Extracted from Malaysiakini

Calls for action on rapes of Penan girls

Sep 10, 09 4:18pm

The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has called on the government to take action on allegations that women and young girls from the Penan tribe in Sarawak have been sexually abused by workers from jungle logging camps.

"(The findings) would mean someone has committed an offence. They should be identified and be charged in court," the government-backed commission's vice-chairman Simon Sipaun told AFP.

Perpetrators could face up to 20 years in jail and whipping if convicted of rape.

"How can they do this sort of thing and no action be taken against them? The Penan are not in a place to protect and defend themselves unlike women in the urban areas who have access to a lot of facilities to help them."

Meanwhile, Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), which champions indigenous rights, welcomed the release of the report but said it was "disturbing" that action has yet to be taken against the perpetrators one year after the claims emerged.

"It is high time that those responsible for the crimes described in the report will face the legal consequences of their conduct," said the group, which first raised the rape allegations.

A high-level government investigation has confirmed the allegations that Penan girls and women were sexually abused and raped.

A team of government officials and activists ventured into remote areas of Sarawak to probe claims that the indigenous tribe was targeted with harassment and rape by timber firm employees.

In their findings, they gave detailed accounts of rape allegations from women who described extensive sexual exploitation in the isolated community.

One victim bore two children as a result of being repeatedly raped and another said that when she was just 10 years old, a logger attempted to rape her and four other girls when he gave them a ride to school in a company vehicle.

"The committee concluded the claims of sexual abuse among the Penan women and girls by outsiders that deal with the Penan, including logging company workers and businessmen, did take place," the 113-page report said.

"These sexual abuses mainly happened because the victims were relying on lifts from the logging vehicles and outsiders who deal with the villagers to buy forest products," it added.

Penan set up new blockades

An official from the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development confirmed the release of the report and said an awareness programme was being carried out to help the Penan prevent sexual assaults.

There are at least 10,000 Penan in Sarawak, but their way of life is under threat from extensive logging of their traditional hunting grounds, as well as the spread of palm oil and timber plantations.

Hundreds of Penan tribes people, some clad in traditional loincloths and armed with spears and blowpipes, last month set up new blockades in an escalation of their campaign against the destruction of the forest.

Penan chiefs say that after enduring decades of logging which has decimated the jungles they rely on for food and shelter, they now face the new threat of plantations which will destroy forest resources and pollute the rivers.

The rape allegations are just one of the grievances that the Penan are fighting to highlight.

Rights groups have long said that Penan youngsters who must travel from their villages in the dense rainforest to boarding schools in larger towns face constant harassment as they are forced to hitch rides with loggers.

They say that the abuse is widespread and that perpetrators, who are usually drunk, also target women living in settlements and young girls who are home during school holidays.

The plight of the Penan people was made famous in the 1990s by environmental activist Bruno Manser, who campaigned to protect their way of life and fend off the loggers, before he vanished in 2000 amid suspicion of foul play.