which local communities depend for their basic needs, and causing concerns around the lack of proper disposal of industrial waste and coal ash, and proper treatment of wastewater from industrial facilities and coal plants. Community members are also concerned that increasingly common flooding events are linked to deforestation by nickel mining companies.
Right to the highest attainable standard of health and right to access to information
Communities near IWIP have also reported respiratory and skin problems related to the pollution from the construction and operation of IWIP and its coal power plants. These issues are compounded by a lack of transparency or provision of basic information by the operating companies and the Indonesian Government, as community members have difficulties accessing information about the consequences of industrial pollution on their health. For instance, neither IWIP, nor the Indonesian Government, have reportedly provided information on air and water quality to local residents.
Right to housing, right to freedom of expression and right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and the situation of human rights defenders
Communities have reported that the process of land acquisition for nickel mining has been marred by unfair land sales that happen without adequate and meaningful consultation with the affected communities, and where little to no compensation is also provided to those affected. As a result, people living near IWIP have had their land taken, deforested, or excavated by nickel companies and developers without their consent. There have also reportedly been instances where community members refused to sell their land and subsequently experienced intimidation, received threats and faced retaliation from IWIP, police officers and members of the military. Such alleged incidents are especially concerning in view of reports of peaceful protests against mining projects in Indonesia being met with threats of arrest and intimidation by police or military personnel, such that protesters are afraid of criminalization.
Right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Right to Participation
In particular, there have been reports by Indigenous Peoples indicating how they were not informed about the purpose of the land acquisitions or other details of the projects to be undertaken by nickel mining or smelting companies. With the nickel industry transforming Halmahera as detailed above, coastal and forest Indigenous communities are experiencing existential threats to their traditional livelihoods and ways of life, with their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent not being duly respected. The participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making on matters that affect their rights, livelihoods and ways of life should be ensured at all stages of a project’s development, but this has not been the case for IWIP according to the information received. It is in this context that the attacks on Ms. Dewi Anakoda have taken place.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express grave concern about the alleged physical attacks against Ms. Dewi Anakoda, which we fear are related to her peaceful and legitimate human rights work on the human right to a healthy environment and the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the context of Weda Bay Nickel’s mining operations. The attacks against Ms. Anakoda appear to be direct attempts to intimidate and dissuade her from continuing to bring attention to the human and environmental harms caused by nickel mining operations on the territory of the Hongana Manyawa people.
We are also concerned at the pattern of online harassment and targeted intimidation from anonymous sources, in apparent retaliation for her human rights work on Indigenous and environmental issues, including the exercise of their right to freedom of expression when advocating these causes.
Such actions not only undermine the rights of the affected communities but also create a harmful chilling effect on civil society, deterring individuals and groups from exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, and advocating for justice. Indigenous human rights defenders and environmental human rights defenders must, in line with the UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, be enabled to exercise their right to promote and defend the rights of their communities and the environment without fear of reprisal, criminalisation or violence from both State and non-State actors.
Further, we express our serious concern regarding the allegations of human rights violations and abuses related to the nickel mining and smelting industry in Indonesia. We are particularly concerned that the industry’s operations severely affect the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the right to food, the right to access to information and public participation, the right to housing, the right to safe drinking water, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment that is free of toxic substances, the cultural rights, and the right to access to remedy, in particular of Indigenous Peoples and those whose ways of life and livelihoods depend on the coastal and forest resources. We are equally concerned for the safety of peaceful protestors against mining projects.
