[The following statement was submitted by the West Papua Advocacy Team and the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network for the hearing on Extracting Natural Resources: Corporate Responsibility and the Rule of Law before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. <http://etan.org/news/2008/09freeport.htm>]

We would first like to thank the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law for holding a hearing on "Extracting Natural Resources: Corporate Responsibility and the Rule of Law." In particular we thank Senators Durbin and Coburn for taking leadership on this issue.

There are few more tragic examples of the negative impact of US corporations on local peoples than the four decade operation of the Freeport McMoRan copper and gold mine in West Papua which has entailed continuing violation of human rights and environmental destruction: Freeport makes direct payments to the military for "protection" while the military uses provocation and may engineer incidents to justify its continued presence. When local people protest the major social and environmental impact the mine has had, they are repressed with force. This deadly cycle must end. US policymakers can help by demanding transparency concerning US corporate activities, and suspending military assistance until real reform occurs.

Below we highlight some areas of concern, and summarize several reports that provide much more detailed documentation and context.

Linkages with the military

Perhaps the most devastating consequence of the Freeport operation has been the Freeport hiring of the unreformed Indonesian military, purportedly for its "protection." These forces have carried out property destruction, torture and murder aimed at intimidating the local Papuan population. This brutality has been documented by the US State Department (in its annual human rights Reports), the United Nations, the Indonesian Human Rights Commission (a government entity), the Catholic Church and numerous Indonesian and international NGOs. In what amounts to shakedowns, the Indonesian military in particular has on occasion engineered "incidents" aimed at pressuring Freeport to increase payments for "security.."1

In addition to such shakedown operations, the Indonesian military has also sought to generate what in Indonesia are known as "horizontal conflicts," or inter-communal strife, as a basis for an expansion of security force presence and influence. In recent years this has meant the creation of militias, including fundamentalist Islamic militias, which the Indonesian military employs to intimidate civilian populations and to stir communal tensions.2 The threat of such violence in the Freeport mine area and elsewhere in West Papua is a growing concern, with fears of strife along the lines of the terrible blood letting in the neighboring Maluku islands earlier in this decade.

Indonesian security forces regularly conduct months-long "sweeps" supposedly targeting small resistance elements. One focus of these sweeps is in the highlands just north of the Freeport operation. These sweeps have been devastating to rural Papuans, entailing burned houses and churches, destruction of gardens and displacement of civilians to the surrounding mountains and jungles where many perish due to inadequate food, shelter and access to medical care. Moreover, Indonesian military blocking of humanitarian assistance to these besieged populations has greatly exacerbated conditions and increased the number of civilian victims of these sweeps. These sweep operations are vastly disproportionate to the "threat" posed by small groups of pro-independence Papuan militants who are often armed with nothing more than bows and arrows.3

US citizens have been caught in this conflict as well. New evidence implicates the Indonesia's military in the killing of two school teachers and their Indonesian companion in 2002 new Freeport's operations in Timika [see abstract below].

Environmental impact and destruction of local culture

For Papuans, and particularly the local Amungme and Kamoro, the 41-year operation of the Freeport mine has meant utter destruction of the Ajkwa river system, central to their economic life, as a consequence of the disposal of millions of tons of tailings and other mine waste, poisoning of local water sources due to acid mine drainage and the marginalization of the local population as a consequence of a massive infusion of non-Papuans organized by the Indonesian Government and Freeport to operate the mine. The military-organized and protected prostitution and other criminal enterprises that have accompanied this invasion have debased Papuan society and culture. It has also meant an explosion of HIV-AIDS in the Papuan population that lacks even the most basic health care infrastructure and other central government services.4

Papuan resistance to Freeport

Papuans have responded to this systematic assault on their culture, lifestyle and livelihood with peaceful demonstrations in the region typically calling for real self-determination, justice and the closure of the Freeport operation. These demonstrations have been supported by fellow Papuans who have staged large, sympathetic rallies in Jayapura and even Jakarta. Indonesian security forces have responded to these peaceful protests with harsh repression. The Indonesian "justice system," rather than defending the right to peaceful assembly and protest, has partnered with the security forces, meting out harsh sentences to those who dared to raise their voices to demand their rights.

Papuan civil society leaders, especially including Christian and Islamic clergy, intellectuals and, human rights, women and student organizations, have persistently and with remarkable success urged their fellow Papuans to rely on peaceful protest. They have also pressed for internationally-mediated dialogue between Papuans and Indonesian officials, the demilitarization of West Papua through the removal of non-organic military forces and an end to Freeport's destructive exploitation of West Papua's natural resources. The Indonesian response to such Papuan dissent has been to label dissenters "separatists" and to employ both security forces and the "justice system" against them.

We must change US policy

Despite the progress of democratization in Indonesia, the Indonesian military continues to operate as an unaccountable, corrupt force throughout Indonesia. The Indonesian military has been able to rely on the financial support of Freeport, a channel of support that contributes significantly to the ability of the Indonesian military to remain a rogue force not accountable to the civilian government.

Legislation that requires transparent reporting by US corporations concerning their foreign direct investments is desperately needed. As this hearing will demonstrate, linkages between security forces that engage in gross human rights violations and US corporations is a global phenomenon. Congress should do whatever it can to force these relationships into the light.

The US Congress should also take immediate steps to better encourage accountability by restricting military and other security assistance to security forces that are known to engage in human rights abuse. This is already the law, but it is poorly enforced. In the case highlighted above, US government training and other assistance to the Indonesian military, which has been normalized since 2005, should simply be suspended until there is real reform of that institution. Otherwise the US government is contributing to the problem of on an out-of-control Indonesian military.

For more information contact:

Ed McWilliams, West Papua Advocacy Team, edmcw@msn.com (author) John M. Miller, East Timor and Indonesia Action Network, etan@igc.org or www.etan.org

Brief annotated bibliography on Freeport and human rights violations in West Papua

1.) Development Aggression: Observations on Human Rights Conditions in the PT Freeport Indonesia Contract of Work Areas With Recommendations, Prepared by Abigail Abrash, Consultant For the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, July 2002.

This is perhaps the most detailed report treating the history of Freeport operations in West Papua. See especially section on human rights violations, pp 11-22. Consider (emphasis added):

While fact-finding regarding human rights conditions in Freeport's COW areas remains incomplete, well-documented human rights abuses there have included:

• Torture, rape, indiscriminate and extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, surveillance and intimidation, employment discrimination, and severe restrictions o freedom of movement;
• Interference with access to legal representation;
• Violation of subsistence and livelihood rights resulting from seizure and destruction of thousands of acres of rainforest, including community hunting grounds and forest gardens, and contamination of water supplies and fishing grounds;
• Violation of cultural rights, including destruction of a mountain and other spiritually significant sites held sacred by the Amungme;
• Forced resettlement of communities and destruction of housing, churches, and other shelters.

Some of these violations – such as those caused by environmental destruction – are the direct by-products of Freeport's mining operations. Others – such as physical attacks – are the result of the illegal, indiscriminate, and/or disproportionate use of force against civilians by the Indonesian military and police providing security for and funded by Freeport

2.) Indonesian Human Rights Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control A paper prepared for the Indonesia Human Rights Network by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic Yale Law School

This is a comprehensive account of human rights abuses committed by the Indonesian military and other security forces in West Papua from 1963 through the current period (2003). This report is not primarily concerned with Freeport operations, but the consequences of its operations are detailed in places. For example,

To enable PT Freeport mining operations, the Amungme people were compelled to move from their homes in the Tembagapura area (in the cool, highlands region) to the hot, coastal Timika region. This move, in fact, caused the death of a large number of the group, due to their introduction to new diseases for which they had no immunity. In another case, a government- owned plantation seized the property of indigenous people, forcing them to relocate on land that was insufficient to support their needs, and refused to compensate them fairly. (p. 64)

For more see pp. 63-68, on "Resource Exploitation, Relocation of Groups, and Environmental Harm."

3.) Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Indonesia Summary Prepared by the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in Accordance with paragraph 15 (c) of the Annex to Human Rights Council Resolution 5/1 UN Doc: A/HRC/WG.6/1/IDN/3 Geneva, 7-18 April 2008

This is a summary of stakeholder submissions on the state of human rights in Indonesia, submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council as part of the Universal Periodic Review process. There are many references to ongoing problems in West Papua. For example, regarding threats to human rights defenders:

While many such threats are anonymous, some intimidation can be traced directly to the statements and actions of police, military, and intelligence officers, and occasionally prosecutors.15 Human Rights Watch (HRW) added that in Papua and West Papua, human rights defenders face increasing intimidation including death threats, arbitrary detention and surveillance by Indonesian security forces. In 2007, the head of the Papua branch of Indonesia's national human rights commission was subjected to continued surveillance, death threats and phone intimidation throughout the second half of 2007.16 In this context, FI [Pax Romana] noted that after the visit of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders, Ms Hina Jilani, in June 2007, many human rights defenders with whom she spoke were intimidated and received threats. [pp. 3-4]

4.) Kirksey, Eben S.; Harsono, Andreas. "Criminal collaborations? Antonius Wamang and the Indonesian military in Timika," South East Asia Research, Volume 16, Number 2, July 2008, pp. 165-197(33)

[abstract] US intelligence reports linked the Indonesian military to the August 2002 murder of two American schoolteachers and an Indonesian in Timika, Papua province. Restrictions on the US Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET) for Indonesia came to be linked to the investigation of this murder. However, a Jakarta court subsequently sentenced a Papuan villager, Antonius Wamang, to life in prison for leading the attack. Six other villagers were given sentences ranging from five to eight years. The same day that Wamang was sentenced, Pentagon officials announced a 'new era of military cooperation' with Indonesia. Yet many irregularities were not resolved during the trial. Questions remain about whether Wamang's group acted alone. Did Indonesian military agents help Wamang stage the attack? Did Bush Administration officials help cover up evidence of Indonesian military involvement so that they could pursue objectives in the war on terror? The idiom of co-production offers insight into ambivalent and contingent collaborations that develop during covert operations and acts of terrorism.

From press release concerning article's release by the authors:

Agus Anggaibak, a 27-year old member of the regional parliament, helped plan the ambush, according to reliable sources. He also reportedly facilitated contacts between the shooters and active duty military agents. In an interview with report authors, Anggaibak admitted to having ties with Indonesia's intelligence agency, BIN, but denied any involvement in the attack. But, he also admitted to meeting with Antonius Wamang, the convicted ringleader. "Credible journalists have long reported that the highest levels of the Indonesian military had foreknowledge of this murder," said Dr. Kirksey. "We have identified the probable field agent who carried out the plan."

Notes

1. See for example, Paying for Protection: The Freeport mine and Indonesian security forces, report by Global Witness, 2005. See also, "Government Slammed for TNI Security Payments," Jakarta Post, September, 8, 2008, "Freeport... said in its latest annual report that it had paid US$9 million in "support costs" to the Indonesian military and police in 2007 to protect its operations; and Lisa Misol's commentary "Indonesia: US Aid to Corrupt TNI Risks more Rights Abuses," originally published in the Jakarta Post, March 14, 2005: "US mining giant Freeport McMoRan makes huge security payments to Indonesia's military, totaling around US$60 million through 2004. Freeport reportedly doled out at least a third of that directly to individual commanders and units."

2. On TNI financing of Islamic militias, see, for example, Gaye Christoffersen's 2002 report for the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Contemporary Conflict published as, "The War on Terrorism in Southeast Asia: Searching for Partners, Delimiting Targets," in Strategic Insights, Vol. 1:1 (March 2002) [online at http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/mar02/eastAsia.asp, accessed 10/08/08]. On TNI support for Laskar Jihad, for example, Christoffersen says: "Created secretly by one faction of army hard-line generals in 2000, Laskar Jihad was meant to be a tool for them to undermine and destabilize former President Wahid's government, thus blocking his policies to establish civilian control over the military. The army financed Laskar Jihad with money embezzled from its defense budget, estimated to be about $9.3 million. Laskar Jihad's commander, Jafar Umar Thalib, led the group against Christians in the Mulukus, killing thousands. He had met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan but unconvincingly downplayed connections with al-Qaeda." See also, Kirsten E. Schulze, "Laskar Jihad and the Conflict in Ambon" in The Brown Journal of World Affairs Vol. 9:1 (Spring 2002), p 60.

3. For summary of TNI operations near Freeport see, for example Development Aggression: Observations on Human Rights Conditions in the PT Freeport Indonesia Contract of Work Areas With Recommendations, Prepared by Abigail Abrash, Consultant For the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, July 2002. See also, Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Indonesia Summary Prepared by the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in Accordance with paragraph 15 (c) of the Annex to Human Rights Council Resolution 5/1 UN Doc: A/HRC/WG.6/1/IDN/3 Geneva, 7-18 April 2008, p. 3.

4. For a full discussion of environmental and social impacts of the Freeport mines operations see, Development Aggression: Observations on Human Rights Conditions in the PT Freeport Indonesia Contract of Work Areas With Recommendations, Prepared by Abigail Abrash, Consultant For the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, July 2002, pages 15-19. For more thorough discussion of human rights abuses and social policies targeting Papuan indigenous peoples see Indonesian Human Rights Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control A paper prepared for the Indonesia Human Rights Network by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic Yale Law School, 2003.