Ainur Rohmah and Bambang Muryanto, Semarang/Yogyakarta – International Human Rights Day, which fell on Monday, was marked with rallies staged by marginalized communities throughout the archipelago, protesting against human rights violations that continue to mar the country's development.

Dozens of farmers, for example, staged a rally on Jl. Pahlawan in Semarang, Central Java, protesting against their forced eviction by the government to make way for the construction of the Logung Dam in Kudus regency.

They demanded the government pay attention to the welfare of the farmers affected by the dam's construction, which began in 2010, said one of the protesters, Kasnadi, a 35-year-old farmer in Kandang Mas. "Our livelihoods depend on those lands," he said.

The dam, located in the villages of Tanjungrejo in Jekulo and Kandang Mas in Dawe, occupies 196 hectares of land owned by 400 heads of households.

Besides losing their livelihoods, the farmers were also cheated by the government as they were not compensated well enough, Kasnadi said.

"We weren't involved [in the discussion]. They suddenly just slapped a Rp 28,000 [US$2.90] - Rp 30,000 price tag per meter, which was too low for our land," he said.

The Semarang chapter of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) disclosed that in 2012, human rights violations in Central Java consisted predominantly of cases of land and labor disputes. "This is ironic because Central Java is known as a province where the majority of its people depend on the agriculture and industrial sectors for their living," said LBH Semarang head Zainal Arifin.

According to Zainal, there are at least 21 cases of criminalization of workers/people, consisting of 15 cases involving mining, five cases involving the environment and one case involving a land dispute.

"We also listed a huge number of conflicts regarding land acquisition for the sake of development that threatened hundreds of farmers with losing their land," Zainal said in Semarang on Monday.

LBH found overlapping rules and regulations on land negotiations were a primary factor in many cases and threatened the economic rights of traditionally marginalized communities.

"Among the human rights violations in the labor sector are the many cases [related to] dismissals, the contractual working system and low wages," he said.

In Yogyakarta, around 100 activists affiliated with the People's Alliance for Justice (AMUK), held a rally at the Yogyakarta provincial administrative office to commemorate International Human Rights Day and Anticorruption Day. They said the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono had failed to uphold human rights and eradicate corruption in Indonesia.

"The government must resolve the cases of human rights violation to protect the victims. However, the state has instead protected human rights violators. Many of the unresolved cases of human rights violations have not been resolved, such as the Trisakti and Mesuji tragedies," AMUK coordinator Angga said on Monday.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, International Human Rights Day and Anticorruption Day were marked with clashes in three places - the governor's office, the prosecutor's office and on Jl. Sultan Alauddin.

The crowd vandalized the entrance and signboard of the governor's office. They intended to meet the governor, but no officials were willing to meet them. Police had to push the crowd back with tear gas.

In Medan, North Sumatra, thousands of workers from various regions took to the streets on Monday, blocking the Belawan-Medan-Tanjung Morawa (Belmera) turnpike, thus totally cutting off access to the Trans-Sumatra highway.

The roadblock, which was in place for several hours, was implemented by workers for the third time in the past month. Besides blocking the Belmera turnpike, they also blocked the road between Medan and Binjai city.

In Palu, Central Sulawesi, students from Tadulako University's Law School on Monday held a rally to urge law enforcers to be earnest in handling corruption cases in the province.

Protesters raised doubts over a number of alleged graft cases currently being handled by the prosecutor's office, such as the alleged misappropriation of Rp 53 billion ($5.8 million) from the Morowali regency budget and a case involving the issuance of overlapping mining licenses.

[Andi Hajramurni, Apriadi Gunawan and Ruslan Sangaji contributed to this article.]