Jonathan Pearlman – As dawn was breaking across the Indonesian province of Papua on a Saturday last July, an Australian mine worker, Drew Grant, set out with friends along the winding r

Liam Fox, Papua New Guinea – More than 100 people who fled the Indonesian province of Papua to neighbouring Papua New Guinea have returned home.

Nurfika Osman – Despite the raft of killings, abductions and other violence carried out by unidentified groups in Papua, the nation's eyes remain elsewhere, an activist said on Thursday

Jakarta – Indonesia should release three men imprisoned for raising a banned separatist flag because the harsh punishment undermines the country's democratic values, a prominent rights

Cunding Levi, Jakarta – Papua New Guinea repatriated on Thursday 141 Papuans on Thursday as part of the program to return about 700 Indonesian citizens in the Papua New Guinea territory

President Yudhoyono has a chance to show Papuans before the December 1 anniversary that Indonesia is a rights-respecting country that upholds free expression.

Harlyne Joku – A West Papuan Independence leader in the United Kingdom, Benny Wenda has described 2009 as a vital year for the indigenous people of West Papua.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Former political prisoners raised the separatist bintang kejora (morning star) flag Monday at the Papua People's Council in Jayapura to protest the failur

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Activists on Monday urged the government to push the police in their stalled investigations of a number of human rights violations in Papua, particularly the

A Morning Star flag was raised in front of the office of the Papuan People's Consultative Assembly in Jayapura, Papua, on Monday.

Jayapura – The Papuan Traditional Council (DAP) chief, Forkorus Yobiosembut, in Jayapura, Monday, stated that it was not Kelly Kwalik or his group that committed the series of terrorist

Ilya Gridneff, Port Moresby – Three Papua New Guinea politicians have joined an international campaign to support West Papuans persecuted by Indonesian authorities.

Jayapura – Logging and agribusiness is threatening environmental destruction in Indonesia's Papua region, one of the world's last vast wildernesses, local leaders said on Thursday.

Mimika – More than 22 percent of the population in Mimika regency, Papua, or about 40,000 people, are illiterate.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-152-2009

Dear friends,

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Indonesian Armed Forces said on Tuesday that it would not seek to influence President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's response to an open letter from two US co

Washington, D.C. – The Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment, Rep.

Jayapura – The Papuan Traditional Council (DAP), the Human Rights and Violence Foundation (Yahamak), and the Association of Pengunungan Tengah Students (AMPTI) urged police to release s

Australia West Papua Association, Sydney
PO Box 28, Spit Junction, Sydney, Australia 2088
email: bunyip@bigpond.net.au

James Crafti – As workers filed out from their shift at the Buana factory in western Jakarta, they were greeted by members of the Solidarity Alliance for Workers Struggle (GSPB) who han

Makassar – Dozens of Papuan students in Makassar staged a protest on Thursday, rejecting the special autonomy status given to Papua in 2001.

Yoab Syatfle, a political activist in West Papua, has received repeated death threats.

An Indonesian political activist has received a number of anonymous SMS messages warning him that he will be killed if he leaves his home, Amnesty International has learned.

Cunding Levi, Jakarta – Indonesian diplomats stationed in European countries faced a protest by dozens of Papuan students during a visit by the diplomats to a university in Jayapura the

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-143-2009

Dear friends,

Markus Makur, Timika – Hundreds of employees at PT Freeport Indonesia refused to resume work Monday in protest at the deteriorating security situation on road from Timika to Tembagapura

Roselyn Ellison – Seventy-six people from the West Papuan community in Manus province will move back to their homeland, as part of the nationwide repatriation of refugees from the Indon

Jayapura – Around 200 people blocked a road in front of Papua Police Headquarters in Jayapura on Friday, as part of a protest against a decision to transfer the Jayapura Police chief.

Markus Makur, Timika – The wives and children of PT Freeport Indonesia employees rallied at the Mimika legislative council office in Papua on Thursday, demanding the giant US-based gold

Farouk Arnaz – National Police have dispatched 150 officers, including antiterror police, to Timika, Papua, to support local officers and the military in their hunt for suspects followi

Nethy Dharma Somba and Markus Makur, Jayapura, Timika – Residents in Nomouwodide, Bogobaida district in Paniai, Papua, seized Wednesday a helicopter scheduled to haul heavy equipment t

Unidentified assailants have shot a soldier near the giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold mine in Papua, police said on Thursday.

Markus Makur, Timika, Papua – Papua Police are cooperating with the military as they begin hunting for gunmen responsible for a shooting incident that wounded two employees of US mining

Nethy Dharma Somba and Markus Makur, Jayapura, Timika – One person was killed and three others injured Tuesday in two separate attacks blamed on unidentified gunmen in restive Papua pro

Violence flared again near the Freeport gold mine in Indonesia's Papua province as gunmen shot and wounded two of the company's employees, police said on Tuesday.

It is to be hoped that Prime Minister Rudd will also raise the issue of West Papua on his trip to Indonesia for the inauguration of the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on

A New Zealand based Indonesian human rights group says it's totally opposed to the importation of the tropical hardwood, Kwila, regardless of whether it is certified sustainable or not.

The Indonesian embassy in Papua New Guinea has denied that West Papuan refugees who are repatriated to Indonesia will be in danger at the hands of the security forces when they return.

It is understandable that some West Papuan refugees who have been in exile in PNG since the 1980's may want to return home to reunite with family members and in the hope things have cha

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNLC) said dozens of organizations in the restive province of Papua demanded talks with the central gov

Indonesia is currently undertaking a program to repatriate several thousand West Papuan freedom activists living in Papua New Guinea.

Jayapura – The first phase of the repatriation of Papuans from Papua New Guinea (PNG) is scheduled to begin by the end of this year, after all the facilities had been prepared.

Heru Andriyanto – A court showdown between a Papuan tribe and US mining giant Freeport McMoRan resumed on Thursday after negotiations to settle the dispute out of court collapsed, a law

Timika – Members of two warring tribes in Timika, Mimika regency, Papua, the Amungme and Kei tribes, clashed at around 2:30 a.m.

A group of West Papuans and their supporters have called on the Australian government to help mediate a settlement over the province of West Papua.

Thousands of West Papuans have turned out in rallies in Indonesia's Papua demanding international help in mediating a political settlement between Jakarta and a new so-called West Papua

Timika, Papua – Vice President-elect Boediono, making his first ever visit to troubled Papua, said here on Monday that development in the region would be given special attention by the

Problems in Indonesia's Papua province include security at the Freeport mine, high HIV rates, fast-shifting demographics and the ongoing conflict between the Free Papua Movement – known

Classes at some schools in Papua's Mimika district have been at a standstill for the past few months because their teachers are stuck in Timika city.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-121-2009

Dear friends,