Markus Makur, Timika – The National Commission on Human Rights urged Mimika regency administration and mining company PT Freeport Indonesia to pay more attention to tribal communities in the regency.

The head of the commission's economic, social and cultural affairs subdivision team, Amidhan, said the regency's residents currently had limited access to basic services such as education, food and healthcare.

Amidhan, who met leaders of Kamoro and Amungme tribes', as well as representatives of traditional miners in Mimika on Monday, said that such problems might lead to violence.

Based on information from around 25 tribal leaders and women activists, Amidhan added, human rights violations were frequent in the regency and were conducted by the Mimika administration, while the regency council had not performed as expected over the last two years.

"Members of the community, represented by tribal and community leaders, said Freeport's programs of empowerment and compensation had not been run well," Amidhan said.

He said the commission was in town to find out if the company was being responsible towards the tribal community in Mimika and its other programs for residents.

"(We also checked on) how the one percent fund was being managed by the seven tribes," he said. The commission will also meet the regency's officials, council members and Freeport representatives to gather data related to the 1999 Law on Human Rights.

When asked whether there were any violations of residents' human rights by security personnel, he said there had been.

"But this information will need detailed facts. This team has no authority to gather data on violations conducted by security personnel against the people. But we'll deliver the information to the government. This information needs facts because this is related to crime," Amidhan said.

He said in the meeting, the seven tribes and traditional miners had demanded the central government include them when renewing the contact with Freeport, saying the earlier contract had only involved the central government and Papua provincial administration.

The controversy over Freeport's existence in Papua escalated last month when five security personnel were killed in a bloody clash against protesters in Abepura. The protesters claimed the company's presence was not beneficial to the local community.

However, the government said it would honor the contract it signed with the giant US company but would conduct a financial audit of the distribution of funds to the local community to determine "whether the company does not benefit the local community" as charged.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo AS previously said that Freeport ran its operation based on an amended contract signed with the government in 1991, while the first contract was signed in 1967.

Under the amended contract, the company provides funds for community development programs. In 2005 alone, it allocated Rp 400 billion (US$43.7 million) for this purpose, including Rp 5 billion each for the Amungme and Komoro tribes, the biggest tribal groups in Papua.